Approaches to Learning and Kolb’s Learning Styles of

Undergraduates with Better Grades

Patrícia Almeida1, José Joaquim Teixeira-Dias2,

Mariana Martinho3, and Chinthaka Balasooriya4
1
Research Centre for Didactics and Technology in Teacher Education (CIDTFF),
Department of Education, University of Aveiro,
3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
2
Department of Chemistry, University of Aveiro,
3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
3
Escola EB 2,3/S de Oliveira de Frades,
Portugal
4
School of Public Health & Community Medicine,
University of New South Wales,
Sydney, Australia
patriciaalmeida@ua.pt

Abstract. The purpose of this study is to investigate if the teaching, learning

and assessment strategies conceived and implemented in a higher education
chemistry course promote the development of conceptual understanding, as in-
tended. Thus, our aim is to analyse the learning styles and the approaches to
learning of chemistry undergraduates with better grades. The overall results
show that the students with better grades possess the assimilator learning style,
that is usually associated to the archetypal chemist. Moreover, the students with
the highest grades revealed a conception of learning emphasising understand-
ing. However, these students diverged both in their learning approaches and in
their preferences for teaching strategies. The majority of students adopted a
deep approach or a combination of a deep and a strategic approach, but half of
them revealed their preference for teaching-centred strategies.

Keywords: Learning styles, approaches to learning, Kolb’s learning styles,

teaching strategies, learning strategies, assessment strategies, scholarship of
teaching and learning.

1 Introduction
This paper is based upon a growing body of work shaped by a research project aiming
to promote the advancement of the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL),
through the implementation of classroom research, at the University of Aveiro, in
Portugal [1], [2].
The project reported here is based within a programme for 1st year students in sci-
ences and engineering, at the University of Aveiro, in Portugal. This work relies upon
the belief that it is possible to:

M.D. Lytras et al. (Eds.): WSKS 2010, Part I, CCIS 111, pp. 316–321, 2010.
© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2010
 Approaches to Learning and Kolb’s Learning Styles of Undergraduates 317

- enhance SoTL through the implementation of classroom research projects

involving science university teachers and educational researchers;
- promote active, integrated and deep learning in chemistry through student-centred
teaching approaches, namely by the encouragement of question-asking between
teachers and students.

With this in mind, an action research project aiming to promote student-centred teaching
approaches, and ultimately to enhance SoTL, is being developed with 100 chemistry
students, in full collaboration between an educational researcher from the Education
Department, and a professor from the Chemistry Department.
The teaching, learning and assessment strategies at the chemistry course for 1st year
students were conceived, designed and implemented in order to support integration
[3] and foster deep learning [4]. It was our intention that students’ perceptions of the
learning environment should be centred on the need for conceptual understanding.
These strategies comprised several formats, such as:
(1) small pauses during lectures to encourage students’ oral questions. In the mid-
dle of the lesson, the teacher stopped lecturing for two or three minutes, and invited
the students to think about or to discuss the class topics with their colleagues. At the
end of the break, students had the opportunity to raise oral questions. If the students
felt more comfortable, they could write their questions instead, and the teacher would
answer orally at the beginning of the next lesson.
(2) teacher’s written questions during lectures to facilitate the organisation of
teaching and learning and to serve as a role model to students. For instance, through-
out the ‘Water’ topic, the teacher presented seventeen written questions. These had
diverse degrees of difficulty and served different functions.
(3) practical laboratory sessions were conceived in order to promote the develop-
ment of concepts and understanding and not merely as a handmaid of lectures. Having
this in mind, these sessions were used for problem solving and development of con-
cepts. In laboratory classes, the students have opportunities to: (a) identify the main
objectives of the work; (b) identify and overcome any conceptual and practical diffi-
culties encountered; (c) plan and execute the work; (d) record and discuss the results
and observations in their lab book; (e) answer the questions raised in their laboratory
manual.
(4) ‘Questions and answers in Chemistry’ online forum to encourage and facilitate
students’ questioning. Students could use this tool to raise written questions related to
the topics taught during lectures and practical laboratory sessions. The teacher an-
swers all questions within two days, also on the online forum. All questions and an-
swers are available to all chemistry students.
(5) ‘Problem-based cases’ online forum to encourage students to ask questions and
suggest possible explanations for the phenomena proposed by the teacher.
In order to promote the alignment between teaching, learning and assessment [5],
the following assessment strategies were considered:
(1) multiple-choice test due to the large number of students in the chemistry
course;
(2) participation in the two online forums considering both the number and the
quality of the participation;
318 P. Almeida et al.

(3) performance in practical laboratory work considering both students’ perform-

ance in practical classes and the content of the lab book.

2 Research Questions
According to Case and Marshall [6], the way students perceive the learning context
significantly influences their use of a specific approach. Then, in a chemistry course
intentionally conceived and designed to promote higher-order thinking, do students
with better grades adopt a deep approach? Or is it possible to obtain high grades
using a strategic or a surface approach? It also known that chemistry’ students ex-
hibit a tendency to adopt an assimilator style [3]. So, do chemistry students with better
grades possess an assimilator learning style?

