An Exploratory Study of Learning Styles in the Elementary Music Classroom

Abstract

The purpose of this exploratory study was to determine whether teachers’ awareness of their own learning styles influenced their choice of strategies to teach an American folk song. Research sites included 13 elementary general music classrooms where fourth grade students received instruction. Teachers were observed by video and separated into two groups. Group A (n= 7) completed a learning style questionnaire. Group B (n= 6) did not complete a questionnaire. Data indicated that teachers favored teaching strategies that matched their own personal learning styles. All teachers, whether they were aware or not aware of their learning styles, engaged students with multimodal strategies. Most of the teachers who were aware of their learning style used their dominant learning style as their dominant teaching style.