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Brittany Mayes

Dr. Jan Rieman

Inquiry Paper

7 December 2010

Self-Assessment: This has been one of the most interesting and informative topics I have

researched. I was not sure if I would be able to find the information I needed, but I was

pleasantly surprised to discover an abundance of resources pertaining to this topic. I feel like

this is one of my better papers, but there is a lot that needs work. For instance, it seems that my

voice does not come out as much in the paper as I would have liked it to because of the

quotations. I also would have loved to have elaborated on both sides of the argument a little

more if I had the time and more resources. My peer workshop was very helpful because my

group was able to provide me with insightful advice and constructive criticism about what was

bad as well as what was good about my paper. Overall, even though I’m sure it could still use a

lot of work, I feel pretty good about this paper and I am fairly pleased with the completed

product.

Auditory, Visual, and Kinesthetic…Oh My!

Imagine you are sitting in a classroom, and you are trying to learn about a topic that holds

little to no appeal for you. Although it is difficult, you are focusing on the information that is

being taught and trying to retain it all, but how is it that you are remembering what you are

learning? Is the lecturer presenting a slideshow with pictures and diagrams that will be

preserved in your memory? Are you able to replay what the professor said, word for word, in
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your mind? Will you return to your organized and detailed notes? These few methods, among

several others, are commonly known as learning styles. It is thought by some that every person

has a different way of learning, but others would suggest that this idea of learning styles is more

of a theory.

This concept of learning styles is widely accepted by many people as truth. One of these

firm believers in the idea is Cynthia Ulrich Tobias, who is actually the founder and president of

Learning Styles Unlimited, Inc., which is a company that has made publications based on tests

performed using various methods of learning styles. In one of her books, entitled “Every Child

Can Succeed,” she claims that “when you need to remember information, you use at least three

basic modes: auditory (hearing), visual (seeing), and kinesthetic (moving). Although each of us

uses all three, we often benefit most when we’re employing our strongest method” (16). She

goes on to express that, while some may feel that a particular learning style is stronger for them

than the other methods are, not every person has an absolute most prominent mode of learning.

As expressed in a different book, “The Way They Learn,” she asserts that “most people find they

are strong in at least two of these modalities, and maybe even all three. No one is restricted to

just one modality strength!” (99). This suggests that everybody is different in their styles of

learning. There is not one set way to learn and remember information.

How would you discover what your learning style is, might you ask? Tobias

recommends for every person to “try out each approach until you find the one that fits. It may

even vary from day to day. The important thing is to find the method of remembering and

reviewing that works best for each individual” (99). She even goes so far as to provide a few

tried and true techniques that can be used to determine which type of learner you are. For

instance, “a more auditory learner may really thrive with verbal drill and repetition . . . a strongly
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visual [person] is almost always helped by visual aids such as flash cards, picture, and charts . . .

kinesthetic [people] will usually learn more by not always having to sit still” (“Every Child Can

Succeed” 16,17). There are many other ways that you can experiment with learning skills, but

these are just a few to put into practice. Test yourself by using each different method, and you

will eventually come across one or more that work well for you.

While many believe the popular notion that learning styles do exist, this theory is not for

everyone. Some believe that these particular learning methods- auditory, visual, and kinesthetic-

are not real. According to Cedar Riener and Daniel Willingham, both college professors of

psychology, “There is no credible evidence that learning styles exist” (33). These researchers are

among many others who question the credibility of this idea of various styles of learning.

However, they have formulated their own opinions on the matter, suggesting that “learners are

different from each other, these differences affect their performance, and teachers should take

these differences into account” (33). Although everyone learns at dissimilar paces and in unlike

ways, Riener and Willingham assert that set learning styles are far too broad and generalized to

place every person into a category. Rather, the teacher should take the diversities of students

learning styles, whether it is auditory, visual, or kinesthetic, into consideration and format the

curriculum and lesson plans accordingly.

Not only should teachers modify the way information is being presented to the students,

but there are other ways to determine the learning capabilities of individuals. One of these

tactics is to explore the student’s previous knowledge on a subject. Researcher Catherine Scott

writes in her article called “The Enduring Appeal of ‘Learning Styles’” in the Australian Journal

of Education that “the best predictor of what a student will learn is what he or she already knows,

not some aspect of his or her cognitive style or perceptual preference” (12). She is implying that
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what a person has the capacity to learn is solely determined by what the particular individual

already has previous knowledge of. The most effective way to evaluate a person’s learning

abilities is to ascertain the individual’s erstwhile knowledge on a particular topic before they

begin the learning process. This can be done through general testing of knowledge on a subject,

such as placement testing, to see how much you already know in order to figure out what more

you need to learn.

The belief in learning styles is a generally debated topic to which there is no definite

answer. Nonetheless, many have formed opinions on the idea, but there is not yet enough

indisputable evidence for one side of the argument or the other. After further looking into this

topic and researching extensively, I tend to agree with the latter stance that expresses the concept

of learning styles as a myth, and a person’s learning abilities are derived from previous

knowledge of a subject and chosen teaching methods. This newfound insight will help to

advance my capacity to learn in the future because I now know how to better prepare myself for

retaining new information, which will be to learn as much as I can about a certain subject before

it is taught to me so that I can better understand the information at hand. Now, you have a brand-

new education on the credibility of learning styles and practices you can try to develop your

learning abilities; the rest is up to you. What will you do with this information? Go out and

learn something!
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Works Cited

Riener, Cedar, and Daniel Willingham. “The Myth of Learning Styles.” Change: The Magazine

Of Higher Learning 42.5 (2010): 32-35. EBSCO: Academic Search Premier. Web. 23

Oct. 2010.

Scott, Catherine. “The Enduring Appeal of ‘Learning Styles.’” Australian Journal of Education

54.1 (2010): 5-17. EBSCO: Academic Search Premier. Web. 23 Oct. 2010.

Tobias, Cynthia Ulrich. Every Child Can Succeed. Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers, 1996.

Print.

Tobias, Cynthia Ulrich. The Way They Learn. Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers, 1994. Print.