TEACHING STRATEGIES BASED ON LEARNING STYLES OF ADULT STUDENTS

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Abstract
One of the major purposes of community and junior colleges has been to provide easy access to postsecondary educational opportunities for a broad spectrum of the general population. Access alone does not justify the existence of these institutions, instead, successful student learning determines their worth. Achieving this success is no small task when the student population is largely non‐traditional both in age and experiential background. The study was conducted to examine the effect of adjusting teaching methods to coincide with the learning preferences of students enrolled in a small, predominantly black, community college. Previous research, conducted in elementary and secondary schools, had indicated significant gains in student learning as a result of this modification. The learning styles of students entering a freshman level social science class were assessed with the Productivity Environmental Preference Survey (PEPS). Students were assigned to experimental or control groups based on the results of the PEPS. Teaching strategies for the experimental group were modified to suit their learning styles, while the control group was taught by the traditional lecture method. The CLEP Social Studies Test was used to measure achievement during the semester. The Mann‐Whitney U‐Test for Independent Populations was used to test the hypothesis of no difference in the achievement of the two groups. A calculated U of 7.5 indicated a significant gain by the experimental group.

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