There’s No Such Thing as a Visual Learner
Why is educational theory stuck in the stone age?
During my education classes, we were tasked with presenting a lesson plan based on different learning styles.
“I’m an olfactory learner,” I declared, “I need to you design a Calculus curriculum based entirely on smell.”
The class looked at me like I was insane.
“There’s no such thing as an olfactory learner!” They said.
“Not in Fleming’s VARK model,” I said, “but if visual learning exists, so must olfactory learning. Smell is critical in Chemistry for differentiating between certain compounds and elements, smell is also important in baking so you can tell if something is burning.”
As per usual, the teacher dismissed me and moved on with her class.
Was I being sarcastic and disrespectful? You bet. But at the same time, my comments contained a valid point worthy of debate. At some point, all educators should ask themselves whether there is any value in studying the various currently accepted learning models, or if we should recognize that they don’t provide us with meaningful information.
