The notion that people have their own ‘learning styles’ is intuitive for many, and it is an idea that has taken hold among educators. In particular, the popular ‘VARK’ model proposes four distinct sensory learning styles: visual, auditory, reading and writing, and kinaesthetic (or ‘hands-on’). But is there any evidence that tailoring lessons to these preferences actually improves learning outcomes?
In this video from the YouTube channel Veritasium, the physicist and science communicator Derek Muller examines this assumption by exploring peer-reviewed research alongside his own, admittedly unscientific, street experiment. With context and insight from Daniel Willingham, a professor of psychology at the University of Virginia, Muller outlines why the ‘learning styles’ theory has persisted despite a lack of empirical support, and what research really suggests about how we best absorb knowledge.
