STUDENTS' GENDER, LEARNING STYLE, AND DIFFICULTIES IN SOLVING PROBLEMS IN COLLEGE ALGEBRA

The study was an attempt to determine the students’ level of difficulties encountered in solving problems in college algebra as profiled in their gender and learning style.  Difficulties in solving mathematical problems were measured in terms of conceptual and computational difficulties and were classified as to high, average, and low difficulty levels.  Two research instruments were prepared: the learning style inventory (LSI) and the diagnostic test (DT) in college algebra.  The LSI was adopted from Kolb’s Model of Experiential Learning; while the DT was developed and was validated so as to achieve reliability and validity.  A total of 84 students who were enrolled in College Algebra were considered in the study.  Results revealed that there is significant relationship that exists between gender and preferred learning style; between gender and level of conceptual difficulty; between learning style and level of conceptual difficulty; and between learning style and computational difficulty.  Furthermore, most of the female participants preferred the learning style of being converger; while the male students preferred being accommodator.  Male and female students have no significant difference in conceptual difficulties; but male students outperformed female students in computational understanding.   On the other hand, scores of assimilators in conceptual understanding is significantly higher than convergers; while convergers have higher computational understanding than assimilators.