Running head: EFFECTS OF TEACHING STYLES 1

Do Different Teaching Styles Effect a Students Overall Learning?

Bruce Marchand Jr.
Andrew Cabral
Benjamin Banoff
Nichols College
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Abstract
Do teaching styles effect a students learning aptitude? This question encompasses theories that
state that learning styles are not a valid concept. The goal of this study is to investigate the
validity of these claims. The independent variables examined were teaching styles and learning
styles. The two teaching styles that were incorporated into the classrooms were command and
inclusion. The two learning styles that were compared were visual and kinesthetic subjects. The
dependent variable was the retention of the participants knowledge of the mock lesson. The
results indicated that command and inclusion styles do not improve learning. Our results were
similar to those of past studies that also found no significant difference. Future studies should
incorporate auditory learning style and reciprocal teaching style. Research in this area should be
continued to ensure that pedagogy remains consistent.
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Do different teaching styles effect a students overall learning?

Did you ever have a teacher in high school or professor in college that you learned the

most from? Did you ever wish that all of your teachers/professors taught like this? Finding out

how different teaching styles effect different students is a very important research topic so that

people in charge of education can make sure that the students are being taught the best way

possible.

When we look at the way instructors teach their material we must first look at the way a

student learns. People in the world know that we have three basic learning styles: Visual,

Auditory, and Kinesthetic. A visual learner prefers to have the material in front of them. An

auditory learner prefers to listen to the instructor to retain the information. A kinesthetic learner

prefers to learn hands-on to retain the information that they need to (Wallace, 1995).

Another issue related to learning is where you are geographically located. For example,

Clump (2003), examined two different college classes. This study compared the learning styles

of students from each college and the gender. What Clump (2003) found out was that the

geographical location of the college and where people are brought up have nothing to do with the

way these people learn.

Further investigating learning styles was the goal of looking at the different types of

racial institutions and how their learning styles may differ. For example, a study looked at the

relevance of teaching and learning strategies based on the culture of an institution (Talpade and

Talpade, 2016). They took a primarily white institution and a historically black institutions

culture to see if there were different learning and teaching strategies at each school. The study

showed that the culture of both the institutions varied and there were significant differences in
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their perceived relevance of the teaching and learning strategies of the two different ethnic

institutions (Talpade, 2016).

A study by J. Schuessler and V. Thomas (2016), focused on the ways that pharmacology

students learned better in a certain classroom experience. The two different classroom situations

were a lecture heavy course and an interactive learning based course. What they did was they

noticed that so many of the students struggled in the class that was entirely lecture based so they

wanted to see if it had anything to do with the way the professor was teaching the material. The

next semester they offered another course that was taught completely interactively and noticed

that the students scored well above what the previous class did and they enjoyed it more

(Schuessler and Thomas, 2016).

Sometimes a students entitlement (what grade they think they deserve) might affect the

way they learn. For example, Schoner, Hamblay, Silver, Jayasundera, and Joakim (2012)

published an experiment that studied the reasons why certain students may learn differently

depending on how entitled they may feel (Andrey, 2012). The last important measure we look at

is if there is a significant correlation between the teaching styles of a professor and their

cognitive styles. For example, Hawkins, Young, and Evans (2008) published an experiment that

looked into finding if a teachers teaching styles had anything to do with their cognitive thoughts.

They found out that most teachers will teach based on their personality and how they think rather

than what the best way the students will learn from (Evans, 2008).

The last study that I am going to talk about is the study that I emulated this study from. In

1998, a study that was investigating if a students enjoyment of physical education class had

something to do with the way their teacher taught them (Cai, 1998). They looked at three
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different types of teaching styles (Command, reciprocal, and inclusion) and applied them to three

different classes of students. What they found out was that most students had the most fun and

learned the most from the teacher that was using the command strategy, which is when the

teacher makes all the impact decisions of the class and the students follow them (Cai, 1998).

The essence of the command style is the direct and immediate relationship between the

teachers stimulus and the learners response (Cai, 1998).

