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CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Physics is considered to be the most challenging subject to understand

in the field of high school science. Indeed many students find it difficult to

grasp the detail of all the formulas that are made up of weird looking

symbols. Physics is a science that tries to explain how nature works using

mathematics language. Thus, it is a challenge on the part of the teacher on

how to deal with this situation where mathematics and physics unify to form

a new lesson which includes problem-solving on the part of the students and

how the teacher will discuss this topic where his/her students have its

differences regarding learning styles.

A Physics student frequently carries its own outstanding analytical,

quantitative and problem-solving skills. They can produce and solve

numbers and present their answers naturally and understandably. When

they encounter a particular problem, they are taught to scientifically identify

all factors contributing to the problem and works out how those elements

interact to solve the problem.

In Physics, problem-solving is an essential part of learning because it

is the process where students will apply all the concepts that they have
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learned from their subject. Problem-solving in physics can be described as

"thinking logically and solving scientifically."

In a classroom situation, many students have difficulty in solving

these physics problems maybe because of the teaching strategy employed by

the teacher in discussing a particular topic without considering the learning

style of the students.

The idea of learning style in a teaching-learning process is something

that we should consider, and every teacher should know the different

learning style of his/her students. Larry Spence, in his article "Getting over

Learning Styles," explains: "Every teacher encounters high school students

who appear to learn in unexpected ways. Every scholar occasionally gets

stumped by way of strategies that work for absolutely everyone else.

Neuroscientists agree that every intelligence is unique—more singular in

shape than DNA or fingerprints."

Thus, this study suggests that learning style can be one of the

answers to these issues. It provides a framework to train students who are

skilled in solving problems. It is seen to be an ideal framework to use in

ensuring good teaching practices and improved outcomes or results for

students. Intelligence can be identified, amplified, taught, and applied (Perry,

2010).

Generally, Physics is second only to mathematics in the purity of its

principles. Physics describes how the natural world works through applied
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mathematical formulas. That is why every student should know how to apply

this method and come up with important applications.

It was from the above reasons that the researcher is motivated to

conduct a study about the Learning style of students and their Problem-

solving skills in Physics.

Statement of the Problem

The main objective of this study was to determine the relationship of

learning styles and the problem-solving skills in Physics among Grade 8

students in selected high schools in Glan District, Division of Sarangani.

Specifically, the study sought answers to the following questions:

1. What is the learning style of the students regarding the following

components;

1.1 Convergent;

1.2 Divergent;

1.3 Assimilative; and

1.4 Accommodative?

2. What is the level of problem-solving skills of the students in

Physics?

3. Is there a significant difference in the level of problem-solving skills

of male and female students?

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4. Is there a significant relationship between the level of problem-

solving skills of the students in physics and the four components

of learning styles?

Significance of the study

The findings of this research shall benefit the following:

The Department of Education (DepEd). The study may create more

critical awareness for administrators in their policies and curriculum to

consider the different learning styles in teaching and to include in the

training program for teachers. This study may also give them a point of

reference in designing a curriculum that utilizes the different learning style

in classroom activities.

School Administrators. The study will serve as a guide for them

where to focus on the development of the educational process for an efficient

Physics education at all levels.

School. As an institution of formal education, schools will learn new

concepts and ideas about attitude formation that might initiate fresh

programs and policies to improve learning not just in physics but also in

other subjects;

Department Heads. The result of this study will encourage them to

motivate teachers to consider the different learning style of the students in

their classes;
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Teachers. This study will help them to adapt in a teaching strategy

that will make physics lessons interesting and meaningful;

Parents. This will realize them and understand their role as one of the

most significant factors in the education of their children and become aware

of the activities that will develop their children's potential;

Students. This study will provide them a chance to discover and

enhance their hidden skills to effectively participate in the learning process.

This will also develop a sense of appreciation of their inner potentials as well

as the potentials of other students that would make classroom activities

exciting and pleasurable.

Researchers. This will serve as a guide towards better instruction in

the field of physics more particular in problem-solving and make new related

studies and research. The study offers new ideas in physics-teaching by

knowing the learning styles and the inclination of the students to perform

well in the class.

Scope and Delimitation

The study aimed to determine the relationships of learning style and

the problem-solving skills in Physics of Grade 8 students in selected public

secondary schools in Glan District, Division of Sarangani, school year 2017-

2018.
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Specifically, the study covered four components of learning styles

namely: Convergent, Divergent, Assimilative, and Accommodative.

Simple random sampling was used to select the respondent from

Grade 8 students in selected public secondary schools in South Glan

District, Division of Sarangani. The instrument used to determine Learning

Style is based on David Kolb's model of learning styles.

The level of problem-solving skills of Grade 8 students in Physics was

determined by the scores they got in a twenty (20) item test in speed and

acceleration which is already taught and discussed during the first quarter

of the school year 2017-2018.

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CHAPTER 2

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

This chapter summarizes the information from other researchers who

have conducted their research on the subject of learning styles and problem-

solving skills. The study reviews relevant studies related to learning styles.

The specific areas covered are related studies on learning styles and

problem-solving skills, the concept of learning styles, why consider learning

techniques, learning theories, an implication of teaching methods on

learning and teaching, learning styles and academic achievement and

description of the present study's theoretical and conceptual framework.

Related Literature

Significant numbers of research have been carried out, mainly in the

Western and Asian countries, to set up whether learning style preference has

any correlation with Problem-solving skills. Much of this past research has

sought to found out the relationship between the two variables; whereby

learning styles have been the independent variable and the problem-solving

skills taken as the dependent variable. Some of these research studies have

also sought to recognize the relationship by gender, and most of them have

found significant relations between the two variables and by gender.

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David Kolb published his learning styles model in 1984 from which he

widen his inventory in learning style. Kolb's experiential learning theory can

work on two levels: learning styles and a four-stage cycle. Kolb's theory is

concerned with the learner's internal cognitive processes. According to Kolb,

learning entails the acquirement of nonfigurative concepts that can be

applied flexibly in a range of situations. Under Kolb's theory, the drive for

the growth of new idea is provided by new knowledge.

In this theory, Kolb has identified four different types of learning styles

that reflect different ways of interacting in different situations. These

include: Converging: Persons with a converging learning style can explain

problems and will use their knowledge to find an answer to the real topic.

They favour practical tasks and are less worried about people and

interpersonal characteristic. Individuals with converging learning style are

most excellent at finding practical uses for information and theories. They

can resolve problems and make choices by pronouncing result to issues and

problems.

People with a converging learning style are more concerned with

scientific tasks and problems than societal or interpersonal issues. A

converging learning style allows expert and technology ability. People with

this method like to try-out with original ideas, to imitate, and to work with a

realistic application; Diverging: These people are capable of appearing at

things from a different point of view. They are responsive. They favour
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observing instead of doing, tending to collect information and use thoughts

to answer problems. They are best at viewing real circumstances at some

different point of view.

Kolb refers this approach 'diverging' since these people execute well in

conditions that involve ideas-generation, for example, brainstorming.

Persons with a diverging learning style comprise broad educational interests

and like to collect information. They are concerned in people, inclined to be

inventive and touching, and tend to be physically dominant in the arts.

People with the diverging style prefer to collaborate in teams, to pay

attention with an open mind and to accept personal criticism; Assimilative:

The Assimilative learning preference is a brief, rational approach.

Information and idea are more significant than people. These people need

better description rather than the realistic opportunity. They do

exceptionally well at accepting wide-ranging knowledge and arranging it in a

bright, logical design.

