Learning Style and Academic Achievement of Middle School Geography Students in Korea
Date
2000
Authors
Yoon, Sung-Hee
Atman, Kathryn S.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
The Grosvenor Center for Geographic Education
Abstract
This study was conducted to identify the nature of Korean students’ learning styles and to determine the relationship between learning style and geography achievement. This study was based on the learning style model developed by David A. Kolb and the teaching style models by Svinicki, Dixon, and Sheehy. The Learning Style Inventory (LSI) was administered to 791 Korean middle school geography student and a survey designed to identify a teacher’s teaching style was administered to their teachers. The results showed that the distributions of geography students ’ learning styles in Korea were different from previous research studies in other cultures. Environmental considerations, including school experience and educational settings, may be factors in such results. In addition, the data from this study showed that the approach traditionally taken in Korean geography education provided the best learning environment for one study of learning style: that of the assimilator. Through these results, this study suggested that Korean geography education could improve through provision of opportunities for students to learn self-monitoring skills for improving their academic achievement, and for teachers to train in new and various instructional methods in order to meet different students’ learning preferences. In addition, teachers have to be trained in technology education such as geographic information systems (GIS). This study develops baseline data on Korean students’ learning styles in geography education and may aid in making geography textbooks ’contents more concrete and effective.
Description
Keywords
learning style, teaching style, geographic education, Korea
Citation
Yoon, S. H., & Atman, K. S. (2000). Learning style and academic achievement of middle school geography students in Korea. Research in Geographic Education, 2(1), pp. 1-17.