ERIC Number: ED331554
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1991-Apr-3
Pages: 18
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Learning Styles and Achievement in Postsecondary Classrooms.
Thompson, Mary J.; O'Brien, Terrance P.
Considerable study has been focused on relationships between learning styles and other characteristics and conditions, such as teaching styles, achievement, student age, and student gender. In 1991, a study was conducted on two campuses of a comprehensive community college in the southeast to measure the effect on course grades of the relationship between matched and mismatched teaching and learning styles, and between learning styles and student age and gender. The Gregorc Style Delineator (GSD) was employed to determine the dominant styles of both teachers (N=16) and students (N=207). GSD uses a quaternary design to place study subjects in one of the following learning styles: Concrete Sequential (CS), Abstract Sequential (AS), Abstract Random (AR), and Concrete Random (CR). Data from the study were analyzed using two analysis of variance (ANOVA) models. In the first ANOVA model, significant main effects were manifested in regard to teaching style and age group. In addition, significant interaction effects were observed between teaching style and student age group (i.e., CS, AS, and AR teachers assigned higher grades to students 25 years of age and older, while the pattern for grades assigned by CR teachers was reversed). Similar effects were observed between teaching style and student gender. In the second ANOVA model, no significant main effects were present for either student learning style or matched and mismatched conditions. However, analysis of data suggested that students whose learning styles were mismatched with the styles of their teachers tended to receive higher grades. A 24-item bibliography is included. (JMC)
Descriptors: Academic Achievement, Adult Students, Age, Age Differences, Analysis of Variance, Cognitive Measurement, Cognitive Style, Community Colleges, Grades (Scholastic), Grading, Personality Traits, Sex, Teacher Behavior, Teacher Influence, Teacher Student Relationship, Teaching Styles, Two Year Colleges
Publication Type: Reports - Research; Tests/Questionnaires; Speeches/Meeting Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: Researchers
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Assessments and Surveys: Gregorc Style Delineator
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A