People with an assimilating learning style are not as much of decisive

on people and more concerned in facts and conceptual idea. People with this

method are more fascinated by logically sound presumptions than

approaches based on real value. This learning style is vital for usefulness in

information and science profession. In the formal education system, people

with this method favour readings, lectures, discover analytical model, and

having time to imagine things through; Accommodative: The Accommodative

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learning style is proactive, and relies on instinct instead of logic. These

persons use other people's analysis and prefer to take a realistic,

experimental approach. They are fascinated by new challenges and

adventure, and to carry out plans. They usually act on 'gut' intuition rather

than rational investigation. People with an accommodating learning style are

inclined to depend on others for information than carry out their analysis.

This learning style is prevailing.

A learning style is characterized as the way in which a person begins

to focus on, process, meditate and remember new and challenging academic

information’ (Hall 2010). Learning styles, therefore, indicate how the student

perceives, interacts with, and responds to the learning environment. Even

though the idea of learning styles came out in late 1970, there is a lot of

ways to apply for this theory. Nonetheless, it is relatively reasonable to

classify learning styles from two main perspectives. One pertains to the

individual processing of information, and the other relates to a personal

connection with other learners.

The term “cognitive style” and “learning style” are often used

interchangeably in the literature; however, researchers consider the learning

style as a broader construct. Focusing on learning styles, Newbie and

Entitle distinguish between learning styles viewed regarding information

processing strategies and those related to personality traits. The latter are

relatively consistent preferences of students to learn in characteristic ways,

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rather than the manner in which they approach a learning task and which

strategies they use in practice. It is a general surveillance in the lecture

room that some students prefer getting to know thru interactive activities

like games, simulation, problem-solving, and critical questioning discussions

in a many-sided motivated learning situation. Other enjoys learning by

looking at workbooks and handouts to be completed under planned

discussions. Some choose individual study or working in a group by helping

through peer instructions. They desire a teaching which fulfils their needs of

information processing. Students choose specific learning patterns with

diverse motives ranging from their prior experiences for obtaining accurate

grades. The secret behind of their choice of training is the archetypal way of

their information processing mechanism. According to Rita Dunn as cited

in, “Learning style is the way that he or she processes on, internalizes,

concentrates, and remembers new and challenging educational data or

abilities varying with culture, age, culture, achievements, global versus

analytical processing preference and gender.” The individual is familiar with

their learning styles can participate well in their subject matter by using

many sources of information to optimize their learning quality. It is a

common belief that the “Problem Solving” has an essential place in children’s

learning in school. One of the most critical goals for teaching is teaching

students to use basic facts and concepts flexible so that they can deal with

new situations, predict from tow angles, a way of thinking and a way of
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teaching. Psychologists have investigated and are interested in the former

aspect, i.e., as a way of thinking, while the teachers are engaged in problem-

solving as a way of teaching.

According to Poon (2010), the strategy of the teacher in teaching

should fit the learner on how they can learn. The educators should always

consider the learning style of the students. Educators can then adapt their

teaching styles to suit the learning styles of students. The aim is to

understand the heterogeneous mix of student learning styles and the group

learning style for teachers so that they can use their method of teaching and

tools to suit the learning style of students in groups. Learning styles'

research could be extended by examining the impact on students'

performance relative to the teachers' style of teaching. One may also wish to

examine the relationships between learning styles and personality traits to

understand better the characteristics of students, which dictate their

learning styles. Students may adopt different learning strategies for different

subjects or in different learning environments. How students react to the

varying situations depends on the make-up of the students, that is, their

personality traits. A personalized education is needed to match the learning

environment with the learners' learning styles.

A research study conducted by Hsieh et al. (2011) on Students’

reflection levels for ubiquitous learning and its effect on the teaching style

and learning style. Investigating the attitudes of learning is the primary

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focus of U-learning, and the achievements of learning of students and

teaching style and learning style were sometimes ignored. Hsieh explores the

reflection levels of students within the context of U-learning and its effect on

the learning styles and teaching styles. He investigated learning styles at the

dimensions of active and reflective learning and the teaching styles at the

dimensions of brainstorming, instruction, and recall. The respondents of the

study are the 39 students in fifth grade at the elementary school in the

southern part of Taiwan. They establish a u-learning environment to conduct

experiments for some courses like natural science and create butterfly

ecology garden. The result of their experiment using one-way ANCOVA

shows that there is a significant improvement in their level of reflection if the

student received a matching teaching-learning style. That is, matching the

learning styles of students with the appropriate teaching styles can

significantly improve students’ reflection levels in a u-learning environment.

Rohmer et al. (2012) in their study "Learning Styles: Where's the

Evidence?”, states that some teaching strategies that we always use in a

classroom setting have not been effective because it was not tested through

empirical scrutiny. A clear example of this idea is that during lectures, the

teacher should always integrate his lesson to the learning style of the

students. For example, students might be divided into visual learners and

verbal learners (by a test of learning style given to the students) and then

provided with a direction that shows words or pictures, respectively. The

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verbal-visual learner is just another simple example of the many suggested

category of learners, but some study would disagree on the idea that

learning process should be anchored with style-based instruction.

Hwang et al. (2012) in their research entitled “Development Of A

Personalized Educational Computer Game Based on Students’ Learning

Styles,” has been the focus of most researchers in the recent years. But, past

research pointed out that without the support of instructional models that

take the learning needs of the student or its difficulty, the student might

show short interest in the subject matter during lectures, and their academic

performance is not that good. Learning styles have always been used as part

of individual differences that affects the performance of students’ learning.

An earlier study indicates that by integrating the learning style of the

students will help improve the learning process and the student will benefit

for this kind of strategy because it matches how the student perceive

information and the students’ processing style. The result of their research

about computer game based on the learning style of the students is that

personalized educational computer game improves the learning performance

of the students as well as the learning motivation of the students.

Erginer (2014) conducted a study of the correlation between primary

school students' reading comprehension performance and the learning styles

based on memory modelling”. A learning style review of the literature

suggests that they are often focused on determining learning styles by

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learning preferences, while the number of studies there are fewer studies

which determine to learn styles by memory modelling. Also, the number of

studies on the correlation between reading comprehension skills and

learning styles remains limited. Designed to determine the correlation

between the former and the latter, the present study seeks an answer to

whether reading comprehension skills are correlated with learning styles.

The population of the study was comprised of 71 4th grade students. It

employed “Reading Comprehension Test (RCT)” and “Test on Learning Styles

(TLS). The study concluded that there is a slight correlation between reading

comprehension skills and learning styles and that no learning style is a

significant predictor of reading comprehension skills. The results suggested

that learning styles do not have a substantial effect on reading

comprehension skills.

Panahandeh et al. (2015) conducted a study that investigates the

relationship between learning styles and the Iranian EFL multiple

intelligences. The research finds out the least dominant learning styles

among the participants and most dominant. The research also evaluates if

there is any significant difference between different types of learning styles

and gender. The result of their study using questionnaire of multiple

intelligences and an item test on learning style is given to 120 Iranian EFL

students reveals that employing learning styles in a classroom setting has no

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significant difference between genders and there is a significant difference

between female and male students using learning style communicative type.

A research study conducted by Clarke et al. (2010) about “Thinking

styles: Teaching and learning styles in graduate education students”

investigated the connection between two intellectual styles approaches

Silverman's learning styles and Sternberg's thinking styles of teachers and

Felder. Ninety-five graduate students majoring in reading, special education,

curriculum and educational leadership, and elementary education completed

the Index of Learning Styles Questionnaire (ILS) and the Thinking Styles in

Teaching Inventory (TSTI). Several thinking styles from Sternberg's theory of

self-government were high to moderately correlated with Felder's learning

styles. The TSTI did not differentiate between masters and doctoral students,

but the ILS did so. Participants differed in their thinking styles in teaching

and their learning styles, based on their education major.

