Assessment of Predictive Power of The Felder & Silverman Learning Styles Model on Students’ Performance in an Introductory Physics Course
Abstract
According to the Felder and Silverman Learning Styles Model (FSM), students have learning preferences regarding how information is obtained, processed, perceived and understood. The Index of Learning Styles (ILS) is an online questionnaire created by Felder and Soloman to classify students according to their learning styles. With a priori knowledge of students' learning styles, one might hypothesize that the instructor could adapt his/her class to support, and even improve, students’ learning. Still, one question that remains open is whether it is possible to individualize the FSM, i.e., if students of determined learning styles perform different (better or worse) on questions mapped to different styles. In this work, we assessed the correlation between students' performance and their learning styles in an Introductory Physics course. We designed a Learning Styles Classification Method (LSCM) and implemented it online (LSQuiz) to predict individual students’ performance on pre-class questionnaires (N = 63). We found that, in general, the ability of the ILS to predict individual student performance on pre-class questionnaires was not better than random, with no significant correlation between students' performance and their learning styles, indicated by a Pearson’s correlation coefficient of 0.54. Nevertheless, when independently analyzing the learning styles dimensions, we have identified heterogeneous data between the dimensions, with a greater correlation in the Sequential-Global dimension, with a 0.76 coefficient, followed by a coefficient of 0.50 in the Visual-Verbal and 0.35 in the Sensory-Intuitive. We found, however, that the results related to the Sequential-Global dimension are not supported by the internal consistency of that dimension in the ILS (Cronbach’s alpha of 0.30). We conclude suggesting that the adoption of customized learning practices in the Visual-Verbal dimension have potential and could be the focus of further studies.References
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Caceffo, R. & Rocha, H. (2011). Ubiquitous Classroom Response System: An Innovative Approach to Support the Active Learning Model. In Ubiquitous Learning: An International Journal, v. 3, p. 43-55, 2011.
Caceffo, R., Rocha, H. & Azevedo, R. (2011). Ferramenta de apoio para o aprendizado ativo usando dispositivos com caneta eletrônica. Em Revista Brasileira de Informação na Educação, v. 19, p. 25-41, 2011.
Caceffo, R. & Rocha, H. (2012). Design and Model of a Ubiquitous Classroom Response System Through Context Factors. In Ubiquitous Learning an International Journal, v. 4, p. 61-77, 2012.
Caceffo, R. & Azevedo, R. (2014). LSQuiz: A Collaborative Classroom Response System to Support Active Learning through Ubiquitous Computing. In 11th International Conference on Cognition and Exploratory Learning in Digital Age (CELDA 2014), Porto, Portugal, October 2014. pp 63-71. ISBN: 978-989-8533-23-4
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Felder, R. M. & Silverman, K. (1988). Learning and teaching styles in engineering education. Journal of Engineering Education, 78(7):674–681
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Geake, J. (2008). Neuromythologies in education. Educ. Res. 50, 123–133. doi: 10.1080/00131880802082518
Hall, E. & Moseley, D. (2005). Is there a role for learning styles in personalized education and training. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 24( 3) 243-255.
Heo, M., Namhee, K., Myles, F. (2015). Statistical power as a function of Cronbach alpha of instrument questionnaire items. BMC Medical Research Methodology. 15(1):86. ISSN= 1471-2288. DOI = 10.1186/s12874-015-0070-6.
Herrmann, N. (2000). The theory behind the HBDI and whole brain technology. [Online]. [Accessed April 2019]. Available at: http://www.docin.com/p-90989057.html
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Lance, C., Butts, M., & Michels, L. (2006). The Sources of Four Commonly Reported Cutoff Criteria What Did They Really Say? Organizational Research Methods Volume 9 Number 2 April 2006 pp202-220 Sage Publications
Larkin, T. (2000). Learning Styles in Introductory Physics: Enhancing Student Motivation, Interest, & Learning. International Conference on Engineering and Computer Education, São Paulo, Brazil, August 2000
Larkin, T. & Budny, D. (2003). Learning styles in the physics classroom: A research-informed approach. ASEE Annual Conference Proceedings.
