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VAK or VAK-uous? Towards the trivialisation of learning and the death of scholarship

VAK or VAK-uous? Towards the trivialisation of learning and the death of scholarship
VAK or VAK-uous? Towards the trivialisation of learning and the death of scholarship
Developments within education, psychology and the neurosciences have shed a great deal of light on how we learn while, at the same time, confirming for us all that learning is a profoundly complex process and far from understood. Against this background, and in this position article, we consider the recent rise in interest in the concept of learning styles as VAK (visual, auditory, kinaesthetic) in primary schools in England and Wales and begin to identify and interrogate some of the more unorthodox claims frequently used to legitimise and lend support to its validity. Through the casual acceptance and promotion of VAK, and its often wider association with the notions of accelerated and brain-based learning, it is our assertion that the complexity of learning is becoming increasingly trivialised and scholarship at all levels within certain sectors of the education community compromised
vak, learning styles, accelerated learning, brain-based learning
0267-1522
293-314
Sharp, J.G.
3c88d209-b52e-4975-bef0-1375a9fcf8ae
Bowker, R.
94c1ab05-5b7a-47bd-918b-6ecdb91e2c1f
Byrne, J.
135bc0f8-7c8a-42d9-bdae-5934b832c4bf
Sharp, J.G.
3c88d209-b52e-4975-bef0-1375a9fcf8ae
Bowker, R.
94c1ab05-5b7a-47bd-918b-6ecdb91e2c1f
Byrne, J.
135bc0f8-7c8a-42d9-bdae-5934b832c4bf

Sharp, J.G., Bowker, R. and Byrne, J. (2008) VAK or VAK-uous? Towards the trivialisation of learning and the death of scholarship. Research Papers in Education, 23 (3), 293-314. (doi:10.1080/02671520701755416).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Developments within education, psychology and the neurosciences have shed a great deal of light on how we learn while, at the same time, confirming for us all that learning is a profoundly complex process and far from understood. Against this background, and in this position article, we consider the recent rise in interest in the concept of learning styles as VAK (visual, auditory, kinaesthetic) in primary schools in England and Wales and begin to identify and interrogate some of the more unorthodox claims frequently used to legitimise and lend support to its validity. Through the casual acceptance and promotion of VAK, and its often wider association with the notions of accelerated and brain-based learning, it is our assertion that the complexity of learning is becoming increasingly trivialised and scholarship at all levels within certain sectors of the education community compromised

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e-pub ahead of print date: 8 August 2008
Published date: September 2008
Keywords: vak, learning styles, accelerated learning, brain-based learning
Organisations: Mathematics and Science Education

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 58928
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/58928
ISSN: 0267-1522
PURE UUID: 526ffbd5-f02a-47ec-b5c7-e0f8511ce06c
ORCID for J. Byrne: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-6969-5539

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 19 Aug 2008
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 03:21

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Contributors

Author: J.G. Sharp
Author: R. Bowker
Author: J. Byrne ORCID iD

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