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I agree and, aside from the need to do good research, I would add that
we need good design experiments. Knowing how the brain works doesn't
tell us how to design learning environments, to which people bring
hugely complex histories. On the "practice" side I've heard educators
abdicate responsibility because a child might be "wired" a certain way
or because it's "biology" and we can't change that.
Laura W. Martin, Ph.D.
Senior Director of Educational Services
Arizona Science Center
600 E. Washington Street
Phoenix, AZ 85004
(602) 253-4219 x 225
Fax: (602) 253-4166
-----Original Message-----
From: Informal Science Education Network
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Stephen Uzzo
Sent: Tuesday, August 30, 2011 9:34 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: The Unlikeliness of Auditory or Visual Learners
ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology
Centers Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
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*****
This is interesting and I think brings up a much bigger point than
dwelling on the specifics of whether Learning Style Theory is real or
not. It brings up, instead the fact that we have a fairly simplistic
notion of what learning really is or how it works. The brain is still a
series of black boxes and we have been very good at trying to
characterize them, but still do not even know what aspects of these
modules we don't understand, so we study what goes in and what comes out
and make do.
Another problem is that there is a tendency to be simplistic about how
to apply any knowledge we have gained to learning practice. The
theorists put studies out there, then the practitioners come up with
their own ideas as to how they can apply to practice, hence playing
Mozart in the hallways to improve intelligence. A similar problem exists
with the senses and how they connect to memory and how ideas
interconnect to result in judgement and intelligence (whatever that is).
Clearly the tail is wagging the dog and has been since we first thought
about thought. What is needed is a kind of "middleware" or research
whose specific task is to take the research, translate it into broader
practice and assess its validity in a variety of field conditions. Then
take the valid ideas and disseminate, and toss the chimerae into the
trash. This weeding process (longitudinal research) is direly needed
and has been an impediment to having lots of sound research either be
misapplied or not applied to practice at all. Of course all this takes
is money for "middleware projects" (likely more than for research and
lots of will [and maybe crack open a whopping can of postdoc and grad
students on the problem too]}. We love simplistic solutions that don't
cost a lot. But that is not how the brain works. It is a dark and messy
place and we need to be prepared for messy and complicated solutions. We
also love to be simplistic about dismissing theories that are ambiguous
or we have problems with. Rather than just dismissing or disproving
multiple intelligences, perhaps we should be developing ways to see what
really happens between the senses, memory, emotion, and the way these
memories really interconnect and are processed. I know we have a long
way to go, but we have always known that the wild frontier of science in
the 21st century was going to the human brain and the living cell so
here we are looking at bakers yeast and the brains of golden nematodes
and being very impressed. Hey, its a start.
Stephen Miles Uzzo, PhD.
VP, Science & Technology
New York Hall of Science
47-01 111th Street
Flushing Meadows Corona Park, NY 11368 USA V +1.718 595.9177 F
+1.718.699.5227
On Aug 29, 2011, at 11:37 AM, Charles Carlson wrote:
> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology
> Centers Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and
related institutions.
> **********************************************************************
> *******
>
> There's a really interesting news story on NPR this morning, and it
> certainly caught my attention. The research papers themselves are
> certainly worth a read (see last link)
>
> http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2011/08/29/139973743/think-youre-an-au
> ditory-or-visual-learner-scientists-say-its-unlikely
>
> which traces it's origins to here:
>
> http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/news/releases/learning-s
> tyles-debunked-there-is-no-evidence-supporting-auditory-and-visual-lea
> rning-psychologists-say.html
>
> which one of the researchers has kindly posted here:
>
> http://uweb.cas.usf.edu/~drohrer/pubs.htm
>
> Pashler, H., McDaniel, M., Rohrer, D., & Bjork, R. (2009). Learning
> styles: Concepts and evidence. Psychological Science in the Public
> Interest, 9, 105-119. PDF
>
> It always useful to remember that peer-reviewed doesn't mean right, it
means conforming to agreed upon scientific practices and reflecting the
best scholarly research.
>
> Enjoy,
> C
>
> The opinions and thoughts expressed here are my own and should in no
way be construed or attributed to the Exploratorium or related
organization, and do not represent an institutional position.
> Charles Carlson
> Senior Scientist
> exploratorium
> 3601 Lyon St.
> San Francisco, CA 94123
> [log in to unmask]
> Tel: 415-561-0319
> Fax: 415-561-0370
> http://blogs.exploratorium.edu/whyintercept/
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> **********************************************************************
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