THE INFLUENCE OF EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING TECHNIQUES ON STUDENT RECOGNITION OF NON-PRIMARY LEARNING STYLES Developments In Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, Volume 17, 1990 184 THE INFLUENCE OF EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING TECHNIQUES ON STUDENT RECOGNITION OF NON-PRIMARY LEARNING STYLES Ronald L. Coulter, Southwest Missouri State University Mary K. Coulter, Southwest Missouri State University Robert E. Widing, Case Western Reserve University Jeff Rowe, Pennzoil Products Company ABSTRACT A study was designed to determine if an experiential learning exercise would influence students to recognize the use of learning skills not customarily associated with their primary learning styles. Kolb’s’ (1976) learning style inventory and a post-treatment instrument were used to detect recognition of new learning skills across the four primary learning style groups. Three of the four groups indicated significant differences on selected learning skills not known to be strengths in their self-reported primary learning styles. INTRODUCTION The need for a global approach to business education clearly suggests a need for a variety of teaching styles to help students learn how to learn. The ability to recognize and to approach new business situations creatively may well require the ability of students to utilize non-primary styles of learning. In the terms of Brenenstuhl and Catalanello (1979), a contingency approach to learning may be the way of the future. Concentrating upon enlightening ourselves about how and why learning occurs, and the result’s we expect from the learning process demands that we be challenged to assimilate different teaching and learning approaches into the classroom. Effective learners rely on different learning modes. An individual’s choice of and emphasis on learning mode characterizes their learning style. METHODOLOGY Thirty-seven students in a principles of marketing class at a large Midwestern university were classified into Kolb’s Learning style groups based upon their self-reported LSI scores. The students were then randomly assigned to classroom groups and exposed to an experiential group planning exercise designed to provide them with a variety of organizational planning issues. After the exercise they were asked to express their perceptions on the intent of the exercise on 11 group planning characteristics. A 9-point semantic differential scare was used. The subjects were then asked to indicate the actual effects of the exercise across the same eleven characteristics. Recognition of new learning style skills by group members operationalized to exist if significant differences between the perceived intent of the experiential exercise arid the actual’ exercise effect occurred. Differences were examined across primary learning style groups. FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS T-tests between the pairs of scores for the 11 attitude beliefs were examined across the 4 primary learning styles. The findings indicate significant differences for three of the four learning style groups with regard to perceived intent of the exercise and the actuality of the experiential learning experience. Only the accomodator learning style group indicated no significant differences between their perception of the perceived intent of the exercise and what was actually experienced. As Cohen (1988) has stated experiential exercises are designed for marketing students who typify this group. The other three learning style groups, convergers, divergers and assimilators, all reported significant differences on planning skills not normally associated as being strong characteristics for their primary learning style. only the accomodator learning style subjects indicated no significant differences between their perceived intentions of the experiential’ exercise and their experience of the exercise. This finding appears to support Cohen’s (1988) contention that marketing students, whose primary learning style is that of an accomodator, would feel very comfortable with experiential teaming techniques. Coincidentally, each of the significant differences reported by subjects from the three other learning styles were all unique. Each found a different aspect of the learning experience that differed from what they expected. REFERENCES Brenenstuhl, Daniel C., and Ralph F. Catalanello (1979) The Impact of Three Pedagogue Techniques on Learning” Journal’ of Experiential Learning and Simulation Vol. 1, pp 211-225. Cohen, William A. (1988) “Enhance teaching with experiential learning" Marketing Educator Vol. 7, No 1, (winter) p 1, 5. Kolb, David A. (1976) Learning Style Inventor’, Boston Massachusetts: McBer and Company). Table of Contents Volume 17, 1990 The Impact of Decision Support Systems on the Effectiveness of Small Group Decisions - Revisited The Relationship Between Financial Performance and Other Measures of Learning on a Simulation Exercise Use and Effectiveness of an Analogy-Based Expert System Suggestions for Computerized Business Authors Dealing with Power: An Experiential Exercise Using Movie and Personal Diary Analysis Techniques A Model for Developing Student Skills and Assessing Outcomes Through Outdoor Training Computer-Aided Exercises Versus Workbook Exercises as Learning Facilitator in the Principles of Marketing Course An Exposition of Guilford's Si Model as a Means of Diagnosing and Generating Pedagogical Strategies in Collegiate Business Education Formal Planning and Simulation Team Performance: A Cross Sectional Approach Cases: Real Organizations in Real Time in the Classroom An Empirical Investigation of the Internal Validity of Marketing Simulation Game An Empirical Evaluation of the Pedagogical Value of Playing a Simulation Game in a Principles of Marketing Course Factors Affecting Effective Teaching of Strategic Planning: Some Preliminary Evidence An Experiential Exercise for Learning About the Relationship Between Organizational