LEARNING STYLES

Learning Style is the preferred method of study, gathering and interpretation of information adopted by a student. Basically, there are three main types of learning styles and were examined in this study. They are; the visual learning style, audio learning style and the interactive learning style. This research investigated the use of these learning styles among physics students in secondary schools in Benin metropolis and the various factors that affect students’ use of the learning styles. The study adopted Descriptive Survey Design in which the questionnaire was used as instrument for data collection. After separating the population into strata of public and private schools, the study first adopted stratified random sampling technique to select Physics students from senior secondary schools in Benin metropolis, since the population was finite and heterogeneous. Simple random sampling technique was employed to select 150 Physics students. 50 students were selected from senior secondary school two and 100 students were selected from senior secondary school three. the schools selected for comprised of a mixed school, all boys school and all girls school. Based on the findings of the study, the following conclusions were made; the learning styles among the students were the audio learning style, visual learning style and the interactive learning style, the choice of learning style by the students differed by level as SS2 preferred the interactive learning style while the SS 3 students embraced the visual learning style. Factors that affected the students’ learning styles were teaching method, individual differences, teacher’s personality, peer influence and family background. The following recommendations were made at the end of the study; the teacher should discover and encourage the individual learning style of the students, students should be guided by the teacher on the choice of suitable learning style based on the individual’s differences and learning ability, education planners should be more sensitive to the different students’ learning styles during the design and planning of learning curriculum, and lastly, parents should help the teachers in playing a supportive role towards encouraging the best learning style for their children.