Wolfe et al. (2010) conducted a study on “Learning styles: Do they

differ by discipline?” A total of 531 usable questionnaires were collected. Due

to a large number of students in the general education classes, a majority of

the respondents were not in one of the department majors, allowing for a

comparison of non-majors. There was a relatively even distribution among

the classifications or year in school. Most respondents had a GPA of 3.00 or

higher, and they were predominantly female. Over 40% of the students

preferred the abstract conceptualization, active experimentation style, or

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that of convergers. The convergers comprised the most massive cluster of

students in most groups. A small number (3.9%) indicated they were equally

likely to learn through reflective observation and active experimentation.

When comparisons were made among the learning styles and majors,

there was a significant difference. Most students were likely to be convergers,

except for the Hospitality & Tourism Management majors who were more

likely to be accommodators, which is a good fit for people in the sendee

industry. It was no surprise that Facility Management students were

expected to be convergers because their future careers deal with technical

information and the analysis of work environments. The Retail

Merchandising (RM) students had more convergers than the Apparel Studies

(AS) option, which seems logical because the RM graduates are more likely to

be buyers who need the pragmatic and decision-making abilities.

Adachi et al. (2013) “More than just fun and games: The longitudinal

relationships between strategic video games, self-reported problem-solving

skills, and academic grades.” Some of the studies have proposed that video

games possess good learning principles and may promote problem-solving

skills. Experiential survey about this relationship, however, is limited. The

goal of the presented study was to examine whether strategic video game

play (i.e., role-playing and strategy games) predicted self-reported problem-

solving skills among a sample of 1,491 adolescents (50.7 % female), for more

than four high school years. The results showed that more strategic video
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game play predicted higher self-reported problem-solving skills over time

than less strategic video game play. Also, the data reinforce for an indirect

association between academic grades and strategic video game play, in that

video game play that needs strategy predicted higher self-reported problem-

solving skills, and, in turn, higher self-reported problem-solving skills

predicted higher academic grades. The novel findings that strategic video

games promote self-reported problem-solving skills and indirectly predict

academic performance are remarkable considering that millions of student

plays video games every day.

Another study from Yusof et al. (2011) entitled “Thinking Skills and

Problem Solving Skill among Pupils in the East Coast of Malaysia.” Results

of their research reveal that there is no significant difference between male

and female pupils in their overall thinking skills and also for originality,

appropriateness, and fluency. The findings also indicate that there is no

significant difference in the mean scores of pupils in their overall problem-

solving skills and for novelty and appropriateness according to gender. On

the other hand, there are significant differences among the pupils in their

overall thinking skills according to age. There are also substantial differences

among the pupils in their overall problem-solving skills according to age. It is

interesting to note that that ten-year-old pupil had significantly higher

scores than the 11-year-old and 12-year-old pupils in thinking skills. The

11-year-olds also had substantially higher ratings than the 12-year-olds.

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About problem-solving skills, the findings also indicate that the ten-year-old

pupils performed significantly better than the 12-year-olds. This could be

due to the 12-year-old pupils sitting for the Standard Six National

Examination, and teachers are stressing and drilling the pupils more in line

with rote learning and memorizing in preparation for the examination. As

such the 12-year-old pupils could have become less creative and unable to

think out of the box compared to the ten-year-olds and 11-year-olds.

These findings suggest that our primary school curriculum should not

be to exam orientated as it hinders the development of thinking skills and

problem-solving skills among pupils. Teachers also play an essential role in

teaching thinking skills and problem-solving skills to pupils. Schafersman

(1991) stressed that "critical thinking is a learned ability that must be

taught...trained and knowledgeable teachers are necessary to impart the

proper information and skills." As such, teachers should also be trained on

ways to impart thinking skills and problem-solving skills to pupils.

Another finding of their study shows that there is no significant

difference between the urban and rural pupils in their overall thinking skills,

originality, and appropriateness. As for fluency, the urban pupils performed

significantly better than their rural counterparts. The results also show that

the rural pupils had significantly higher scores for overall problem-solving

skills and novelty compared to the urban pupils. The findings also reveal

that there are significant differences in the pupils' perceptions of their

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abilities in thinking skills and problem-solving skills according to age.

Gender has no significant effect on pupils' perception in thinking skills and

problem-solving skills. Surprisingly, on location, the findings show that the

urban school pupils' perceptions of their abilities in thinking skills and

problem-solving skills are significantly higher than that of the rural pupils.

The findings of the study help to conclude that there are no significant

differences among pupils in their thinking skills and problem-solving skills

regarding gender, but on the other hand, the results show there are

significant differences regarding location and age. As such, concrete

measures should be taken by teachers and ministry of education officials to

enhance pupils' thinking skills and problem-solving skills, and to overcome

the disparity between rural and urban pupils.

The study was conducted among primary school pupils (Year 4, 5 and

6) on the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia. As such, the researchers would

like to suggest that future research engages secondary schools pupils. The

study only employed quantitative data. The author suggests that future

research will triangulate qualitative data to reveal more in-depth findings

regarding constraints faced by pupils in their thinking skills and problem-

solving skills. Future research will include teachers and parents so that they

can show concrete solutions to enhance pupils thinking skill and problem-

solving skills.
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A study carried out by Klegeris et al. (2017) on “Dynamics of

undergraduate student generic problem-solving skills captured by a campus-

wide study.” States that evaluation of problem-solving skills (PSS) is

inhibited by a shortage of defined instructional strategies for development of

these skills and available tools for monitoring student progress. These

problems are addressed in their research. They’ve developed a tool for

evaluation, which they can be applied to study the Problems Solving skills of

undergraduate students. They’ve tested first- and upper-year students from

25 different courses (total enrolment of 2200 students). Overall improvement

of PSS was detected for the first-year students over their first term of study.

There were no significant differences between the PSS of first- and upper-

year students, and no improvement was detected over a single term by

measuring PSS in upper-year students. Only three courses were effective at

facilitating PSS. Their study indicates that most of the standard lecture

approaches do not develop undergraduate student PSS and that universities

and individual instructors must take active steps to advance this critical

skill set in university students.

The Principles and Standards for School Mathematics (National

Council for Teachers of Mathematics, 2000) describe problem-solving as

utilizing “fascinating and well-selected problems to launch mathematical

lessons and engage students’ participation.” In this way, new ideas,

techniques, and mathematical relationships emerge and become the focus of

 22

discussion. In addition to that, right problems can stimulate the

investigation of essential mathematical concepts, foster interest, and

increase the need to understand and use various strategies, mathematical

properties, and relationships.

The K to 12 Curriculum objectives for Physics learners is to become

critical thinkers and problem solvers, thus making problem-solving skills as

a vital subject. Learning how to solve story problems involves knowledge

about verbal explanation and scientific calculations as well as an

understanding of necessary numerical skills and strategies. Due to the

complexity of solution process, doing word problems pose difficulties to

many students because problem-solving is more complicated than merely

extracting numbers from a story situation to solving an equation. Because of

this scenario, researchers and educators must provide proper attention in

designing problem-solving instructions to enhance students’ learning for

word problems (Sajadi et al., 2013).

Seife et al. (2012) attempted to detect students’ difficulties in solving

mathematical word problems from the teacher’s understanding at Arak

middle schools. Result revealed that students’ understanding and

representing the word problems, planning and defining the related

vocabularies are some of their difficulties. Furthermore, the causes of the

students’ problems were the inability to understand the text, not simple

statements in the question and using inappropriate strategies. Finally,

 23

teachers suggested helping students in teaching them to look for a pattern,

draw a picture and rewording the difficulties.

Problems that require answers can arise in different ways, for

instance, physics problem given in writing whose focus is on given problem

with a specific question. In this manner, reading with understanding plays a

vital role in the problem-solving process. Understanding the problem means

creating a mental representation of the texts being read and thereby forming

a psychological description of the problem (Osterholm, 2010).

