| This study examined learning style and attitude toward hypermedia among sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students working with the hypermedia program Loess Hills Interactive. Three hundred fifteen science students from four Iowa middle schools participated in the month-long study. Students worked in groups of four with five gender compositions; all male, all female, mostly male, mostly female, and equal. The Murphy-Meisgeier Type Indicator for Children (MMTIC) was used to identify four learning styles: extraverted sensor, extraverted intuitive, introverted sensor, and introverted intuitive. The Attitude Toward Hypermedia Index (ATHI), developed by the author, was used to measure students' attitudes toward hypermedia as well as toward three critical characteristics of hypermedia: learning with multiple media, learner control, and nonlinear access to information.; Responses to ATHI indicated that students had a very positive attitude toward all three characteristics of hypermedia as well as toward hypermedia in general. One-way analyses of variance indicated no significant differences among the four learning styles in their attitude toward the three characteristics of hypermedia or toward hypermedia in general. However, significant differences were found among grade levels, with sixth-graders most positive and eighth-graders least positive in their attitudes toward the three characteristics of hypermedia as well as toward hypermedia in general. Further, significant differences were found among the four schools, with students at one school consistently least positive and students at another school consistently most positive in their attitudes toward all three characteristics of hypermedia and toward hypermedia in general. A significant difference was also found between all-male and mostly-female groups. All-female groups were significantly more positive in their attitude toward learning with multiple media in a hypermedia lesson. |
