After years of labs, term papers and all-night study sessions, each ISU student may have learned more – or less – than the person sitting in the seat next to them graduation.

Researchers are beginning to wonder whether individual learning patterns affect the amount of knowledge students acquire between their freshman and senior years compared to their peers.

Ernest Pascarella, Mary Louise Petersen professor of higher education at the University of Iowa, is searching for an answer.

After surveying 56 colleges around the Midwest and 19,000 students, Pascarella found that, between freshman and senior years, women’s scores improved one-third less than those of men in the four subjects observed.

“I found that it doesn’t matter if the particular college is `selective’ or not when it comes to their students,” he said, having surveyed both public and private schools.

“Selectivity did not associate with how much students learned,” he said.

One common misconception is that this is purely the result of gender, Pascarella said. A study in Education Statistics Quarterly found that 61 percent of the women in college achieve higher than a 3.0, compared to only 49 percent of men.

“It could be that professors teach more toward the way men learn than women,” Pascarella said.

But the issue is not whether men and women learn in entirely different ways, said Florence Hamrick, ISU assistant professor of educational leadership and policy studies.

Theories demonstrate disproportionate and preferred learning styles among all students, said Hamrick, who has conducted similar research related to gender.

“Gender-related or not, faculty members and teachers need to know that there are different learning styles and preferences,” Hamrick said.

“Students must be given a range of opportunities where learning can occur. Lectures and multiple choice tests are not going to be useful learning opportunities for everyone.”

Providing many opportunities to prove aptitude – such as exams, presentations, group work and individual projects – is a better gauge of how students learning, Hamrick said.

Research in this area is still in progress.

“I would really like to see someone else replicate the findings,” Pascarella said. “The study just needs some additional interpretation.”