Center for Research on Education, Diversity and Excellence

Although research on learning styles has found variation between cultural groups in styles of learning (e.g., Park, 2001; Zhang & Sternberg, 2001), great variation has also been found within groups (e.g., Nuby & Oxford, 1998). These findings suggest that even in classrooms consisting exclusively of a single cultural group, as is the case in many reservation schools, teachers must use a variety of instructional strategies. Effective teaching requires teaching individuals.

This Digest begins with a brief discussion of two prominent definitions of learning styles and then describes studies that have found differences between the learning styles of American Indian students and students of other cultural groups. The Digest then presents instructional interventions stemming from learning styles research.