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Drawing on prior and updated research, it argues that learning-styles theories do not provide cognitive advantages in practice, even when learners report preferences such as visualizing with pictures. It contrasts styles as processing venues with abilities as compatible mental capacities, highlighting how evidence weighs against classroom use of learning-styles approaches.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/","Research & Report",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/ask-the-cognitive-scientist-does-tailoring-instruction-to-learning-styles-help-students-learn/591598/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/ask-the-cognitive-scientist-does-tailoring-instruction-to-learning-styles-help-students-learn/591598.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"supergirl","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-31","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",8,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"What does the article say about tailoring instruction to learning styles?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"Research confirms that using learning-styles theories in the classroom does not bring an advantage to students.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"What “new twist” does the article mention regarding learning styles?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"People act on their claimed learning preferences (e.g., visual learners thinking in pictures), but doing so still does not confer cognitive advantage.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"How does the article distinguish learning styles from learning abilities?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"It treats styles as venues for processing (a way of thinking an individual favors), while abilities involve mental capacities that are not interchangeable across domains.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},591598,1792211242,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,88,92,96,101,106,111,114,119,122,126],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":85,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":89,"show_sort_weight":90,"slug":91},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":93,"show_sort_weight":94,"slug":95},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":97,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":98,"show_sort_weight":99,"slug":100},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":102,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":103,"show_sort_weight":104,"slug":105},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":107,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":108,"show_sort_weight":109,"slug":110},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":55,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},30,"research-report",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":121},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":123,"slug":125},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":97,"slug":129},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":131},{"doc_id":79,"user_id":132,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":55,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":102,"language":139,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":143,"read_time":144,"preview_page_count":4},962088121634,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_9964176cb1d06d4a9deccf72a44ae3dc","ASK THE COGNITIVE SCIENTIST  \nDoes Tailoring Instruction to“Learning Styles” Help Students Learn?  \nILLUSTRAT IONS BY JAMES YANG  \nHow does the mind work—and especially how does it learn? Teachers’ instructional decisions are based on a mix of theories learned in teacher education, trial and error, craft knowledge, and gut instinct. Such knowledge often serves us well, but is there anything sturdier to rely on?  \nCognitive science is an interdisciplinaryfield of researchers from psychology, neuroscience, linguistics, philosophy, computer science, and anthropology who seek to understand the mind. In this regular American Educator column, we consider findings from this field that are strong and clear enough to merit classroom application.  \nDaniel T. Willingham is a professor of cognitive psychology at the University of Virginia. He is the author of When Can You Trust the Experts? How to Tell Good Science from Bad in Education and Why Don’t Students Like School? His most recent book is Raising Kids Who Read: What Parents and Teachers Can Do. For his articles on education, go to www. [danielwillingham.com. Readers can pose questions to](danielwillingham.com. Readers can pose questions to) “Ask the Cognitive Scientist” by sending an email [to ae@aft.org. Future columns will](to ae@aft.org. Future columns will) try to address readers’ questions.  \nBy Daniel T. Willingham  \nQuestion: In 2005, you wrote that there was no evidence supporting theories that distinguish between visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners.* I still attend professional development sessions that feature learning-styles theories, and newer teachers tell me these theories are part of teacher education. Is there any update on this issue? Answer: Research has confirmed the basic summary I offered in 2005; using learning-styles theories in the classroom does not bring an advantage to students. But there is one new twist. Researchers have long known that people claim to have learning preferences—they’ll say,“I’m a visual learner” or “I like to think in words.” There’s increasing evidence that people act on those beliefs; if given the chance, the visualizer will think in pictures rather than words. But doing so confers no cognitive advantage.  \n*To read my Summer 2005 column,“Do Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic Learners Need Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic Instruction?,” in American Educator, see www. [aft.org/ae/summer2005/willingham](aft.org/ae/summer2005/willingham).  \n28 AMERICAN EDUCATOR | SUMMER 2018  \nPeople believe they have learning styles, and they try to think in their preferred style, but doing so doesn’t help them think.  \n“ability” to refer to the same thing.  \nThe critical difference between styles and abilities lies in the idea of style as a venue for processing, a way of thinking that an indi-  \nDifferent children learn differently. This observation vidual favors. Theories that address abilities hold that abilities are  \nseems self-evident and, just as obviously, poses a not interchangeable; I can’tuse a mental strength (e.g., my excellent  \nproblem for teachers: How are they supposed to plan visual memory) to make up for a mental weakness (e.g., my poor  \nlessons that reach all of these different learners? The verbal memory). The independence of abilities shows us why psyjob might be easier if the differences were predictable or consis- chologist Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences is not tent. Ifa teacher knew that, of the 25 students in her class, 12 learn a theory of learning styles.7 Far from suggesting that abilities are this way and 13 learn that way, she could plan accordingly. She exchangeable, Gardner explicitly posits that different abilities use could teach this way and that way to separate groups of students, different “codes” in the brain and therefore are incompatible. You or she could be sure to include some of this and that into whole- can’t use the musical code to solve math problems, for example. class lesson pla","cbCaithYxoqN5yTl","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaithYxoqN5yTl","pdf",270552,"English","# Ask the Cognitive Scientist: Does Tailoring Instruction to Learning Styles Help Students Learn?\n## Origins and scope of the cognitive-science perspective\n## What research says about learning-styles theories\n## Styles vs. abilities in learning and instruction","[{\"question\":\"What does the article say about tailoring instruction to learning styles?\",\"answer\":\"Research confirms that using learning-styles theories in the classroom does not bring an advantage to students.\"},{\"question\":\"What “new twist” does the article mention regarding learning styles?\",\"answer\":\"People act on their claimed learning preferences (e.g., visual learners thinking in pictures), but doing so still does not confer cognitive advantage.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the article distinguish learning styles from learning abilities?\",\"answer\":\"It treats styles as venues for processing (a way of thinking an individual favors), while abilities involve mental capacities that are not interchangeable across domains.\"}]","ASK THE COGNITIVE SCIENTIST - Does Tailoring Instruction to Learning Styles Help Students Learn? | PDF",1792072802,15]