| Problem. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between students' predominant learning profile, faculty teaching preferences, and the final course grade in a 4-year nursing program at a private Christian university in Puerto Rico.;Method. A non-experimental descriptive research design was used for this study. The Learning Profile Indicator was administered to all nursing students (n = 138) while the Teaching Style Inventory was given to all faculty (n = 9). Demographic sheets were also given to both students and faculty Students' final course grades were obtained from the faculty. Descriptive (frequency, means and standard deviations) and inferential statistics (Chi-square test of association, and two-way analysis of variance) were used to analyze the data.;Results. In this study, most students (53.6%) had the Sensing-Thinking learning style. On the other hand, most faculty preferred the Sensing-Feeling (44.4%) and Intuitive-Thinking (33.3%) teaching style. Chi-Square test of association resulted in no statistically significant relationship between learning style and year in the nursing program (chi2 = 5.68, df = 6, p = 0.46). Similarly, no significant relationship between learning style and teaching preferences was indicated (chi2 = 4.49, df = 4, p = 0.34). Students with Intuitive-Feeling learning style ( m = 71.75, sd = 10.40) scored significantly lower than students with Sensing-Thinking (m = 83.97, sd = 9.28), Sensing-Feeling (m = 83.73, sd = 8.58) or Intuitive-Thinking (m = 87.87, sd = 6.84) learning styles. Students taught by the one faculty member who had an Intuitive-Feeling teaching preference scored significantly higher (m = 93.5, sd = 3.79) than students taught by faculty with other teaching preferences. There was no interaction between learning style and teaching preferences.;Conclusion. The match between faculty teaching preferences and student learning styles is quite low (about 20%). Learning styles is not related to year in nursing program or faculty teaching preferences. However, final course grade is related to learning styles and teaching preferences. |
