Monday, August 29, 2011

When students pay closer attention...

Teachers with reasonable skills of observation exercising common sense already knew this. Of course they had to ignore the ed school/in-service "experts." Think You're An Auditory Or Visual Learner? Scientists Say It's Unlikely:
...[A]n entire industry has sprouted based on learning styles. There are workshops for teachers, products targeted at different learning styles and some schools that even evaluate students based on this theory.

This prompted Doug Rohrer, a psychologist at the University of South Florida, to look more closely at the learning style theory.

When he reviewed studies of learning styles, he found no scientific evidence backing up the idea. "We have not found evidence from a randomized control trial supporting any of these," he says, "and until such evidence exists, we don't recommend that they be used."

Willingham suggests it might be more useful to figure out similarities in how our brains learn, rather than differences. And, in that case, he says, there's a lot of common ground. For example, variety. "Mixing things up is something we know is scientifically supported as something that boosts attention," he says, adding that studies show that when students pay closer attention, they learn better. ....
Think You're An Auditory Or Visual Learner? Scientists Say It's Unlikely : Shots - Health Blog : NPR

1 comment:

  1. Anonymous4:22 PM

    There is a story about Mr. Lincon (maybe a legend)that when he read it was always out loud so he could both see and hear what he was reading.

    This study sure helps the Old fashion sermon being not just for those who have ears but have ears to hear.

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