"See How They Learn": The Impact of Faculty and Student Learning Styles on Student Performance in Introductory Economics

SMC Author

Kara Boatman, Richard Courtney, William Lee

SMC Affiliated Work

1

Status

Faculty

School

School of Economics and Business Administration

Department

Economics

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

Spring 2008

Publication / Conference / Sponsorship

The American Economist

Publisher/Venue

Sage Publications, Inc.

Description/Abstract

This paper reports the results of a recent study completed at Saint Mary's College of California, in which the TUCE was administered to introductory economics students. Students and instructors also completed the VARK questionnaire to identify which of the sensory modalities they prefer to use to learn information. Results suggest that a strong visual learning preference positively influences student performance. Our finding that neither ethnicity nor gender influence student performance confirms results of prior research, and suggests that ethnicity-and gender-based differences in student performance may be at least partially caused by differences in learning style preferences.

Keywords

Visual learning, Posttests, Questionnaires, High school students, Teachers, Motor ability, Standardized tests, Economic models, Grade point average

Scholarly

yes

Volume

52

Issue

1

First Page

39

Last Page

48

Disciplines

Business | Economics

Original Citation

Courtney, R. (2008). 'See How They Learn': The Impact of Faculty and Student Learning Styles on Student Performance in Introductory Economics. American Economist

Link to Full Text

Share

COinS