| The purpose of this study was to discover if there were significant relationships between the independent variables of age, gender, ethnicity, learning style, previous academic achievement, present attitude toward science and self-esteem, when compared to the dependent variables of achievement performance, attitude and attrition in audio-tutorial (A-T) biology.; Students who self-selected to participate in the study (n = 785) were asked to provide information on age, gender, ethnicity, previous academic achievement and present attitude toward science. Additionally, students completed the Barsch Learning Style Inventory, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and the Attitude Toward A-T Biology Instruction assessment instruments which measured their learning style, their self-esteem and their attitude toward A-T biology instruction, respectively.; A majority of students did well with audio-tutorial biology instruction. This study revealed that 64% of the students received an "A," "B," or "C" in audio-tutorial biology; 80% of the students in the study had a positive attitude toward A-T biology, and 68% of the students completed a term of A-T biology instruction.; The study revealed that age was a factor in achievement performance in A-T biology, and that older students (i.e., students over 25) did better in A-T biology than younger students. A-T biology instruction was an effective modality for female students. Females had a significantly higher level of achievement performance than males in audio-tutorial biology, and females responded more favorably to A-T biology instruction than males. Audio-tutorial biology was well received by all ethnic groups. In this study, American Blacks and Asians did significantly less well, in terms of completion rate, than other minority groups, Europeans and whites, and American Blacks had significantly lower levels of achievement performance. Learning style revealed no significant relationship to achievement performance, attitude nor attrition in audio-tutorial biology. Previous academic achievement was related significantly to achievement performance and attrition in A-T biology, and present attitude toward science was related significantly to achievement performance in audio-tutorial biology, attitude and attrition. This study found that there was a significant relationship between self-esteem and achievement performance in A-T biology. |
