Do university students’ thinking styles matter in their preferred teaching approaches?

This study pioneered the research on the role of university students’ thinking styles in their preferred teaching approaches. Three hundred and forty-eight (111 male and 237 female) students from a large comprehensive university in Beijing, P.R. China, responded to the Thinking Styles Inventory (Revised) and the Preferred Teaching Approach Inventory. Results indicated that regardless of age, gender, university class level, and academic discipline, students with different thinking styles had significantly different preferences for particular teaching approaches. It was contended that both conceptual change and information transmission are necessary for effective teaching. Theoretically, the study contributed to the styles literature in general and to the literature on the relationships between styles and approaches of teaching and learning in particular. Practical implications of the present findings are discussed in the context of students’ teaching evaluations, teachers’ teaching, and university administrators’ personnel management.