Related Studies
A study carried out by Sirin (2011) on the relationship between

learning styles and problem-solving skills among college students, the

objective of the study was to assess the relationship between learning styles

and problem-solving skills of students of Ataturk Faculty of Education. This

research was conducted on 330 senior students during the semesters of

2002-2003 academic years. The study adopted the Learning style inventory

(LSI; Kolb, 1984) and the Problem Solving Inventory (PSI; Heppner &

Peterson, 1978) were used. Results indicated that learning styles differed

concerning the high school's subject of the students and the scores of

entrance exam in the university. The learning style with assimilated

converging preference are those students from Science and Turkish-

Mathematics more than the students who finished from social sciences
 24

programs Students who entered into universities based on their ability test,

science, or foreign language scores preferred accommodating style; students

who registered to college based on science scores preferred converging

learning style. It was found out that there was no relationship between

students’ learning style types and their problem-solving skills. The reflective-

observation learning style was discovered to have a positive relationship with

problem-solving skills and has a negative correlation with abstract

conceptualization learning style.

Another research conducted by (Bhat, 2016) on the Effect of Learning

Styles on Problem-solving ability among high school students. This study

characterized the preferred learning styles of a sample of high school

students and also investigated which preferred learning style had a better

problem-solving ability. To evaluate learning style preferences-Kolb's

learning style inventory was administered and to assess the problem-solving

ability, L.N. Dubey? Problem-solving ability test adopted by the investigator

were use. The learning style characteristics examined include,

accommodator, assimilator, converger, and diverger. The sample of the study

consisted of (598) high schools students of grade 10th. The findings of the

study revealed that the most preferred learning style is Assimilator followed

by Accommodator, Diverger, and Converger. The outcome of the analysis of

variance showed that learning styles affect the problem-solving ability of

 25

students and the post hock test depicted that assimilator learning styles had

better problem-solving capacity than the other learning styles.

A closely related study that investigated the impact of learning

styles on the academic achievement of secondary school students in Iran

(Mahyuddin, et, al. 2011) has also contributed to the learning styles

discourse. The Kolb learning style inventory (1999) was given in eight public

schools in Tehran. The mean of test scores in 13 five subject matter, namely

science, mathematics, English, geography, and history, was calculated for

each student and used as a measure of academic achievement. The sample

of the study randomly selects a total of 285 Grade 10 students. The results

of the analyses of variance showed that the four learning styles of the

Iranian students have a significant difference in the academic performance.

In particular, the mean scores for the diverging and accommodating groups

are significantly lower than for the converging and assimilating groups.

A survey conducted by Ismail Orton in 2010 among five faculties at

Bilkent University First Year Students has contributed to the field of learning

styles in Education (Erton, 2010). The study was conducted among 102 first-

year students between the age of 18 and 23 who responded to the Jeffrey

Barsch’s Learning Style Inventory, and their test scores were used to

calculate the statistical coefficient between two variables. The study showed

that there is a weak positive mathematical relationship between the learning

 26

styles of the students and their achievement in language (English 101

course) with a correlation coefficient of 0.306.

Acala (2014) also made a study on the relationship between multiple

intelligences and problem-solving skills in mathematics. He found out that

some components of MI had a significant relationship to students’ problem-

solving skills especially in verbal-linguistic intelligence and interpersonal

intelligence. According to him, this is visible when students love to read

books, like word games like scrabble, like to recite and find English easy to

understand. They may also perform better in problem-solving when their

interpersonal intelligence is high such as when they seek out friends to help

solve his/her problems, contribute ideas on projects or tasks in class, like to

show to others how to do things, and like being a leader.

According to Ma et al. (2013), the research literature that tries to

describe East Asian academic achievement is extensive, however with one

weak spot that speaks to the lack of interest to the way that East Asian

college students manage their learning about their success in academics.

They argued that how college students learn can also hold vital clues to the

most beneficial academic performance of East Asian students. Therefore,

investigating learning styles in a global context has necessary implications

for enhancing physics training in the Philippines.

 27

Conceptual Framework

This study is anchored on Kolb’s Learning Style Theory. Students are

unique in multiple ways and have its means on how to deal with subject

matter especially when it involves problem-solving skills, all these

uniqueness of individual can be harness to deliver instruction particularly in

physics subject efficiently. Learning style theory enables the student to

appreciate physics as a challenging, exciting and electrifying subject. When

teachers promote the use of varied learning styles, they allow students to

increase their potential to learn the topics with passion, conceptualize every

meaning, develop thinking strategies, solve problems and engage intensively

and creatively in Physics. As they do so, students have the opportunity to

discover and celebrate their own, and one another’s unique abilities (Kolb,

1984).

Figure 1 shows the Conceptual Framework of the study. The

independent variables are the different components of learning styles such

as converging, diverging, assimilative and accommodative. The problem-

solving skills in physics of grade 8 students correlate with the variables on

the different physics problems under the topics force, motion, and energy.

Gender of the students is included as an intervening variable in the study to

determine which of the two groups is more likely capable of problem-solving.

 28

Independent Variable Dependent Variable

Learning Styles of Problem Solving Skills

Grade 8 Students of Grade 8 students in
Physics
 Convergent
(based on test scores)
 Divergent
 Speed
 Assimilative
 Acceleration
 Accommodative

Intervening Variable

GENDER

1. Male
2. Female

Figure 1. Conceptual Framework

 29

Hypotheses

The null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance:

1. There is no significant relationship between the level of problem-

solving skills of Grade 8 students in Physics and their four

learning styles.

2. There is no significant difference in the level of problem-solving

skills of male and female students.

Definition of Terms

The following terms are defined as applied in the study:

Learning Styles. These refer to the preferred way in which the

student processes, absorbs, understands and gathers data. For instance,

when building a clock, some students will listen to the instruction first,

while others will start to make the clock for themselves.

Convergent likes to solve problems, they are outstanding in using

technology to learn more about the subject, are interested in

experimentation of new ideas and practical application of theory, they like

discussions, always apply learning in reality case studies, dominant learning

abilities are active experimentation and abstract conceptualization.

Divergent likes to generate new knowledge and enjoy in

brainstorming, engage in collecting data, have exceptional team building

skills, and are open to detailed feedback, paired discussion, self analysis
 30

questionnaires, personality questionnaires observing activities, feedback

from other, and coaching. It emphasizes reflective observation and concrete

experience.

Assimilative likes to be alone, and more driven by ideas and

theoretical concepts. They like to read, following logical approaches, being

concise, and with the ability to explore and manipulate analytical models,

statistics, stories, quotes background information, applying theories,

abstract concepts, value ideas, dominant learning abilities are reflective

observation and abstract conceptualization.

Accommodative. A hands-on learning style, relying on instinct and

not much on logic. Those with this learning style often have a preference for

practical, experiential approaches, with an appeal to new adventures and

challenging experiences while carrying out tasks. They usually tend to ask

for help for information and are not interested in carrying out their analysis,

acting on a ‘gut’ instinct. Likes puzzles, competitions, role play,

brainstorming, doing things, carry out tasks and plans, likes new

experiences or new topics, it emphasizes on active experimentation and

concrete experience.

Problem Solving Skills. This refers to the process of working through

details of a problem to reach a solution. In this particular study, the

problem-solving skills to be tested are word problems with topics under

speed and acceleration. Problem-solving may include mathematical or

 31

systematic operations and can be a gauge of an individual’s critical thinking

skills.

Grade 8 students. These are the 120 grade 8 students randomly

selected among (4) public secondary schools in Glan District, Division of

Sarangani, enrolled for the school year 2017-2018.

Gender is the range of physical, biological, mental and behavioural

characteristics about, and differentiating between, masculinity and

femininity. This is an intervening variable that identifies the differences

between the male and female in problem-solving in Physics.