Larkin, T. & Budny, D. (2004). "Learning Styles: Applications in the Physics and Engineering Classrooms." (2004). Retrieved from: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper Accessed: April 2019
Latham, A., Crockett, D., McLean, D. & Edmonds, B. (2009). Using Learning Styles to enhance computerized learning systems. Proc. 2009 Annual Research Student Conference. Manchester, UK: Manchester Metropolitan University.
Latham, A., Crockett, K., Mclean, D. & Edmonds, B. (2012) A conversational intelligent tutoring system to automatically predict learning styles. Computers & Education – An International Journal 59(1):95–109. Elsevier.
Livesay, G., Dee, K., Neuman, E., Hites, L. (2002). Engineering Student Learning Styles: A Statistical Analysis Using Felder’s Index of Learning Styles. Annual Conference of the ASEE, Montreal, Quebec, June 2002
Litzinger, T., Lee, S., Wise, J., Felder, R. (2005). A study of the reliability and validity of the Felder-Soloman Index of Learning Styles. Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition. American Society for Engineering Education
Michalos, A. C. (2014) Cronbach's (Alpha) Coefficient. Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research. pp1357. Springer Netherlands, Dordrecht. ISBN = 978-94-007-0753-5. DOI=0.1007/978-94-007-0753-5_100818
Moodle System. (2018) Retrieved February 19, 2019, from https://docs.moodle.org/36/en/About_Moodle
Nunnally, J. C. (1978). Psychometric theory (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill
Mukaka M. M. (2012). Statistics corner: A guide to the appropriate use of the correlation coefficient in medical research. Malawi medical journal: the journal of Medical Association of Malawi, 24(3), 69–71.
Önder, F., & Silay, İ. (2015). The importance of learning styles to form more successful cooperative groups in a physics course. European Journal of Physics Education, 6(4), 1. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.20308/ejpe.48367
Tuckman, B.W. (1999). Conducting Educational Research, 5th ed. Wadsworth Group.
Warrens, M. J. (2015). On Cronbach's Alpha as the Mean of All Split-Half Reliabilities. Quantitative Psychology Research: The 78th Annual Meeting of the Psychometric Society. Springer International Publishing, Cham. pp293-300. ISBN= 978-3-319-07503-7. DOI = 10.1007/978-3-319-07503-7_18
Watkins, J. & Mazur, E. (2013). Retaining Students in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Majors. Journal of College Science Teaching, Vol. 42, No. 5, 2013.
Weiser, M. (1993). Some computer science issues in ubiquitous computing. Communications. ACM 36, 7 (July 1993), 75-84. DOI=http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/159544.159617
Zajacova, B. (2013). Learning Styles in Physics Education: Introduction of Our Research Tools and Design, In Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, Vol 106, 2013, pp1786-1795, ISSN 1877-0428, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.12.201.
Zingaro, D. & Porter, L. (2014). Peer Instruction in computing: The value of instructor intervention. Journal of Computers & Education. Volume 71, February 2014, Pages 87-96, Elsevier Science Ltd. Oxford, UK.
Zwanenberg, V., Wilkinson, L. & Anderson, A. (2000). Felder and Silverman’s Index of Learning Styles and Honey and Mumford’s Learning Styles Questionnaire: How do they compare and how do they predict? Educational Psychology, 20 (3), 365–381.
Zywno, M.S. (2003). A Contribution of Validation of Score Meaning for Felder-Soloman’s Index of Learning Styles. Proceedings of the 2003 Annual ASEE Conference. Washington, DC: ASEE
Bamber, D. & Manifold, V. (1978). Evaluation of a method for studying forgetting: Is data from split-half recognition tests contaminated by test interference? Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society. 11(2):126-128. ISSN= 0090-5054. DOI= 10.3758/BF03336786.
Bawaneh, A., Zain, A. and Saleh, S. (2011). The Effect of Herrmann Whole Brain Teaching Method on Students' Understanding of Simple Electric Circuits. In European Journal of Physics Education, 2(2):1-23, ISSN 1309-7202. Available at: http://www.eu-journal.org/index.php/EJPE/article/view/133. Date accessed: 04 Apr. 2019.
