The Development of a Co‐operative, Competitive, and Individualised Learning Preference Scale for Students

S ummary . An important variable in the effectiveness of learning is the preference of the student for a mode of learning, i.e., co‐operative, competitive, or individualised. A Learning Preference Scale is therefore an asset, both to teachers as they try to suit the mode of classroom activity to student preferences, and to researchers as they investigate the dynamics of learning, especially aptitude‐treatment interaction. The Learning Preference Scale—Students (LPSS) was developed with a sample of 1,643 Sydney school‐children. Internal consistency, test‐retest stability, sub‐scale inter‐correlations, and factor analysis show that the LPSS has considerable promise as a valid and reliable instrument. Results show clear and significant differences between the preferences of boys and girls over the range of grades from Year 4 to Year 11.