The Impact of Learning Styles on Learning Outcomes at FFA Camp: What Campers Retain Over Time

Abstract

Twenty-four states host FFA summer camps to support adolescent maturation along with indoctrination into the culture and values of the FFA. Camps typically include a variety of activities designed to engage members in social activities and non-formal academic content. More than 1500 campers attend the Ok- lahoma FFA Alumni Leadership Camp annually and are taught leadership curriculum. Using a split-plot factorial repeated measures quasi-experimental design, we established learning styles of campers and the relationship between learning style and learning outcomes. Preferred learning style had no effect on the amount of information learned or retained by campers when comparing mean scores of pretests, post- tests, and delayed posttests. However, extroverts had more positive attitudes toward camp than intro- verts. Camp planners are advised to developmentally evaluate academic curriculum used during camp in an effort to attend to the unique psychosocial needs of introverts to improve their attitudes toward camp.