EDP 818 Module 4 Learning Example

Retiring the Learning Styles Survey: Evidence-Based Teaching for New Nurses

Student Name

Doctor of Education Program, Aspen University

EDP 818: Cognitive and Affective Principles in Psychology

Instructor Name

Month Day, Year

Retiring the Learning Styles Survey: Evidence-Based Teaching for New Nurses

Each residency cohort at Dana's hospital system begins with a learning styles survey that sorts residents into visual, auditory and kinesthetic learners. Educators then provide materials "matched" to each style. On the units, residents are encouraged to learn by doing and to figure things out, with experienced nurses available for questions. Residents study for competency checks mostly by rereading and highlighting protocol binders. Dana, the director of clinical education, wants to know whether these practices are supported by evidence. Dana and the residency are fictional. This paper evaluates them.

Learning Styles

Pashler et al. (2008) reviewed the evidence for the learning styles hypothesis, the claim that people learn best when teaching is pitched to their favored mode, such as seeing or hearing. They specified what a valid test would require: learners classified by style, randomly assigned to instruction matched or mismatched to their style and tested on the same outcome, with matched instruction producing better learning for each style. Very few studies used such a design, and those that did mostly found no support. Their conclusion was that schools and trainers had no sound basis for using style assessments to shape teaching. People do have preferences, but matching instruction to them did not improve learning.

Techniques That Work

Dunlosky et al. (2013) evaluated ten learning techniques on the strength of evidence across learners, materials and settings. Two techniques earned the top rating: testing oneself and spreading practice over time. Three methods landed in the middle: asking why facts are true, explaining one's own reasoning and mixing problem types. Summarization, highlighting, the keyword mnemonic, imagery and rereading received low ratings. The techniques residents use most, rereading and highlighting, are among the least effective, while the most effective, practice testing and spacing, are rarely used.

Guidance for Novices

Kirschner et al. (2006) argued that minimally guided instruction, such as discovery or unguided problem-solving, is less effective for novices than explicit guidance. Their explanation drew on cognitive load: working memory is limited, and novices lack knowledge in long-term memory to organize new information, so searching for solutions consumes capacity that could be used for learning. Worked examples, which show the steps to a solution, reduce this load. As learners gain expertise, guidance becomes less necessary and may even interfere.

The Redesign

The residency will drop the learning styles survey. Materials will use formats suited to content, such as video for procedures and diagrams for physiology, for all residents. Retrieval quizzes and spaced competency checks will replace rereading as the main study activity. For complex skills, such as titrating an insulin drip, residents will study worked examples showing each decision step before attempting problems. On the units, preceptors will guide residents explicitly at first, gradually withdrawing support as competence grows, consistent with the expertise reversal Kirschner and colleagues describe.

Explaining the Change

Some educators value the learning styles survey, and residents enjoy it. Dana will explain the evidence in a staff meeting, acknowledge that preferences are real and emphasize that the change aims to help residents learn more, not to dismiss them. Residents will learn about effective study techniques themselves, since the research shows that learners often misjudge what works.

Limits

Most studies used students and academic material. Clinical learning also involves skills, judgment and socialization. The redesign will be evaluated through competency scores at three and six months and residents' confidence ratings.

Why Learning Styles Persist

The learning styles idea remains popular for understandable reasons. People do differ in preferences and abilities, and it seems respectful to adapt teaching to each learner. Style surveys are engaging, and their results feel personally meaningful. Pashler et al. (2008) noted that the idea's appeal is not evidence of its truth and that the resources spent on matching could be used for practices with stronger support. Explaining why the idea is attractive, rather than dismissing those who hold it, makes it easier for educators to let it go.

Cognitive Load in Simulation

The residency uses high-fidelity simulations, in which residents manage a mannequin patient through a crisis. Kirschner et al. (2006) argued that novices given complex problems without guidance spend working memory searching for solutions rather than learning. Early simulations will therefore be simpler and preceded by a worked example, a recorded walk-through of an experienced nurse managing the same scenario while explaining each decision. Later simulations will add complexity and remove the example. Debriefing will focus on the decisions that matter most rather than every detail, to avoid overloading residents after the scenario.

Fading Support

Preceptors will follow a plan for fading support. In the first weeks, they demonstrate and explain; then they guide while the resident performs; then they observe and give feedback; and finally they are available on request. The timing will depend on each resident's demonstrated competence, assessed with brief checklists, rather than on a fixed calendar.

Teaching Residents How to Study

Residents will spend one session in orientation on how learning works. They will try rereading and self-testing on the same material and compare their recall a week later, experiencing the difference that Dunlosky et al. (2013) describe. They will learn to space their review, to test themselves rather than reread and to explain to themselves why each step of a protocol matters. Teaching these habits early gives residents tools for the many years of learning their careers will require, long after the residency ends.

Conclusion

Pashler and colleagues found no adequate evidence for learning styles, Dunlosky and colleagues identified practice testing and spacing as the most useful techniques and Kirschner and colleagues showed why novices need guidance. For the residency, replacing familiar but weak practices with well-supported ones offers more learning for the same time.

References

Dunlosky, J., Rawson, K. A., Marsh, E. J., Nathan, M. J., & Willingham, D. T. (2013). Improving students' learning with effective learning techniques: Promising directions from cognitive and educational psychology. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 14(1), 4-58. https://doi.org/10.1177/1529100612453266

Kirschner, P. A., Sweller, J., & Clark, R. E. (2006). Why minimal guidance during instruction does not work: An analysis of the failure of constructivist, discovery, problem-based, experiential, and inquiry-based teaching. Educational Psychologist, 41(2), 75-86. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15326985ep4102_1

Pashler, H., McDaniel, M., Rohrer, D., & Bjork, R. (2008). Learning styles: Concepts and evidence. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 9(3), 105-119. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1539-6053.2009.01038.x