This study is about trying to figure out if the way a teacher/professor teaches their

students has anything to do with the students grade in the class. It is very important for

educators to find out if they are setting up their students for success or failure because it is their

job to make sure the students learn the material and can be able to answer questions on the exam

to obtain a good grade. This experiment may benefit all aspects of the education sector.
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Method
Participants
In order to complete this study, we obtained thirty Nichols College General Psychology

students. The reason we chose to select these students was because they were given extra credit

for participating in the study. The ethnic groups and gender of the participants did not matter, but

we needed to use ten visual learners, ten auditory learners, and ten kinesthetic learners.

Materials
The materials that were needed was a participant consent form (Appendix A), baseline

questionnaire (Appendix B), and the end of the lesson test (Appendix C). The end of the lesson

test is a quick ten question test to discover how well the person learned the material based on

their learning style. We also used a PowerPoint presentation (Appendix D) and a debriefing

handout (Appendix E).

Baseline Questionnaire
This baseline questionnaire was used to identify learning styles. Please refer to Appendix

B to see the questions we developed. The questions were also used to try and figure out what

type of teaching style the participant preferred. The questionnaire consisted of five very simple

multiple choice questions that were used to identify the participants learning style. These

questions were developed after closely researching the V.A.R.K learning styles questionnaire.

End of Lesson Test

This test was designed to measure how much of the lesson the participants remembered

based on their learning style and the teaching style of their group. The test consisted of nine

multiple choice questions that were developed using the information presented in the PowerPoint

that was shown to the students. Please refer to Appendix C to see these questions.
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PowerPoint Presentation
This was used to teach the material to the students. The presentation was on the history of

clowns. The presentation was in blue and there was a picture on almost every slide. Please refer

to Appendix D for a copy of the presentation.

Debriefing Handout
This was used to debrief the participants on why we ran the study and what our

hypothesis was. Please refer to Appendix E for a copy of the handout.

Procedure
The first thing that we did was search through General Psychology students for thirty

participants who fit our needs. In order for the experiment to work we had to have an equal

amount of each type of learner. Second, we distributed our consent form for subjects to read and

sign. The next procedure was to assign the participants to their groups and divide them into their

time slots. Also, we had one-person teach each class with two different teaching styles and then

the rest of us collected the data. Each teaching lesson lasted about twenty minutes and then the

participants were given between five and ten minutes to take the end of lesson test. The teaching

lessons consisted of a five-minute introduction of everyone, a ten-minute introduction to the

material, and five minutes to complete the end of lesson test after some questions. We ran an

After-Only design where we only tested and observed each subject once. Once the first group

finished then the next one would start immediately after. Once all three groups had finished their

lessons and tests, we gathered the participants to debrief them on the study and handed them a

written debriefing as well. The statistical analysis that was run was a 2X2 Factorial ANOVA.
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Results

Subjects quiz scores were subjected to a two-way analysis of variance having two levels

of learning styles (visual, kinesthetic) and two levels of teaching styles (command, inclusion).

All effects were not significant at the .05 significance level.

The main effect of learning style yielded an F ratio of F (1, 30) = 1.40, p = .25, indicating

that the mean learning style score was not significantly greater than teaching style (M = 42.04) F

(1, 30) p = .62. The interaction effect was non-significant, F(1, 30) = .26, p = .62. The graph

below shows the average scores for the four groups.

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Appendix A
Participant Informed Consent Form

DO DIFFERENT TEACHING STYLES EFFECT A STUDENTS

OVERALL LEARNING? Consent Form
You are being asked to participate in a study about whether or not the way a professor teaches
effects how students learn. We are asking you to take part in this study because you are enrolled
in General Psychology. Please read this consent form very carefully and ask any questions you
may have before you agree or disagree to take part in the study.
What the study is about: The purpose of this study is to see if the way educators teach their
curriculum have an effect on the student retaining the information.
What we will ask you to do: If you agree to participate in this study we will distribute to you a
baseline questionnaire that helps us determine which group of students you will be placed in for
the study. After we find out which group you will placed in we will contact you with your slot
time for the experiment. Once you find out your slot time please arrive five-to-ten minutes ahead
and the entire study will only take up about twenty minutes of your time once we begin.
Risks and benefits:
I do not anticipate any risks to you participating in this study other than those encountered in
day-to-day life.
The benefit that you will receive is extra credit in your General Psychology class.
Compensation: You will earn extra credit in your General Psychology class for participating in
this study.
Your answers will be confidential: The record of the study will not be seen by anyone except
for the administrators of the study. The answers to your questions will never been seen by any
other person.
Taking part is voluntary: You do not have to participate in this study if you do not desire to. If
you decide to take part in the study you will be able to withdraw at any time during the study. If
you choose not to participate, it will not affect your future at Nichols College or your grade in
your General Psychology class.
If you have questions: You have any questions regarding the study, please ask them now. If you
have any questions later you can contact Bruce Marchand Jr., the researcher, at
brmarchand@nichols.edu or 401-636-0109. If you have any questions or concerns regarding
your rights as a subject in this study, you may contact the Institutional Review Board (IRB) at
their website http://www.irb.nichols.edu.
*You may be given a copy of this form to keep for your records.
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Statement of Consent: I have read the above information, and have received answers to any
questions I asked. I consent to take part in the study.

