Investigating the Relationship between Learning Styles and Cognitive Styles in Athletic Students with the Moderating Effect of Academic Levels and Gender

It is the basis of every human being's progress in learning, which is in fact one of the most difficult concepts to define. In a successful educational system, students' learning style is always considered as one of the factors affecting academic achievement. Knowledge of students' learning style helps teachers to make optimal use of various learning styles and adopt appropriate teaching methods.The present study was conducted to investigate the relationship between learning styles and cognitive styles among male and female students with the moderating effect of academic levels and gender. For this purpose, 350 undergraduate and graduate students were selected by cluster random sampling method and completed questionnaires of Kolbe's learning styles (1985) and Whitkin's cognitive styles (1971). Data were analyzed using Pearson correlation, independent t-test and multivariate analysis of variance. Results showed that there is no significant correlation between cognitive styles and variables related to learning styles. Also, there was no significant correlation between age and cognitive styles and variables of learning styles, except in active experiments. However, there was a significant correlation between learning styles. The results of group differences showed that undergraduate students tend to be more dependent on the cognitive style than those of masters and boys. There was no statistically significant difference between educational levels and gender in learning styles. Undergraduate students are more inclined toward contextual cognitive styles than graduate students and boys than girls, and style and gender seem to interact with preferences.