Learning Styles and Academic Achievement of Secondary Agriculture Students in Eldoret East Sub-County, Kenya

Learners process incoming information in different ways, hence, the instructors need to vary their methods of teaching to ensure that all students learn. This study investigated the learning preferences and their influence on the academic achievement of291 form three agriculture students in Eldoret East Sub County. Purposive sampling was used to select 10 co-educational secondary schools from which 291 respondents were systematically selected into the sample by use of random numbers. Descriptive survey study design was adopted for the study. The Kolbs Model of experiential learning was the theoretical model for the study. The Kolbs Learning Style Inventory (KLSI) and an Agriculture assessment test (AAT) were used as research instruments to collect the data. KLSI was used to profile the learning styles of agriculture students as one of the four learning groups Converging, Diverging, Assimilating and Accommodating. Statistical Package for Social Sciences computer package version 21 was used in the analysis of the data obtained using frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviations and Chi-square test. The hypothesis was tested at a 0.05 level of significance. The findings indicated that majority of the agriculture students were convergers followed by assimilators and thirdly by accommodators. The least preferred learning style was diverging which was preferred by 16 percent of the students. The study revealed that there was a statistically significant difference between learning styles and academic achievement of secondary school agriculture students. This study recommends that Agriculture teachers should identify the learning style of their students and use teaching strategies that complement them. The use of multiple teaching methods will greatly enhance the process of teaching and learning and make it effective and rewarding.