Presentation

Learning Styles: Are There Differences Between Academic Majors?

Learning style refers to the way an individual selects, assimilates, and processes information (Hansen, 1995; Given, 2000). Often, an individual’s learning style is demonstrated as an observable behavior (Roberts, 1999) that is consistent in perceptual and intellectual activities (Witkin, Oltman, Raskin, & Karp, 2002). Learning style theory has developed from studies in several different disciplines. This suggests the complex nature of learning theory (Boyle, Duffy, & Dunleavy, 2003) and also explains the different learning style constructs (Massey, 2001; Witkins et al., 2002). Studies completed by various researchers suggest that academic major is an important variable in understanding learning style differences between student groups (Loo, 2002, Jones, Reichard, & Mokhtari, 2003; Smith & Miller, 2005). This phenomenon further suggests that students may self-select academic programs that are most compatible with their learning style (Diaz & Cartnal, 1999). This understanding will have significance to all teaching faculty. The purpose of this study is to determine the learning styles of maritime cadets at the California Maritime Academy and to determine the extent to which there are differences in learning styles between students in different academic majors. The Group Embedded Figure Test (GEFT) questionnaire, which is based on the Gestalt school of German psychology (Rayner & Riding, 1997), is used to determine the learning style of the participants (field dependent/independent). The findings suggest that the maritime cadets who participated in this study are field-independent learners and that differences in learning styles between students in different academic majors do exist.

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