IN LEARNING STYLES OF CREE, DENE AND METIS STUDENTS

Gender differences in various aspects of cognitive ability may be related to cultural sex roles. This paper examines gender differences in learning styles among three groups of Canada Natives. Canfield's Learning Styles Inventory, Form E, was administered to 280 Cree, Dene, and Metis (mixed-blood) students in Grades 7-9 in northern Saskatchewan communities with relatively intact Native cultures. Results indicated that, compared to Cree and Metis students, Dene students were less negative toward competitive learning situations; were less negative toward learning through written materials; and showed less preference for seeing movies, slides, and graphs. In addition, Dene students showed less preference for learning by direct experience than did Cree students. Cultural differences in learning style only partially overlapped gender differences within each cultural group. For all three groups, males had less preference than females for studying under clearly directed instruction by a classroom teacher, and males had more preference than females for such work as repairing, building, and operating equipment. There were no intergroup differences in these two areas, suggesting that these gender differences may be universal. On the other learning style scales, Cree and Metis students, but not Dene students, had similar patterns of within-group gender differences. Since these Metis students are Cree-European mixed-bloods, these similar patterns may reflect common cultural and linguistic influences. (SV) ******************************************g**************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. **********************************M************************************ as if.29 f:9\g