A review on learning styles and critically thinking disposition of pre-service science teachers in terms of miscellaneous variables

Learning styles of the pre-service science teachers by their sex were analyzed by chi-square test and findings were given in Table 1.

Table 1: Results of Chi-square test on learning styles of pre-service science teachers by their sex.
Gender		Learning Styles
Gender		Divergent	Convergent	Assimilator	Accommodative
Female	N	88	22	72	25
Female	%	42.5	10.6	34.8	12.1
Male	N	55	13	37	18
Male	%	44.7	10.6	30.1	14.6
Total	N	143	35	109	43
Total	%	43.3	10.6	33.0	13.0

Χ² = .990, sd=3, p=0.804

Changes in points of learning styles of the pre-service science teachers by their sex were analyzed by chi-square test and it was found that points of learning style didn’t significantly vary by sex (Χ² = 0.990, p > 0.05). Accordingly, one may consider that no significant relationship exists between points of learning styles and sex of the pre-service science teachers. As a consequence of percentage and frequency analysis on average sub-scale points of learning styles of the pre-service teachers, it was found that 143 (43.3%) pre-service teachers had divergent learning style, 35 (10.6%) pre-service teachers had convergent learning style, 109 pre-service teachers (33.0%) had assimilator learning style, and 43 pre-service teachers (13.0%) had accommodative learning style. It was found that ratio of the pre-service teachers with divergent and assimilator learning style was higher and the ration of those with accommodative and convergent learning style was low. Based on these findings, one may comment that female and male pre-service teachers usually had divergent learning style containing abstract conceptualization and active experience and that they prefer to be successful in problem solving, decision making, logically analyze the ideas and planning systematically and to be interested in technical issues rather than social and inter-individual activities.

Learning styles of the pre-service science teachers were analyzed by their grade using chi-square test and findings were given in Table 2.

Table 2: Results of chi-square test on relationship between learning styles and grade of the pre-service science teachers.
Grade		Learning Styles
Grade		Divergent	Convergent	Assimilator	Accommodative
1st grade	N	37	6	29	12
1st grade	%	44.0	7.1	34.5	14.3
2nd grade	N	28	10	32	9
2nd grade	%	35.4	12.7	40.5	11.4
3th grade	N	37	7	25	8
3th grade	%	48.1	9.1	32.5	10.4
4th grade	N	41	12	23	14
4th grade	%	45.6	13.3	25.6	15.6
Total	N	143	35	109	43
Total	%	43.3	10.6	33.0	13.0

Χ² = 7.745 sd=9, p=0.560

Based on the results in Table 2, it was found that points of learning styles of pre-service science teachers didn’t vary significantly by their grade (Χ² = 7.745; p > 0.05). Based on this finding, one may conclude that points of learning style of pre-service science teachers are independent of their grade. Furthermore, as a result of percentage and frequency analysis on average points of learning style sub-scales, first grade students of science teaching had mostly divergent learning style (44.0%), second grade students mostly had assimilator learning style (40.5%), third grade students (48.1%) and fourth grade students (45.6%) had mostlye divergent learning style. Overall, it was determined that pre-service science teachers had mostly assimilator learning during their second year of education whereas they had mostly divergent learning style during first, third and fourth years of their education. Convergent learning style was the least during the first, third and fourth grades while accommodative learning style was the least one during the second year.

Learning styles of the pre-service science teachers were analyzed by their age group using chi-square test and findings were given in Table 3.

Table 3: Results of chi-square test on relationship between learning styles and age groups of the pre-service science teachers.
Age group		Learning Styles
Age group		Divergent	Convergent	Assimilator	Accommodative
Between 17 and 20	N	66	18	67	23
Between 17 and 20	%	37.9	10.3	38.5	13.2
Between 21 and 24	N	76	17	43	20
Between 21 and 24	%	48.7	10.9	27.6	12.8
Total	N	142	35	110	43
Total	%	43.0	10.6	33.3	13.0

Χ² =5.212, p=0.157

According to the results of chi-square test in the Table 3, it was concluded that points of learning style of the pre-service teachers didn’t vary statistically significantly by their age group (Χ² =5.212, P > 0.05). Accordingly, it may be said that there is not a significant relationship between learning style and age group of the pre-service teachers. It was found that pre-service teachers at the age of 17 to 20 years had usually assimilator learning style (38.5%) whereas those at the age of 21 to 24 years had usually divergent learning style (48.7%).

Total and sub-scale points of pre-service teachers’ disposition to think critically were analyzed by their sex using t-test and findings were given in Table 4.

Table 4: Results of t-test on relationship between disposition to think critically and sex of the pre-service science teachers.
	Gender	N	X	Ss	t	sd	p
Being Analytical	Female	207	48,2222	4,74074	1,378	327	0,190
Being Analytical	Male	123	47,4180	5,69303
Open-mindedness	Female	207	47,5266	8,23254	3,019		0,003*
Open-mindedness	Male	123	44,6230	8,53900
Cruiousness	Female	207	39,4686	5,55447	-1,234		0,223
Cruiousness	Male	123	40,2623	5,77370
Self-confidence	Female	207	28,5749	4,78397	0,506		0,622
Self-confidence	Male	123	28,2869	5,30317
Seeking for the truth	Female	207	24,1691	5,32856	1,477		0,153
Seeking for the truth	Male	123	23,2295	5,96656
Being Systematical	Female	207	21,5411	3,79409	-1,489		0,149
Being Systematical	Male	123	22,2131	4,21573
Total	Female	207	211,5894	21,23631	1,371		0,175
Total	Male	123	208,2295	21,88467

In the Table 4, total and sub-scale points of pre-service teachers’ disposition to think critically were analyzed by their sex using t-test and it was found that total points of pre-service teachers’ disposition to think critically didn’t vary statistically significantly by their sex (t=1.371, p > 0.05). Additionally, points of pre-service teachers’ disposition to think critically didn’t show statistically significant differences by sex in the sub-scales of Being Analytical, Cruiousness, Self-confidence, Seeking for the truth, and being Systematical whereas they showed statistically significant differences only in the sub-scale of Open-mindedness (t=3.019, p < 0.05). This difference found in the sub-scale of open-mindedness was found to be in favor of female pre-service teachers.

