Cracking Common Learning Myths

Cracking Common Learning Myths

Michael B. Wolfe

Grand Valley State University

West MI Community Literacy SummitSept. 25, 2013

Outline

1. Do students learn better in their preferred learning style?

2. Does increasing student interest in a lesson result in more learning?

3. After reading, is re-reading an effective learning strategy?

Learning styles hypothesis: Students differ in how they learn (visually, verbally, etc.). Learning can be improved when instruction for a student matches

the student’s preferred style.

Learning Styles Inventories (there are many dozens): Dunn and Dunn learning styles model Index of Learning Styles Questionnaire Learning Styles Inventory VARK Questionnaire (Visual, Aural, Reading/writing,

Kinsethetic)

Learning Styles

Many educators believe the learning styles hypothesis

Learning Styles

Many people believe the learning styles hypothesis

Learning Styles

Scientific journals (Zapalska and Dabb, 2002)“The achievement of college students could be improved by providing

instruction in a manner consistent with each student’s learning style.”

Congressman Justin Amash“Government-mandated curriculums and teaching methods do not

properly account for different learning styles.”

GRPS Parent University (Study Skills class)“Learn how you can help your child use different learning styles to study

and learn effectively”

What kind of evidence would support the hypothesis?Pashler, McDaniel, Rohrer, & Bjork (2010) suggest a specific

experimental design.

Learning Styles

(Visual) (Verbal)

Verbal

Visual

What kind of evidence would not support the hypothesis?Pashler, McDaniel, Rohrer, & Bjork (2010) suggest a specific

experimental design.

Learning Styles

(Visual) (Verbal)

Visual

Verbal

What does the evidence show? Only a handful of studies actually examine the hypothesis in a

valid way (Constantinidou & Baker, 2002; Cook, et. al., 2009; Massa & Mayer, 2006; Sternberg, et. al., 1999).

Pashler, et. al., (2010) report: “Remarkably, despite the vast size of the literature on learning styles

and classroom instruction, we found only one study that could be described as even potentially meeting the criteria described earlier, and as we report in the following text, even that study provided less than compelling evidence.”

In other words, evidence that students learn best in their preferred style DOES NOT EXIST.

Learning Styles

Learning Styles

Conclusion: Tailoring instruction to students’ preferred learning style does not improve learning.

What will help?Present information in multiple modes (visually / verbally / practical problems) to all students.

- The effort to integrate information across modes results in meaningful understanding.

Outline

1. Do students learn better in their preferred learning style?- No

2. Does increasing student interest in a lesson result in more learning?


Interest

Lea

rnin

g

Interest and learning

Overall, student interest in a topic does correlate with learning.But, what happens when we “spice up” a lesson to increase interest?

Interest

Lea

rnin

g

Interest and learning

Overall, student interest in a topic does correlate with learning.But, what happens when we “spice up” a lesson to increase interest?

- Interest causes learning

- Interest doesn’t cause learning

Interest and learning: The effect of seductive detailsHarp and Mayer (1998)

What is the effect of adding to a lesson interesting information that will not be tested?

Method: Students read text and illustrated diagrams describing lightning formation

Illustrated text with no seductive details

Illustrated text with seductive details

Test covers common content(lightning formation)

OR



Interest and learning: The effect of seductive details

Interest and learning: The effect of seductive details

Conclusion: Adding interesting information that will not be tested to a lesson consistently HURTS comprehension.

What will help?1. Increase interest for the content you actually want students to learn (harder to do).

2. Be clear – interest increases when students succeed at comprehension

Outline

1. Do students learn better in their preferred learning style- No

2. Does increasing student interest in a lesson result in more learning?- No


As a study strategy, re-reading is the most commonly used technique (Carrier, 2003; Kornell & Bjork, 2007)

Easy to do

Feels like it’s effective

Re-reading after initial studying

How can we remember what we read?

1. Read a text multiple times. 2. Read a text once and recall it from memory.

How does re-reading compare to self-testing?Roediger & Karpicke (2006)

Part 1: Read (study) a text or recall it (test)

Group A. Read texts 4 times (SSSS)Group B. Read 3 times / 1 test (SSST)Group C. Read 1 time / 3 tests (STTT)End of pt. 1 – predict what you will recall one week later

Part 2: Recall text content- 5 min. later- 1 week later


Results: Memory predictions (1-7 scale)

SSSS 4.8

SSST 4.2

STTT 4.0

Not significantly different from each other

Effects of studying vs. testing on memoryRoediger & Karpicke (2006)

Results: Part 2 recall performance

Effects of studying vs. testing on memoryRoediger & Karpicke (2006)

Conclusions:1. Re-reading is generally effective if the test is immediately

after reading.

2. Re-reading is much less effective than self-testing if the test is two days or more after reading.

3. Students do not understand the difference in effectiveness of re-reading vs. self-testing.


Conclusions:1. Re-reading is generally effective if the test is immediately

after reading.

2. Re-reading is much less effective than self-testing if the test is two days or more after reading.

3. Students do not understand the difference in effectiveness of re-reading vs. self-testing.

What will help?Read what you need to learn, then test yourself by recalling it as well as you can. Then check what you recalled.


Outline

1. Do students learn better in their preferred learning style- No

2. Does increasing student interest in a lesson result in more learning?- No

3. After reading, is re-reading an effective learning strategy?- No

General Conclusions

Intuitions about learning lead us to all sorts of conclusions about what is effective.

In general, things that seem like easy ways to take in information also feel like they’re effective:- learning in the style you prefer- being excited by flashy, interesting things- re-reading

However, the most effective learning strategies tend to be those that require deep thought and effort:- integrating information across multiple modes- self-testing

Education

Cracking Common Learning Myths