Re: Professor Pans 'Learning Style' Teaching Method

Frank Lowney, August 5, 2007

I spent a fair amount of time with this hypothetical construct in the 70s when it was high on the ASCD program agenda. I still think that it is a useful idea but have seen it misused more often than not. The most egregious abuse IMHO is thinking of it as an immutable personality trait that is either accommodated or not.

A more fruitful approach would be to use it in an effort to understand how preferred learning styles evolve over the lifespan and how they might be broadened and deepened. It is all too easy for most of us to find something that appears to work for us and get stuck in that modality. Like fomenting cognitive dissonance, teaching also obligates us to instigate dissatisfaction with preferred learning styles as well.

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