CONGRUENCY OF LEARNING STYLES AND TEACHING STYLES ON PERFORMANCE OUTCOMES OF CERTIFIED NURSE AIDE STUDENTS

Author

Jodi Lynn Schoen, Southern Illinois University CarbondaleFollow

Date of Award

5-1-2018

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

Workforce Education and Development

First Advisor

Hagler, Barbara

Abstract

JODI L. SCHOEN Doctor of Philosophy degree in WORKFORCE EDUCATION & DEVELOPMENT, presented on March 22, 2018, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. TITLE: CONGRUENCY OF LEARNING STYLES AND TEACHING STYLES ON PERFORMANCE OUTCOMES OF CERTIFIED NURSE AIDE STUDENTS COMMITTEE CHAIR: Dr. Barbara Hagler The study of learning styles and teaching styles is a topic of growing interest and debate over the benefit of matching learning styles to teaching styles for improved student performance. There is a diversity of learning style and teaching style instruments that attempt to identify patterns or preferences. The learning theory suggests that knowing this information can improve learning through adjusting curriculum or teaching styles armed with this knowledge. A need for further research in the learning context of nurse aide student population was identified and the focus of this research. Hence, the purpose of this study was to examine the learning styles of students and teachers, teaching styles and the influence of congruency on performance. The sample for the study consisted of 187 nursing assistant students and 23 instructors. The Kolb Learning Style Inventory (LSI) version 3.1, and Grasha-Reichmann Teaching Style Inventory (TSI) were used to measure learning styles and teaching styles, and a questionnaire was used to gather demographic data. These data were compared to test scores gathered via The Illinois Nurse Aide Competency Test. The findings showed that there was no significant influence of the four learning styles identified through the Kolb LSI of accommodating, diverging, assimilating and converging. However, there was a significant relationship between the concrete experience (CE) learning style construct and decreased test performance. There were no significant findings to support the congruency of learning styles of students and teacher on outcomes. Although the mean scores of those matching learning styles achieved a higher mean of 84.75, as compared to 80.28 to those not-matching learning styles. Teachers had an increased preference for Expert, Formal Authority and Personal Model teaching styles, and teaching style had no significant effect on test performance. The most common learning styles were Diverging (39%), Assimilating (28%), Accommodating (26%) and Converging (7%) for students, and Assimilating (40%), Diverging (35%), Converging (15%) and Accommodating (10%) for teachers.