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Effective Evaluation of and Teaching Strategies for Adult Students with Various Learning Styles

Leisha R. Cavallaro

1 Paradise Cove Statesboro, GA 30458 Grade - A

An Annotated Bibliography Submitted to: Dr. D. A. Battle of Georgia Southern University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for EDUF 7130 02F

FALL 2011 Thursday, November 17, 2011, 8:25 PM Statesboro, Georgia

Effective Evaluation of and Teaching Strategies for Adult Students with Various Learning Styles

As a current and future educator different learning styles and effective strategies for those styles are important. All throughout early years in school I learned about different learning styles. However, once I hit college most of the information was presented in pure lecture format. The use of PowerPoint was just about the only visuals I had and I experienced very little physical interaction or experiences to assist my acquisition of knowledge and understanding. If people do have various learning styles, knowing the effectiveness of specific teaching styles can greatly improve the education system and processes all together. With this research I would like to discover how to effectively use and evaluate different teaching styles for various learning styles and implement that in my job training officials. Additionally, I want to use this knowledge and apply it to my future goal of teaching Psychology at a university. My research began on the Academic Search Complete through the GALILEO link. I looked through some other databases and through Google, however, all applicable articles I found were on Academic Search Complete. My search was refined to full text articles that were peer evaluated, as well as published between the year 2000 and the present. I found it a little difficult to find extensive research on my specific topic; however, there were a plethora of articles that assess teaching styles and learning styles. I chose articles that specifically addressed each of these topics as well as articles that touched on the interaction of the two. I was focused on the connection between the two topics, specifically the evaluation and use of effective teaching strategies for the different learning styles; which dictated my specific selection of the following articles. Very good introduction.
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Bernold, L. E., Bingham, W. L., McDonald, P. H., & Attia, T. M. (2000). Impact of holistic and learning-oriented teaching on academic success. Journal of Engineering Education, 89(2), 191-199. Retrieved from EBSCOhost This research focused specifically on engineering students and how their learning styles and psychological types affected their academic performance. The teaching method used was a holistic method due to various psychological characters and how students learn in different ways. This holistic method was shown to assist students who were traditionally unsuccessful in obtaining a better academic performance. This assessment of the holistic teaching method proved it effective in improving performance of engineering students in various engineering courses. There was one learning type that was not as greatly impacted leaving further evaluation of effective methods open for discussion and research.

Evans, C., Cools, E., & Charleswork, Z. M. (2010) Learning in higher education Hhow cognitive and learning styles matter. Teaching in Higher Education, 15(4), 467478. doi:10.1080/13562517.2010.493353 This article focused on the understanding of how different cognitive and learning styles affected higher education and other contexts. It reviewed various trends based on these factors focusing on the work of the European Learning Styles Information Network (ELSIN). Learning styles are downplayed by various research communities, however, they presented evidence that teacher awareness of their own as well as their students learning and cognitive styles is beneficial. Properly assessing different styles is a key argument, this article assessed the benefits of using the ELSIN and how effective

assessment of learning and cognitive styles can help research in educational settings.

Franzoi, A., & Assar, S. (2009). Student learning styles adaptation method based on teaching strategies and electronic media. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 12(4), 15-29. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=d5501b91-8f79-4e3ab15c-1b0815025cf0%40sessionmgr13&vid=5&hid=12 This paper addressed the research implying that teaching styles should reflect students learning styles not their own. It developed an individualized taxonomy that combined students learning styles with teachers instructional strategies corresponding to various electronic media in order to assist in improving the learning process. They discovered a lack of correlation between appropriate teaching strategies with an appropriate electronic media medium. This taxonomy can be personalized per each students learning style, as well as assist in finding out what style of learning the student responds to best.

Honigsfeld, A., & Schiering, M. (2004). Diverse approaches to the diversity of learning styles in teacher education. Educational Psychology, 24(4), 487-507. doi:10.1080/0144341042000228861 This paper presented the idea of certain teaching styles deriving from the teacher's personal learning style. They used a written and online assessment to determine learning styles. There was an overview of learning styles based on the Dunn and Dunn model, which breaks 21 elements of learning into 5 different categories. Findings showed that many teachers tend to have the similar learning styles and hence similar teaching styles,

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in turn depriving students who have different learning styles. They also provided a detailed evaluation of teacher responses about learning styles that implies teachers have a duty to hold different forms of instruction in their classroom.

Kazu, . Y. (2009). The effect of learning styles on education and the teaching process. Journal of Social Sciences, 5(2), 85-94. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=5&hid=13&sid=11a1b 0ce-034e-4355-b0e0-8d29d3798ef3%40sessionmgr11 This article went into depth about the different definitions of learning styles from previous research especially the notion of individual participation in their own learning process. It emphasized that no matter what your definition, there are many advantages to determining and identifying individual learning styles. The empirical research was aimed at identifying the effect of learning styles on education and teaching. The researchers suggested that teachers need to mold their teaching strategies around individual preferred learning styles and in order to do that they must first evaluate students learning styles.

