The Influence of Choice on the Acquisition and Retention of Learning Materials in Different Modes of Instruction.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the strategy of allowing a student to choose the sensory channel in which he learns most efficiently and to determine if this choice results in increased learning rates. It was hypothesized that allowing a student to learn in channels of his choice would result in higher learning rates than when he was learning in modes not of his choice. Three-hundred students enrolled in an introductory educational psychology course at a state supported university in West Virginia during the second semester, 1971-72, were selected for this study. Findings indicated that a student has a preference for learning in a sensory input channel; that a student knows in which sensory channel he learns most efficiently; and that allowing a student to learn in the sensory channel in which he thinks he learns most efficiently results in significantly higher learning rates than in channels unlike his choice. (Author/RB)