Teachers as role models for students’ learning styles

We used modeling advantage, a concept developed by Chiou and Yang (2006), to examine the likelihood that students will identify with a particular teaching model over other competing models. In this research we examined the effects of 2 kinds of teaching styles on students’ learning styles during the collaborative teaching of technical courses. Undergraduates in a 1-semester course (229 women, 264 men; M age = 20.8 years, SD = 1.5) were given pretests and posttests to investigate how their learning styles related to their teachers’ learning styles. The findings showed that the learning styles of students were associated with their role models, which reinforced Chiou and Yang’s previous work with undergraduates in different subject areas. After a semester, the learning styles of students became congruent with those of their role models. Implications and limitations of the study are discussed.