Learning Styles Questions and Links

Questions about Learning Styles

Do learning styles really exist?
Do you learn better by using more styles? Is there a best learning style?
Which styles are best for which kinds of learning?
When people adopt different learning strategies in different situations, is this a challenge to the value of learning style theories?
What are the implications for teaching, training, coaching or facilitating?
Is a learning style preference a strength or a weakness?
Does an understanding of learning styles and a knowledge of your own learning style make you a better learner?

Mythbusting: it’s time to forget about learning styles

In this April 2017 episode of the Trainer Tools podcast, "Garry Platt gives the ubiquitous learning styles theory (or theories) a jolly good kicking and talks through research that calls into question their validity and usefulness (to put it politely)." ... writes John Tomlinson.

The podcast page also lists links to the research that Garry refers to in this podcast.

And if after listening you are still reluctant to dispense completely with learning styles theory, take heed of this advice from Peter Honey:

"I finish by stressing the importance of investing extra effort in the parts of the Learning Cycle they do not relish."

See more advice from Peter Honey below.

Researching Learning Styles on the Web

Learning Style Gurus

David A. Kolb
David A. Kolb answers some tough questions about his Learning Styles Inventory (LSI) and his Experiential Learning Theory (ELT) at LearningFromExperience.com where you will find his latest thoughts in a FAQ page (top right) about learning styles. Or find a copy of Kolb's seminal work: 'Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development' which is reviewed and available at reviewing.co.uk or view my collection of critiques of David Kolb's theory.
Peter Honey
At Peter Honey's website http://www.peterhoney.co.uk you can find out your own (Honey and Mumford) learning style preference, and find useful advice about becoming a better learner. Based on Honey and Mumford's 'Manual of Learning Styles' which is based on Kolb's work. The styles are: Activitist, Reflector, Theorist, Pragmatist. To find Peter Honey's latest responses to questions about learning styles see below
Bernice McArthy
Bernice McArthy's model is also based on Kolb's work. She rearramges things a little and integrates a left/right brain dimension into Kolb's basic model. See: Learning Styles and the 4MAT System: A Cycle of Learning

Learning Style Self-Assessment Tools

Directory of learning style instruments Barbara Given and her colleagues at Mason College have created a directory of all the main learning style instruments including a summary of their main benefits and features. Barbara Given writes: "There are well over 100 learning style identification instruments, but only a few have strong conceptual models upon which they are based. These models have grown in popularity across school and corporate settings .... [Two reports] point to styles-responsive instruction as an important strategy for addressing the learning needs of diverse learners."
Learning styles profiler by psi-press draws on the latest neuropsychological ideas about the basis of learning. Free self-development report and free manual.
Peter Honey's online self assessment tool
Personal Learning Style Inventory will tell you the extent to which your learning preferences are Visual, Kinesthetic or Auditory - if you first reveal your preferences.

Learning Style Articles

More pages about learning styles at reviewing.co.uk

Reviewing with Pictures The whys and hows of learning visually.
The Active Reviewing Cycle encourages you to extend your range of reviewing methods to suit a wider range of learning style preferences and develop more balanced and effective learning styles.
Experiential Learning Cycles
Reviewing Skills Training Workshops
The Learning to Learn section of Roger's Active Learning Bookshop
Experiential Learning articles and critiques of David Kolb's theory

Notes about Learning Styles

Active and Creative Reviewing

These 'multi-media' approaches are not just lively alternatives to all-talk reviews. The use of multi-dimensional reviewing methods is well supported by theories about right/left brain learning, multiple intelligence, learning styles, accelerated learning, mind-mapping, and most recently by John Heron in 'The Complete Facilitator's Handbook'.

How Peter Honey introduces learning style theory

Many people misunderstand and misuse learning style theory. The theory is not meant to cramp your style - it is meant to extend your style so that you become a more balanced learner. Who better to clarify this point than Peter Honey himself who wrote in to the UKHRD discussion list on 7 Jan 1999 with this explanation of how he presents learning styles - depending on the time available:

''I have three different ways of introducing learning depending on time constraints (writes Peter Honey) ...

1. IF I HAVE ONLY 15-20 MINUTES

In a tightly structured day I introduce the Learning Cycle alone, showing how all four stages are essential contributors to effective learning and alerting people to some of the ways it gets 'distorted' to accommodate different preferences ie - by postponing planning and doing and indulging in analysis to paralysis - by cutting out reviewing and concluding and going straight for a quick fix - by jumping to conclusions instead of reaching them via a review.

I have visuals to show the stages in the cycle and these 'distortions'. I then explain how the structure for the day incorporates the Learning Cycle.

2. IF I HAVE 20-35 MINUTES

I do all of the above then I give people four cards (different colours) containing a summary of the Learning Styles ie a card (red) for Activist, a card (yellow) for Reflector etc. They simply read the lists on the cards and decide which one is most like them. A straw poll is conducted by getting people to hold up their card and counting the number of people with Activist preferences etc etc. I finish by stressing the importance of investing extra effort in the parts of the Learning Cycle they do not relish.

3. IF I HAVE 35-60 MINUTES

I do 1. above, then get people to complete the Learning Styles Questionnaire; read the descriptions to the four styles; predict their preferences; score the questionnaire; apply the appropriate norms and share/discuss the results ...

Finally, I believe it is essential always to make the learning process explicit. Being pushed for time is no excuse. After all, the learning process is the key to whatever else you plan to tackle during the day.''

For more information:

Visit peterhoney.co.uk where you can find out your own learning style.
Search the archives at ukhrd.com for 'learning styles' or 'Peter Honey' and you will find further responses from Peter Honey in answer to some challenging questions about learning styles.

Books about Learning Styles

See the Learning to Learn index in Roger's Bookshop.
Honey, P. and Mumford, A. (1982) The Manual of Learning Styles, Peter Honey, Berkshire.
Kolb, D.A. (1976) Learning Style Inventory Technical Manual McBer and Co., Boston.
Given, B. Learning Styles: A Guide for Teachers and Parents, Learning Forum, Oceanside, CA
Given, B. Teaching to the Brain's Natural Learning Systems, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development

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