Student Teaching Changed Me: A Look at Kolb's Learning Style Inventory Scores Before and After the Student Teaching Experience

Abstract

Student teaching as the culminating experience of a teacher preparation program has been shown to be of great importance in the preparation of pre-service agricultural educators (Harlin, Roberts, Mowen, Edgar, & Briers, 2007; Roberts, Mowen, Edgar, Harlin, & Briers, 2007; Kitchel & Torres, 2006, 2007; Myers & Dyer, 2004). Kolb’s Learning Style Inventory (KLSI) is an instrument designed to examine individual preference for learning in four learning modes: active experimentation (AE), reflective observation (RO), concrete experience (CE), and abstract conceptualization (AC). In addition, the KLSI examines learning preferences in the dimensions of grasping and transforming experience. This descriptive study examined the KLSI scores for two semesters of student teachers (N = 37) from Texas A&M University at both the beginning and end of their student teaching experience. Student teachers were observed as falling into all nine learning styles as indicated by Kolb and Kolb (2013) at both the beginning and end of the student teaching experience. Results indicated that there was wide range of changes in individual student teachers. Active experimentation was the learning mode showing the greatest amount of change among the population, and changes in the group were more apparent in the dimension of transforming experience than in grasping experience.