Immaculate Heart of Mary College

Immaculate Heart of Mary College, Q.C

The Grade 9 Students' Learning Styles and it's Effect to their Christian Living in the Class 2013-2014

The Grade 9 Students' Learning Styles 

and it's Effect to their 

Christian Living in the Class

2013-2014

Prepared by:

Ms. Angel Tecson

Table of Contents

Abstract                                                                                                      2

Introduction                                                                                                3                                                       

            -Statement of the Problem                                                               4

            -Review of Related Literature                                                          7                       

            -Statement of the Hypothesis                                                           7                                                                                                 

Method                                                                                                        

            -Participants (N)                                                                               8

            -Instrument(s)                                                                                   8

            -Experimental Design                                                                       8

            -Procedure                                                                                       9

Results                                                                                                        9

Graph                                                                                                            9

Table                                                                                                           11

Discussion                                                                                                  12

Implications                                                                                                12

References                                                                                                 14

Appendix (ces)                                                                                           

            -Appendix A- David Kolb’s Learning Style Model                       16

            -Appendix B- David Kolb’s Cycle                                                17

            -Appendix C- Student Survey Questionnaire

             

           

Abstract

            What’s your learning style? The reason of this action research paper was to look into the effect of identifying Grade 9 students’ Learning Styles and its effects to their Christian Living performance in the class.  Using a learning styles inventory, on an online survey, it was found that most of the group accorded to their preferred learning style increased.  Discussion on whether or not the increase of the student’s performance in the class should be recognized to the David Kolb’s and other researchers is included. 

 Introduction

Many people distinguish that each person prefers different learning styles and techniques. Learning styles group common ways that people learn. Everyone has a mix of learning styles. Some people may find that they have a dominant style of learning, with far less use of the other styles. Others may find that they use different styles in different circumstances. There is no right mix. Nor are your styles fixed. You can develop ability in less dominant styles, as well as further develop styles that you already use well.

Classroom teachers and educators are aware that each student learns differently. Through education classes and constant discussion, educators are aware that by identifying each student learning style, teaching to his or her learning style and implementing curriculum that compliments student learning can improve on-task behavior and increase content knowledge.  The thought of identifying each student learning style may seem impossible and time consuming. However, with the right instrument, that is quick and effective, the process will be much more approachable.

 A pressure has been placed on teachers to increase the Grade 9 students’ Learning Styles and its effects to their Christian Living performance in the class. We know that teaching to a students’ learning style will improve scores (Dunn & Dunn, 1992). When teachers teach to students learning preference academic achievement increases, attitudes in learning increases and on-task behavior improves.

Statement of the Problem

Classroom teachers have the first hand experience to notice and identify problems or situations that need to be addressed to improve student learning.  It is our duty as teachers to recognize issues that are affecting students learning and research how to implement a change. The purpose of this Action Research Project was to investigate the Grade 9 students’ Learning Styles and its effects to their Christian Living performance in the class.

What is Learning Style?

Learning style is an individual's natural or habitual pattern of acquiring and processing information in learning situations. A core concept is that individuals differ in how they learn. Everyone has a learning style. Our style of learning, if accommodated, can result in improved attitudes towards learning and an increase productivity, academic achievement, and creativity (Griggs, 1991).

Kolb (1975) views learning as an integrated process with each stage being mutually supportive of and feeding into the next. It is possible to enter the cycle at any stage and follow it through its logical sequence.

The term “learning style has many definitions. Your learning styles have more influence than you may realize. Your preferred styles guide the way you learn. They also change the way you internally represent experiences, the way you recall information, and even the words you choose. We explore more of these features in this chapter.