 32

CHAPTER 3

METHODOLOGY

This chapter presents the research methodology applied in the

conduct of investigation. It discusses the research design, the respondents of

the study, the instruments and procedure used in gathering data, and the

statistical methods for data analysis.

Research Design

This study employed the descriptive co-relational research design. The

different types of learning styles such as convergent, divergent, assimilative

and accommodative were correlated to the problem solving skills of Grade 8

students in physics. The students’ level of problem solving skills in Physics

was based on the results of the test given with topics under the 1st quarter of

the school year – Speed and Acceleration. The researcher adopted the test

questions from 1st quarter examination in Science 8. However, there were

revisions made to suit the topics at hand. Figure 2 shows the research

design of the study.

 33

LEARNING STYLE OF STUDENTS AND THEIR PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS IN PHYSICS

PROBLEM SOURCE OF DATA DATA GATHERING DATA ANALYSIS

Learning Styles Selected Public

Instruments Mean
1. Convergent Secondary School in
2. Divergent South Glan District
Learning Style
3. Assimilative Frequency
1. Leonard Questionnaire
4. Accommodative Count
Young Sr.
NHS Adopted from
2. Pangyan NHS Percentage
David Kolb (1984)
Level of Problem 3. Baliton NHS
Solving Skills of Grade 4. Roque Adarna Pearson
8 Students in Physics Integrated Problem- Product
School Solving test on Moment
Correlation
Difference in the Speed and
Problem Solving Skills Respondents Acceleration
of Male and Female T-test for
Students 120 Grade 8 independent
Students samples

1. 60 males
Relationship between 2. 60 females
Problem Solving Skills
and the Four Learning
Styles
Figure 2. Research Design
 34

Respondents

The respondents of this study were the 120 Grade 8 students

under the K to 12 Basic Education Curriculum in four selected

schools in South Glan District, Division of Sarangani. The study

utilized proportionate sampling so that every school is equally

represented. Of the 120 students, 60 were males and 60 were

females. Table 1 shows the distribution of respondents.

Table 1. Distribution of Respondents

Sample Size
Name of Schools Male Female Total
1. Leonard Young Sr. National HS 15 15 30

2. Pangyan National High School 15 15 30

3. Baliton National High School 15 15 30

4. Roque Adarna Integrated School 15 15 30

Total 60 60 120

Research Instrument

Kolb’s Learning Style questionnaire was adopted from the work

of David Kolb (1984) Appendix E. It contains survey questions on the

 35

different learning styles such as convergent, divergent, assimilative

and accommodative.

The level of learning styles of Grade 8 students was evaluated

using this interval and corresponding description:

4.50 – 5.00 Always

3.50 – 4.49 Often

2.50 – 3.49 Sometimes

1.50 – 2.49 Seldom

1.00 – 1.49 Never

The problem solving skills of Grade 8 students were based on

their actual scores in a 20 item test. Test items were adopted from the

1st quarter examination in Science 8 from the DepEd learning

materials. The problem solving skills were evaluated using the

following interval and description:

90% – 100% Very Good

85% – 89% Good

80% – 84% Fair

75% – 79% Poor

below 75 Very Poor

 36

Data Gathering Procedure

Prior to the gathering of data, the researcher asked permission

from the Principals of the four selected high schools namely: Leonard

Young Sr. National High School, Pangyan National High School,

Baliton National High School and Roque Adarna Integrated School;

through letter requests to conduct study in their respective school.

As soon as the request was granted, the researcher personally

administered and distributed the questionnaires on learning styles

and the test in problem solving to Grade 8 students. The

questionnaires were retrieved after an hour. All data were subject to

statistical analysis.

Statistical Treatment

To give answers to the problems included in this study, the

following statistical measures were used:

Mean percentage was used to determine the level of learning

style of Grade 8 students based on the four components such as

convergent, divergent, assimilative and accommodative.

To determine the level of Grade 8 Physics students’ problem

solving skills, frequency count, and percentage were used.

 37

T-test for independent samples was used to determine the

significant difference in the problem solving skills between male and

female students.

And finally, to determine the significant relationships between

the four components of the learning style of students and their

problem solving skills in physics, the researcher used Pearson

Product-Moment Correlation.

All tests were done at the 0.05 level of significance.

 38

CHAPTER 4

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

This chapter presents, analyzes and interprets the data

gathered in this study. The various results on learning styles and
their relationships to Physics students’ problem solving skills are
presented in the succeeding tables.

Learning styles of the Grade 8 Students

This study determined the learning styles of Grade 8 students

in selected public secondary schools in Municipality of Glan using the
learning styles questionnaire. Table 2 shows the results.

Table 2. Learning Styles of Grade 8 Students

Learning Styles Mean Description
CONVERGENT 3.88 Often
1. Like to get straight to the point.
2. Think written reports should be short and to the 3.53 Often
point.
3. Get impatient with irrelevant issues and 3.22 Sometimes
digressions.
4. Like people who approach things realistically rather 3.89 Often
than theoretically.
5. Keen to try things out to see if they work in 3.70 Often
practice.
6. What matters most is whether something works in 3.46 Sometimes
practice.
7. When hearing about a new idea or approach, I 3.93 Often
immediately start working out how to apply it in
practice.
8. In meetings, put forward practical, realistic ideas. 3.68 Often
Mean 3.66 Often
 39

Learning Styles Mean Description

DIVERGENT 3.66 Often
1. Prefer to have as many sources of information
as possible – the more information to think
over the better.
2. Listen to other people’s points of view before 3.79 Often
putting my own view forward.
3. If I have a report to write, I tend to produce 3.60 Often
lots of drafts before settling on the final
version.
4. Careful not to jump to conclusions too quickly. 3.51 Often
5. In discussions likely to adopt a ‘low profile’ 3.25 Sometimes
than to take the lead and do most of the
talking.
6. On balance, do the listening rather than the 4.00 Often
talking.
7. It’s best to think carefully before taking action. 4.24 Often
8. Like the sort of work where I have time for 3.58 Often
thorough preparation and implementation.
Mean 3.70 Often
ASSIMILATIVE 4.18 Often
1. Have strong beliefs about what is right and
wrong, good and bad.
2. Tend to solve problems using a step-by-step 4.16 Often
approach.
3. Thrive on the challenge of tackling something 3.47 Sometimes
new and different.
4. Find it difficult to produce ideas on impulse. 3.40 Sometimes
5. Tend to be a perfectionist. 3.19 Sometimes
6. Believe that rational, logical thinking should 3.65 Often
win the day.
7. Don’t like disorganised things and prefer to fit 3.25 Sometimes
things into a coherent pattern.
8. Keen on exploring the basic assumptions, 3.45 Sometimes
principles, and theories underpinning things
and events.
Mean 3.56 Often
 40

Learning Styles Mean Description

ACCOMODATIVE 3.85 Often
1. Actively seek out new experiences.
2. Enjoy new challenges in life. 4.32 Often
3. Thrive on the challenge of tackling something 3.54 Often
new and different.
4. Usually one of the people who puts life into a 3.03 Sometimes
party.
5. Quickly get bored with methodical, detailed 3.31 Sometimes
work.
6. Enjoy being the one that talks a lot. 3.26 Sometimes
7. On balance I talk more than I listen. 3.05 Sometimes
8. Often find that actions based on feelings are 3.63 Often
as sound as those based on careful thought
and analysis.
Mean 3.49 Sometimes
Legend: 4.50 – 5.00 Always
3.50 – 4.49 Often
2.50 – 3.49 Sometimes
1.50 – 2.49 Seldom
1.00 – 1.49 Never

Grade 8 students, often use the convergent learning style based

on the over-all mean of 3.66. Specifically, they often get straight to the

point during discussion ( M = 3.88 ) and believe that written reports

should be short and direct to the point ( M = 3.53 ).

