The learning styles of pilots currently qualified in United States Air Force aircraft

Scope and method of study. The purpose of this study was to identify the predominant learning styles of pilots currently qualified in United States Air Force aircraft. A demographic information sheet and Kolb's Learning Style Inventory were mailed to 600 currently qualified pilots in the United States Air Force. The results of Kolb's Learning Style Inventory were analyzed in accordance with the procedures in the Self Scoring Inventory and Interpretation Booklet. Chi-square and t-tests were used to test the distribution of learning styles for significance.;Findings and conclusions. Convergence is the predominant learning style of pilots currently qualified in United States Air Force aircraft. The convergent learning style is preferred by 44.2% of the pilots in the study. The assimilative style is preferred by 23.6% of the pilots, the accommodative style is preferred by 15.9%, and the divergent style is preferred by 16.3%. The mean of 8.39 for abstract conceptualization minus concrete experience is significant (p < .0001) indicating that pilots in the United States Air Force show a significant preference for facts and things as opposed to people and feelings. These findings can be incorporated into the design of future training courses for Air Force pilots. By understanding the preferred learning styles of the target population, course material can be tailored to present information in a way that takes advantage of the strengths of these learning styles. An additional use for this information in future training is in cockpit resource management training. The interpersonal nature of crew resource management training is directly opposite the predominant learning style of the typical pilot. By recognizing this, and incorporating the differences in the training program, crew resource management training can be made more effective. The training program can be developed to demonstrate both that there are different learning styles and that it is possible to take advantage of the relative strengths of each of these learning styles.