EFFECTS OF MATCHING AND MISMATCHING MINORITY DEVELOPMENTAL COLLEGE-STUDENTS HEMISPHERIC PREFERENCES ON MATHEMATICS SCORES

The purposes of this study were to determine the (a) effects of hemisphericity (hemispheric preference: successive/simultaneous) and instructional strategies (analytic/global) on minority developmental college students’ mathematics achievement and attitudes and (b) relationships between those students’ diagnosed hemisphericity and their learning-style preferences. The investigation employed a broadly conceived model based on the identification of each student’s hemisphericity and matching learning-style characteristics with congruent and incongruent instructional strategies. To analyze the data, we used an analysis of covariance employing a two-factor mixed design (Hemisphericity x Instructional strategy) with repeated measures on the last factor. We used t tests to analyze the degree of the relationship between hemispheric processing and correlated elements of learning style. The ANCOVA revealed significant differences when global and simultaneous students were matched or mismatched with instructional strategies congruent and incongruent with their hemisphericity. Furthermore, significant relationships emerged between students’ diagnosed hemisphericity (successive/simultaneous) and their learning-style preferences. Some implications are suggested on the basis of the findings. © 1990 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.