A Comparative Study of Chemistry Students’ Learning Styles Preferences in Selected Public and Private Schools in Lagos Metropolis

Abstract

This study investigated the learning style preferences of chemistry students in both public and private secondary schools in Lagos metropolis, Nigeria. Descriptive research survey design was adopted for this study. The sample consisted of two hundred (200) SS 2 Chemistry students. The participants were selected using hat and draw and disproportionate stratified sampling methods. Instruments used to collect data were the Chemistry Achievement Test (CAT) and the VAK Learning style Test (VLST). The reliability measures of CAT and VLST were 0.66 and 0.70 respectively. Four research questions and corresponding hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. Data collected were analysed using Chi-square statistics. The result showed that there is a significant relationship between learning style preferences of students and their performance in the chemistry achievement test in both public and private schools. Visual learning style was the predominant preference among students in both school types. The researcher recommends that chemistry teachers should use a variety of teaching styles to accommodate the various learning styles of their students. An alignment between teaching and learning styles will improve the teaching, learning and performance of students in Chemistry.