Learning Styles as a Correlate of Achievement of Students in Mathematics It's Implication to Classroom Teaching Learning Process

Students’achievement in Mathematics is very influential for achieving success in all other subjects. Mathematics is having its application in almost all other disciplines. Mathematics is used all over the world as an essential tool in natural science, social science, engineering, medicine, etc. As Mathematics is abstract and it needs skills to understand and logical reasoning to solve problems which all individuals may not possess and it can become the hurdle in achieving their goals. The present study helps us to find out the different Mathematical abilities which are essential for achievement in Mathematics. One such ability is learning styles of students. Individual’s learning styles plays an important role in achievement in various subjects at the school and postgraduate level. The knowledge of students’ learning styles would help the teachers and counselors to select appropriate teaching techniques. The purpose of the study was to find out the relationship between learning styles of students and achievement in Mathematics in postgraduate course under the University of Mysore. The sample selected for the study consists of 80 postgraduate students who were pursuing M.Sc Mathematics by using simple random sampling technique. The study followed survey method under educational research. Learning styles inventory of Kolb by Peter Honey and Alan Mumford (2006) which categorizes the learning styles of students under four categories, namely activists, reflectors, theorists and pragmatist learning styles was used for assessing the learning styles and analyzing its influence on classroom teaching learning process. The findings of the study reveals that the learning styles of students vary and majority of students are reflectors, followed by pragmatist, theorist and activists were few. The analysis of the data further reveals that male and female students do not differ in their learning styles, and there is a high correlation between the learning styles and achievement in Mathematics of postgraduate students. This study implies that students will have various styles and multi-faced approach in learning. This has to be understood by the teachers and other practitioners to improve the students learning Process as well as to improve the quality of Education