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Shein, P., & Chiou, W. (2011). Teachers as role models for students learning styles. Social Behavior & Personality: An International Journal, 39(8), 1097-1104. doi:org/10.2224/sbp.2011.39.8.1097 In this paper the researchers examined if Taiwanese hospitality students from technical and vocational colleges would be prone to identify with specific teaching models and the teachers learning style over competing styles. Two styles (technical and lecturing) were evaluated in a collaborative teaching setting and students were tested to see how their

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learning styles related to the teachers before and after a semester with that teacher. They found that given the teacher was a role model, the students tended to emulate the teachers learning style.

Terregrossa, R., Englander, F., & Englander, V. (2009). The impact of learning styles on achievement in principles of microeconomics: Aa natural experiment. College Student Journal, 43(2), 400-410. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=3&hid=13&sid=11a1b0ce-034e-4355-b0e08d29d3798ef3%40sessionmgr11&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=a9 h&AN=42517489 This article researched the performance on different exams that were taught towards different preferred learning styles in a macroeconomics class. The first part of the course was taught in an analytical method while the second half was taught in a global manner. This paper tried to determine which strategy is better for a given set of learning styles or preferences. From their results they found that students who prefer physical interaction in learning performed poorly, students willing to conform performed well, and not enough evidence to state if analytic learners performed better. This research showed importance in determining effective teaching strategies for learning styles.

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Vaughn, L. M., & Baker, R. C. (2008). Do different pairings of teaching styles and learning styles make a difference? preceptor and resident perceptions. Teaching & Learning In Medicine, 20(3), 239-247. doi:10.1080/10401330802199559 This research combined different teaching and learning styles together to assess which

combinations are most effective in enhancing learning for medical students. There were 45 pairs of residents and students who participated in this study and were evaluated based on Grashas model of teaching and learning styles. The learners were asked to rate their residents and their teaching styles; Collaborative learners fit well with most teachers, Independent learners paired well with personal model residents and Competitive learners tended to rate their residents low but were the only group that was compatible with Expert and Formal Authority teaching styles of residents.

Zonash, R., & Naqvi, I. (2011). Personality traits and learning styles among students of mathematics, architecture, and fine arts. Journal of Behavioural Sciences, 21(1), 92-108. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=3&hid=13&sid=11a1b0ce034e-4355-b0e0-8d29d3798ef3%40sessionmgr11 The researchers took 135 students and measured their personality and learning styles through the NEO Personality Inventory and Learning Preferences Inventory. They wanted to assess how personality traits and learning styles interact and play a role in students of mathematics, architecture, and the fine arts. Results correlated specific personality traits with different learning styles and some of these are specific to the subject being taught. Students who scored high in the personality and learning style that correlates with a specific curriculum seemed to facilitate their learning and higher performance in that area.

Implications for Applications to Educational Settings I found a surplus of research that was centered on determining how to assess various

learning styles. Though it is important to have some sort of knowledge of those learning styles, I think it more important to assess the effect of teaching styles on those different learning styles. It seems there is too much focus on which measure of learning styles is appropriate and how specific students react based on their learning styles. I think that despite what model or inventory is used there needs to be a furthered interest and discovery in the effectiveness of different teaching strategies on those learning styles. Teacher awareness of their own learning and teaching styles is also very pertinent, which I had not initially considered. Teachers base their teaching strategies off their own learning styles which tends to short students who do not have learning styles that are congruent with their teachers. While on the other hand students that have similar learning styles tend to emulate their teachers, especially if that teacher is a role model (Shein & Chiou, 2011). Educators need to be educated on the effect they can have on students learning, as well as become knowledgeable about their own tendencies in teaching and learning styles. It is important to note that it is not solely the teachers responsibility to advocate for every students learning processes. Students can also benefit from knowing their own learning style and taking an active role in their learning (Kazu, 2009). This research led me to my initial thought about the importance of teaching strategies and learning styles. Teaching strategies should be determined based on the students different learning styles; and those learning styles need to be properly assessed so teachers can plan their lessons accordingly (Honigsfeld & Schiering, 2004). This research showed the overwhelming affect and interaction between teaching styles and learning styles. It is imperative that teachers take this into account and accommodate for the differences in how students learn (Terregrossa, Englander, & Englander, 2009). It is not just enough to understand the students learning styles, there needs
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to be further research on which specific teaching strategies are effective for individual learning styles. I truly enjoyed researching this topic and hope to discover or initiate further research on effective teaching strategies for the various learning styles students have. Very good insight.
Comments from Dr. Battle 1. Nine sources were counted because all came from 9 different journal titles and were written by nine different 1st authors. * 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Very good introduction with listing of databases where articles were found. * No use of contractions in formal writing. * Capitalize only the 1st word of an article title, and subtitle, if any, and proper nouns and pronouns. * All abstracts/summaries were within the range of maximum number of words and were very good. * Citations within the narrative text need to be in correct 6 th edition APA Editorial Style listing surname of author sand publication date to document statements. * 7. 8. Take a look at the evaluation rubric for this assignment for more explanations. * Please apply my comments to the future assignments that you might have regarding AB-type assignments. Do not resubmit your corrected AB Assignment back to me.
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