Middle Years

The myth of learning styles and the move towards learning strategies 

There is a book titled “50 Great Myths in Popular Psychology,” which outlines a great myth from educational psychology that we learn more effectively when taught via our preferred "learning style." 

The notion of learning styles refers to the belief that students can be categorised into distinct types of learners such as visual, auditory or kinaesthetic and that individuals learn better when information to be learned is presented through the student’s preferred style. Unfortunately, there is no concrete or substantial evidence to support this notion of learning styles, which has become one of the biggest myths in education (and popular psychology). I often like to use a Health and Wellbeing classroom example of teaching Relationships and Sexual Education, or Drug and Alcohol Education to a “kinaesthetic learner.” Learning by doing these topics really isn’t appropriate! 

Effective teaching and learning require strategies beyond matching instruction to supposed learning style preferences, instead the evidence shows that focusing on adaptable approaches more effectively supports learning. For students, learning is most effective when they develop strategies tailored to the task rather than adapting the task according to a preferred learning style. 

Within the Middle Years, we aim to develop students’ adaptability and problem-solving skills, which aligns more closely with how learning occurs. Fostering a flexible learning environment by emphasising critical thinking, self-regulation, and meaningful engagement with the content being covered ensures more effective learning for our students. With the inevitable approach of exams later in Term Two, and all of the learning tasks in between, I encourage the Middle Years students to focus on effective learning strategies as outlined by their teachers for each of their subjects. These learning strategies are subject and context dependent and have a greater foundation of evidence than simply stating, “I’m a kinaesthetic learner.”