Stop differentiating by taste. Start differentiating by what actually matters.
We have more ways to teach than ever, and somehow we still fall for the same myths. Do students really need to be matched to a “visual” or “auditory” style? Not according to the evidence. I’m Emily Blanke: elementary teacher, ESL-endorsed educator, and a Learning Design and Technology student at the University of San Diego. In this post, I’ll give you practical definitions, classroom-ready theory, and two myths to ditch today.
What is learning?
What do I mean by learning? Think of it like this: you try something, you get better at it, and you can do or explain it later. Doing an activity isn’t the same as learning. The real test is whether performance changes over time. So when I plan a lesson, I don’t plan activities for activity’s sake, I plan for measurable change.
Lovett et al. give a helpful definition of learning. Learning is an active process that produces lasting changes in knowledge, skill, beliefs, and/or attitudes. Designing for learning means choosing methods that reliably produce that change rather than trusting that an activity alone will do the work (Lovett et al., 2023).
How we understand learning according to major theories
Cognitive Lens: This perspective treats learners as information processors with limited working memory. Key principles that come from this work are that cognitive load matters and that novices benefit from worked examples and chunking. For novices, worked examples are like recipe cards: they show the steps and the why, so a learner can reproduce the dish before improvising.
Break tasks into smaller steps and remove extra sources of load so learners can focus on the core elements. Over time, fade support and move toward independent problem solving as more schemas develop (Lovett et al., 2023; Shuell, 2013).
Social Cognitive Lens: Psychologists like Albert Bandura and other social cognitive thinkers emphasize learning from models and the role of self-efficacy. People learn by watching others and by forming beliefs about what their actions will produce. Self-efficacy comes from experiences, observing others, credible feedback, and managing emotions (Denler, Wolters, & Benzon, 2010).
Sociocultural Lens: Sociocultural theories (Vygotsky) frame learning as socially and individually interdependent. The Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) tells us to design tasks that learners can accomplish with support and to fade scaffolds as competence grows. Scaffolding is like training wheels. Early on, the wheels keep the bike upright. Over time, you remove them so the rider learns balance. Tools can mediate thinking and distribute cognitive work across people and other artifacts (Scott & Palincsar, 2012).
Language is a primary cultural tool, and literacy practices are social ones. In my classroom experience and in the research, many foundational literacy skills learned in one language support learning in another language. Skills like phonological awareness, decoding strategies, and metacognitive reading habits can transfer across languages. Especially when instruction makes those skills explicit and when teachers attend to cultural differences in texts and in discourse (Brown & Lee, 2025).
Debunking two common myths
Myth 1: Learning Styles
The idea that instruction must match a student’s preferred style to be effective is very popular. The evidence is not. Style surveys are often unreliable, and self-reported preferences do not always coordinate with the cognitive demands of a task. Crucially, the key test that matching instruction to style improves learning is missing.
Kirschner and van Merriënboer conclude that focusing on preferences can distract teachers from the real factors of learning and can even encourage unproductive strategies. Picking instruction by ‘learning style’ is a bit like choosing shoes by color, not fit. Preferences are fine, but what actually gets you up the hill is the right fit for the task(Kirschner & van Merriënboer, 2013).
What to do instead: Diagnose prior knowledge and the real cognitive demands of tasks. For novices, use worked examples, scaffolds, and guided practice. For more experienced learners, design problems that require transfer and strategy selection. Differentiate by what learners know and can do, not by what they say they prefer.
Myth 2: Digital Natives and Multitasking
It is easy to assume that students who grow up with devices are naturally skilled at using them for learning. However, research warns against that assumption. Heavy media use does not equate to strategic digital literacy. People do not multitask in the way we imagine. What looks like multitasking is often rapid switching between tasks, and that switching actually undermines deep learning. Kirschner and van Merriënboer urge designers to teach digital skills explicitly and not to assume fluency.
What to do instead: Teach search strategies, source evaluation, and disciplined research habits. Create assignments that focus on one clear cognitive target and scaffold information analysis. Model digital research and provide rubrics for quality.
Why evidence based design matters
Theories aren’t recipes. They are explanations that point to procedure. When a method works, we should ask which tool produced the effect so we can generalize the result. Evidence-based design uses theory to justify instructional moves and uses clear measures to tell whether those moves produced real learning.
Speaking of measures… Measure process as well as product. Ask: not only can a student perform a task, but can they also use the strategies that will transfer to new contexts? This is the kind of evidence that supports sound design and helps avoid fads.
A concise teacher checklist
- Start with a quick diagnostic of prior knowledge.
- Begin new skills with a worked example and a think-aloud.
- Provide scaffolded practice with timely feedback so learners experience success.
- Teach self regulation routines like goal setting monitoring and reflection.
- Use peer exemplars for learning.
- Make the purpose and learning targets explicit.
- Fade supports as competence grows.
- Measure both confidence and skill.
A note on Differentiation
Differentiation isn’t a promise to match instruction to every self-reported preference. Differentiation is a process of matching instruction to real differences in prior knowledge, strategy, skill, and access to tools. Those are the differences that matter. When we design for those differences, we get better outcomes, and we use our time more effectively.
An invitation
If you are a teacher or an educational leader, please pivot differentiation toward prior knowledge and strategy instruction. Test new ideas in measurable ways. Keep your eye on student outcomes and on the mechanism you think produced them. When something works, ask why and use that knowledge to refine your design.
References
Brown, H. D., & Lee, H. (2025). Sociocultural Theory and Additional Language Learning. In Principles of Language Learning and Teaching (7th ed., pp. 178–199). Routledge.
Denler, H., Wolters, C. & Benzon, M. (2010). Social cognitive theory. In Anderman, E. M. & Anderman, L. H. (Eds.), Psychology of classroom learning: An encyclopedia. The Gale Group, Inc.
Kirschner, P. A., & van Merriënboer, J. J. G. (2013). Do learners really know best? Urban legends in education. Educational Psychologist, 48(3), 169–183.
Lovett, M. C., Bridges, M. W., DiPietro, M., Ambrose, S. A., & Norman, M. K. (2023). How learning works: 8 research-based principles for smart teaching (2nd ed.). John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Scott, S., Palincsar, A. (2012). Sociocultural theory. In Anderman, E. M. & Anderman, L. H. (Eds.), Psychology of classroom learning: An encyclopedia. The Gale Group, Inc.
Shuell, T. J. (2013). Theories of learning. In Anderman, E. M. & Anderman, L. H. (Eds.), Psychology of classroom learning: An encyclopedia. The Gale Group, Inc.