Learning style preferences among the urban and rural schoolchildren

Abstract

Background: Learning style refers to a person’s natural, habitual, and preferred ways of learning. Every individual has its own natural or habitual pattern of acquiring and processing information in various learning situations. The common ways or patterns by which people learn are known as their learning styles. Aim and Objective: The study is aimed at finding out the different learning styles preferred by the urban school and rural school students. Materials and Methods: The study includes children in the age group of 14–16 years. The sample comprises 50 rural students and 50 urban students from the schools in Dhule, Maharashtra. Data were collected by circulating a visual, auditory, and kinesthetic questionnaire to identify various learning style preferences. Results: The analysis of collected data revealed that the students in the urban area use visual aid (33%) more than auditory and kinesthetic. The rural students use auditory (27%) more than visual and kinesthetic. Conclusion: The knowledge of the learning styles has implications for both the teachers and the students. To identify the learning preferences of students can help them in using the appropriate learning strategies and as a result, they are more likely to become lifelong self-directed learners and to maximize their true potential. This will lead to learners’ ability to improve their own learning and perform better in the subject previously seemed to be difficult.