I’m willing to bet that if we asked biology majors around the country what was the one thing they couldn’t live without, caffeine would be at the top of the list, with the library being a close second. The majority of us science majors tend to think we have a pretty good idea of how to study and ace an exam. The truth is that the majority of students believe the lie that they are a specific type of learner and that outside of that style of learning they cannot retain information. Here’s the classic example, you believe you’re a visual learner and that in order to learn you must watch videos or look at pictures and diagrams. Your professor doesn’t use a lot of visualizations in class and you don’t like reading because “you don’t learn by reading the book”. At this point, you classify the professor as terrible and search for YouTube videos all night before the exam to try and understand the concepts being taught in class. On the day of the exam you word vomit all over the exam, hopefully get a passing grade, and after the cumulative final at the end of the semester forget everything you were tested on and hope to never see that professor again. Why don’t we remember what we were tested on? Why is it that we pass classes in the Fall and by the beginning of the Spring semester we even forget what classes we took in the Fall?

The majority of us consider ourselves a particular type of learner (i.e. visual, auditory, kinesthetic). In fact, we are so convinced that we learn best or can only learn in a particular way that we often miss out on all of the knowledge that our current classes have to offer. If you wanted to teach a 5 year old what an apple was you could verbally describe an apple to him. You could also show him a picture of an apple, let him hold an apple in his hands and let him smell and taste the apple. But, let’s say he is a “visual learner”. If you were to only show him a picture of an apple he wouldn’t know what it tasted like or what it felt like. Would he have a better understanding of what an apple was if he tasted, touched, smelled and saw the apple or if he were to only see a picture of it? Like the 5 year old with only a picture of an apple, we often look at topics in biology in only one dimension because we are convinced that we only learn one way. We will memorize what a cell in anaphase looks like for an exam but after the semester is over we can’t remember how many chromosomes are in the cell during anaphase, what phase of the cell cycle comes after it or let alone what a sister chromatid is. You end up with only enough information to pick out the right multiple-choice answer on the exam but not with a foundation what anaphase really is. You can briefly memorize but you don’t recall anything later on, this is the result of sticking to your “learning style”. Plus, what if there aren’t any pictures to answer questions about on your exam? How would you answer the application and analysis-based questions on the topic?

One of the major problems that we are currently faced with is that students who received an A in Biology 1 in college fail or score poorly in the Biology section of exams like the MCAT. Students are not doing well in these types of standardized exams because they are being asked questions that approach simple biological topics from non-traditional angles. On the MCAT it is no longer labeling which picture represents anaphase, it’s analyzing the effects of a certain mutation on a cell and being able to come to the conclusion that anaphase must have been effected by the mutation. On the MCAT, DAT or GRE the “visual learners” are out of luck because the majority of questions are passages, not pictures. The “kinesthetic leaners” are going bananas because they can’t make models of anything. The “auditory learners” are confused because they are used to someone explaining things to them not understanding it by reading on their own.

Okay, so learning styles don’t really exist and end up causing us more trouble in the long run, now how can you apply this as a PLTL leader? The blind can’t lead the blind and if you only know what the diagram in your peer’s textbook looks like you will leave your peers with unanswered questions and misconceptions. In a field as multidimensional as biology, we, as PLTL leaders, should be able to answer questions about a concept like the cell cycle in multiple ways and from opposing angles. An easy way to break your “visual learners” out of their picturesque bubble is to have your peers answer their workshop questions without looking at any pictures or diagrams in their textbooks. Another way to debunk the learning myths in your PLTL sessions is to challenge your peers to apply each concept they learn to the five senses. It might be a little tricky for them to explain the cell cycle through smell but thinking outside the box is good for learning purposes. Finally, the easiest and simplest way you as a PLTL leader can help your peers get out of their “learning style” box is to ask the right questions! After a student answers a question from the worksheet, ask a related but more thought provoking question out loud to the class. These questions should be related to the topic and allow for students to think beyond the question on their papers or the answers in their textbooks.

What arguments do you have to support or dispute the learning styles myths?

         Gretell Gomez
Biological Sciences
Florida International University
Miami, FL, USA