What is a learning style?

In order to discuss my views on learning styles, it seems like it would be best to start with a simple question. What is a learning style?


In short, a learning style refers to how people learn. This leads to a more fundamental question. What is learning? Before I go any further, let me ask you some questions?

Do people learn how to walk? Do people learn how to talk? Do people learn how to read? Do people learn how to write? Do people learn the alphabet? Do people learn their multiplication tables? Do people learn mathematical formulas? Do people learn state capitals?

Most people that I have encountered would have answered yes to all eight of the questions that I just asked. This is because most people lump all forms of mental development together as learning. If you look again, you will find that I included two broad but vastly different concepts. The first four questions reflected the development of skills and abilities. The last four asked about memorization.

Personally, I don't like lumping these concepts together. We don't treat strength training as the same concept as running. There's no need to lump physical concepts together, and there's no need on the mental side of the spectrum.

We all know what memorization is. I see no reason to refer to memorization as a form of learning. By contrast, we really don't have another term for the development of skills and abilities. That is the type of mental development that I am discussing when I talk or write about learning.

Even if you like lumping different forms of mental development together as learning, there can be serious implications when discussing learning styles. How someone develops skills and abilities is insufficient to establish how someone memorizes information. Similarly, how someone memorizes information is insufficient to establish how someone develops skills and abilities.

This is the biggest issue that I have had with teachers' interpretations of learning styles. If they feel that they have figured out how students perform any form of learning, that they have established a learning style. They apply their understanding of learning styles broadly. This results in developing tools for one type of mental development that are inappropriately used for very different types of mental development.