Spatial abilities (SAs) are cognitive resources used to mentally manipulate representations of objects to solve problems. Haptic abilities (HAs) represent tactile interactions with real-world objects transforming somatic information into mental representations. Both are proposed to be factors in anatomy education, yet relationships between SAs and…

In the anatomical sciences, e-learning tools have become a critical component of teaching anatomy when physical space and cadaveric resources are limited. However, studies that use empirical evidence to compare their efficacy to visual-kinesthetic learning modalities are scarce. The study examined how a visual-kinesthetic experience, involving a…

Results are reported from a study which sought to measure learning preferences and identify variations and gender differences associated with the learning styles of a sample of 213 junior high school students. The study found a wide range of learning styles with significant gender differences present. (IAH)

The effects of matching, or mismatching, third-year medical students by cognitive style and instructional mode were studied. Following an instructional period, students were administered an inventory of instruction, a simulation game, and a multiple-choice posttest. Results showed few effects favoring matching cognitive style with instructional…

The Learning Efficiency Test (LET) assesses a subject's learning modality preference. The reviewer cites the instrument's problems with reliability, diagnostic validity, and predictive validity. The need for better documentation of the test's validity and reliability is suggested. (DWH)

Cosponsored by St. John's University (New York) and the Learning Styles Network of the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), the conference was designed to bring together leading figures in the fields of student learning styles and brain behavior research. Thirty-two papers from the conference are collected in this volume,…

Reports on a preliminary study of cognitive style and performance of 182 secondary students on the British General Certificate of Secondary Education. Finds that students who tested at an intermediate position on both dimensions of the Wholist-Analytic cognitive style measure did best on the test. (CFR)

In 1986, the National Association of Secondary School Principals, with the assistance of a national task force, published the NASSP Learning Style Profile (LSP) for diagnosis of the cognitive styles, perceptual response tendencies, and instructional preferences of middle level and senior high school students. This monograph offers a short course…

Knowledge of and use of the information provided by learning style theories can be of help in providing better educational experiences for students. Learning style preferences are of particular significance in programs such as allied health/health occupations education that practice selective admissions. Since the students have all been judged…

This study investigates the preference and ability components of cognitive style as measured by a verbal test for fifth-grade children. Performances from an intellectual ability test, a pictorial cognitive style test, and school achievement tests were included as construct validity variables. The results supported conclusions drawn by Robinson and…

A study was designed to test the expectation that different individuals have different cognitive styles, which, if true, may be useful in investigating characteristics and psychological impacts of media utilization. Cognitive style refers to an individual's way of acquiring and processing information. Characteristics of the visual type and haptic…

This study tested the hypothesis that regular communication students are oriented to more symbols and their meanings than are developmental communication students and thus have more ways to receive information. One-hundred students (50 regular and 50 developmental) at Central Piedmont Community College were given the 220-item Cognitive Style…

Describes features of Harry Reinert's "ELSIE"; Joseph Hill's "Cognitive Style Interest Inventory"; Anthony Papalia's "Learning Modalities and Individual Difference Inventories"; David Hunt's "Paragraph Completion Method"; and the Dunn, Dunn, and Price "Learning Style Inventory." Although dissimilar in scope and emphases, these instruments…

Reviews the current literature concerning prior knowledge in an attempt to clarify problems with the terminology. Identifies the three main problems: lack of definition or vagueness, nominal versus real definitions, and different names/same constructs or same name/different constructs. Includes a conceptual map of prior knowledge terminology. (MJP)

The effects of students' preferred learning styles on perceived individual academic achievement, attitudes toward the learning environment, and course completion rates were examined in a distance education setting. Nine female graduate education students attended weekly classes on a Texas Tech University campus in Lubbock, and 17 female graduate…