The Project:
The initial brief of this project was to explore the impact of learning style intervention on Science Foundation students. These students study at year zero level and if they are successful can continue their studies as first year undergraduates.
Science Foundation attracts a range of students who are usually new to university and who lack a recent track record of academic achievement in the sciences. Intuitively, the introduction of learning style theory into the curriculum may be one way of making the transition to Higher Education smoother for these students.
Since the project began in 2007, it has expanded to explore student strategies, as well as styles and there are a number of experiments that are taking place to evaluate their impact on student learning and understanding.
It is hoped that these will be disseminated more widely once the results are known but for further details please contact Rob Ellis (r.j.ellis@hud.ac.uk). Other members of the Science Foundation teaching staff have also been involved in the project and work with Dr Tim Gabriel will be included in a forthcoming DVD entitled, Creative Teaching Techniques in Higher Education, which been produced as part of another TQEF project (see Dissemination section for more details).