Doctoral Dissertations
Date of Award
6-1987
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Major
Curriculum and Instruction
Major Professor
Robert S. Thurman
Committee Members
T. N. Turner, George Harris, J. Estill Alexander
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to determine what relationship existed, if any, between selected instructional strategies and students' diagnosed preference for one of the perceptual learning style elements on the mathematics achievement of selected third and fourth grade students. The perceptual style elements were auditory, visual, tactile, and kinesthetic.
The population for this study consisted of 40 third graders and 33 fourth graders enrolled in Green Elementary School during the school year of 1984-1985. Subjects were placed into one of the four groups according to standard scores on the learning style Inventory (LSI) which determined the strongest perceptual element learning style for each student.
There was an experimental and control group at the third grade level and at the fourth grade level. Each group included: (1) subjects diagnosed as preferring auditory learning style element; (2) subjects diagnosed as preferring visual learning style element; (3) subjects diagnosed as preferring tactile learning style element; and (4) subjects diagnosed as preferring kinesthetic learning style element.
Teaching strategies were developed which were used by matching the subjects' learning styles to teaching methods designed to foster mathematics achievement. This treatment, known as the perceptual learning style instructional environment, was assigned to the experimental groups. The control groups were taught in a group instructional environment.
A pretest-posttest design was used. The Metropolitan Achievement Survey Test, Form JS Edition 1978, Mathematics Subtests was administered prior to and following the implementation of the treatment to the subjects. Comparison of the experimental and control groups' arithmetic posttest arithmetic mean score gain was made to determine if there was a difference in mathematics achievement scores between the experimental and control groups. Analysis of Covariance was applied to the data to test whether there was a significant difference at the .05 level.
The findings resulted not rejecting null hypotheses one, two, three, four, six, and eight:
1. There will be no significant difference in mathematics achievement scores between the group of third grade students receiving treatment in an auditory learning style instructional environment and the control group of third grade students receiving treatment in a group instructional environment.
2. There will be no significant difference in mathematics achievement scores between the group of third grade students receiving treatment in a visual learning style instructional environment and the control group of third grade students receiving treatment in a group instructional environment.
3. There will be no significant difference in mathematics achievement scores between the group of third grade students receiving treatment in a tactile learning style instructional environment and the control group of third grade students receiving treatment in a group instructional environment.
4. There will be no significant difference in mathematics achievement scores between the group of third grade students receiving treatment in a kinesthetic learning style instructional environment and the control group of third grade students receiving treatment in a group instructional environment.
6. There will be no significant difference in mathematics achievement scores between the group of fourth grade students receiving treatment in a visual learning style instructional environment and the control group of fourth grade students receiving treatment in a group instructional environment.
8. There will be no significant difference in mathematics achievement scores between the group of fourth grade students receiving treatment in a kinesthetic learning style instructional environment and the control group of fourth grade students receiving treatment in a group instructional environment.
One exception to the findings was rejected null hypothesis five;
5. There will be no significant difference in mathematics achievement scores between the group of fourth grade students receiving treatment in an auditory learning style instructional environment and the control group of fourth grade students receiving treatment in a group instructional environment.
Hypothesis seven could not be tested due to a lack of subjects:
7. There will be no significant difference in mathematics achievement scores between the group of fourth grade students receiving treatment in a tactile learning style instructional environment and the control group of fourth grade students receiving treatment in a group instructional environment.
This study concluded that matching auditory, visual, tactile, and kinesthetic learning styles to the instructional environment did not affect mathematics achievement of third graders enrolled in Green Elementary School when they were tested in a perceptual learning style instructional environment.
It was found that accommodating auditory learning style in the instructional environment did affect mathematics achievement of fourth grade students enrolled in Green Elementary School. However, preference for visual or kinesthetic learning style did not affect mathematics achievement of fourth grade students enrolled in Green Elementary School when they are taught in a perceptual matching learning style instructional environment.
Recommended Citation
Powell, Lula Cooper, "An investigation of the degree of academic achievement evidenced when third and fourth grade students are taught mathematics through selected learning styles. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 1987.
https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/12147