Do not pick a study method by "I am a visual learner, he is an auditory learner"

Many people believe everyone has a learning style, such as visual or auditory, and that teaching to the style makes learning better. Careful tests of this claim are few; almost none support it, and a few go the other way. People do have preferences, but there is no evidence that teaching to the preference makes learning better, so do not pay for style assessments.

Cost

No money. You simply stop picking materials and courses by this label, and stop paying for style assessments.

Benefit

A review commissioned to assess evidence on learning styles states: to show that "teaching by learning style" works, students must first be grouped by style, then each group randomly assigned to different teaching methods. The same test must be used at the end. The criterion of success is a specific interaction: the method that works best for one style is not the best for another. The review's conclusion is that almost no such interaction was found. There is a large literature on learning styles, but very few studies use an adequate experimental design, and several of those go directly against the "matching hypothesis." The authors therefore hold that current evidence is not enough to put learning-style assessment into education practice.

Notes

The review also says this does not mean every version of learning-style theory has been tested and rejected; many have never been tested. What to avoid is paying for style assessments and picking training courses by style. Criteria for picking training are in item 9 (prefer government-subsidized training channels) and item 13 (prefer short courses that lead straight to a job).

Sources · 1

1. Pashler H, McDaniel M, Rohrer D, Bjork R (2008). Learning Styles: Concepts and Evidence. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 9(3), 105–119. doi.org/10.1111/j.1539-6053.2009.01038.x