Misconception #115: If you can establish how someone learns, you can apply that to all forms of learning

Over the years, I have been writing about misconceptions regarding the schooling process. The purpose of these posts is to explain why I disagree with various comments that I have heard people make about schooling. These are meant as personal thoughts rather than conclusive proof, and I will admit that I'm not always the best at explaining my thoughts. Regardless, I have decided that I should be willing to share these posts when I encounter someone online who makes an argument that I have already discussed.

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When I was in school, my teachers embraced the idea that some students remember things better if they hear it. Others remember things better if they see it. This was supposed to mean that we learn through sight and sound, therefore we should take these learning styles into consideration when students are expected to learn.

There's actually quite a bit wrong with this viewpoint. I could explain why I don't agree that memorizing is a matter of sight versus sound, but I want to attack the bigger issue. I have mentioned this before. We define learning far too broadly.

We learn to walk. We learn to talk. We learn the alphabet. We learn the multiplication tables. If you know me, you know this drives me nuts. The first two refer to the development of skills and abilities. The other two refer to memorization.

Memorization is not closely related to the development of skills and abilities. Both are mental, but that's the extent of the overlap. What works best for one should not be assumed to work best for the other.

When it comes to the idea of learning through sight and sound, we are talking about retention. In other words, sight and sound are viewed as tools for memorization. A lot of teachers fail to differentiate between the different concepts that we lump together as learning. Those who embrace these learning styles think that because they relate to learning in one sense, it can be applied to learning in a drastically different sense.

When we were supposed to be developing skills and abilities, my teachers tried to utilize learning styles. It never occurred to them that methods built around memorization were not valid for the development of skills and abilities. Not surprisingly, these methods were consistently ineffective.

Even as evidence has emerged against learning through sight and sound, a lot of teachers are maintaining this mentality. They try to establish what works best for retention. Then, they try to apply what they know about retention to the development of skills and abilities. Predictably, they fail every single time that they make this mistake.