Students also tend to be divergent more often based on the

table which has an over-all mean of 3.70. This indicates that they

think carefully before taking an action ( M = 4.24 ) and tend do the

listening rather than talking ( M = 4.00 ). There are only few students
 41

who sometimes adopt a “low profile” than to take the lead and do

most of the talking ( M = 3.25 ).

Similarly, they often use the assimilative learning style based on

the over-all mean of 3.56. This means that they often have strong

beliefs about what is right and wrong, good and bad ( M = 4.18 ), they

also tend solve problems using a step-by-step approach more often (

M = 4.16 ).

However, Grade 8 students only use accommodative learning

style sometimes based on the over-all mean of 3.49. This indicates

that they only talk sometimes ( M = 3.05 ).

These results are supported by the study conducted by Wolfe et

al. (2010) entitled “Learning Styles: Do they differ by discipline?” The

result of their study shows that out of 531 respondents, 40% of the

students preferred the convergent learning styles and their dominant

learning abilities are active experimentation and abstract

conceptualization.

Another study in harmony with this result is conducted by Sirin

(2011) on the relationship between learning styles and problem

solving skills among high school students. The convergent and

assimilative learning style is dominated by high school students from

 42

Physics and Turkish-Mathematics more than the students who

finished from social sciences programs. This means that most of the

students prefer the assimilative learning styles.

Level of Problem-Solving Skills of Grade 8 Students in Physics

This study also determined knowledge on the level of problem

solving skills in Physics. To do this, a 20 item test was given to them

with topics on speed and acceleration.

Table 3. Level of Problem-Solving Skills in Physics among Grade 8

students (Speed and Acceleration)

Problem-Solving Skills Frequency Percentage Description

(Based on test scores)
17-20 0 0% Very Good
13-16 0 0% Good
9-12 28 23.3% Fair
5-8 76 63.4% Poor
0-4 16 13.3% Very Poor
Over-all Mean Score: 6.91 ( Poor )

The table shows that 63.4% got the score of 5 to 8 in the 20-

item test in Physics. This performance is considered Poor. This is

followed by 23.3% who obtained scores of 9 to 12 (Fair), and 13.3%

obtained the scores of 0 to 4. There were no student who got a score

 43

of 13 to 20 which can be described as Good and Very Good. Generally,

the level of problem solving skills of the grade 8 students is Poor with

6.91 mean score. This indicates that Grade 8 students are struggling

in problem solving in Physics.

This result is supported by Seife et al. (2012) who revealed that

students’ understanding and representing the word problems,

planning and defining the related vocabularies are some of their

difficulties. Furthermore, the causes of the students’ problem were the

inability to understand the text, not simple statements in the question

and using inappropriate strategies.

Table 4. Difference in the Physics Problem-Solving skills of Male

and Female Students

Group Mean Score t-value p-value Remarks

in Physics
Male 6.75 No
0.863 0.390
significant
Female 7.07
difference

The result shows that the Problem Solving Skills of Grade 8

students has no significant difference with regards to their gender as

shown in the table where the mean score in Physics of Male is 6.75

and Female is 7.07, the t-value is 0.863 and the p-value is 0.390. This
 44

indicates that gender has nothing to do with the Problem Solving

Skills of the students.

This data is supported with the study of Yusof et al. (2011)

entitled “Thinking skills and problem solving skills among pupils in

the east coast of Malaysia. The study reveals that gender has no

significant effect on pupils’ perception in thinking skills and problem

solving skills.

Relationship between Problem Solving Skills in Physics and the

Students’ Learning Styles

This study also investigated whether the problem solving skills

of the students is significantly influenced by their learning styles. To

do this, correlation test was applied on the students’ scores in

problem solving and the four components of learning styles.

Table 5. Relationship between Problem Solving Skills in Physics

and the Students’ Learning Styles

Students’ Problem Solving Skills in Physics

Students’ Correlation
Learning Styles p-value Remarks
Coefficient (r)
Convergent 0.501 0.000 Significant
Divergent 0.113 0.219 Not Significant
Assimilative 0.339 0.000 Significant
Accommodative 0.024 0.797 Not Significant
 45

The result of the correlation showed that there are two learning

styles which significantly influence the students’ skills in Problem

Solving in Physics. These are convergent (r = 0.501, p = 0.000) and

the assimilative learning styles (r = 0.339, p = 0.000). This indicates

that grade 8 students tend to perform better in problem solving when

their convergent learning style is high. This is shown by correlation

coefficient r = 0.501 and p-value of 0.000. This is manifested when

students use their knowledge to find answer to the real topic and

apply it in practice. They may also perform better in problem solving

when their assimilative learning style is high such as when they solve

problems they tend to follow a step-by-step approach and think

logically, this is supported by correlation coefficient (r = 0.339, p =

0.000).

This finding is in concurrence with the findings of Bhat (2016)

on the effect of Learning Styles on Problem Solving ability among High

School Students. His study revealed that the most preferred learning

style is assimilative and the outcome of the analysis of variance

showed that learning styles affect the problem solving ability of

students and most students who prefer assimilative learning style had

a better problem solving capacity than the other learning styles.

 46

On the other hand, the study of Hsieh et al (2011) on students’

reflection levels for ubiquitous learning and its effect on the teaching

and learning styles, states that matching the learning styles of the

students with the appropriate teaching styles can significantly

improve students’ reflection levels in a u-learning environment.

Ubiquitous learning is often simply defined as learning anywhere,

anytime and is always closely associated with mobile technologies

with supports from digital world, students can learn effectively

because they can explore the real-world learning environment.

Another findings which supported this research is the study of

Acala (2014) on Multiple intelligences and their relationship to

problem solving skills of Mathematics students, his study reveals that

the three components of Multiple Intelligences has significant

relationship to the problem solving skills of the students and that

students with Bodily-Kinesthetic, Interpersonal, and Verbal-Linguistic

intelligences perform better in problem solving in Mathematics.

 47

CHAPTER 5

SUMMARY, FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS

AND RECOMMENDATIONS

This chapter presents the summary, findings, conclusions and

the corresponding recommendations based on the results of the

study.

Summary of Findings
Based on the analyzed data, the results of the study showed the

following:

1. The learning style of Grade 8 students based on the results

of the study were Often Convergent (M=3.66), Divergent

(M=3.70), Assimilative (M= 3.56) and Sometimes

Accommodative (M=3.49).

2. The students perform poorly in problem solving on topics in

speed and acceleration (M=6.91).

3. The Grade 8 male and female students do not differ on their

problem solving skills (t = 0.863, p = 0.390). They both

perform poorly.

4. Among the four components of the Learning Styles, the

students’ convergent learning style (r = 0.501, p = 0.000)

 48

and the assimilative learning style (r = 0.339, p = 0.000)

have significant relationships on the students’ problem

solving skills in Physics.

Conclusions

Based on the findings of the study, the following conclusions

were drawn:

1. The Grade 8 students’ convergent learning style, assimilative

learning style, and divergent learning style is used more

often but sometimes the accommodative learning styles is

used by the students. This indicates that they often get

straight to the point during discussion and believe that

written reports should be short and direct to the point, have

strong beliefs about what is right and wrong, good and bad,

and tend to solve problems using a step-by-step approach.

2. The students’ performance in problem solving is poor in

speed and acceleration. This signifies that students have

difficulty in Physics problem. The causes of the students’

problem were the inability to understand the text, not simple

statements in the question and using inappropriate

strategies.
 49

3. Both male and female Grade 8 students have poor level of

skills in problem solving in Physics. This explains that,

regardless of gender, students encounter difficulties in

problem solving in Physics.

