Learning styles across the curriculum

Recent research has shown that a student’s learning style – essentially, the way a student approaches and masters new material – can affect student performance in introductory computer science courses. We show here that a student’s learning style can also affect student performance across the courses in the computer science curriculum. This paper presents the results of a case study in which we collected learning style data for students completing the required courses in a typical computer science curriculum. We then used a wide range of statistical analyses to check for bias in the dataset and to examine the relationships between student learning style and student performance in those courses. Our analysis identified a number of statistically significant relationships between student learning style and performance. We examine potential explanations for those relationships and discuss ways in which the results can be used to enhance student learning. Categories and Subject Des...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2005
• Where: ITICSE
• Authors: A. T. Chamillard, Ricky E. Sward
• Keywords: Computer Science, ITICSE 2005, Learning Styles, Student Performance