Abstract
The purpose of this research was to investigate the performance of students with different learning styles within a constructivist instructional approach. A qualitative research method was used to investigate the learning of sixth grade studen ts. Data were collected using non-participant observation, interviews and document analysis techniques. Student learning styles were separated into four categories: active, reflective, systematic and indifferent students.
The main findings of this study can be summarized as follows: 1. Learning in science involves many concrete and abstract concepts, giving students ample opportunities to predict and to explain science phenomena can assist students on concept clarification. 2. The performance of students in prediction, explanation and reasoning follows the order that active students are better than the reflective students, which in turn are better than the systematic and indifferent students. The systematic and indifferent s tudents participated in classroom discussion passively and expressed their opinions only when requested by teacher. 3. Factors that affect student abilities in explanation and reasoning include: (a) guiding from the teacher, (b) past experiences, (c) discussion with peer students, (d) availability of extra curriculum books, (e) willingness, and (f) group discussion. 4. The ability of students to examine a problem from different viewpoints can be improved if the teacher does not provide immediate answers to questions posed during instruction. 5. The active and the reflective students tend to use their own ideas and past experiences to solve problems, whereas the systematic and indifferent students rarely expressed their opinion in group or class discussion. They solved problems based mainly on the methods suggested in the textbook.
| Keywords: | learning style; prediction; explanation; reasoning; problem-solving |
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