A teacher is planning a lesson about how a local wetland works. Before the lesson, pupils are labelled as visual or auditory learners. Half of each labelled group is taught the lesson using diagrams and the other half using spoken explanations. The mean scores on a later test (out of 20) are shown below.
| Pupil group | Taught using diagrams | Taught using spoken explanations |
|---|---|---|
| Labelled visual learners | 15.2 | 15.6 |
| Labelled auditory learners | 14.9 | 14.6 |
The teacher now plans to use diagrams only with pupils labelled visual learners and spoken explanations only with pupils labelled auditory learners.
Use Willingham's argument and the results to explain why the teacher should change this plan, and suggest what the teacher should do instead. Include one example of a task that would make pupils think about the meaning of the wetland material.
27 exam-style questions on OCR GCSE Psychology 2.3 Application: The changing role of education, covering 2.3.1 Applying Piaget's ideas to education and 2.3.2 Applying learning theories to education. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.