Total and sub-scale points of pre-service teachers’ disposition to think critically were analyzed by their grade using one-way variance analysis and findings were given in Table 5.

Table 5: Results of Variance Analysis on the relationship between disposition to think critically and grade of the pre-service science teachers.
Variance		Sum of Squares	df	Mean Square	F	p
Being Analytical	Between Groups Within Groups Total	53,070 8548,881 8601,952	3 326 329	17,690 26,224	0,675	0,568
Open-mindedness	Between Groups Within Groups Total	560,461 22883,527 23443,988	3 326 329	186,820 70,195	2,661	0,048
Cruiousness	Between Groups Within Groups Total	5,288 10477,818 10483,106	3 326 329	1,763 32,141	0,055	0,983
Self-confidence	Between Groups Within Groups Total	120,893 8022,926 8143,818	3 326 329	40,298 24,610	1,637	0,181
Seeking for the truth	Between Groups Within Groups Total	230,859 9994,232 10225,091	3 326 329	76,953 30,657	2,510	0,059
Being Systematical	Between Groups Within Groups Total	158,288 4992,864 5151,152	3 326 329	52,763 15,316	3,445	0,017
Total	Between Groups Within Groups Total	1053,593 150735,998 151789,591	3 326 329	351,198 462,380	0,760	0,517

Based on the findings in Table 5, it was found that total and sub-scale points of pre-service teachers’ disposition to think critically didn’t show statistically significant differences by grade (F = 0.760, P > 0.05). Additionally, pre-service teachers’ disposition to think critically didn’t show statistically significant differences by grade in sub-scales of being Analytical, Open-Mindedness, Curiousness, Self-confidence and seeking for the truth while it was observed that their points in sub-scale of being Systematical showed statistically significant differences by their grade (F = 3.445, P < 0.05). This difference found in sub-scale of being Systematical was between the first and second grade students and was in favor of pre-service science teachers at the first grade.

Total and sub-scale points of pre-service teachers’ disposition to think critically were analyzed by their age groups using t-test and findings were given in Table 6.

Table 6: Results of t-tests on the relationship between disposition to think critically and age group of the pre-service science teachers.
	Age groups	N	X	Ss	t	sd	p
Being Analytical	Between 17 and 20	174	47,9713	5,17601	0,188	328	0,851
Being Analytical	Between 21 and 24	156	47,8654	5,05848
Open-mindedness	Between 17 and 20	174	45,3563	8,12401	-2,522		0,012*
Open-mindedness	Between 21 and 24	156	47,6923	8,64244
Cruiousness	Between 17 and 20	174	39,5862	5,52985	-0,530		0,596
Cruiousness	Between 21 and 24	156	39,9167	5,78313
Self-confidence	Between 17 and 20	174	28,6552	4,87729	0,773		0,440
Self-confidence	Between 21 and 24	156	28,2308	5,08869
Seeking for the truth	Between 17 and 20	174	24,0862	5,76300	0,922		0,357
Seeking for the truth	Between 21 and 24	156	23,5192	5,35991
Being Systematical	Between 17 and 20	174	21,7931	4,34798	0,025		0,980
Being Systematical	Between 21 and 24	156	21,7821	3,48322
Total	Between 17 and 20	174	209,1954	21,91594	-1,003		0,317
Total	Between 21 and 24	156	211,5705	20,98113

In the Table 6, Total and sub-scale points of pre-service teachers’ disposition to think critically were analyzed by their age groups using t-test for unrelated samples and it was found that total points of the participants for disposition to think critically and their sub-scale points in the sub-scales of Analyticalness, Curiousness, Self-confidence, Seeking for the truth and Being Systematical didn’t vary significantly by their age group (P > 0.05). Reason for this may be that the pre-service teachers were at close ages to each others. Additionally, pre-service teachers’ disposition to think critically was found to show significant difference in terms of sub-scale points in the sub-scale of Open-mindedness (t=2.522, p < 0.05). This difference was between the pre-service teachers in the age group of 21-24 and 17-20 years and was in favor of those in the age group of 17-20 years.

Relationship between learning style and disposition to think critically of the pre-service science teachers participated in the present study was examined and results were given in Table 7.

Table 7: Relationship between learning style and disposition to think critically of the pre-service science teachers.
		Divergent	Convergent	Assimilator	Accommodative	Learning styles total score
Pre-Service Science Teachers’ Critical Thinking Dispositions	r	-0,079	-0,126	-0,026	0,174	0,129
	p	0,153	0,022*	0,639	0,001*	0,019*
	N	330	330	330	330	330

Based on the results in Table 7, there was a low level of positive and significant relationship between learning style and total points for disposition to think critically of the pre-service science teachers (r = 0.129); a low level of negative and significant relationship (r = -0.126) between learning style and disposition to think critically for those with convergent learning style; and a low level of positive and significant relationship (r = 0.174) between learning style and disposition to think critically for those with accommodative learning style.