Background: Previous research on cognitive styles (CSs) has often overlooked their complexity and the effect of the environment on their development. While research supports visual abilities as predictors of domain-specific creativity, there is a lack of studies on the predictive power of CS in relation to creativity beyond abilities. Aims: The…

Decades of research suggest that learning styles, or the belief that people learn better when they receive instruction in their dominant way of learning, may be one of the most pervasive myths about cognition. Nonetheless, little is known about what it means to believe in learning styles. The present investigation uses one theoretical…

The paper reviews research studies on individual differences in students' predispositions to learning either in quiet or with sound. One study with 64 sixth graders found students achieved higher standardized reading test scores and had better attitudes when taught in congruent, rather than incongruent, environments. (DB)

Learning style is a factor researchers claim influences student educational performance. This article summarizes information about student learning styles. The idea of learning styles is based on the theory that there are different methods of gathering, organizing, and evaluating information. Research has not produced conclusive evidence about…

The article describes five diverse secondary schools with successful programs to provide responsive instruction based on individual learning styles. Schools include a school for gifted students in Minnesota, a middle school in New Jersey, and three schools in New York. (DB)

This paper compares and contrasts the findings of studies on the learning styles of multicultural subgroups in the United States in terms of the categories of the Dunn and Dunn Learning Styles Model. It concludes that individual rather than group characteristics must be addressed when providing instruction--regardless of cultural or racial…

Following a presentation of Rita and Kenneth Dunn's learning styles model at a NAESP convention, staff at a South Dakota elementary school began teaching students according to their own perceptual strengths. This article profiles teachers' efforts and presents an observation checklist for preparing individualized learning style inventories and…

Research has demonstrated that learning style preferences and how they are taken into account are closely related to learner achievement and satisfaction. The Learning Style Inventory (LSI) was the first comprehensive approach to the assessment of an individual's learning style in grades 3 through 12. The Productivity Environmental Preference…

A model of the sources of differences in the learning potentials of students is presented, including group differences in learning potentials between gifted and nongifted students; interindividual differences between gifted students; intraindividual differences within one gifted student; and independent and interactive contributions of…

The study investigates differences in learning styles as measured by the Learning Style Inventory (LSI), an instrument designed to identify sociological, emotional, environmental, and physiological factors that form an individual's learning style. The subjects for the study were a sample of fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-graders in a midwestern…

A principal of a New York elementary school describes how implementation of a testing program to determine individual learning styles and modification of the instructional environment to meet individual learning-style needs has been received enthusiastically by teachers, parents, and students. (DB)

The purpose of this study was to devise an instructional model accommodating students' learning styles in the following areas: sound, light, temperature, design, and mobility. Specifically, this study determined if students in an experimental group with environmental accommodations to their preferred modes of learning differed from students in a…

The article presents an instrument to help identify teachers' current teaching styles to encourage teachers to utilize teaching styles responsive to individual students' learning styles. The inventory assesses instructional planning; teaching methods; teaching environment (student groupings, room design, and learning environment); and evaluation…

A variety of research findings and observations concerning learning styles are compiled in this guide to help teachers understand the implications of their students' learning preferences. The first section describes the Learning Preference Inventory (LPI) as an instrument that asks the student to select among eight learning situations, e.g.,…