Classroom Strategies: Culture and Learning Styles. Volume 1

A research project carried out by the Southwestern Cooperative Educational Laboratory attempted to define and describe characteristic learning styles and related environmental factors of children of 2 minority groups in the Southwest. Students of Spanish American and Indian descent were subjected to specific tests, and comparative analyses were performed on the results. General trends were discovered favoring the performance of one group over other groups on a variety of psychometric instruments. While rural Spanish American children were more adept at using auditory channels of communication, American Indian groups showed unexpected strength in handling information through visual channels. A high degree of predictive ability was associated with the results on the psychometric instruments and the specific minority groups. The implications for curriculum development and teaching styles for these groups were manifold and it was felt that great need existed for further developments and investigations in this area. Related documents are RC 003 109 and RC 003 110. (DK)