Adapting Instruction to Native Americans' Learning Styles

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
This article examines the claim that instruction adapted to the "visual learning styles" of Native American students results in greater learning. The authors argue that (first) substantial cross-cultural research suggests that Native American children have special strengths in such areas as spatial abilities and visual memory and that observational learning is an important cultural orientation, but that (second) virtually no research has succeeded in demonstrating that instruction adapted to Native Americans' visual learning style results in greater learning. Nonetheless (third), the concept of "Native American learning styles" continues to enjoy considerable popularity due to (a) educators' desire to avoid "deficit" language, (b) the concept's use in obtaining culturally oriented program funding, and (c) the concept's use in summarizing a variety of instructional adaptations necessary in a cross-cultural context.