Your Signature ___________________________________ Date ________________________

Your Name (printed) ____________________________________________________________

Signature of person obtaining consent ______________________ Date __________________

Printed name of person obtaining consent ________________________Date _______________
*NOTE: This consent form will be kept by the researcher for at least three years beyond the end
of the study.
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Appendix B
Name: ______________________

Circle the best answer that fits you:

1.) A professor is teaching you how to do multiplication. She shows you how to do it on the
board, explains how to do it, and she has you do an example on the board. Which way
would you prefer to learn the material?

Listening

Watching

Doing the example

2.) A perspective student of Nichols College asks you where the athletic center is. How
would you tell them where it is located?
Bring them to the Athletic Center
Tell them how to get there
Bring them to the nearest map to show them how they would be able to get there
3.) You want to learn a new program, skill or game on a computer. You would:
Watch a video online about it
Read the manual
Learn as you go and just try it
4.) You are cooking a dinner for your special someone and you want to learn how to make a
certain type of chicken. What would you do?
Read a cook book
Watch the food channel
Trial and Error
5.) Do you prefer a teacher or a presenter who uses:
Demonstrations
Handouts, PowerPoints
Class discussion
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Appendix D
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Appendix E
This study was meant to find out if the way a professor teaches a certain subject effects

the way the student retains the information. We also wanted to see if a student actually did learn

better based on what their preferred learning style is. We split all the participants into three

different groups based on their learning styles: visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. We used the

baseline questionnaire at the beginning of the study to figure out what the participants preferred

learning style was.

The test given to the participants at the end of the lesson was given to see if the

participants retained the information better based on the way that they were taught the material.

We used three different types of teaching methods that also incorporated the three learning styles

of the groups. These teaching methods were: command, reciprocal, and inclusion. Command

teaching strategy is when the professor makes all the decisions of the class and the students

follow them. The reciprocal teaching strategy is when students interact with each other and take

on a teaching role in small groups. The inclusion teaching strategy is when teachers provide

opportunities for the student to make decisions for the entire class and the way a subject is

taught.

All three groups for taught a different way: Group A (Visual) was taught using command

style, Group B (Auditory) were taught using reciprocal style, and Group C (Kinesthetic) were

taught using inclusion style. Each group was chosen specifically for these learning and teaching

styles. Do you still think you are the type of learner you said you were? What do you think we

could have done better?

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References:
Andrey, J., Schoner, V., Hamblay, D., Silver, A., Jayasundera, R., & Joakim, E. (2012).

Academic entitlement in the context of learning styles. Canadian Society for the Study of

Education, 35.4.

Cai, S. (1998). Student enjoyment of physical education class in three teaching style

environments. Project Innovation (Alabama), 412.

Evans, C., Harkins, M., & Young, J. (2008). Exploring teaching styles and cognitive styles:

evidence from school teachers in Canada. North American Journal of Psychology, 567.

Skogsberg, K., & Clump, A. (2003). Differences in learning styles of college students attending

similar universities in different geographic locations. Project Innovation (Alabama), 501.

Talpade, M., & Talpade, S. (2016). Relevance of the Sankofa teaching and learning approach: A

cultural comparison. North American Journal of Psychology, 453.

Thomas, V., & Schuessler, J. (2016). Using innovative teaching strategies to improve outcomes

in a pharmacology course. Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc., 174.

Wallace, J. (1995). Learning styles in the Philippines. Project Innovation (Alabama), 115(4),
552.
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