3 Method
3.1 Participants

The main sample was composed of 100 undergraduate students (56 female, 44 male;
mean age 19 years old) who were tackling foundation chemistry, although following
different degree programs, such as physics, environmental engineering and materials
engineering; this class did not include students following a chemistry degree program.
For this particular research, the eight chemistry students with the highest grades (all
over 75%) were selected and then analysed in a deeper way.

3.2 Data-Gathering

Data were gathered by means of observation of all Chemistry classes, students’ inter-
views, documental analysis and the administration of the Portuguese version of the
Learning Styles Inventory [7] and the Portuguese version of the ASSIST [8].

4 Findings and Discussion

4.1 Kolb’s Learning Styles and Students with Better Grades

The results of the LSI for the eight students show that these learners fall into two camps:
assimilating (7 students) and accommodating (1 student). As shown in Figure 1, only
one of these students presents a clear preference for AC and AE, being a converger. The
other seven students were identified as assimilators, showing a preference for grasping
information through AC and processing it through RO. These results concur with those
obtained by Kolb [3], [7] and Nulty and Barret [9], suggesting that the typical chemist is
an assimilator. Assimilators usually possess the abilities to create theoretical models, to
compare alternatives, to define problems and to formulate hypotheses [3].
If considering the group of eight students with better grades, Fábio was the
one with lower marks. It is possible that this student had to struggle more to obtain
better grades, since his learning style was different from the one usually associated to
chemistry.
 Approaches to Learning and Kolb’s Learning Styles of Undergraduates 319

Fig. 1. Distribution of the eight students’ learning styles according to LSI

4.2 Approaches to Learning and Students with Better Grades

The results of the ASSIST, including conceptions of learning, learning approaches

and preferences for different types of courses and teaching, are presented in Table 1.
The eight students showed a conception of learning associated with a deep learning
approach. During interviews, all the students remarked that it was important to memo-
rise and apply knowledge, but all agreed that learning could not be, and should not be,
only memorizing and applying.
All students emphasised the role of understanding in the learning process. Bruno
and Carlos went beyond this and also stressed the importance of questioning and
critical thinking in the learning process.
Five students adopted a deep learning approach (Liliana, André, João, Ricardo and
Pedro); two used a strategic approach (Carlos and Bruno) and only one was identified
as a surface learner (Fábio).
Carlos and Bruno were identified as strategic learners through the ASSIST; the in-
terviews showed that these students associated the strategic approach with a deep
approach. This seems to be the most successful way to cope with the learning and
assessment tasks in this course, since these learners were the ones with the highest
grades. All the students that participated in the online discussions said that the bonus
on the final grade was an interesting stimulus, but also referred that they would par-
ticipate anyway.
320 P. Almeida et al.

Table 1. Students’ conceptions of learning, learning approaches and preferences for types of
teaching

Student Conception Learning Different types of

of learning approach courses and teaching
Carlos seeking strategic supporting
meaning understanding
Ricardo seeking deep supporting
meaning understanding
Liliana seeking deep transmitting
meaning information
André seeking deep transmitting
meaning information
Fábio seeking surface transmitting
meaning information
Bruno seeking strategic supporting
meaning understanding
João seeking deep transmitting
meaning information
Pedro seeking deep supporting
meaning understanding

Fábio was the only surface learner. He did not participate in the online discussions
and did not attend all classes, because “it was not compulsory”.
Even if the eight students have a conception of learning that is associated with a
deep approach, and if the majority of learners adopt a deep or strategic approach to
learning, their preferences in what concerns types of teaching are divided: four stu-
dents show a preference for types of teaching that emphasise the transmission of in-
formation, while the other four prefer teaching strategies that enhance understanding
(see Table 1).

5 Conclusions
From this study it is clear that it is possible to create a learning environment focused
on conceptual understanding. This research also shows that, with appropriate and
diversified strategies, stimulus and motivation, students can enhance their interest and
engagement with learning chemistry and, consequently, adopt a deep learning and
obtain higher grades.
From the eight students selected, seven were identified as assimilators, the learning
style associated to the archetypal chemist. Carlos and Bruno, both identified as bal-
anced learners [10] were also characterised as strategic-deep learners. It seems that
these learners are at a higher level of development, having the ability to display dif-
ferent abilities, according to the demands of the learning environment. We believe
that it is worth to analyse, with a larger sample, the possible existence of a relation-
ship between the balanced style [3] and the strategic approach [4], when this is
 Approaches to Learning and Kolb’s Learning Styles of Undergraduates 321

associated with a deep approach to learning. This could enhance the relationship al-
ready established between these two distinct theories of learning styles [11].
Due to the specific context and to the small number of students interviewed, it is
not possible to generalise the results. Thus, one of our purposes for future research is
to develop a similar study with a larger sample of students, as well as with students
with different kinds of grades (from the lower to the highest marks). We also intend to
clearly specify the kind of strategies conceived, as well as the context in which these
were implemented, in order to promote discussion about the kind of teaching, learning
and assessment strategies that can be used to promote deep learning.

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