Font Size: a A A

Quantitative And Qualitative Study On The Correlations Between Learning Styles And Learning Efficiency Of Middle-school Students In Nanjing China

Posted on:2014-08-17Degree:MasterType:Thesis
Country:ChinaCandidate:Y M CaiFull Text:PDF
GTID:2297330482972130Subject:Curriculum and pedagogy
Abstract/Summary:PDF Full Text Request
Throughout most educational researches before the nineteen seventies, learners, who are important subjects of education, had been treated as common groups with no individual differences. As the result, one particular kind of ideology and method was formed and believed to be a way to bring about maximum learning efficiency, for instance, theories regarding various kinds of teaching and learning methods. However, with another subject of education-the teachers-practicing such theories over a period of time, they become aware of the diversity of students. Thus, it is impossible that a panacea existed to solve all problems in all educational situations. Since the middle of last century, Education has returned to the ground of ontological study, shortly after that, Learning Styles and Multiple-Intelligence theories come forth.This research starts with the elaboration of the logical relevance of the behavior generation model which is formed by combining Learning Styles theory and Multiple-Intelligence theory, on this basis, the combination of both theories was attempted and used to explain the importance of understanding the core of the subjects of education as well as their behaviors occurred in educational settings. The Memletics Questionnaire Inventory is used as reference to form 72 translated questions in total,70 of them are related directly to Learning Styles elements and 2 are polygraph questions. Besides the 72 scale questions, a few open questions were designed and included at the last part of the questionnaire in order for researcher to gain more understanding on how the respondents feel about learning. The newly formed questionnaire content is based on 7 Learning Styles dimensions, such as Visual, Verbal, Aural, Logical, Physical, Social and Solitary. The survey was sent to four non-key middle schools in Nanjing, China, in total,800 second-year students participated.730 effective questionnaires were screened and selected for analysis.Quantitative analysis was conducted soon after the survey completed. Analyzed data shows that there is an obvious correlation between students’total grade points and each 7 Learning Styles dimensions; however, regression analysis shows very low R2 rates, model fitting degree is not as expected. In other words, data shows no evidence of causal-relationship between the respondents’grade points and their learning styles. After the overall respondents’Math grade points were selected for classified analysis, some of the assumptions which closely related to learners’learning styles were found lack of evidence of obvious correlations. This discovery suggests that there could be other elements interfering with the effect of learning. Based on this discovery, students from one of the four schools were specifically picked for further in-class observations and interviews. Throughout the observation and interview process, studied subjects’ learning attitude and behaviors were found to be influenced by their learning environment and atmosphere. Therefore, in terms of this current research, the elements of learning environment and learners’emotions were proved to be important dimensions and should be integrated with current measuring instrument. Dunn and Dunn Learning Styles model would be considered for further research since it also includes emotion elements and learning environment elements. However, the only downside of using Dunn’s model would be that the emotional elements is discussed more from the aspects of behavior level, the differences in emotional experience in learning environment and the differences among learners’ emotional management ability are not involved. In short, with some adjustments including the integration of Daniel Goleman’s Emotional Intelligence elements, Dunn’s model could be considered the foundational measuring instrument for further studies.
Keywords/Search Tags:Multiple Intelligences, Learning Styles, Efficiency of learning, Learners’ emotions, Emotional Intelligence
PDF Full Text Request
Related items