Editing Learning styles (section)

==Assessment methods==
A 2004 non-peer-reviewed literature review criticized most of the main instruments used to identify an individual's learning style.<ref name="Coffield" /> In conducting the review, Frank Coffield and his colleagues selected 13 of the most influential models of the 71 models they identified,<ref name="Coffield" />{{rp|8–9}} including most of the models described in this article. They examined the theoretical origins and terms of each model, and the instrument that purported to assess individuals against the learning styles defined by the model. They analyzed the claims made by the author(s), external studies of these claims, and independent empirical evidence of the relationship between the learning style identified by the instrument and students' actual learning. Coffield's team found that none of the most popular learning style theories had been adequately validated through independent research.  This means that even if the underlying theories were sound, educators are frequently unable to correctly identify the theoretically correct learning style for any given student, so the theory would end up being misapplied in practice.

===Learning Style Inventory===
The Learning Style Inventory (LSI) is connected with [[David A. Kolb]]'s model and is used to determine a student's learning style.<ref name="SmithKolb1986"/> Previous versions of the LSI have been criticized for problems with validity, reliability, and other issues.<ref name="Manolis">{{cite journal |last1=Manolis |first1=Chris |last2=Burns |first2=David J. |last3=Assudani |first3=Rashmi |last4=Chinta |first4=Ravi |date=February 2013 |title=Assessing experiential learning styles: a methodological reconstruction and validation of the Kolb Learning Style Inventory |url=http://research.phoenix.edu/sites/default/files/publication-files/2012-Manolis%20et%20al(2012).pdf |journal=[[Learning and Individual Differences]] |volume=23 |pages=44–52 |doi=10.1016/j.lindif.2012.10.009}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Koob |first1=Jeffrey J. |last2=Funk |first2=Joanie |date=March 2002 |title=Kolb's learning style inventory: issues of reliability and validity |journal=[[Research on Social Work Practice]] |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=293–308 |doi=10.1177/104973150201200206 |s2cid=17548610 |url=http://www.bu.edu/ssw/files/2010/10/Kolbs-Learning-Style-Inventory-Issues-of-Reliability-and-Validity1.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Metallidou |first1=Panayiota |last2=Platsidou |first2=Maria |date=2008 |title=Kolb's Learning Style Inventory-1985: validity issues and relations with metacognitive knowledge about problem-solving strategies |journal=[[Learning and Individual Differences]] |volume=18 |issue=1 |pages=114–119 |doi=10.1016/j.lindif.2007.11.001 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/229383282}}</ref> Version 4 of the Learning Style Inventory replaces the four learning styles of previous versions with nine new learning styles: initiating, experiencing, imagining, reflecting, analyzing, thinking, deciding, acting, and balancing.<ref name="LSI4">{{cite web |title=Kolb learning style inventory (KLSI), version 4 online: description |url=http://www.haygroup.com/leadershipandtalentondemand/ourproducts/item_details.aspx?itemid=118&type=2&t=2 |website=haygroup.com |access-date=9 August 2015}}</ref> The LSI is intended to help employees or students "understand how their learning style impacts upon problem solving, teamwork, handling conflict, communication and career choice; develop more learning flexibility; find out why teams work well—or badly—together; strengthen their overall learning."<ref name="LSI4"/>

A completely different Learning Styles Inventory is associated with a binary division of learning styles, developed by Felder and Silverman.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Felder |first1=Richard M. |last2=Silverman |first2=Linda K. |date=January 1988 |title=Learning and teaching styles in engineering education |journal=Engineering Education |volume=78 |issue=7 |pages=674–81 |url=http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/lockers/users/f/felder/public/Papers/LS-1988.pdf}}</ref> Their model interprets learning styles as a balance between pairs of extremes, and the four scores provided by a questionnaire describes these balances.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/learningstyles/ilsweb.html |title=Index of learning styles questionnaire |first1=Barbara A. |last1=Soloman |first2=Richard M. |last2=Felder |publisher=[[North Carolina State University]] |access-date=1 November 2012}}</ref> Like the LSI mentioned above, this inventory provides overviews and synopses for teachers.

===NASSP Learning Style Profile===
The [[National Association of Secondary School Principals|NASSP]] Learning Style Profile (LSP) is a second-generation instrument for the diagnosis of student cognitive styles, perceptual responses, and study and instructional preferences.<ref name="KeefeMonk1988">{{cite book |last1=Keefe |first1=James W. |last2=Monk |first2=John S. |date=1988 |title=Learning style profile: technical manual |location=Reston, VA |publisher=[[National Association of Secondary School Principals]] |isbn=0882102133 |oclc=22143235}}</ref> The LSP is a diagnostic tool intended as the basis for comprehensive style assessment with students in the sixth to twelfth grades. It was developed by the [[National Association of Secondary School Principals]] research department in conjunction with a national task force of learning style experts. The Profile was developed in four phases with initial work undertaken at the [[University of Vermont]] (cognitive elements), [[Ohio State University]] (affective elements), and [[St. John's University (New York City)|St. John's University]] (physiological/environmental elements). Rigid validation and normative studies were conducted using factor analytic methods to ensure strong construct validity and subscale independence.

The LSP contains 23 scales representing four higher order factors: cognitive styles, perceptual responses, study preferences and instructional preferences (the affective and physiological elements). The LSP scales are: analytic skill, spatial skill, discrimination skill, [[categorizing]] skill, sequential processing skill, simultaneous processing skill, [[memory]] skill, [[perceptual response]]: visual, perceptual response: auditory, perceptual response: emotive, persistence orientation, verbal risk orientation, verbal-spatial preference, manipulative preference, study time preference: early morning, study time preference: late morning, study time preference: afternoon, study time preference: evening, grouping preference, posture preference, mobility preference, sound preference, lighting preference, temperature preference.<ref name="KeefeMonk1988"/>

===Other methods===
Other methods (usually questionnaires) used to identify learning styles include [[Neil Fleming]]'s [https://vark-learn.com/the-vark-questionnaire/ VARK Questionnaire]<ref name="Leite"/> and Jackson's Learning Styles Profiler.<ref name="Coffield"/>{{rp|56–59}} Many other tests have gathered popularity and various levels of credibility among students and teachers.