Bonwell, C.C. & Eison, J.A. (1991) Active Learning: Creating Excitement in the Classroom. ASHEERIC Higher Education Report No. 1, George Washington University, Washington, DC, 1991.
Caceffo, R. & Rocha, H. (2011). Ubiquitous Classroom Response System: An Innovative Approach to Support the Active Learning Model. In Ubiquitous Learning: An International Journal, v. 3, p. 43-55, 2011.
Caceffo, R., Rocha, H. & Azevedo, R. (2011). Ferramenta de apoio para o aprendizado ativo usando dispositivos com caneta eletrônica. Em Revista Brasileira de Informação na Educação, v. 19, p. 25-41, 2011.
Caceffo, R. & Rocha, H. (2012). Design and Model of a Ubiquitous Classroom Response System Through Context Factors. In Ubiquitous Learning an International Journal, v. 4, p. 61-77, 2012.
Caceffo, R. & Azevedo, R. (2014). LSQuiz: A Collaborative Classroom Response System to Support Active Learning through Ubiquitous Computing. In 11th International Conference on Cognition and Exploratory Learning in Digital Age (CELDA 2014), Porto, Portugal, October 2014. pp 63-71. ISBN: 978-989-8533-23-4
Caceffo, R. (2015). Arquitetura para Suporte a Aplicações Ubíquas que Viabilizam a Criação de um Ambiente de Aprendizado Ativo em Sala de Aula. Tese de Doutorado. Instituto de Computação da Unicamp - Unicamp. Campinas, SP - Brasil. Fevereiro de 2015.
Caceffo, R., Gama, G. & Azevedo, R. (2018). Exploring Active Learning Approaches to Computer Science Classes. In Proceedings of the 49th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE '18). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 922-927. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3159450.3159585
Chickering, A. & Gamsom, Z. Seven Principles for Good Practice (1987). AAHE (American Association for Health Education) Bulletin 39:3-7. Ed 282491.6, 1987.
Dunn, R., Dunn, K., & Freeley, M. E. 1984. Practical applications of the research: Responding to students’ learning styles – step one. Illinois School Research and Development, 21(1), 1 – 12.
Felder, R. M. & Silverman, K. (1988). Learning and teaching styles in engineering education. Journal of Engineering Education, 78(7):674–681
Felder, R, M. & Soloman, B. (2000). Index of Learning Styles. Retrieved February 10, 2019, from http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/learningstyles/ilsweb
Felder, R, M. & Soloman, B. (2015). Learning Styles and Strategies. Retrieved February 10, 2019, from https://www.amionline.org/Files/Documents/Learning%20Styles%20Explanation%20-%20Felder-Solomon.pdf
Felder, R. M. & Spurlin, J. (2005) Applications, Reliability and Validity of the Index of Learning Styles. International Journal Engineering and Education, vol 21, No 1, pp, 103-112, 2005 0949-149x/9
Geake, J. (2008). Neuromythologies in education. Educ. Res. 50, 123–133. doi: 10.1080/00131880802082518
Hall, E. & Moseley, D. (2005). Is there a role for learning styles in personalized education and training. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 24( 3) 243-255.
Heo, M., Namhee, K., Myles, F. (2015). Statistical power as a function of Cronbach alpha of instrument questionnaire items. BMC Medical Research Methodology. 15(1):86. ISSN= 1471-2288. DOI = 10.1186/s12874-015-0070-6.
Herrmann, N. (2000). The theory behind the HBDI and whole brain technology. [Online]. [Accessed April 2019]. Available at: http://www.docin.com/p-90989057.html
Kolb, D. A. (1981). Learning styles and disciplinary differences. The modern American college, 232-255.
Lance, C., Butts, M., & Michels, L. (2006). The Sources of Four Commonly Reported Cutoff Criteria What Did They Really Say? Organizational Research Methods Volume 9 Number 2 April 2006 pp202-220 Sage Publications
Larkin, T. (2000). Learning Styles in Introductory Physics: Enhancing Student Motivation, Interest, & Learning. International Conference on Engineering and Computer Education, São Paulo, Brazil, August 2000
Larkin, T. & Budny, D. (2003). Learning styles in the physics classroom: A research-informed approach. ASEE Annual Conference Proceedings.
