How Do High School and College Students Learn? A Comprehensive Analysis of Learning Styles

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.12804/revistas.urosario.edu.co/apl/a.10980

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Published: Feb 10, 2023
Issue: Vol. 40 No. 3 (2022): Avances en Psicología Latinoamericana
Section Artículos


Keywords: Learning styles high school students college students academic achievement

Main Article Content

Authors

  Agustín Freiberg Hoffmann
Universidad de Buenos Aires, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (Argentina)
  Mercedes Fernández Liporace
Universidad de Buenos Aires, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (Argentina)
  Fabiana Uriel
Universidad de Buenos Aires (Argentina)

Abstract

The study examines learning styles in high school and college students to describe their cognitive, affective, and physiological features they apply in learning. Thus, instructional preference, information processing, and cognitive personality styles were analyzed. The Grasha Riechmann Student Learning Styles Scale, the Inventory of Learning Processes, and the Learning Style Type Indicator were employed. The sample was composed of 942 highschool (n = 352) and college students (n = 590) attending different majors (20.5 % Applied Sciences, 18.2 % Basic Sciences, 13.7 % Health Sciences, 30.8 % Human Sciences, 16.8 % Social Sciences). All of them attended classes in Buenos Aires. Significant differences in the competitive style were observed in favor of high school students, whereas most styles were in favorable for undergraduates. Advanced college students showed a higher use of study methods compared to high school students. A significant and positive effect of all learning styles on academic achievement was verified. Such findings evidence remarkable differences between high school students and undergraduates. They also highlight the importance of learning styles in academic achievement. These results should be used to improve the adaptation and adjustment of first-year students, contributing to avoiding academic failure and dropout.

Author Biography

Agustín Freiberg Hoffmann, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (Argentina)

Professor of Psychometric Techniques II at the University of Buenos Aires. Doctorate and Doctoral Fellow at the same university.

How to Cite
Freiberg Hoffmann, A., Fernández Liporace, M., & Uriel, F. (2023). How Do High School and College Students Learn? A Comprehensive Analysis of Learning Styles. Avances En Psicología Latinoamericana, 40(3), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.12804/revistas.urosario.edu.co/apl/a.10980
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