4. The students’ convergent learning style and assimilative

learning style have significant relationship to their problem

solving skills in Physics. This means that their ability to

approach things realistically and logically will help them

perform effectively in solving Physics problems.

Recommendations
In relation to the findings and conclusions of the study, the

following recommendations are made:

1. The teachers, in all subjects, must be aware of students’

preferences by knowing their different learning styles to

maximize their participation in teaching-learning activities.

2. Teachers must provide opportunities for students to exercise

their learning styles by giving differentiated activities to suit

their needs.

3. Physics teachers must coordinate with the English and

Mathematics teachers to engineer intervention programs to

 50

upgrade the reading comprehension and problem solving

skills of the students because solving physics problems,

reading with understanding is very essential.

4. Physics teachers should give varied exercises in solving word

problems that have applications to real-life situations.

5. As part of their Product-Performance under the K to 12

Curriculum, teachers may give students off-campus

performance tasks such as surveys, field trips, attend

symposiums to enhance the students’ critical thinking and

problem solving skills.

 51

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 55

APPENDIX A

Letter of Request to Conduct the Study

Republic of the Philippines
MINDANAO STATE UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES
General Santos City

November 27, 2017

MARVIN DC. LIM, P-I

School Head
Leonard Young Sr. National High School

Sir/Madam;
May I ask permission from your good office to conduct a study entitled
“LEARNING STYLES OF STUDENTS AND THEIR PROBLEM SOLVING
SKILLS IN PHYSICS”. This is a requirement for the Master’s Degree in
MST – Major in Physics of MSU-GSC Graduate School.
The study will involve 30 selected Grade 8 students in your school as
respondents.
Your support for the success of this endeavor will be greatly
appreciated. Thank you very much.

Very truly yours,

(Sgd.) JONARD P. ABRASADO

Researcher

Noted by:

(Sgd.) MARIA LOURDES dM. GALIA, PhD.

Thesis Adviser
 56

Republic of the Philippines

MINDANAO STATE UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES
General Santos City

November 27, 2017

FRUNNIE R. CASTILLO, P-I

School Head
Pangyan National High School

Sir/Madam;
May I ask permission from your good office to conduct a study entitled
“LEARNING STYLES OF STUDENTS AND THEIR PROBLEM SOLVING
SKILLS IN PHYSICS”. This is a requirement for the Master’s Degree in
MST – Major in Physics of MSU-GSC Graduate School.
The study will involve 30 selected Grade 8 students in your school as
respondents.
Your support for the success of this endeavor will be greatly
appreciated. Thank you very much.

Very truly yours,

(Sgd.) JONARD P. ABRASADO

Researcher

Noted by:

(Sgd.) MARIA LOURDES dM. GALIA, PhD.

Thesis Adviser
 57

Republic of the Philippines

MINDANAO STATE UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES
General Santos City

November 27, 2017

CHRISTOPHER FEROLINO, HT-III

School Head
Baliton National High School

Sir/Madam;

May I ask permission from your good office to conduct a study entitled
“LEARNING STYLES OF STUDENTS AND THEIR PROBLEM SOLVING
SKILLS IN PHYSICS”. This is a requirement for the Master’s Degree in
MST – Major in Physics of MSU-GSC Graduate School.
The study will involve 30 selected Grade 8 students in your school as
respondents.
Your support for the success of this endeavor will be greatly
appreciated. Thank you very much.

Very truly yours,

(Sgd.) JONARD P. ABRASADO

Researcher

Noted by:

(Sgd.) MARIA LOURDES dM. GALIA, PhD.

Thesis Adviser
 58

Republic of the Philippines

MINDANAO STATE UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES
General Santos City

November 27, 2017

CRISTINO YAMA, HT-III

School Head
Roque Adarna Integrated School

Sir/Madam;
May I ask permission from your good office to conduct a study entitled
“LEARNING STYLES OF STUDENTS AND THEIR PROBLEM SOLVING
SKILLS IN PHYSICS”. This is a requirement for the Master’s Degree in
MST – Major in Physics of MSU-GSC Graduate School.
The study will involve 30 selected Grade 8 students in your school as
respondents.
Your support for the success of this endeavor will be greatly
appreciated. Thank you very much.
Very truly yours,

(Sgd.) JONARD P. ABRASADO

Researcher

Noted by:
(Sgd.) MARIA LOURDES dM. GALIA, PhD.
Thesis Adviser
 59

APPENDIX B
LEARNING STYLES QUESTIONAIRE
(Adopted from David Kolb, 1984)

Name: _________________________________________
Sex: _____Male_____Female
School: ________________________________________________

Directions: Place a ( √ ) on the blanks after the statements which best

describes your learning styles as a student.

Learning Styles 5 4 3 2 1
CONVERGENT
1. In discussions, I like to get straight to the
point.
2. I think written reports should be short and
to the point.
3. In discussions, I get impatient with
irrelevant issues and digressions.
4. I like people who approach things
realistically rather than theoretically.
5. I am keen to try things out to see if they
work in practice.
6. What matters most is whether something
works in practice.
7. When hearing about a new idea or
approach, I immediately start working out
how to apply it in practice.
8. In meetings, I put forward practical,
realistic ideas.
DIVERGENT
1. I prefer to have as many sources of
information as possible – the more
information to think over the better.
2. I listen to other people’s points of view
before putting my own view forward.
 60

3. If I have a report to write, I tend to

produce lots of drafts before settling on
the final version.
4. I am careful not to jump to conclusions
too quickly.
5. In discussions, I likely adopt a ‘low profile’
than to take the lead and do most of the
talking.
6. On balance, I do listening rather than the
talking.
7. It’s best to think carefully before I take
action.
8. I like the sort of work where I have time
for thorough preparation and
implementation.
ASSIMILATIVE
1. I have strong beliefs about what is right
and wrong, good and bad.
2. I tend to solve problems using a step-by-
step approach.
3. I thrive on the challenge of tackling
something new and different.
4. I find it difficult to produce ideas on
impulse.
5. I tend to be a perfectionist.
6. I believe that rational, logical thinking
should win the day.
7. I don’t like disorganised things and prefer
to fit things into a coherent pattern.
 61

APPENDIX C
TABLE OF SPECIFICATION

Number
Topics Competencies Understanding Applying Evaluating Analyzing
of Items

Solve
problems 1,10,12,13,
1. Speed 13 6 8,19 2,4,20
involving 14,15,16
speed

Solve
problems
2. Acceleration 7 3,7,9,11,17 5,18
involving
acceleration

Total 20 1 12 2 5
 62

APPENDIX D
PROBLEM SOLVING TEST IN SPEED AND ACCELERATION
(Adopted from Sarangani Division’s Testing Materials)
Name: ___________________________________________
Sex: Male____ Female: _____
School: __________________________________________
Directions: Read and solve each problem carefully. Write your answer
on the Zip Grade sheet by shading the letter that corresponds the
correct answer.