Research shows us that each learning style uses different parts of the brain. By involving more of the brain during learning, we remember more of what we learn. Researchers using brain-imaging technologies have been able to find out the key areas of the brain responsible for each learning style. For many years educational researchers have been curious about how individuals learn.  Educators recognize that different students learn differently. Researchers have learned a great deal overt the last fifty years about learning styles and how identifying learning styles and teaching to those styles can improve students’ test scores and increase content knowledge (Pitts, 2002). Many researchers have their own definition of learning styles.   Ausubel, Novak, & Hanesian (1978) stated that “cognitive styles” or “learning styles” have been defined as “self-consistent, enduring individual differences in cognitive organization and function” (as cited in Wilson, 1998, 2). Keefe (1982) defined learning styles as “cognitive, affective, and physiological traits that serve as relatively stable indicators of how learners perceive, interact with, and respond to the learning environment” (as cited in Wilson, 1998, 2), while Gregorc (1979) describes learning styles as “distinctive behaviors which serve as indicators of how a person learn from and adapts to his environment” (as cited in Wilson, 1998, 2).  Dunn & Dunn (1992) defines learning style is the way in which individuals begin to concentrate on, process, internalize and retain new and difficult academic information.

David Kolb’s Learning Cycle

Kolb's experiential learning style theory is typically represented by a four stage learning cycle in which the learner 'touches all the bases':

1. Concrete Experience - (a new experience of situation is encountered, or a reinterpretation of existing experience).

2. Reflective Observation (of the new experience. Of particular importance are any inconsistencies between experience and understanding).

3. Abstract Conceptualization (Reflection gives rise to a new idea, or a modification of an existing abstract concept).

4. Active Experimentation (the learner applies them to the world around them to see what results).

Effective learning is seen when a person progresses through a cycle of four stages: of (1) having a concrete experience followed by (2) observation of and reflection on that experience which leads to (3) the formation of abstract concepts (analysis) and generalizations (conclusions) which are then (4) used to test hypothesis in future situations, resulting in new experiences.

Kolb (1975) views learning as an integrated process with each stage being mutually supportive of and feeding into the next. It is possible to enter the cycle at any stage and follow it through its logical sequence.

However, effective learning only occurs when a learner is able to execute all four stages of the model. Therefore, no one stage of the cycle is an effective as a learning procedure on its own.

Review of Related Literature

The application of learning style theory encompasses three pervasive problems: confusion in definitions, weakness in measurement reliability and validity and identification of relevant learner characteristics (Curry, 1990). While it seems like a good idea to match teaching styles or methods of instruction to grade 9 student’s particular learning style, it is obvious from the different ideas of researchers that this could be problematic. The type of teaching method would depend on the framework used to determine students’ learning styles. Additionally, some research has disputed the idea that learning styles are stable personality traits. They observe that learning style might best be described as situational, that is, depending on the particular situation in which the learning occurs. Moreover, they argue that many of the self-report inventories fail to differentiate between learners ("Individual differences and learning styles", 2003). Coffield (2005) advises teachers to guard against the practice of pigeonholing students into narrowly defined categories.

Statement of the Hypothesis

Integrating Grade 9 student’s preferred learning style will increase on-task behavior and increase their Christian living performance in the class.

Method

Participants (N)

The survey for this action research paper was conducted with thirty four grade 9 Laboure students in Immaculate Heart of Mary College. The students are from an intact class from a school with middle-to-high income families.  The class is consists 10 boys and 24 girls. Of all the students 85% was paying and  15% was scholars.

Instrument(s)

The Learning Style Inventory –Intermediate Version for student’s questionnaire in High school was used as the measuring instrument. The eighty question are based on four stage learning cycle in which the learner 'touches all the bases.  The content validity is good.  The test administered to measure individual students CL performance in class. 

Experimental Design

This questionnaire is designed to find out your preferred learning style(s). Over the years you have probably developed learning 'habits' that help you benefit more from some experiences than from others. Since you are probably unaware of this, this questionnaire will help you pinpoint your learning preferences so that you are in a better position to select learning experiences that suit your style.

Procedure

The beginning of the third quarter, November 2013, the researcher was assigned to her grade 9. With granted permission from the school’s principal, consent where handed out to the subject chair asking her to allow me to have my research in my class.  

The research began with all 40 students taking a test, in February 21, in Christian living. Individually, students completed a survey with the research.  The research each student 80 questions in which they pointed to a check or a cross.  From the completed surveys the research determined if the student was an Activist, Reflector, Theorist or Pragmatist learner.

The students were then divided into groups according to learning style: The researcher tries to accommodate both learners when she introduces a CL lesson.  She starts off with a book about the topic so that the active learners can see the big picture before they get started and the researcher also did a step-by-step modeling of the CL concepts for the reflective learners.