Larkin, T. & Budny, D. (2004). "Learning Styles: Applications in the Physics and Engineering Classrooms." (2004). Retrieved from: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper Accessed: April 2019
Latham, A., Crockett, D., McLean, D. & Edmonds, B. (2009). Using Learning Styles to enhance computerized learning systems. Proc. 2009 Annual Research Student Conference. Manchester, UK: Manchester Metropolitan University.
Latham, A., Crockett, K., Mclean, D. & Edmonds, B. (2012) A conversational intelligent tutoring system to automatically predict learning styles. Computers & Education – An International Journal 59(1):95–109. Elsevier.
Livesay, G., Dee, K., Neuman, E., Hites, L. (2002). Engineering Student Learning Styles: A Statistical Analysis Using Felder’s Index of Learning Styles. Annual Conference of the ASEE, Montreal, Quebec, June 2002
Litzinger, T., Lee, S., Wise, J., Felder, R. (2005). A study of the reliability and validity of the Felder-Soloman Index of Learning Styles. Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition. American Society for Engineering Education
Michalos, A. C. (2014) Cronbach's (Alpha) Coefficient. Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research. pp1357. Springer Netherlands, Dordrecht. ISBN = 978-94-007-0753-5. DOI=0.1007/978-94-007-0753-5_100818
Moodle System. (2018) Retrieved February 19, 2019, from https://docs.moodle.org/36/en/About_Moodle
Nunnally, J. C. (1978). Psychometric theory (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill
Mukaka M. M. (2012). Statistics corner: A guide to the appropriate use of the correlation coefficient in medical research. Malawi medical journal: the journal of Medical Association of Malawi, 24(3), 69–71.
Önder, F., & Silay, İ. (2015). The importance of learning styles to form more successful cooperative groups in a physics course. European Journal of Physics Education, 6(4), 1. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.20308/ejpe.48367
Tuckman, B.W. (1999). Conducting Educational Research, 5th ed. Wadsworth Group.
Warrens, M. J. (2015). On Cronbach's Alpha as the Mean of All Split-Half Reliabilities. Quantitative Psychology Research: The 78th Annual Meeting of the Psychometric Society. Springer International Publishing, Cham. pp293-300. ISBN= 978-3-319-07503-7. DOI = 10.1007/978-3-319-07503-7_18
Watkins, J. & Mazur, E. (2013). Retaining Students in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Majors. Journal of College Science Teaching, Vol. 42, No. 5, 2013.
Weiser, M. (1993). Some computer science issues in ubiquitous computing. Communications. ACM 36, 7 (July 1993), 75-84. DOI=http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/159544.159617
Zajacova, B. (2013). Learning Styles in Physics Education: Introduction of Our Research Tools and Design, In Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, Vol 106, 2013, pp1786-1795, ISSN 1877-0428, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.12.201.
Zingaro, D. & Porter, L. (2014). Peer Instruction in computing: The value of instructor intervention. Journal of Computers & Education. Volume 71, February 2014, Pages 87-96, Elsevier Science Ltd. Oxford, UK.
Zwanenberg, V., Wilkinson, L. & Anderson, A. (2000). Felder and Silverman’s Index of Learning Styles and Honey and Mumford’s Learning Styles Questionnaire: How do they compare and how do they predict? Educational Psychology, 20 (3), 365–381.
Zywno, M.S. (2003). A Contribution of Validation of Score Meaning for Felder-Soloman’s Index of Learning Styles. Proceedings of the 2003 Annual ASEE Conference. Washington, DC: ASEE
Published
2019-04-19
How to Cite
CACEFFO, Ricardo Edgard et al.
Assessment of Predictive Power of The Felder & Silverman Learning Styles Model on Students’ Performance in an Introductory Physics Course.
European Journal of Physics Education, [S.l.], v. 10, n. 2, p. 1-22, apr. 2019.
ISSN 1309-7202.
Available at: <https://eu-journal.org/index.php/EJPE/article/view/227>. Date accessed: 25 apr. 2024.
doi: https://doi.org/10.20308/ejpe.v10i2.227.
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