Learning Styles Research Bibliography

There are many, many articles, both in popular media and in scholarly media that provide countless debunking conclusions for learning styles as an effective conduit for improving learning outcomes. One very important thing to remember is few, if any, attack the notion that individual differences and preferences exist, but rather there is indeed little to no evidence they help learners learn better.

Below are just a few. Both popular (with many links embedded to the scholarly) and scholarly. I am not posting any research showing an impact because those I found lack replicability, objectivity (meaning no investment in the outcome), and frankly, results.

But you can do your own search on Google Scholar, or any other platform, and see for yourself. Or, you can just look at these listed below.

  1. Evidence-Based Higher Education- Is the Learning Styles “Myth” Important?

  2. Center for Teaching and Learning

  3. Belief in Learning Styles Myth May Be Detrimental

  4. In Learning Styles Debate, It’s Instructors vs. Psychologists

  5. The Problem With Learning Styles

  6. The Myth of ‘Learning Styles’

Thanks to our friend, Blair Kettle, for curating the following list.

Learning Styles: Concepts and Evidence. Psychological Science in the Public Interest
Harold Pashler, Mark McDaniel, Doug Rohrer, and Robert Bjork (2008)
https://lnkd.in/dawHKXBC

The Scientific Status of Learning Styles Theories. Teaching of Psychology
Daniel T. Willingham, Elizabeth M. Hughes, and David G. Doboly (2015)
https://lnkd.in/d2U_smT3

Stop propagating the learning styles myth. Computers and Education
Paul Kirschner (2017).
https://lnkd.in/dE7jejvJ

The Myth of Learning Styles. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning
Cedar Reiner and Daniel Willingham (2010).
https://lnkd.in/d4sBvZn9

Belief in Learning Styles Myth May Be Detrimental (2019)
American Psychological Association
https://lnkd.in/d2AGtwKe

Maybe They’re Born With It, or Maybe It’s Experience: Toward a Deeper Understanding of the Learning Style Myth. Journal of Educational Psychology
Shaylene E. Nancekivell, Priti Shah, and Susan A. Gelman (2020)
https://lnkd.in/d-h5xRtd

And, I know I said I wasn’t going to share anything supporting of Learning Styles... but here is an excellently written article that completely misunderstands and misreads the research debunking the concept. It’s a good example of why Learning Styles May still be pervasive among instructors.

  1. Stop Saying Learning Styles Don’t Work