Teachers Beliefs About Accommodating Students Learning Styles In Science Classes

Abstract

Learning styles is a common strand found throughout recent science education reform recommendations. The objective of this study was to examine the influences of teacher beliefs regarding their intent to implement a variety of instructional strategies to meet the needs of different learning styles in the science classroom. Ajzen's (1985) Theory of Planned Behavior was used to investigate the influence of the primary constructs (attitude toward the behavior (AB), subjective norm (SN), and perceived behavioral control (PBC) on intent to engage in the targeted behavior. Differences between various teacher populations for the three primary constructs and intent also were examined. Survey research methods were employed to obtain data (n=109 Ohio teachers, randomly selected). Results were statistically analyzed using multiple regression, correlations, descriptive statistics, reliability, ANOVAS, and Sheffe post hoc techniques. Results indicated that attitude toward behavior and subjective norm influenced teachers' intent to implement variety of instructional strategies to meet the needs of different learning styles. Attitude toward behavior was the greatest influence. It was concluded that teacher belief constructs should be considered carefully when planning teacher development programs in order to successfully implement science reform recommendations.