Learning Styles

There's only one that really works

Most students I've worked with are ready to learn as best they can. Some, however, harbor presumptions about how they need to learn, and there are always a few who are quite direct about their particular learning style. They may even specify certain kinds of communications, materials, or approaches that they require. Interestingly, this is not related to age. I’ve come across this attitude in students who are middle-aged and retired, but also in those who are younger. Some kids may feel the same way but don’t usually have the confidence to make demands; that usually happens at college-age and older. I remember one woman stating flatly, "I'm 31, and I can't change now!"

To be fair, most students don’t limit themselves with notions about their own learning styles. But writers, researchers, journalists, and motivational speakers are certainly game to get everyone on the learning-style train.

Some experts specify as few as three learning styles, such as Auditory, Visual, and Kinaesthetic/Physical. One suggested a split among those who need to Step, Talk, Research, or Create. Other experts are quite sure there are as many as eight discernible styles, and they’re pretty interesting, so I’ll spell them out below.

To me, exploring these styles can give people useful and exciting new ideas about ways to learn. But this optimistic take on the subject seems to run contrary to the usual presumption that I’ve run across, which is that each person has a “natural” learning style that they must follow if they are to learn well. Too often these days, it seems that people feel a need to self-diagnose, whether to treat symptoms described in an ad for drugs, or to label themselves as ADHD, or as a victim of a mental condition, or to settle on some sort of identity… or to fit themselves into a learning style.

Are There Learning Styles?

In a 2015 study entitled The Scientific Status of Learning Styles Theories, Daniel Willingham et al. acknowledge that "there is reason to think that people view learning styles theories as broadly accurate" -- in other words, yes, people believe in learning styles. But the study concludes: "In fact, scientific support for these theories is lacking." When tested, scientists have found that people learn just as well in a different learning style than the one they think they belong to. The study goes on to indicate that maybe teachers should stop worrying about learning styles: “We suggest that educators’ time and energy are better spent on other theories that might aid instruction.”

Maybe we can view learning styles as a menu of opportunities, rather than as a way to compartmentalize students. The way I see it, studying about learning styles can only open up new options. If you find yourself stuck being a “visual learner,” this doesn’t mean you require sheet music and a textbook in order to learn. It just means you’re used to that style. You might even be in a rut. If you try other styles, you may actually learn even better, or at the very least, have a bit of fun and enjoy the process.

In the book Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning, Brown, Roediger and McDaniel point out that repetitive learning fatigues the brain, whereas game-based or varied ways of learning keep the brain entertained, interested, and learning better. Stepping out of one’s comfort zone appears to be the moment when people learn the fastest and the most. In fact, the authors found that it’s ideal to almost learn a skill (or topic or piece of music) and then move on to something new for a bit. When returning to review the first skill, the effort to recover and firm up what the student had been working on results in faster and more permanent learning of the material.

I enjoy using this idea when teaching tunes. Instead of waiting for students to master a tune, we’ll spend some time on it, but without worrying about getting it all down, we move ahead to try a new tune as well. This allows me to point out similarities and differences between the two tunes, and when we return to work again on the first tune, the student comes back to it with a broader perspective, more confidence, and a chance to firm up the tune.

The Make It Stick book also argues, based on years of cognitive research, that learners appear to be the worst judges of their own progress!

One reason for this is that many students have priorities that are not the most useful for learning a skill. This should not be surprising, since they are learning something new and don’t yet know what’s most important. For example, I’ve worked with students who are obsessed with intonation, not realizing that playing in time is far more important for getting a grip on the music and on the instrument. I will give them great praise if they can play a whole phrase of music in time, instead of stopping to fix a mistake every third note. But they may well give me the side eye, as if I must be deaf for not hearing all the out-of-tune notes! What’s often happening there is that the student may be looking for an end result rather than recognizing that they are building a strong foundation. This is the type of understanding that a good teacher can impart.

If you find yourself gravitating to a particular style of learning, by all means make use of it, but also try some others. The more ways you approach a problem, the better you’ll learn the skill. It can’t hurt to examine some of the various styles the experts have come up with. For example the eight-style scheme I mentioned earlier includes Verbal, Visual, Musical/Auditory, Physical/Kinaesthetic, Logical/Mathematical, Social, Solitary, and "Combination.” (I like the "combination," that's a nice hedge!) Trying an approach you’re not used to, or haven’t thought of, can open up new ideas and results.

The Learning Style that Really Works

In my decades of teaching, though, whether in private lessons, workshops, or classrooms, I’ve noticed that only one learning style really works for everyone.

This learning style requires two elements: Curiosity, and a willingness to try.

Curiosity is the internal motivation for all learning and problem solving. A willingness to try creates eternal hope, and rewarding results.

When a 72-year-old beginner revealed to me that he had given himself two years to get good at the violin, I was inspired to come up with this saying: “Don’t get good, just get better.”

Being “good” at something is usually in the eye or ear of the beholder. But with curiosity and a willingness to try, you’ll always get better!