Poster #29 - Using Neuroscience to Resolve Persistent Problems in Learning Styles Research That Reinforce Inequality

• In Event: 64.090 - MTCC Poster Session 15
  In Poster Session: 64.090-4 - Brain, Neuroscience, and Education: Emotion, Music, Learning Styles, and Special Education

Abstract

Much has been written regarding the varied ways people think and learn with the goal of matching teaching styles to various student modalities in order improve educational opportunities. The field, however, is accused of reinforcing the ethnic and gender disparities in education they were meant to resolve and faces criticism regarding inconsistent empirical studies and definitional confusion. I propose a theoretical and methodological shift in the research using fundamental neuroscientific processes, revealing styles as malleable habits rather than fixed traits. Conducting learning style research using the neuroscience behind the concepts of habit and habit formation addresses the criticisms and suggests new research programs to improve equitable, educational opportunities to diverse publics.

Author

• Alan Curtiss Weissenbacher, Graduate Theological Union