Are Learning Styles Real? Why or Why Not? | TAPP Radio 14

Can adult brains make new neurons? Again. (4 min)
See you at HAPS 2018? (5.5 min)
Learning styles. Harm or help? Or a bit of both? (12 min)
If you cannot see or activate the audio player click here.
Follow The A&P Professor on Twitter, Facebook, Blogger, Nuzzel, Tumblr, or Instagram!

0:57 Kevin revisits the notion of whether neurogenesis (growing new neurons) can occur in the adult brain, particularly in the hippocampus. A past episode mentioned a study that said "no" to adult neurogenesis in the brain, bucking current thought. However, a newer paper now supports adult brain neurogenesis. This is fun, isn't it?

• New Evidence Suggests Aging Brains Continue to Make New Neurons (article by Francis Collins on the new paper)
• Human Hippocampal Neurogenesis Persists throughout Aging (new research paper in Cell)
• Human hippocampal neurogenesis drops sharply in children to undetectable levels in adults (recent paper in Nature suggesting otherwise)
• Episode 5 (Previous episode of this podcast, Segment 1: Can the Adult Human Brain Produce New Neurons?)

5:07 Kevin once again invites you to the 2018 Annual Conference of the Human Anatomy & Physiology Society (HAPS) in Columbus Ohio--and to look him and say "hi" while you are there!

• HAPS 2018 Conference Website
• Succeed in A&P (podcast featuring interview with Peter English, Executive Director of HAPS)

10:40 Recent buzz about the Husmann/O'Loughlin paper on learning styles prompts a conversation about what learning styles are and are not. And what, if anything, we should do with them.

• Another Nail in the Coffin for Learning Styles? Disparities among Undergraduate Anatomy Students’ Study Strategies, Class Performance, and Reported VARK Learning Styles (the recent Husmann/O'Loughlin paper)
• The VARK Questionnaire (the now-classic learning style system)
• Not Another Inventory, Rather a Catalyst for Reflection (the paper that started the VARK approach) 
• Seven learning styles (another system of learning styles)
• Are Learning Styles Real? (Kevin's blog post from November 2015)

If the hyperlinks here are not active, go to TAPPradio.org to find the episode page.

• More details at the episode page.
• Transcript available at the script page.
• Listen to any episode on your Alexa device.

Click here to listen to this episode—or access the detailed notes and transcript.