This research was designed to identify the learning styles of freshmen at a Bermuda community college by achievement, age, gender, and major discipline. As the first learning-styles research with this population, it has implications for both teaching and learning.

The Building Excellence (Dunn & Rundle, 2000) learning styles survey was administered online to 190 freshmen who received individual learning-style profiles and extensive study guides and action planners immediately upon completion. A summary of the learning-style preferences of the entire group was generated. Additionally, data were examined and analyzed using SPSS for both descriptive and inferential statistics. Analyses of variance were computed for each of the variables with the level of significance being set at α <0.05. Tukey's Honestly Significant Difference Post Hoc Test was conducted for the variable of major discipline.

As a group, these freshmen were analytic or analytically-integrated processors, single-task persistent, and with a preference for bright light while studying. Nonetheless, they also preferred informal seating and snacking and were fairly evenly matched in preferences for background sound and quiet. They shared the perceptual preferences of visual text, visual picture, tactual kinesthetic, and verbal kinesthetic. To varying degrees, significant differences were revealed among the learning styles of these students for all four variables. High achievers preferred significantly less authority than low achievers. Non-traditional students were significantly more auditory, internal kinesthetic, and tactual kinesthetic than the traditional students and also demonstrated a greater preference for studying in quiet, early morning, and alone or in pairs. The traditional students preferred informal seating, snacking, and were less conforming. Females demonstrated a significantly greater tendency to be internally kinesthetic, more reflective, and required less mobility, whereas males required more snacks and were more non-conforming. Only two learning styles were significantly related to major discipline—late afternoon energy and conformity. Students in the division of Applied Science and Technology were more likely to prefer studying in late afternoon and to be less conforming than students in the Liberal Arts Division.