Method
Participants
First-year university students enrolled in a psychology major will be invited to participate in this study. A maximum of 250 students will be accepted into the study, based on a first-come first-serve basis. There will be no restrictions on characteristics such as age, race or ethnicity. The learning styles of each participant will be measured at the beginning of each semester, therefore if any of the participant’s learning styles change by the end of semester one, their data will be excluded from the study. Since the study is looking at the academic success patterns of each individual participant, the change in learning style from first to second semester could cause a disruption in the data patterns, which is why this data would need to be included from the study. Attendance will be taken at every lecture, and if a participant does not attend every lecture, their data must be excluded. This is because if they don’t go to all the lectures, their data will not be reliable. Each participant will be provided with informed consent about the study
Materials
Version 3 of the Kolb Learning Style Inventory (LSI) will be used to measure the learning styles of each participant. Version 3 is similar to version 2 of the LSI, except that it has a revised self-scoring and interpretation booklet, as well as a colour coded scoring sheet to make scoring the LSI simpler (Kolb, 2005). The LSI is a short questionnaire that consists 12 items and asks the interviewee to
i. Understanding the learners learning styles can make my course to be engaging. Flemming (1987) noted three different styles of learning; visual, kinaesthetic and aural. In order to know which method(s) to use to benefit my students the first lesson on my course will centre around discussions on what they already know, the resources they are familiar with, and a learning style questionnaire which will provide me with information on preferred learning styles. Effectiveness can also be enhanced if I adapt my teaching style to give maximum benefit to learners.
The sample for this study consisted of 222 participants who were second year psychology students from the University of Newcastle. All students were participating as part of a course requirement and all had given their consent to participating in the study.
“Just as students have different personalities, they also have different ways of learing (Slavin, 107).” Learning styles are another important factor to incorporate when implementing the best learning environment. Learning styles are defined as an individual's mode of gaining knowledge. The most common learning styles addressed are auditory, visual, and kinesthetic. Auditory leaners understand information through hearing. Visual learners need more visual aids in the learning process, such as diagrams, webs, or pictures. Kinesthetic learners learn better by using manipulatives or by being physically involved in the learning process. Learning styles is a piece of the “backbone” of differentiated learning. Both are used to individualize instruction to help students achieve the most success.
By taking the learning style inventory and survey, I found that there is a unique way for me to study and absorb key information. The survey allowed me to learn more about myself as a person and taught me whether I am a visual, audio, or tactile learner. I found this out by completing and reviewing the results of the assessment. I could see that the best way for me to study would be by taking notes, reviewing them and making flash cards as I am more of a visual learner. With this new information, I will now be able to utilize my study time in a more efficient way. This inventory also showed me the best ways for me to interact with people and how I will better serve my future career environment. The learning style inventory and assessment has taught me a great deal about myself and the best way to learn.
Allinson, C., and Hayes, J. (1988), ‘The learning styles questionnaire: an alternative to Kolb’s inventory’, Journal of Management Studies, 25, (3):269-281.
Recently the phenomenon of definition of success and its corresponding effects has sparked a heated debate. Although contested by many that achieving professional and academic targets is highly beneficial, such issue is regarded thoroughly as both constructive and positive by a substantial number of individuals. I am inclined to believe that professional and academic success can be a plus and I will analyze that throughout this essay.
Education benefits individual mentally, emotionally and physically by placing them in better place than they were previously before. Everybody would agree that learning something new would take place throughout the life. Learning style defined as "A term that describes the variations among learners in using one or more senses to understand, organize, and retain experience" (Reid, 1987, p. 89). Furthermore, Felder and Henriques (1995, p. 21) explained learning styles as "the ways in which an individual characteristically acquires, retains and retrieves information". However, different learners possess different characteristics and different preferred learning styles to perceive, process, take in and understand information.
After completing the SmaterMeasure Assessment and viewing the Learning Styles Tutorial, I found out that my two top learning styles are physical and social learning styles. The person with physical learning style learns better with an instruction that it allows students to have hands-on activities and use a touch of the senses. The person with social learning styles can benefit from a group discussions and interactions. I agree with the assessment because I like to learn by doing, and hands-on activities and experiments are the most helpful activities for me to learn new things. I also like to have a discussion about what I learn with peers and can benefit from it.
The participants in this study were community college students in professor Keo-Trang’s psychology classes. (N=46) The ages of the participants ranged from seventeen to forty-one years old (M=22.8; SD=4.66). Females outnumbered the males fourteen to thirty two. Two separate psychology classes completed the same study. The first class was a research and methods psychology class (N=24) who completed the study during the beginning of the class. The second class was an intro to psychology (N=22). Participation for this study was voluntary and motivated by the promise of course credit or extra credit.
Learning styles and barriers to learning can be by the VARK to give a profile of learning preferences of how a person takes in and gives out information or Tidwell and Rodgers Practical learning styles Questionnaire. The VARK learning styles determines if the person learns by being a theorist, reflector, activist and/or pragmatist. The practical learning styles questionnaire looks at how people learn by their orientation, whether they are a realistic or creative, by their interaction, are they a doer or a thinker, by how they represent things, either by words or pictures, and how they process information, whether they are a surface or deep processor. There are many other
We worked with 50 research participants in our study. These participants were other students who attend Binghamton University, which is considered a convenience sample because it allows us to easily recruit participants for our study. For this reason, our participants will be young adults who are similar in age. These participants were recruited both in our Psychology class’ discussion section and outside of class by the experimenters.
Willingham, D. T., Hughes, E. M., & Dobolyi, D. G. (2015). The scientific status of learning styles theories. Teaching of Psychology, 42(3), 266-271. doi:10.1177/0098628315589505
Participants: The participants were collected by means of convenience sampling. The participants in the study were 40 undergraduate psychology students, all involved in Psychology Learning Communities at Loyola University New Orleans. The participants were mostly Caucasian with some African Americans, Hispanics and Asians. There were 3 male and 29 female participants, with a greater proportion of females. The participants were offered course credit for participation, and were informed by the leaders of their psychology learning community classes of the experiment.
(Learning Style Inventory and Learning Style Scales) and I agree with that results because I get the same results about my Learning Styles is Visual because that indicated I prefer using images, pictures, color, and maps to organize information and communicate with others.
Academic success could never be fully measured by degrees alone, but it can include a person’s well-being as well as their mind and certain characteristics about a person that make them unique. This success can be achieved in different ways by these different people with different strengths, but there is the same ultimate goal in sight of each and every student enrolled in college at some point. However, this goal of being successful in not only school but in life, can sometimes turn out to be the opposite of how we plan. Of course, a student can achieve success by earning degrees and still fail in life. Academic success can also be a huge constituent to a students vocational calling in college as young students make a transition into adulthood.