Sankovich 1 Kyle Sankovich Professor Berry ENC 1102 18 March 2013 Framing Synthesis Each and every person

is unique in many ways, including the way they learn. Although no two people learn the exact same way, the can be grouped into a few general learning styles. The three main learning styles are auditory, visual and kinesthetic. However, there are some people that do not believe that learning styles exist or they say that they are useless when dealing with education (Felder and Spurlin). Our country is falling behind in education and this debate is one of many that are impeding the process of moving forward. There have been studies that prove that learning styles are key to the development as a person as a student and should be utilized in order to move forward. There is a relationship shown through the research that a student performs at higher standards when they are set up on an educational program tailored to their learning style. The research is the proof to show that the recognition of learning styles will improve the educational situation we are in. A couple of sources I analyzed told of how three main learning styles were determined. Others discussed studies conducted to determine whether or not teaching based on learning styles is effective. The articles were trying to reach out to educators and school boards in attempt to persuade them. Only two of the sources (Giuliani, Lafferty), disapproved of the concentration of learning styles while the others supported it. The supporters want to enhance education through the adoption of personalized plans based

Sankovich 2 on each students particular style of learning. With the rising criticism of the public education system in the U.S., this is a possible solution or at least part of it. Currently, students are not placed in classes based on the way they learn, they are randomly selected and placed in classes most of the time. This is not ideal because all students do not learn efficiently through the same style. Teachers Should guard against disproportionately teaching to one learning style over another. A process of adopting and adapting instructional techniques and strategies for all learning styles seem more appropriate (Threeton) .The students need to be separated by learning style so that their class is more tailored towards them. This would improve students performance that ultimately would improve the U.S.s standing educationally. The use of learning styles in education is not only about the students; the issue of teaching is also raised in a counterargument to learning styles. Teachers would have to adopt specific teaching styles so that they could efficiently teach their students (Lane). The matching of specific teaching styles to specific learning styles would bolster the efficiency of learning by the students and put the U.S. on the right track in terms of public education. However, there is not much information about the matching of the teaching and learning styles. This should be the future for research because it is what can convince the naysayers that the use of learning styles will work. Although learning styles provide many benefits to education, there are a couple of counterarguments that exploit the weakness of learning style integration. The main argument is that the cost of testing children and finding the appropriate teachers would be too high. The education system is always short on money currently and introducing learning styles would make the shortage even worse. The other argument is that it is wrong

Sankovich 3 to label students as specific type of learning style because some of them may learn through a combination of multiple styles. Both of these arguments are valid points, however, how can we put a price on the education of students? There are many government programs out there that are receiving way too much money that could be used for education purposes. Let us say there are 16 important learning styles and are measurable, then we measure how the student learns. A lot of teachers teach a topic one way and then another. This means that we have to create at least 32 lessons for each topic, one for saying it one way and one for saying it a different way (Lafferty). It will be impossible to match up each student perfectly to a teacher based on their learning style because that would mean that each student would need their own teacher. Students would be matched up as best as possible and after each year they would be reevaluated. Sometimes there is just not enough evidence for a policy to be made and that is the case for learning styles. In the future, as more is known, a greater acceptance of learning styles will come about. Once its benefits are more widely recognized, we should start to see integration of learning styles occur in schools around the U.S. Ultimately it will come down to the whether or not school boards and educators want to take the plunge into a new territory that although may be more expensive, will reap great results.

Sankovich 4 Works Cited

Felder, Richard M. and Joni Spurlin. Applications, reliability and validity of the index of learning styles. International Journal of Engineering Education 21.1 (2005): 103-112. Web. 19 Feb 2013. Hawk, Thomas F. and Amit J. Shah. Using learning style instruments to enhance student learning. Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education 5.1 (2007): 1-19.Web. 19 Feb 2013. Giuliani, Dr. Julie. "Eaching Style versus Learning Styles: Something You Should Know." Www.ion.illionois.edu. N.p., 2003. Web. 13 Mar. 2013. Karagiannidis, Charalampos and Demetrios Sampson. Adaptation rules relating learning styles research and learning objects meta-data. Workshop on Individual Differences in Adaptive Hypermedia. 3rd International Conference on Adaptive Hypermedia and Adaptive Web-based Systems (AH2004), Eindhoven, Netherlands. 2004. Web. 19 Feb 2013. Lafferty, Hugh, and Dr. Keith Burley. "Do Learning Styles Exist?" Do Learning Styles Exist? N.p., 2009. Web. 14 Mar. 2013. Lane, Carla. "Implementing Multiple Intelligences and Learning Styles in Distributed Learning/IMS Projects." Tecweb.org. N.p., 2000. Web. 14 Mar. 2013. Moseley, David and Elaine Hall, and Kathryn Ecclestone. Should we be using learning styles?: what research has to say to practice. Vols. LSRC reference. London: Learning & Skills Research Centre, 2004. Online. Internet. 19 Feb 2013.

Sankovich 5 Psaltou, Angeliki, and Zoe Kantaridou. "Major, Minor, and Negative Learning Style Preferences of University Students." Education Resources Information Center. Elsevier, Mar. 2011. Web. 10 Mar. 2013. The Ron Clark Story. Dir. Randa Haines. Perf. Matthew Perry. Johnson & Johnson. 2006. DVD. Threeton, Mark and Richard A. Walter. The Relationship Between Personality Type And Learning Style: A Study Of Automotive Technology Student Education Resources Information Center. 46.2. 2009. Online. 13 March 2013.