Many teachers continue to adapt their teaching to alleged neuromythic learning styles, although there is no scientific evidence to support them. Unfortunately, the energy devoted by teachers to unfounded pedagogical practices may delay the adoption of practices that are truly supported by research.
The scientific community has felt the need to issue a warning to the world of education saying that pedagogical practices inspired by learning styles are not based on any evidence. A student labelled as “auditory” because she excels in music could feel doomed to learn one way (with her ears) and lose her motivation for subjects like geography or chemistry. There is even a $5,000 reward offered to any research team that succeeds in proving the effectiveness of the learning styles. No study to date has been able to prove this hypothesis. The hypothesis that people learn best when information is presented in their “preferred” or “dominant” learning style has been the subject of numerous scientific studies. You will notice that your friend unconsciously starts scratching (kinesthetic mode) without even realizing it! The real functioning of the brain sometimes escapes our intuitions. Skeptical? Show a friend a picture (visual modality) of a person covered with mosquitoes. The sensory areas in the brain are highly interconnected, so a simple image of a mosquito can cause itching. On the other hand, no, this development does not entirely individualize the brain to the point of predisposing it to better process information in a “dominant” sensory modality. Yes, it is true that from the 100 billion neurons that the brain has at birth, a unique network of synaptic connections develops. Unique brains?Īt the root of the VAK neuromyth is the misconception that each brain develops differently and therefore that each child learns differently.
And in an effort to meet their needs, these teachers adapt their teaching according to this mirage of individual differences, with visual students viewing pictures or diagrams, auditory students listening to sounds or speech and kinesthetic students manipulating objects.
Surveys conducted in 14 countries, including Canada, reveal that 90 per cent of teachers strongly believe that their students are visual, auditory or kinesthetic.
Auditory learning style thesis how to#
In short, you are as likely to get a visit from the Tooth Fairy as you are to learn how to paint a sunset faster, supposedly because you are a “visual” person.Īt the Cognitive Health Research Laboratory at Laurentian University, our research team is particularly interested in the neuromyths of learning styles called VAK, for visual, auditory, kinesthetic. Who hasn’t heard the statement that we only use 10 per cent of our brain? That listening to Mozart’s music makes you smarter or that most learning happens in the first three years of life? Or that a person who is “right-brained” is more creative? Another widespread idea is that we are either visual, auditory or kinesthetic (more sensitive to touch) and that we learn better according to these “styles.”Īll these claims are in fact “ neuromyths” - false beliefs about the brain and learning, none of which are scientifically based.
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