Learning-Style Preferences of a Diverse Freshmen Population in a Large, Private, Metropolitan University by Gender and GPA

Abstract

This research examined: a) the extent of diversity that exists among entering college freshmen's learning styles; b) whether, and the extent to which, learning style is influenced by gender; and c) whether high school grade point average (HS/GPA) is a determining factor in academic success. The Productivity Environmental Preference Survey (PEPS) (Dunn, Dunn, & Price, 2002) was administered to approximately 1500 entering college freshmen during orientation. PEPS data revealed statistical differences among students' styles for the elements of Sound, Light, Temperature, Motivation, and Responsibility. Pearson Correlations indicated that students with the highest HS/GPAs preferred either Learning Alone or with an Authoritative Figure and in the Late Morning or Afternoon, as opposed to the Evening while studying new and difficult academic material. Students with high, but not the highest HS/GPAs had strong preferences for Bright Light ( p < .049) and Formal Seating ( p < .001). Those same students simultaneously evidenced high Motivation ( p < .001), Persistence ( p < .001), and Responsibility ( p < .001) levels, and preferred Evening as their optimal time for learning challenging material. Students with the lowest HS/GPAs also preferred learning in the Evening, but with Sound (music or conversation in the environment), Bright Light and, although Motivated, required frequent opportunities for Mobility while learning. Concerning freshman gender differences, although male students indicated a stronger need for learning with an Authority Figure, they also were more Visual, needed more Structure and Mobility, and were strongly Afternoon learners in comparison with the females in this sample. Conversely, female students revealed higher means for Bright Light, warm Temperature, Formal Seating, Motivation, Learning Alone or with Peers, Intake while concentrating, and a Variety of instructional approaches (rather than routines or patterns). Consistent with female traits internationally, this sample of freshman women had multiple Perceptual Strengths. Thus, they were more Auditory, Tactual, and Kinesthetic, and consistently more Persistent and Responsible than their male counterparts. Another variable on which these males and females differed were females' preferences for learning in the Late Morning in contrast with males' preferences for Afternoon learning. Only the variable of Kinesthetic revealed pair-wise differences between students in the Colleges of Business and Professional Studies in contrast with students in the College of Pharmacy and Allied Health. This information should help administrators and professors to plan more appropriately when scheduling and teaching diverse students. It also should guide those students toward doing their homework with strategies responsive to their styles.