Research: All nonsense!? (Education Myths Part 1) (Story)

"Good teaching should fit the individual learning styles of students. // Boys are naturally better than girls at maths, science and the like. // With class repetition, pupils can catch up on underachievement. // "Private schools are better than public schools" // Or how about this: "Boys are disadvantaged in school because there are more female teachers than male teachers."

You have heard this or something similar? Probably, because there are a lot of such narratives in the field of education. But can they be scientifically proven or are they simply "education myths"?

Preview Picture All Bullshit Part 1

Psychologist Jana Asberger examined six educational myths for our research blog Wortmelder. Let's start with the statement: Good teaching should fit the individual learning style of the pupils

Many people believe that learning works especially well when the teaching fits the individual learning style of the learner. For example, a visual (by seeing), auditory (by hearing) or kinaesthetic (by doing) learning style.

That this is true is also believed by 64 percent of our fans on Instagram. And they are in good company. Even 90% of teachers (international survey 2020) say that students learn better when the teaching is adapted to their learning style. Yet this myth has already been disproved many times.

So what is the best way to learn?

In fact, people have individual preferences for the way they perceive information (modality). There is a big difference between these preferences and actual learning success. Learning processes usually require several channels of perception at the same time, i.e. learning for all people is always a complex process in which several senses are used (multimodal). However, the fact that learning styles are a myth does not mean that lessons should be designed in the same way for all pupils. Individualisation is part and parcel of good teaching, but the students' preference for a learning modality is less important for their learning success than other factors such as their individual prior knowledge of the subject matter or their personal motivation for a school subject.

to the blog post "Alles Blödsinn Teil 1" (german only)

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