The purpose of this study was to investigate differences among the dominant modalities displayed by kindergarten students, relationships between dominant modality and gender, and interactions between dominant modality and academic achievement.A total of 60 males and 60 females participated in this study. Subjects were randomly selected from 137 kindergarten students whose parents granted written permission for inclusion in the study. At the time of testing, subjects ranged in age from five years, seven months to seven years.During a three-week period of time, examiners administered the Swassing-Barbe Modality Index (SBMI) followed by the Skills Cluster of the Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-Educational Battery, to all subjects. Instruments were administered to each subject individually during two separate testing sessions.Subjects were divided into modality groups on the basis of SBMI modality percentage scores and modality raw scores. The .05 level of confidence was established for testing statistical significance with each of the eight null hypotheses.The predominant learning modality for kindergarten students was found to be audition, followed by vision and kinesthesia. The proportion of children identified as having a mixed modality strength was consistent with the proportion for the general population suggesting that integration of learning modalities may occur at an earlier age than that indicated by previous research.Essentially no relationship was found between dominant learning modality and sex, or between ability to function within each modality (visual, auditory, kinesthetic) and sex.No significant differences were found among average achievement scores for visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and mixed dominance modality groups indicating significant relationship between a child's identified dominant learning modality and achievement. However, results did indicate significant relationships between ability to function within the dominant modality and achievement for children identified as having-either a visual or an auditory modality dominance. A significant relationship was also found between ability to utilize all learning modalities and achievement. These findings suggest that the ability to function within the dominant modality and the ability to utilize all learning modalities may significantly affect the acquisition of academic skills.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BSU/oai:cardinalscholar.bsu.edu:handle/178634 |
| Date | January 1983 |
| Creators | Milon, Theresa A. |
| Contributors | Trent, Shirley J. |
| Source Sets | Ball State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Format | v, 75 leaves ; 28 cm. |
| Source | Virtual Press |
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