There has been much debate about the need for and the effectiveness of planning instruction around differing learning styles (e.g., visual, auditory, kinesthetic). For example, when studied in controlled environments, it has been shown repeatedly that instruction aligned with learning styles does appreciably correlate with increased understanding. Alternatively, independent to the localized success of coursework, Felder argues that use of multiple learning styles helps to prepare students to work in situations that require different modes of learning and thinking. The roots of learning-style research lie in the framework developed by Chronbach of Aptitude-Treatment-Interactions, in which a student's learning outcome is dependent not only on the instruction that has be administered, but also on the student's aptitudes. An aptitude is classified as any "pre-treatment characteristic." Learning-styles might be described as aptitudes - because a student's preferred mode of instruction is likely determined prior to physics coursework - but if learning outcomes are independent of learning styles, they do not exhibit Aptitude-Treatment-Interactions. Chronbach's framework of Aptitude-Treatment-Interaction is not exclusively limited to learning styles, but rather, it extends to any pre-existing characteristic of a student prior to engaging with instruction. Many of the science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines have the unique situation in which students enter the classroom with a wealth informed ideas and intuitions that they have accumulated over a lifetime of interacting with the physical world. This is especially true introductory physics. Because these ideas existed prior to engaging with formal instruction (at least formal instruction at the university level), these pre-existing ideas, or preconceptions, fit the definition of aptitude.
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