O mito do ensino por estilos de aprendizagem: qual a perceção de diferentes profissionais em contexto escolar?

Abstract

The learning styles theory is spread across the education field, despite previous research, especially from cognitive neuroscience, that concluded the lack of empirical support in its use in teaching. In this study, we used a survey to analyse the perception of learning styles in different professionals working in the Portuguese educational system. We recruited 136 participants, between the ages of 22 and 68 years (M=38,5 years; SD=10,51), 95% of them were female. The average of working experience it is 13.8 years (SD= 9.15). We analysed the answers of three groups of professional from different specializations, Teachers (n=42), Psychologists (n=44) and Speech-Language Pathologists (n=50) and no differences were found in their answers since all the groups scored above 80% as they classified as fact the benefits of teaching by learning styles. Our empirical data stand aligned with the scientific literature, suggesting that the learning styles myth is widely present in the school setting, affecting other professions beyond teachers. With this undistinguishable knowledge despite specialization, we discuss this bias's probable impact in the educational contexts.