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modelviewpotato | 4 years ago

I've seen somewhere that "everyone learns differently" might not actually be true.

I found this video from Veritasium that explains it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhgwIhB58PA

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phkahler|4 years ago

>> I've seen somewhere that "everyone learns differently" might not actually be true.

Even if we assume that people all learn the same way, good learning integrates new facts or concepts into ones pre-existing mental model of the world. Not everyone has the same mental model - of this I am certain. Sometimes new information just hangs on the existing model, and sometimes the existing model needs to be updated. This can make the process seem like everyone learns differently, since different explanations can make more or less sense depending what's already in their head.

On top of that, I think some people have (maybe inherently) very different abilities in things like visualization, memorization, vocabulary, etc... So yeah, I think everyone learns differently even if at some neuronal level it's all the same.

NineStarPoint|4 years ago

This is saying that VARK method of describing learning styles is incorrect. This does not necessarily mean that there aren't differences in what are the best method's for different people learn. One issue with VARK is that it involves self-identification, as was the case in all studies mentioned in the video. There's no reason to assume that the way people prefer to learn is actually the best way for them to learn, it may be that people choose what seems right to them rather than what actually is. Another issue is, as is mentioned in the video, the domain you are studying also has an affect and multi-modal approaches are most useful. Whether learning styles exist or not, some information intrinsically is better presented as a diagram than a wall of text. And no matter if some people learn better in certain ways, it seem universally true that people learn better if information is presented to them in multiple forms instead of just one.

Which is all interesting, but mostly just disproves VARK and similar approaches to describing differences in how people learn. There are still so many different ways to teach someone something, they're just much more holistic ways of teaching than the simple VARK split. That some people learn better from X course of teaching and others learn better from Y course of teaching still seems likely to me(admittedly, just pulling from personal experience and the anecdotes of others on that ). That we don't have a neat way to categorize that might just mean it's too messy to do so, or could mean we just haven't figured out the right way to look at it yet.