Urban Legends
in Education

Digital Natives

Use of electronics
does not equate to
"skill" in constructing
meaningful knowledge.

Generations who
grew up with
electronics are
also not good at
multitasking

Self-Educators
(on the internet)

The half-life
of knowledge
theory discounts
the relevance of
"old" knowledge.

Learning Styles

Learning Styles are
self-reported and
catering to a
learner's preferred
style may not "be
good for them"

Cognitive ability
or "the capacity
for success in
certain types of
thought" may be
influencing the
self-reporting.

Learning styles
studies have not
shown that better
or more learning
has occurred when
the learners
preferred style
is employed.

"Children are
more alike than
different in terms
of how they think
and learn."

"Claim 3: Many or even
all of the intelligences
should be used as conduits
when presenting new material.
That way each student will
experience the material via
his or her best intelligence,
and thus each student's
understanding will be maximized."

"Gardner disavows this idea
and he is right to do so.
Mathematical concepts have
to be learned mathematically"

TAKE AWAY:
Creating lessons
in the 8 learning
styles does not
seem to be a good
return on time
investment.

Apply learning
styles to content
rather than to
students.

LEGEND:
Black = Kirschner & van Merrienboer
Purple = Willingham
Green = My thoughts