The term learning styles (LS) describes the notion that individuals have a preferred modality of learning (i.e., vision, audition, or kinesthesis) and that matching instruction to this modality results in optimal learning. During the last decades, LS has received extensive criticism, yet they remain a virtual truism within education. One of the…

The present study aims to explore the impact of mismatch between learners' media preference and media assigned to them on their learning performance. The participants were 214 adult Chinese e-learners enrolled for an English course, and were assigned to 6 groups based on their media preferences and the media assigned to them. A 2 × 3…

A study examined the relationship between educational level of 480 adults and their dominant perceptual learning style as measured by the Multi-Modal Paired Associates Learning Test-Revised. All educational levels scored highest in visual and lowest in olfactory learning; many mean subscale scores differed significantly among various educational…

The Multi-Modal Paired Associates Learning Test-Revised measured 89 high school graduates and 38 dropouts on 7 learning modalities. Both groups scored highest in the visual and lowest in the olfactory modality. Graduates scored higher than nongraduates, suggesting that dropouts are less able to learn from print and aural methods. (SK)

Two experiments, using pictorial or verbal stimuli, were designed to test encoding among young children and adults. In both experiments, results indicated progressively smaller encoding specificity effects with increasing age. Comparisons of recall patterns were conducted to ensure that encoding differences accounted for results. (Author/DB)

A study was conducted to determine if students who depend on an analytical cognitive style will learn more when matched with a step-by-step treatment, and whether students who depend on a holistic cognitive style will learn more when matched with an all-at-once treatment. To test these hypotheses, scores on the Wechsler Verbal Similarities Test…

Much research has focused on cognitive skills in isolation from daily life and from action. However, memory and thinking in daily life are not separate from, but are part of, doing. This study is based on a theoretical framework that encompasses an integrated account of mind in action. This "activity theory" holds that neither mind as such nor…

A study was conducted to determine the degree of relationship between eye movement patterns and cognitive mapping as determined by the Cognitive Style Mapping Instrument (CSMI). It was hypothesized that a high correlation exists between a predominance of visual and auditory eye movement patterns and the visual and auditory cognitive mapping styles…

The learning-style preferences of 95 public school teachers were assessed through the Barbe and Swassing Checklist of Observable Modality Strength Characteristics. For their own learning and teaching, teachers preferred the visual modality and least preferred the kinesthetic, suggesting that children may be aided or handicapped by teacher's…

The interaction of adult learning styles and the media, methods of instruction, and group functioning in a distance learning class using audiographics and computer-mediated communication was studied and compared with similar interaction in non-equivalent traditional classes. One graduate class in theory and practice of distance education, taught…

This handbook addresses the needs of postsecondary instructors who work with students with learning disabilities. The information in the handbook is gathered from sources throughout Canada and the United States. It is intended to lead instructors toward a greater understanding of the educational needs of students with learning disabilities. The…