You Are Not a Kinesthetic Learner: The Troubled History of the Learning Style Idea

A compelling history of the learning style concept and how it was shaped by shifting ideas in psychology, anthropology, and education.

The widely embraced notion that we all process information in one of three distinct modes--visual, auditory, or kinesthetic--has informed educational practices for decades. In recent years, however, numerous studies have questioned the effectiveness of aligning instruction with the alleged learning styles of individual students. So, why is it still commonplace in the literature on beneficial teaching at all levels of education?

In You Are Not a Kinesthetic Learner: The Troubled History of a Dangerous Idea, historian Thomas Fallace traces the origins, evolution, and history of the learning style idea, demonstrating its relationship to a legacy of unequal education for children of color. Fallace argues that the research supporting the learning style idea was problematic from its inception in the 1910s and that it was used to label and justify a diminished curriculum for many Black and Latine students, whose cultural differences were perceived as weaknesses. In recent years, numerous empirical studies have not found the approach to be effective. This fascinating history clearly shows the danger of sorting and labeling students with permanent style identities and makes a strong case for removing learning styles as the basis for any educators’ instructional toolkit.

The first book-length history of learning styles, You Are Not a Kinesthetic Learner encourages us all to consider the research, be open to future developments and updates, and question even our most intuitive assumptions.

Thomas Fallace is professor of education at William Paterson University. He is the author of In the Shadow of Authoritarianism: American Education in the Twentieth Century and Race and the Origins of Progressive Education, 1890-1929, among others.