Volume 5 Winter 2011 Number 2 - Charleston Law Review

CHARLESTON LAW REVIEW [Volume 5the Dunn and Dunn and MBTI instruments. 104 Indeed, the Dunnand Dunn LSI has been called a “psychometric disaster.” 105Each model has its proponents, however, and each claims tohave scientifically valid research supporting their learning stylestheories and the instruments they market to test students’learning styles. 106 Because of the apparent popularity of theDunn and Dunn instruments, Kolb’s LSI, and the MBTI in legaleducation, this Article will briefly explore disinterestedassessments of those models. 1071. Problems with VAKTDespite its popularity, the Dunn and Dunn model has beendescribed as uniquely “anti-intellectual” because its “chiefprotagonist, Rita Dunn,” appears to believe that it is “incapableof being falsified” and that detractors of the model are somehow“immoral.” 108 Among its strengths, however, is the fact that itaffirms the learning potential of all students—particularly ifteachers cater to the students’ learning preferences. 109 It alsoencourages teachers to respect differences among students and touse a range of teaching methods and assessments, but “does notstigmatise [sic] different types of preferences.” 110On the other hand, the notion that learning stylesare essentially “biologically and developmentally imposed”characteristics 111 has been attacked as lacking sufficient104. Id. at 266.105. Coffield, Learning Styles and Pedagogy in Post-16 Learning, supra note10, at 28.106. Each of their web sites advertise their products as validated throughresearch. See supra notes 48, 71, & 77.107. For detailed information regarding the Dunn and Dunn model, theresearch that supports and contradicts it, and its strengths and weaknesses, seeCoffield, Learning Styles and Pedagogy in Post-16 Learning, supra note 10, at1215, 2035. For the same information regarding Kolb’s model, see id. at 61–70 and for the same information regarding Myers-Briggs, see id. at 4752. TheCoffield Study also has an extensive bibliography and cites the research uponwhich its conclusions are based.108. Id. at 34 (internal quotation marks omitted).109. Id. at 32.110. Id. at 21, 33.111. Id. at 12 (internal quotation marks omitted).156