tandfonline.com – The predictive power of fifth graders’ learning styles on their mathematical reasoning and spatial abilityThis article has been prepared as a part of the master’s thesis of the first author.View all notes

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine fifth graders’ mathematical reasoning and spatial ability, to identify a correlation with their learning styles, and to determine the predictive power of their learning styles on their mathematical learning profiles. This causal study was conducted with 97 fifth graders (60 females, 61.9% and 37 males, 38.1%). The data were collected using three instruments: the Test on Learning Styles, the Mathematical Reasoning Test, and the Spatial Ability Test. Considering the combined view of the data on a plane, correlation and regression analyses were performed to identify correlations and prediction. The results showed that the students’ spatial ability was better than their mathematical reasoning ability. Their scores for visual, auditory, kinesthetic, reading, and combined learning accounted for 17% of the total variance in mathematical reasoning, whereas their scores accounted for 20% of the total variance in spatial ability. Of the learning styles, only visual learning was a significant predictor of mathematical reasoning and spatial ability.