Editing Learning styles (section)

==In the classroom==
For a teacher to use the learning styles model, the teacher has to be able to correctly match each student to a learning style.  This is a generally unsuccessful exercise due to inappropriate tools.  For an assessment tool to be useful, it needs to be a [[Test validity|valid test]], which is to say that it actually has to put all of the "style A" students in the "A" group, all of the "style B" students in the "B" group, and so forth.  Research indicates that very few, if any, of the [[Psychometrics|psychometric]] tests promoted in conjunction with the learning styles idea have the necessary validity to be useful in practice.  Some models, such as [[Anthony Gregorc]]'s Gregorc Style Delineator, are "theoretically and psychometrically flawed" and "not suitable for the assessment of individuals".<ref name="Coffield" />{{rp|20}}

Furthermore, knowing a student's learning style does not seem to have any practical value for the student.  In 2019, the [[American Association of Anatomists]] published a study that investigated whether learning styles had any effect on the final outcomes of an anatomy course. The study found that even when being told they had a specific learning style, the students did not change their study habits, and those students that did use their theoretically dominant learning style had no greater success in the course; specific study strategies, unrelated to learning style, were positively correlated with final course grade.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Husmann|first1=Polly R.|last2=O'Loughlin|first2=Valerie Dean|date=January 2019|title=Another nail in the coffin for learning styles? Disparities among undergraduate anatomy students' study strategies, class performance, and reported VARK learning styles|journal=[[Anatomical Sciences Education]]|volume=12|issue=1|pages=6–19|doi=10.1002/ase.1777|pmid=29533532|s2cid=3885672}}</ref>

=== Dunn and Dunn ===
Various researchers have attempted to hypothesize ways in which learning style theory can be used in the classroom. Two such scholars are Rita Dunn and Kenneth Dunn, who build upon a [[#Learning modalities|learning modalities]] approach.<ref name="Coffield"/>{{rp|20–35}}<ref name="Dunn1978">{{cite book |last1=Dunn |first1=Rita Stafford |last2=Dunn |first2=Kenneth J. |date=1978 |title=Teaching students through their individual learning styles: a practical approach |location=Reston, VA |publisher=Reston Pub. Co. |isbn=0879098082 |oclc=3844703}}</ref>

Although learning styles will inevitably differ among students in the classroom, Dunn and Dunn say that teachers should try to make changes in their classroom that will be beneficial to every learning style. Some of these changes include room redesign, the development of small-group techniques, and the development of "contract activity packages".<ref name="Dunn1978"/> Redesigning the classroom involves locating dividers that can be used to arrange the room creatively (such as having different learning stations and instructional areas), clearing the floor area, and incorporating students' thoughts and ideas into the design of the classroom.<ref name="Dunn1978"/>

Dunn and Dunn's "contract activity packages" are educational plans that use: a clear statement of the learning need; multisensory resources (auditory, visual, tactile, kinesthetic); activities through which the newly mastered information can be used creatively; the sharing of creative projects within small groups; at least three small-group techniques; a pre-test, a self-test, and a post-test.<ref name="Dunn1978"/>

Dunn and Dunn's learning styles model is widely used in schools in the United States, and 177 articles have been published in peer-reviewed journals referring to this model.<ref name="Coffield" />{{rp|20}} However, the conclusion of a review by Coffield and colleagues was: "Despite a large and evolving research programme, forceful claims made for impact are questionable because of limitations in many of the supporting studies and the lack of independent research on the model."<ref name="Coffield" />{{rp|35}}

=== Sprenger's differentiation ===
Another scholar who believes that learning styles should have an effect on the classroom is Marilee Sprenger in ''Differentiation through Learning Styles and Memory''.<ref name="Sprenger">{{cite book |last=Sprenger |first=Marilee |date=2008 |orig-date=2003 |title=Differentiation through learning styles and memory |edition=2nd |location=Thousand Oaks, CA |publisher=[[Corwin Press]] |isbn=9781412955447 |oclc=192109691 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DaVu2p5uDBkC}}</ref> She bases her work on three premises:
#Teachers can be learners, and learners teachers. We are all both.
#Everyone can learn under the right circumstances.
#Learning is fun! Make it appealing.<ref name="Sprenger"/>{{Page needed|date=August 2015}}

