Date of Award
2004
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Fischler Graduate School of Education and Human Services
Advisor
L. K. Curda
Committee Member
Charles Schlosser
Committee Member
Maryellen Maher
Keywords
academically gifted, Allen, attitudes toward computer-assisted instruction, CAI, computer-assisted instruction, computer attitudes, data collection, descriptive statistics, Ethan Frome, gender differences, gifted students, inferential statistics, Kolb, Kolb's Learning Style Inventory, language arts students, learning style matching, learning styles, Learning Style Inventory, module design, posttest attitudes, pretest attitudes, random assignment, semantic differential tool, student attitudes, technology-assisted learning, 11th-grade students
Abstract
This study examined the relationship between the learning styles of gifted 11th-grade language arts students and their attitudes toward computer-assisted instruction (CAI). Kolb’s Learning Style Inventory (LSI, version 3) was used to measure each student’s preferred learning style and Allen’s Attitude Toward Computer-Assisted Instruction semantic differential tool was used to measure students’ attitudes toward CAI. After taking the LSI and completing the Attitude Toward Computer-Assisted Instruction instrument, participants completed a researcher-developed CAI module on the novel Ethan Frome. Students were randomly assigned to a CAI module based on a match or mismatch relationship between their preferred learning style and the designed activity module. After completing the module, each student’s attitudes toward CAI were again measured on the Attitude Toward Computer-Assisted Instruction semantic differential tool. After data collection, a variety of descriptive and inferential statistics were computed to address the research questions.
It was hypothesized that there is not one specific learning style that all gifted students prefer and that no relationship exists between a student’s gender and his or her preferred learning style. Both these hypotheses were upheld by the study’s findings. The final hypothesis stated that students assigned an activity that matches their preferred learning style will express a more positive attitude toward CAI from pretest to posttest than will students whose learning style and assigned activity do not match. Students who were matched with an activity designed for their preferred learning style demonstrated a significant improvement in attitude toward CAI while those who were matched with an activity not designed for their preferred learning style showed no evidence of a change in attitude.