The question of how to better match students’ individual learning capabilities with instructional modalities, with a view to improving student performance, has increasingly attracted researcher and educator attention. Consistent with this trend, a team of faculty from the College of Arts, Sciences and Technology at Franklin University conducted a study that investigated whether differences between instructor and student learning styles may account for performance disparities as well as how students might perform differently as a result of their individual learning preferences. The research sample consisted of 161 college students attending a basic statistics course. Instructor and student learning styles, using the Learning Style Inventory (LSI), as well as students’ course grades, were collected and analyzed over the course of a year.
Study results indicated that there was insufficient evidence to support the hypothesis that students’ performance differs significantly as to whether (or to what degree) their learning styles matches that of their instructors. However, the data did suggest that two different learning style groups do appear to perform differently and that the LSI may be sensitive on select learning dimensions. Information in this poster should support educators who give attention to the feeling and doing dimensions of learning when planning instructional activities.https://fuse.franklin.edu/ss2014/1014/thumbnail.jp
