Learning Preferences of Georgia Young Farmer Participants

Abstract

The purposes of this quantitative descriptive and correlational study were to describe the learning preferences of Georgia Young Farmer participants and determine if significant differences exists between scores relating to visual, auditory and kinesthetic learning styles. A pilot study was used to correct identifiable problems with the survey instrument and to determine an estimate for external validity as to how well the study predicts agricultural learners preferences. The responding population (N=340) included participants (291 males and 49 females) from 17 Young Farmer groups that returned questionnaires (31% of programs). The instrument was designed to yield subscale scores that indicate preferences for visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learning styles using agricultural learning situations as examples. Descriptive statistics helped to explain the types of learning experiences that the participants preferred. In comparing the three subgroups, the highest mean on a four point scale was for kinesthetic (3.13), followed by auditory (2.82) and finally visual (2.70). The repeated measure within subjects analysis yielded an F test indicating a significant difference within the three learning preference means of participants (F=202.736, p < .001). A multivariate between-subjects MANOVA was then used for research questions 2-4. The analysis applied to gender, age levels and employment showed no significant differences. During analysis, the question mean totals suggested that participants were choosing responses related to the educational setting as well as learning styles. This led to further analysis of this data and findings are reported in Chapter 4.