The effects of individual preference and interactive style on first graders' performance in solving math problems

Abstract

The effect of learning style preference on a student's performance on math problems solved both cooperatively and competitively was examined. Eighty-nine first graders were assessed for their preferences for cooperative or competitive interactive styles. Thirty-eight children were found to have clear preferences for either cooperative or competitive styles, or to have no preference for interactive style. Students were then put into pairs, consisting of students from the same or different learning preference groups. These pairs were instructed to solve math problems cooperatively and competitively. After solving the problems under both conditions, the subjects were asked which way they would like to solve the problems again. Of primary interest was the students' overall level of accuracy on the task as a function of learning preference and pair type. The differences between performance for each condition were analyzed by a 3x2x2 Mixed Analysis of Variance with repeated measures. All students performed better under cooperative conditions than the competitive condition regardless of their learning preference or type of partner, but this was not a statistically significant difference. Results also showed that students did not shift their learning preferences as a function of their group assignment. These preliminary findings support that learning preference does not appear to be associated with academic performance. Methodological limitations of the study and possible improvements are discussed.