Tyler Navarro, Utah Valley University
Health
PURPOSE: An Exercise Science class homework assignment revealed that a significant majority of the Exercise Science majors were Kinesthetic vs. Visual or Auditory learners. The researchers were curious what learning styles other fields of study had and if, like Exercise Science, other fields of study were dominated by one learning style or another. The purpose of this study was to identify the percentage of different learning styles of majors in various fields of study at UVU. Our hypothesis is that each field of study, by its very nature, would be lead by > 50% of the percentage points by one learning style over the others.
METHODS: Participants were issued a standardized questionnaire (Cuttell et. al.) that was designed to assess and characterize by percentage, what type of learner the participants were, those options being visual, auditory and/or kinesthetic.
RESULTS: Exercise Science majors tested to have 76% kinesthetic, 5% auditory and 14%. Computer Science demonstrated 73% kinesthetic, 4% auditory, 19% visual. Elementary Education exhibited 55% kinesthetic, 2% auditory, and 41% visual. Philosophy & Humanities tested at 70% kinesthetic, 11% auditory, and11% visual. Art and Visual Communication exhibited 36% kinesthetic, 9% auditory, and 55% visual. The one hundred forty eight Utah Valley University participants tested, as a whole, have 66% kinesthetic, 5% auditory, 25% visual.
DISCUSSION: The data indicates the hypothesis is correct, as every field of study did have one learning style that was > 50% of the respective populations’ learning styles. One should consider the learning styles of their target population such as clients, or students in order most efficiently facilitate learning.
REFERENCES: Cuttell, Menefee, Sinclair, and Vandeveer (1997). Human Behavior in Organization. 4th ed. Dell Publishing