Where did the learning styles idea come from?

It’s important to understand history, as this foundational text illustrates:

In all seriousness, having a better sense of how ideas develop and proliferate over time can help us either more effectively promote good ideas or tamp down those without merit. Learning styles falls in the latter category, and Fallace (2023) has just published a comprehensive history of where that particular idea came from, how it evolved, and how it got so big (hint: the Internet!). It’s a fascinating read, summed up well by Fallace’s (2023) last paragraph:

“Overall, the extension of the VAK learning style model from remedial reading to the entire curriculum had never been fully justified, and some of the earliest literature reviews of the effectiveness of VAK-specific teaching techniques consistently found the method to be ineffective (Cronbach & Snow, 1977; Kavale & Forness, 1987; Tarver & Dawson, 1978). In other words, this was not a case of the initial studies providing support for the VAK-based methods and then subsequent studies complicating earlier ones as the literature matured. In fact, the case for VAK learning style typology had been conceptually problematic since its origins, and the empirical research supporting the idea had always been weak” (p. 350).

Those who don’t know their history are doomed to administer the LSI, I guess.