Learning Styles, Classroom Environment Preferences, Teaching, Styles, and Remedial Course Outcomes for Underprepared Adults at a Two-Year College

Sixty-one adult (age 25 and over) and 95 traditional-age (ages 18 through 24) two-year college students responded to a battery of instruments (Adult Classroom Environment Scale, Adaptive Style Inventory, Principles of Adult Learning Scale, and an Evaluation of Instruction Questionnaire) distributed in five remedial English and five remedial mathematics courses. Data analyses indicated that student age accounts for little variance in student expectations of the classroom environment, learning style, or select course outcomes. Nevertheless, students in reading and mathematics classes with learner-centered activities achieved higher course grades. Adult students in the mathematics sections reported a greater sense of accomplishment and a more positive total course experience than their traditional-age counterparts.