I am a dyed-in-the-wool constructivist and I think the theory of "Learning Styles" as it's used today is rubbish. It's a mistake to think they're attached at the hip.
By "the theory of Learning Styles", I specifically mean the idea that some people are "auditory learners", "visual learners", "kinesthetic learners", etc. and that part of a teacher's job is to figure out which "learning style" best fits a given student and present them material in a manner consistent with that style.
I'll add that in the "literature" these things are called "learning modalities" and "learning style" refers to something else, but I've never heard someone use "learning style" and not mean learning modality.
It's also ironic that you use the phrase "constructivist ideals."
Constructivism has deep roots in the American philosophical tradition of Pragmatism[1]. C.S. Peirce coined the term "pragmatism" to contrast _specifically_ with the Kant's transcendental idealism. One of it's core epistemological tenets is that the only thing we can be sure of is that certainty is impossible.
In _The Quest for Certainty_[2], JohnDewey himself called out the "fallacy" of philosophers in taking abstract categories (e.g., "Visual Learners") for granted and not seeing them as conceptual tools invented to solve specific problems in a specific context.
Like you, I find it frustrating that many educational thinkers take these concepts for granted and deploy them in a classroom environment as if it would be absurd to ever do anything else. However, if you read any early Pragmatist thinkers like Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., C.S. Peirce, William James, or John Dewey, it's clear that rejection of this maneuver is one of the central themes in everything they write.
Perhaps I should clarify. I am not claiming that there is a superior educational philosophy. I am only claiming that in most modern educational institutions, constructivism is the practiced philosophy of education and is taught to all teachers. These institutes often also hold a belief in the idea of learning modalities and, contrary to the foundations of constructivism, preach these ideas quite blindly without regard to their flimsy evidence or poor performance when put into practice.
I was agreeing with you while simultaneously pointing out that you, like the folks you're criticizing, are conflating a constructivist model of learning with a handful of specific approach to teaching derived (mistakenly, IMO) from that model.
Just don't throw the constructivist baby out with the bathwater. :)
As a counterpoint, the Logo programming language[1] is an example of a well-executed pedagogical approach informed by constructivist thinking.
Yes, exactly. One can criticize a consequence of a thing without criticizing the thing itself. I did not actually criticize constructivism anywhere. One might criticize, for instance, certain aspects of US economic practice which are derived from capitalism without actually criticizing the economic theory of capitalism. It is possible (probable) that educational institutes, like governments, are merely misusing theory. I don't know why there needs to be any counterpoints, I did not criticize constructivism.
I am a dyed-in-the-wool constructivist and I think the theory of "Learning Styles" as it's used today is rubbish. It's a mistake to think they're attached at the hip.
By "the theory of Learning Styles", I specifically mean the idea that some people are "auditory learners", "visual learners", "kinesthetic learners", etc. and that part of a teacher's job is to figure out which "learning style" best fits a given student and present them material in a manner consistent with that style.
I'll add that in the "literature" these things are called "learning modalities" and "learning style" refers to something else, but I've never heard someone use "learning style" and not mean learning modality.
It's also ironic that you use the phrase "constructivist ideals."
Constructivism has deep roots in the American philosophical tradition of Pragmatism[1]. C.S. Peirce coined the term "pragmatism" to contrast _specifically_ with the Kant's transcendental idealism. One of it's core epistemological tenets is that the only thing we can be sure of is that certainty is impossible.
In _The Quest for Certainty_[2], JohnDewey himself called out the "fallacy" of philosophers in taking abstract categories (e.g., "Visual Learners") for granted and not seeing them as conceptual tools invented to solve specific problems in a specific context.
Like you, I find it frustrating that many educational thinkers take these concepts for granted and deploy them in a classroom environment as if it would be absurd to ever do anything else. However, if you read any early Pragmatist thinkers like Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., C.S. Peirce, William James, or John Dewey, it's clear that rejection of this maneuver is one of the central themes in everything they write.