Investigating Learning Style Preferences for Conceptual Physics Students

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Investigating Learning Style Preferences for
Conceptual Physics Students

• Steven Sahyun
• University of Wisconsin - Whitewater

AAPT August 4, 2003
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Learning Styles and Physics
Recent developments in physics pedagogy are
inherently multi-modal in their delivery and
application. In trying to incorporate active
learning techniques in my courses, I was
wondering what presentation method will students
respond to? There are many methods for
classifying or demarking learning preferences,
styles, objectives, and domains. I was
introduced to an elegant and simple assessment
created by Neil Fleming and Charles Bonwell
called VARK. There may be an advantage to
investigating the learning preferences of
introductory physics students to see if there is
a dominant learning preference in our students.
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VARK Questionnaire
VARK is a 13 item questionnaire that provides a
profile of how someone prefers to take-in and
give-out information whilst learning. The
questions are based on real-world situations.
Visual (V) a preference for graphical and
symbolic representation of information such as
graphs, charts, maps, or pictures. Aural (A) a
preference for spoken or heard information such
as words or music. Read/Write (R) a preference
for information printed as words. Kinesthetic
(K) is a preference based on simulated or real
perceptions taken-in during a learning experience
(a combination of motion, taste, smell, touch, as
well as sight and hearing.)
http//www.vark-learn.com
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more on VARK...
Sample question You are about to give
directions to a person who is standing with you.
She is staying in a hotel in town and wants to
visit your house later. She has a rental car. I
would ? draw a map on paper. ? tell her the
directions. ? write down the directions (without
a map) ? collect her from the hotel in a car.
VARK deals with only one dimension of the
complex amalgam of preferences that make up a
learning style.... VARK has little to say about
personality, motivation, social preferences,
physical environments, intraversion-extraversion
Fleming
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Who took the questionnaire?
The University of Wisconsin at Whitewater is a
mid-sized regional university with about 10,000
students, of whom a majority comes from within
100 miles of the university. The Physics
Department has two one-semester survey physic
courses Physics Foundations (Spring 2003)
five-credit course that meets for four 50-minute
classes and one two-hour laboratory per week. It
currently uses Griffiths The Physics of Everyday
Phenomena text and is a general course with a
large number of Health and Occupational Safety
majors. and Descriptive Physics(Fall 2002)
three-credit course that meets for two 75-minute
classes per week. It uses Hewitts Conceptual
Physics text and is designed for K-8 elementary
education students.
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Testing and Results
The VARK was available to students as an
extra-credit activity. A link to the survey
Web-page was located on the course and homework
Web pages, and students were given an
extra-credit point for submitting their VARK
scores either by hand, e-mail, or through
BlackBoard. The survey was available to take
anytime during the semester. Of the 46 students
who were initially enrolled in the Descriptive
Physics course (two sections), 35 (76) took the
VARK survey. Of the 54 students who were
initially enrolled in the Physics Foundations
course (one section), 45 (83) took the VARK
survey. Students who did not to participate
(and not drop the courses) had average grades in
the low C range.
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Testing
The VARK was available to students as an
extra-credit activity. A link to the survey
Web-page was located on the course and homework
Web pages, and students were given an
extra-credit point for submitting their VARK
scores either by hand, e-mail, or through
BlackBoard. The survey was available to take
anytime during the semester. Of the 46 students
who were initially enrolled in the Descriptive
Physics course (two sections), 35 (76) took the
VARK survey. Of the 54 students who were
initially enrolled in the Physics Foundations
course (one section), 45 (83) took the VARK
survey. Students who did not to participate
(and not drop the courses) had average grades in
the low C range.
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Combined Results
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Results by course
The most common final scores for each mode (V,
A, R and K) which are 3, 3, 4 and 5. Fleming
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(No Transcript)
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Implications
There appears to be a preference towards the
kinesthetic modal preference for students in our
classes.
Is this surprising? This is consistent with the
larger VARK study report. It is consistent with
what has been demonstrated with active learning
studies. It is consistent with I see and I
forget, I hear and I remember, I do and I
understand. -- Confucius
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Discussion?
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Concept Test
In an attempt at internal assessment of student
learning gains for the semester, pre/post tests
were developed and administered to the two
courses. Since each course had a different focus,
there were two similar but not identical tests.
Both tests consisted of 26 multiple choice
questions with the last question being a question
on the confidence of the students answers. Both
tests covered material from the entire semester
(all of the physics content areas covered in the
course) and were derived and extended from
Concept Test questions in Mazurs Peer
Instruction User Manual. The Concept Test
results were rather disappointing and might be
classified as Low Gain if interpreted similar
to those reported for the Force Concept Inventory
FCI ref by Hake, although such a comparison
would be tenuous at best considering the
different nature of the courses and tests. The
normalized gain is found, since there were 25
questions, using
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Concept Test
The gains were computed for students who were
present for both the pre- and post-tests, and the
results averaged.