1. A bird flies 60 meters in 10 seconds. What is the bird’s speed?

(A) 600 m/s
(B) 0.16 m/s
(C) 6 m/s
(D) 60 m/s
2. A beetle crawls 2 cm/minute for ten minutes. How far did it
crawl?
(A) 8 centimeters
(B) 5 centimeters
(C) 0.20 centimeters
(D) 20 centimeters
3. During a race, a sprinter increases from 5.0 m/s to 7.5 m/s
over a period of 1.25 s. What is the sprinter’s average
acceleration during this period?
(A) 2 m/s2
(B) 6.25 m/s2
(C) 2 m/s
(D) 6.26 m/s
 63

4. The winning time for a 500.0 mile race track was 193 minutes.
What was the driver’s average speed?
(A) 2.59 m/s
(B) 0.386 m/s
(C) 0.04 mi/s
(D) 0.04 mi/min
5. What is the acceleration of a 200 kg object that has a 3000 N
force applied to it?
(A) 0.07 m/s2
(B) 15 m/s2
(C) 3200 m/s
(D) 600000 m/s2
6. The distance covered by a car travelling at an average speed of
50 mph for 5 hours is
(A) 250 miles
(B) 2500 miles
(C) 10 miles
(D) 0.1 miles
7. Find the acceleration of an object, whose mass is 50 kilograms,
that is being acted upon by an unbalanced force of 200
newtons.
(Newton = 1 kg x m/sec.2)
(A) 10000 m/s2
(B) 0.25 m/s2
(C) 4 m/s2
(D) 250 m/s2

8. The speed of light waves in air is 3.0 x 108 m/sec. The speed of
sound waves in air is 333 m/s. How long between the time a
 64

lightning flash is seen and the thunderclap is heard if the

lightning flash is 1.0 km away?
(A) 3 sec
(B) 333 sec
(C) 0.003 sec
(D) 33 sec
9. A bag of sports equipment has a mass of 10.0 kilograms and a
weight of
(A) 0.98 N
(B) 9.8 N
(C) 98 N
(D) 980 N
10. A girl travels 20 miles on her bicycle. The trip takes 2 hours.
Express her speed in miles/hr.
(A) 10 mi/hr
(B) 40 mi/hr
(C) 0.1 mi/hr
(D) 22 mi/hr
11. A car starts from a stoplight and is travelling with a speed of 10
m/sec in 20 seconds. What is the acceleration of the car?
(A) 0.5 m/s2
(B) 2 m/s2
(C) 30 m/s2
(D) 10 m/s2
 65

12. What is the speed of a rocket that travels 9000 meters in 12.12
seconds?
(A) 742.57 mi/s
(B) 742.57 m/s
(C) 9012 m/s
(D) 0.0013 m/s
13. What is the speed of a jet plane that travels 528 meters in 4
seconds?
(A) 132 m/s
(B) 524 m/s
(C) 532 m/s
(D) 0.0075 m/s
14. How long will your trip take (in hours) if you travel 350 km at
an average speed of 80 km/hr?
(A) 0.22 hr
(B) 4.375 hr
(C) 430 hr
(D) 270 hr
15. A trip to Cape Canaveral, Florida takes 10 hours. The distance
is 816 km. Calculate the average speed.
(A) 81.6 km/hr
(B) 81.6 km/hr2
(C) 0.0122 km/hr
(D) 0.0122 km/hr2
16. How many seconds will it take for a satellite to travel 450 km at
a rate of 120 m/s?
(A) 3.75 s
 66

(B) 3750 s
(C) 0.27 s
(D) 54000s
17. A ball rolls down a ramp for 15 seconds. If the initial velocity of
the ball was 0.8 m/sec and the final velocity was 7 m/sec, what
was the acceleration of the ball ?
(A) 0.41 m/s2
(B) 22.08 m/s2
(C) 6.2 m/s2
(D) 0.41 m/s
18. A meteoroid changed velocity from 1.0 km/s to 1.8 km/s in
0.03 seconds. What is the acceleration of the meteoroid?
(A) 26.67 m/s2
(B) 26,666.67 m/s
(C) 2.83 m/s2
(D) 26,666.67 m/s2
19. What is the speed of an object at rest?
(A) 10 km/hr
(B) 0 km/hr
(C) 1 km/hr
(D) This cannot be determined without further information.
20. What is the speed of a walking person in m/s if the person
travels 1000 m in 20 minutes?
(A) 0.83 m/s
(B) 50 m/s
(C) 300 m/s
(D) 0.02 m/s
 67

APPENDIX E
DOCUMENTATION
Test in Speed and
Acceleration at
Leonard Young Sr.
NHS

Survey on Learning
Styles at Leonard
Young Sr. National
High School

Survey on Learning
Styles at Pangyan
National High
School
 68

Survey on Learning
Styles and Test in
speed and
acceleration at
Roque Adarna
Integrated School
 69

APPENDIX F

CERTIFICATE OF AUTHENTIC AUTHORSHIP

Republic of the Philippines

Mindanao State University
SCHOOL OF THE GRADUATE STUDIES
General Santos City
-oooOooo-

I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and, to

the best of my knowledge, it contains no materials previously
published or written by another person. This work does not also
contain material which, to a substantial extent, has been accepted for
an award of any degree or diploma, except where due
acknowledgment is made in the manuscript. Any contribution made
to the research of others, with whom I have worked is explicitly
acknowledged in the manuscript. Any help that I have received in my
research work and the preparation of the manuscript has been
acknowledged. I also declare that the intellectual content of the
manuscript is the product of my own work, except the assistance that
I received in the project’s design, conception and style, presentation
and linguistic expression which I also acknowledged.

JONARD PACRES ABRASADO

Researcher
 70

APPENDIX G

CERTIFICATE FROM AUTHORIZED EDITOR/PROOFREADER

Republic of the Philippines

MINDANAO STATE UNIVERSITY
General Santos City
GRADUATE SCHOOL
-ooo0ooo-

CERTIFICATION

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

This is to certify that the undersigned has thoroughly edited the

thesis of Jonard Pacres Abrasado entitled “LEARNING STYLES OF
STUDENTS AND THEIR PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS IN PHYSICS”
has complied with the standards set by American Psychological
Association (APA) for academic writing.

This is to certify that to the best of my knowledge the same is

already ready for final binding.

Done this _____ day of _____, 2018 in the City of General

Santos.

(Sgd.) WILFRED D. BIDAD, PhD

Authorized Editor/Proofreader
MSU Graduate School, GSC
 71

APPENDIX L

CERTIFICATE FROM AUTHORIZED STATISTICIAN

Republic of the Philippines

MINDANAO STATE UNIVERSITY
General Santos City
GRADUATE SCHOOL
-ooo0ooo-

CERTIFICATION

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

This is to certify that the undersigned has thoroughly reviewed

the statistical treatment and analysis of this paper entitled

“LEARNING STYLES OF STUDENTS AND THEIR PROBLEM

SOLVING SKILLS IN PHYSICS,” and the same has complied with the

standards and acceptable statistical procedures.

This certification is being issued to Jonard P. Abrasado for

whatever purpose/s it may serve her best.

Done this _____ day of _____, 2018 in the City of General

Santos.

(Sgd.) MARIA LOURDES M. GALIA, Ph.D.

Accredited Statistician
MSU Graduate School, GSC
 72

CURRICULUM VITAE

PERSONAL DATA
Name: JONARD PACRES ABRASADO
Address: Purok Acacia, Big Margus,
Glan, Sarangani Province
Date of Birth: June 22, 1985
Place of Birth: General Santos City
Religion: Roman Catholic

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND

Elementary: Margus Elementary School

Big Margus, Glan, Sarangani Province
1996-1997
Secondary: Leonard Young Sr. National High School
Big Margus, Glan, Sarangani Province
2000-2001
Tertiary: Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Colleges
General Santos City
2006-2007
Graduate
Studies: Mindanao State University
School of Graduate Studies
General Santos City

Master of Science in Teaching

Physics
 73

ELIGIBILITY
Licensure Examinations for Teachers 2007

TEACHING EXPERIENCES
Teacher III Leonard Young Sr. National High School
Big Margus, Glan, Sarangani Province
2018 – Present
Teacher I Leonard Young Sr. National High School
Big Margus, Glan, Sarangani Province
2014-2016
Batulaki Integrated School
Batulaki, Glan, Sarangani Province
2012 – 2014
Gulo Elementary School
Gulo, Laguimit, Glan, Sarangani Province
2009 – 2012