Standardization of a scale for the study of children's learning styles: Structure, stability, and criterion validity

Abstract

Conventional approaches to early assessment and intervention for young school children focus primarily upon notions of general intelligence, academic readiness, personality, and perceptual integrity. However, such concepts are grounded largely in hypothetical constructs that provide little information to those carrying out enrichment and remediation programs. Alternatively, the concept of learning style focuses upon the phenomenology of potentially changeable or teachable behaviors manifested in common learning situations. The 16-item Study of Children's Learning Styles rating scale was completed by teachers for 1,513 kindergarten children from diverse community, racial, socioeconomic, and religious backgrounds. Principal components factor analysis with varimax rotation revealed three distinct styles of learning-related behavior; i.e., Avoidant, Inattentive, and Overly Independent. These dimensions were found to retain substantial internal consistency, as well as retest and interobserver reliability. Learning styles were validated against the criteria of teacher-assigned grades and standardized achievement scores gathered one year later, and were compared to a concurrent measure of general intelligence. Each style was related to other behavioral dimensions not devoted exclusively to the learning process.