Sprenger details how to teach in visual, auditory, or tactile/kinesthetic ways. Methods for visual learners include ensuring that students can see words written, using pictures, and drawing [[timeline]]s for events.<ref name="Sprenger"/>{{Page needed|date=August 2015}} Methods for auditory learners include repeating words aloud, small-group discussion, debates, listening to books on tape, oral reports, and oral interpretation.<ref name="Sprenger"/>{{Page needed|date=August 2015}} Methods for tactile/kinesthetic learners include hands-on activities (experiments, etc.), projects, frequent breaks to allow movement, visual aids, role play, and field trips.<ref name="Sprenger"/>{{Page needed|date=August 2015}} By using a variety of teaching methods from each of these categories, teachers cater to different learning styles at once, and improve learning by challenging students to learn in different ways.

James W. Keefe and John M. Jenkins have incorporated learning style assessment as a basic component in their "personalized instruction" model of schooling.<ref name="KeefeJenkins2008">{{cite book |last1=Keefe |first1=James W. |last2=Jenkins |first2=John M. |date=2008 |orig-date=2000 |title=Personalized instruction: the key to student achievement |edition=2nd |location=Lanham, MD |publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield]] Education |isbn=9781578867554 |oclc=173509416}}</ref> Six basic elements constitute the culture and context of personalized instruction. The cultural components—teacher role, student learning characteristics, and collegial relationships—establish the foundation of personalization and ensure that the school prizes a caring and collaborative environment. The contextual factors—interactivity, flexible scheduling, and authentic assessment—establish the structure of personalization.<ref name="KeefeJenkins2008"/>{{Page needed|date=August 2015}}

According to Keefe and Jenkins, cognitive and learning style analysis have a special role in the process of personalizing instruction. The assessment of student learning style, more than any other element except the teacher role, establishes the foundation for a personalized approach to schooling: for student advisement and placement, for appropriate retraining of student cognitive skills, for adaptive instructional strategy, and for the authentic evaluation of learning.<ref name="KeefeJenkins2008"/>{{Page needed|date=August 2015}} Some learners respond best in instructional environments based on an analysis of their perceptual and environmental style preferences: most individualized and personalized teaching methods reflect this point of view. Other learners, however, need help to function successfully in ''any'' learning environment. If a youngster cannot cope under conventional instruction, enhancing his cognitive skills may make successful achievement possible.<ref name="KeefeJenkins2008"/>{{Page needed|date=August 2015}}

Many of the student learning problems that learning style diagnosis attempts to solve relate directly to elements of the human information processing system. Processes such as attention, perception and memory, and operations such as integration and retrieval of information are internal to the system. Any hope for improving student learning necessarily involves an understanding and application of information processing theory. Learning style assessment can provide a window to understanding and managing this process.<ref name="KeefeJenkins2008"/>{{Page needed|date=August 2015}}

At least one study evaluating teaching styles and learning styles, however, has found that congruent groups have no significant differences in achievement from incongruent groups.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Spoon |first1=Jerry C. |last2=Schell |first2=John W. |date=Winter 1998 |title=Aligning student learning styles with instructor teaching styles |journal=Journal of Industrial Teacher Education |volume=35 |issue=2 |pages=41–56 |url=http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/JITE/v35n2/spoon}}</ref> Furthermore, learning style in this study varied by demography, specifically by age, suggesting a change in learning style as one gets older and acquires more experience. While significant age differences did occur, as well as no experimental manipulation of classroom assignment, the findings do call into question the aim of congruent teaching–learning styles in the classroom.<ref name="Coffield"/>{{rp|122}}

Educational researchers Eileen Carnell and Caroline Lodge concluded that learning styles are not fixed and that they are dependent on circumstance, purpose and conditions.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Carnell |first1=Eileen |last2=Lodge |first2=Caroline |date=2002 |title=Supporting effective learning |location=London; Thousand Oaks, CA |publisher=Paul Chapman Publishing; [[SAGE Publications]] |isbn=0761970460 |oclc=48110229 |page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=5AgCUC7M05sC&pg=PA22 22]}}</ref>