Learning Styles and Technology in a Ninth-Grade High School Population

Abstract

This study explores whether a technology-rich environment that promotes a constructivist approach to learning has a significant effect on the learning styles of freshmen high school students. Two high school freshmen classes were pre- and posttested on a learning-style inventory. One high school has a technology-rich environment and uses a project-based approach to learning, while the other school has a more traditional curriculum that is not technology rich. Six variables from the inventory were analyzed in this study. The results suggest that a technology-rich environment that promotes collaborative, project-based learning can have an effect on learning style. This study suggests that the environment contributed to the differential in effect size that was found at posttest time.

Keywords:

• high school and technology
• learning style
• technology in education