Form & the Project Management Process Accounting Communication Skills can be Taught in the Auditing Course Modeling Cost Functions in Computerized Business Simulation: An Application of Duality Theory and Sheppard's Lemma A Life Cycle Analysis of Decision Making for a Strategic Management Team What's the Problem? A Dynamic Model for Teaching Problem Solving Skills Experientially International Currency Fluctuations: Money$im, A Simulation Superstores: A Specialized Retailing Simulation Within a Specialized Marketing Curriculum Factors Affecting Student Perceptions of Learning in a Business Policy Game VC + EL = VL The Name Game: An Experiential Exercise in Intergroup Relations The Effects of Experiential Accounting Work Experience on Student Performance in Intermediate Accounting Courses The Results of Using the Experiential Activity Group Performance Evaluation in a Business Policy Setting Using a Legal Database to Describe the Legal Environment of Marketing (and Business) Matching Environmental Uncertainty and Organizational Configuration An Instructional Computer Simulation of Tampering in QC Executive Evaluation of Student Learning in the Looking Glass Simulation Group Personality Composition and Total Enterprise Simulation Performance An Expert System for Selecting Analytical Techniques for Analyzing Marketing Research Data Effects of Cognitive Styles on Responses in an In-Basket Simulation A Psychometric Analysis of Kolb's Revised Learning Style-Inventory Selecting and Developing Experiential Exercises Using Movies Application of a Real-World Strategic Management Model in the Classroom Demand Equations which Include Product Attributes Consumption as the Objective in Computer-Scored Total Enterprise Simulations The Effects of Decision Format and Evaluation on Simulation Performance, Decision Time, and Team Cohesion The Effects of Computer Related Assignments on Student Performance in Business Administration The Money Game: A Dynamic Simulation Including Random Shocks for Money and Banking Courses Methods for Evaluating Performance on Business Simulations: A Survey The Effects of Synergogy on the Policy Course: Significant Improvements in Student Learning and Teacher Evaluation Conditions and Outcomes of Trust in a Two-Person Bargaining Exercise Bankgame Enhancing Computer Business Simulation with the Use of VGA Graphics An Experiential Approach to Entrepreneurship An Advanced Simulation Method (ASM) for Multiple Objective Problems The Influence of Experiential learning Techniques on Student Recognition of Non-Primary Learning Styles Negotiating Mergers and Acquisitions: A Cocktail Napkin Approach Identification of Unintended Effects in Experiential Laboratory Exercises An Experimental Comparison of Paper and Pencil and Computer Aided Decision Support Tools Porting a Simulation from the IBM World to the Macintosh World A Transaction Cost Analysis of Experiential Learning The Development of Experiential Exercises for Courses in Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management The Assessment Center as and Experiential Classroom Exercise Pricing Strategy Algorithms for Playing Business Simulations Organizational Structures for International Operations: An Experiential Activity Simulation Emphasis in the Business School Capstone Course An Integrated Approach to Computerizing the Business Curriculum Cross-Cultural Business Negotiations Exercise Organizational Socialization and Gender Differences in Students at Work Understanding Student Work Experience: A Content-Analytic Approach Introducing Executive MBA Programs with Management Games An Analysis of Improvement in Business Decision Outcome with Sequential Use of Two Simulation Games Teaching Business Policy Utilizing Mass Lecture and Individual Case Labs Potholes Along the Road to Evaluating Learning Outcomes: The Case of Outdoor Management Training Experiential Learning for Interior Design Students: Using CADD, Lotus 1-2-3, and Wordperfect Cognitive Learning Using a Computer-Based, Qualitative Interactive Business Simulation Sex Discrimination: Does the Woman get the Job or Does the Best Man Win? A Search for Visual Aids to Support Experiential Learning Through the 1990's An Experimental Analysis fo the Effectiveness of Student Role-Playing in Sales Training How to Have Students Learn from their Term Projects Self-Evaluation Exercise (SEE): An Assessment of Class Contribution A Study of the Influence of Team Formation on Attitudes and Performance in Management Games A Hardware Based CIM Simulation Laboratory Model Test Substance Abuse in Organizations Micro Computer Training Models Teaching Forecasting, Cash Budgeting and Inventory Model Building Using SBTools A Comparison of the Effects of Experiential Learning Activities and Traditional Lecture Classes An Adjunct Writing Instruction Assistant, The Computer; With an Illustration Classroom Software for ABC Analysis Utilizing Information Processing Technology to Enhance the Business Policy Simulation Experience Progressive Cases Realistic Job Previews Vs. Traditional Job Previews: Experiencing the Differences and Understanding the Consequences Investment Analysis Using the Pragmatic Multiplier Approach A Computer Simulation Interface for Competitive and Firm Analysis Self-Assessment of Ethical Decision Making Predispositions Preparing Managers for Overseas Assignments An Inquiry into Japanese Marketing: Workshop on Teaching Japanese Marketing The Performance Appraisal Feedback Interview: A Role Play for Human Resources Management Teaching Counselor Selling techniques Using Experiential Techniques to Teach International Topics International Management Simulation Gaming: Current Status and Future Developments A Realism Comparison of Simulation Technologies/Methodologies A Time-Efficient Game to Illustrate Concepts Taught in Management Courses and Management Development Programs Teaching the Management of Technology The Concept of Face and the Applicability of Experiential Exercises in an Oriental Culture's