Learning Style, Preparation Techniques, and Success of Secondary Students Participating in a Nursery/Landscape Career Development Event

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine if a relationship existed between self-perceived learning styles of selected students and preparation techniques and success in Career Development Events (CDE).  A tutorial website was developed to assist secondary Agricultural Science teachers and their students in preparing for the 2002 Texas Nursery/Landscape Career Development Event. Data were gathered using the Ways of Knowing Learning Style Inventory.  Participants were self-selected for the survey based on their participation in a Nursery/Landscape CDE and their use of the CDE website tutorial.  Most participants in the Nursery/Landscape CDE were white females aged 16-18.  Regardless of gender, the most widely used training method for the CDE was videos/slides, followed closely by greenhouse/garden centers.  Most had not used the CDE website tutorial.  Frequencies indicated that males utilized the website tutorial to a greater extent than females, and yielded higher individual scores in the CDE than females.  Most participants who used the website tutorial accessed the site from a school computer.  The majority of participants were Concrete Active learners; however, participants who abstractly perceived learning performed better overall in the Nursery/ Landscape CDE.