{"title":"Beware the myth: learning styles affect parents', children's, and teachers' thinking about children's academic potential.","authors":"Xin Sun, Owen Norton, Shaylene E Nancekivell","doi":"10.1038/s41539-023-00190-x","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Three experiments examine how providing learning style information (a student learns hands-on or visually) might influence thinking about that student's academic potential. Samples were American and predominately white and middle-class. In Experiment 1, parents (N = 94) and children (N = 73, 6-12 years) judged students who learn visually as more intelligent than hands-on learners. Experiment 2 replicated this pattern with parents and teachers (N = 172). In Experiment 3 (pre-registered), parents and teachers (N = 200) predicted that visual learners are more skilled than hands-on learners at \"core\" school subjects (math/language/social sciences, except science), whereas, hands-on learners were skilled at non-core subjects (gym/music/art). Together, these studies show that learning style descriptions, resultant of a myth, impact thinking about children's intellectual aptitudes.</p>","PeriodicalId":48503,"journal":{"name":"npj Science of Learning","volume":"8 1","pages":"46"},"PeriodicalIF":3.6000,"publicationDate":"2023-10-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10582039/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"npj Science of Learning","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-023-00190-x","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Three experiments examine how providing learning style information (a student learns hands-on or visually) might influence thinking about that student's academic potential. Samples were American and predominately white and middle-class. In Experiment 1, parents (N = 94) and children (N = 73, 6-12 years) judged students who learn visually as more intelligent than hands-on learners. Experiment 2 replicated this pattern with parents and teachers (N = 172). In Experiment 3 (pre-registered), parents and teachers (N = 200) predicted that visual learners are more skilled than hands-on learners at "core" school subjects (math/language/social sciences, except science), whereas, hands-on learners were skilled at non-core subjects (gym/music/art). Together, these studies show that learning style descriptions, resultant of a myth, impact thinking about children's intellectual aptitudes.