Learning Styles and
Content Delivery Methods
Barbara Martinson and Sauman ChuDepartment of Design, Housing, and Apparel
DHA 4131 History of Visual Communication
Course Objectives:
consider the influence of social, technical, and aesthetic forces on design
gain an overview of design history
gain recognition skills in regard to various typesof design work
Games are effective tools for learning because they
offer students a hypothetical environment in which they
can explore alternative decisions without the risk of
failure. Thought and action are combined into
purposeful behavior to accomplish a goal. Playing
games teaches us how to strategize, to consider
alternatives, and to think flexibly (Poggenpohl, 2002).
Different games appeal to different people. This appeal
may be based in content, activity, or personal affinity
for game playing. We know that people have preferred
learning styles, but we know very little about the
relationship of learning style to learning within a game
context.
This project focuses on integrating the game concept
into class content and examines the interaction
between students’ learning styles to computer-game
content delivery.
Our research questions are:
1. Will students remember content presented in the game?
2. Do students with a certain learning style tend to do better on a quiz that includes content from the game?
3. Do students with a certain learning style spend more time playing the game?
4. Do students indicate a preference for the game (as measured by a survey) based on learning style?
The findings of this study will help to inform both
educators and educational technology developers. If the
results indicate that students with a certain learning style
did score higher on the test by using the game component
we could complete further research to see how to adapt
the game for other learning styles. Variations of a game
could be developed that would appeal to different learning
styles and users can select the variation that best suits
their learning style. Conversely, we could develop games
that take people out of their comfort zone in terms of
learning style and the notion of doing this within a game
context may be more appealing and fun.
This project is purposefully limited to a basic learning
activity—acquiring knowledge of facts. Future studies
could study the interaction of learning style with higher
thinking skills. Our hunch is that students with
concrete learning styles will have a greater affinity for
this learning game as it emphasizes concrete
knowledge.
Games as learning objects
Learning objects are small, reusable chunks of instructional materials that
can be included on course Web sites or with other digital instructional
materials. Sometimes they have no implicit instructional objective–they are
shell programs in which instructors can insert their own content (such as a
quiz game shell in which instructors insert their own questions), or media
elements that can be aggregated and used with other digital instructional
materials (such as a photograph or video clip). Sometimes they do have
specific instructional objectives but can be adapted to different learning
contexts.
Digital Media Center, University of Minnesota
There are two basic types of learning objects:
1. Content Resources Learning objects can consist of blocks of text,
photographs, illustrations, animations, or audio and video clips. These can
be included on course Web sites or with other digital instructional
materials. Sometimes complete courses or learning modules can be built
entirely from separate learning objects.
2. Learning Tasks Learning objects also can be multiple choice quizzes,
games, and other kinds of interactions. Sometimes they are
completely self-contained and require no customization; sometimes they
can be customized to meet your needs. Ideally,
they are easy to customize, and include instructions.
Digital Media Center, University of Minnesota
Process
1. Game developed by Chialing Hsieh Mattson, derived from a game developed in Sue Chu’s class using Flash.
2. Two levels: Ancient Letterforms and Calligraphic Scripts
3. Game was integrated into the course via WebCT.
4. Students played the game over a four day period and then took a quiz on the content on the fifth day.
5. The quiz asked students to match lettering samples with names of the scripts.
Game interface
Game interface
Game interface
Game interface
Quiz results
Overall mean on both levels 8.2/10 range:3-10
average times played 6.4 range: 2-18
Mean on Ancient letterforms4.6/5 range: 2-5
average times played 3 range: 1-8
Mean on Calligraphic Scripts3.6/5 range: 0-5
average times played 3.3 range: 1-10
Effect of Learning Style on achievement
Regression analysis was used to analyze the relationshipbetween score and learning style and score and numberof times played.
There was no significant relationship between learningstyle and performance on quiz
There was only a slight advantage to playing the game multiple times
Should we retest with the quiz to
check for
retention?
Issues Encountered and Confounding Variables
(what I learned)
Interface and viewing difficulties inevitability of technical issues
Students may have captured screen shots next time I would carry out a designed experiment and control for these type of confounding variables
Game was via computer; quiz was pencil/paperbuild quiz into game and make the quizpart of the learning tool
Outcomes: practical significance
Games can be used as tools to teach recognition
Game added variety to course; made studying fun
Use of a previously designed learning object made the project doable in terms of time and money
Learning styles in the sample population
The Gregorc Learning Style Delineator has four basic outcomes. The highest score in
each of the four learning styles was identified for each student.
Type of Learning Style Number of participants Percentage of sample
Concrete Random 18 42%
Concrete Sequential 15 35%
Abstract Random 5 11%
Abstract Sequential 4 9%
The results show that 77% of the students’ preferred learning style include concretelearning experiences.
Survey responses
Students completed a seven-question survey responding to questions about the effectiveness of games in the learning process and indicating preferences for certain learning activities.
These questions can be divided into three categories: 1. Questions about games as learning tools; 2. Questions about memory and assessment regarding
content attained from games; 3. Questions about learning activity preferences.
Games as Learning Tools
63% felt that games make learning process more efficient
Why?visual aids for memory, interactive nature of game, ability to go at one’s own pace, repeat as needed
No differences in learning style were found.
Games as Enjoyable
77% felt that games were enjoyableexcitement, challenging
19% felt games not enjoyablefrustration, lack of human presence, too much time
100% of those who found games enjoyable were students with concrete sequential learning style.
Games, Learning, and Assessment
63% felt that info from game was remembered better than info from lectures and readings
23% remembered info from lectures and readings better
Students who preferred the game tended to have a concrete learning style.
Preferred learning activities
Participants were asked to rank in order of preference seven learning activities: games,
group projects, lecture, projects, reading, websites, and writing. The table below shows
activity rankings as most preferred and activities ranked in the top three.
Activity: Games GroupProjects
Lecture Projects Reading Websites Writing
Rankedmostpreferred
11 1 9 12 3 4 3
Ranked intop three
25 7 26 26 9 20 16
Projects, lectures, and games were the most preferred learning activities; least preferred
included group projects and readings.
Learning Styles and Preferred Activities
Students who preferred projects tended to have concrete learning styles
Lecture was ranked in the top three by half of the participants and nearly equal proportions of each learning style were found in this group.
. The findings show that learning style did not affect performance on a quiz, nor did increasing times playing the game significantly affect performance. Students did show strong preferences for three types of learning activities: games, projects, and lecture.
Learning style may have played a small role in each of these preferences. The majority of participants had a concrete learning style as measured by the Gregorc Learning Style Delineator.
Students with concrete learning styles prefer the concrete world and instinctive responses to learning situations. They prefer demonstrations and prefer to work with physical objects.
That lecture was identified as one of the preferred learning activities was a surprise. As several students responded, they enjoy the interaction with the lecturer, the fact that the information is presented in a listener-friendly way, and the ability to diverge or elaborate on meaningful topics.
This study does indicate that games can be used as tools to teach various types of information within a college course. Games added variety to the design history course and made learning facts more fun.
The concrete nature of the game was appropriate for this particular group of students, most of whom had concrete learning styles.
Finally, the recycling of a previously design learning object made the project affordable in terms of time and money.
Thank you