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The purpose of this study was to describe the instructional styles of physical therapy faculty in basic professional programs in the United States in the academic year 1977-78. The Instructional Styles Inventory of Canfield and Canfield was used to test 311 respondents (61% of the total basic preparation faculty members contacted). The "typical" faculty member is described and compared to the "typical" student described in an earlier study. Commonalities and discrepancies between student learning styles and faculty instructional styles are discussed. A rather unexpectedly high level of agreement between students and faculty as to preferred modes of teaching and learning was demonstrated.

The purpose of this study was to describe the learning style preferences of students enrolled in their first year of basic professional programs in physical therapy in the United States in the academic year 1975 to 1976. The testing instrument used was the Learning Styles inventory developed by Canfield and Lafferty. A sample of 1,099 (40.8% of the total population) was collected. The results have been tabulated using descriptive statistics of means and standard deviations for: 1) total sample, 2) men, and 3) women. The "typical" or "average" physical therapy student is described. These results have important implications for physical therapy educators in terms of arranging their instructional activities to optimize learning.