Say it enough times and it becomes the truth, Dept.

There are certain narratives in education that are repeated so many times, that they become viewed as the absolute truth.  The idea of “learning styles” comes to mind. Although articles and papers have been written debunking the idea of learning styles, the idea persists in ed schools and in other fora.  I hear it at my school when, for example, a teacher will say that some student is a “visual learner” and thus finds listening to the teacher on a video to be disconcerting.  This is finished up with “Too much ‘teacher talk’ and not enough guidance.”

This last I can almost buy, because I believe students do need guidance, particularly in the form of direct and explicit instruction.  How you do this without talking, however, remains a mystery.

One of the many other myths is the one about “productive struggle”.  I saw this in an article about the difficulties…