Results

The Action Research was designed to determine if matching students to their preferred learning style would increase the Grade 9 students’ Learning Styles and its effects to their Christian Living performance in the class. The sample size was 40. Students were group as Activist, Reflector, Theorist or Pragmatist learner.

Determined by the survey, created by the research, based on the David Kolb Learning Style inventory, 8 students were labeled activist, 23 students were labeled Reflectors, 6 students were labeled Theorist and 8 students were labeled Pragmatist. Three of the students have equal styles of learning like being activist and pragmatist.

Table 1. Result of Learning Styles of the Grade 9 Students

Table 2. Inventory Test Result for 40 students

Students	SCORING
	Activist	Reflector	Theorist	Pragmatist
Students 1	11	13	9	13
Students 2	7	15	19	13
Students 3	11	12	10	10
Students 4	12	14	15	16
Students 5	4	14	8	9
Students 6	14	17	13	12
Students 7	12	10	13	7
Students 8	19	19	18	13
Students 9	15	15	16	12
Students 10	18	17	18	20
Students 11	15	12	16	13
Students 12	15	14	5	7
Students 13	10	19	10	11
Students 14	13	15	13	14
Students 15	15	14	11	11
Students 16	14	18	16	16
Students 17	10	17	12	12
Students 18	13	13	12	12
Students 19	16	17	16	18
Students 20	14	17	11	17
Students 21	16	12	11	10
Students 22	11	16	17	14
Students 23	9	11	12	8
Students 24	13	17	15	17
Students 25	12	19	13	15
Students 26	15	17	13	10
Students 27	17	12	14	16
Students 28	13	16	11	12
Students 29	8	12	7	6
Students 30	2	15	9	14
Students 31	11	9	8	7
Students 32	13	17	14	16
Students 33	17	19	17	20
Students 34	16	19	17	17
Students 35	17	20	17	18
Students 36	8	15	11	12
Students 37	15	18	16	17
Students 38	11	16	14	13
Students 39	18	16	16	18
Students 40	16	16	11	17
	Total	Total	Total	Total
Total Score	516	614	524	533
Result	8	23	6	8

20%Pragmatist

15% Theorist

20% Activist

57.5% Reflector

Discussion

These findings proves that the grade 9 students are Reflective students and that learners do not just receive information only at the time it is given; they absorb information in many different ways, often after the fact, through reflection.

It attest that only 20% of the students are activist Activists who involve themselves fully and without bias in new experiences. They enjoy the here and now and are happy to be dominated by immediate experiences. 57.5% of the students are Reflectors who like to stand back and ponder experiences and observe them from many different perspectives. They collect data, both first hand and from others, and prefer to think about it thoroughly before coming to any conclusion. The thorough collection and analysis of data about experiences and events is what counts so they tend to postpone reaching definitive conclusions for as long as possible. 15% of the students are Theorist who prefers to adapt and integrate observations into complex but logically sound theories. They think problems through in a vertical, step by step, logical way. They assimilate disparate facts into coherent theories. And 20% of the students are Pragmatists who are keen on trying out ideas, theories and techniques to see if they work in practice. They positively search out new ideas and take the first opportunity to experiment with applications.

It was found out those Grade 9 students’ Learning Styles and its effects to their Christian Living performance in the class depend on the teachers strategies in teaching used. It is in the hand of the teachers in how she will developed students way in learning to actively perform in the class discussion.

Implications

 Although the students in the research result are more reflector than activists, teachers are encourage to be more creative in proving strategies for the next year as they went to grade 10. Since it was proven that Grade 9 SY 2013-2014 are more Reflectors Learners do not just receive information only at the time it is given; they absorb information in many different ways, often after the fact, through reflection. Students may not always be aware of what they are learning and experiencing. Teachers must raise students' consciousness about underlying concepts and about their own reactions to these concepts.

The most important reason for conducting of this research is to help teachers select the best strategies and techniques to engage students to do their best learning.  A good teacher recognizes that it is crucial and necessary to address the many different learners that they will encounter.  Teachers, researchers and practitioners, all agree that all students can learn but all students learn differently. The next step is to make sure that students are taught according to their learning style.

This study is not only for CL teachers but other subject teacher can also used this research as their guide in instruction.

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