The Learning Mode Preferences of Secondary Students: A Three-Country Comparison--Australia, England, USA.

Learning mode preferences of secondary school students were compared for 1,259 students from Sydney (Australia), 837 students from Perth (Australia), 2,125 students from England, and 570 students from Minneapolis (Minnesota). Students were in grades 7 through 12. Preferences for cooperative, competitive, and individualized learning modes were obtained using the 36-item Learning Preference Scale--Students (LPSS). A two-way analysis of variance was carried out for each of the four groups of data. Sex differences in preference for cooperative learning were consistent for all samples except for the Minneapolis sample, with females expressing a significantly greater preference for cooperation than males. Males expressed a greater preference for individualization than did females, although the differences were not significant in the Sydney sample. Preference for cooperation declined with advancing years in the English sample, but increased in the Perth sample. No location differences were detected in preferences for cooperative learning, but for competitive learning, students in the English and American samples had lower scores than did those in Perth, whose scores were lower than those from Sydney. English and American students had lower scores than did both Australian samples for individualized learning. Implications for teaching are discussed. Three tables and 12 graphs present study data. (SLD)