Do teachers' learning styles influence their classroom practices? A case of primary school natural sciences teachers from South Africa

Abstract

This paper examines the influence of teachers’ learning styles on their classroom teaching and learning practices. The reported mixed method study was conducted in various school districts in a large province in South Africa. The data was collected with the use of questionnaires administered to primary school natural science teachers and classroom observations made during a science lesson. The study examined the preferred learning styles of primary school science teachers. It then investigated how they taught natural science and attempted to establish if their learning styles influenced teaching and learning in their classrooms. Findings from the questionnaires showed that most teachers preferred or learned better partly through visual, active, sequential and intuitive learning styles. However, analyses of classroom observations revealed a contradiction as the teachers’ proclaimed learning styles were not emulated, translated into or visible in their classroom teaching practices. The researcher argues and concludes that the teachers’ learning styles do not necessary shape or influence their classroom teaching practices.