The Learning Styles Inventory, Version III (LSI-III) is an instrument that is designed to measure student preferences for instructional strategies commonly found in elementary and middle school classrooms. This new version of the LSI includes two instruments, one designed for elementary school students (LSI-III/ES) and one for middle school students (LSI-III/MS). The LSI-III/ES contains 56 questions and the LSI-III/MS contains 62 questions. Each instrument takes approximately 15 minutes to complete. (This version of the LSI also includes a teacher instrument based on the student instruments. However, it was not subjected to the same validity and reliability studies as the student instruments.) The Learning Styles Inventory, Version III has been successfully used to help create a more responsive learning environment for individuals and small groups of students in grades three through eight. The instruments presented in this manual are the third revision of an instrument originally published in 1978 (Renzulli and Smith, 1978).

Part I of this manual is reproducible, and each teacher who administers the LSI-III should receive a copy. Part I addresses the following four questions:

• What is the LSI-III and what does it measure?
• How do I administer and score the LSI-III?
• How do I interpret my students' scores on the LSI-III?
• How can I alter my teaching styles to accommodate my students' learning styles?

We have included key resources for teachers who would like to further explore ways in which their teaching can be more responsive to individual differences that exist among their students. In addition, teachers should have access to and be encouraged to study the appendices included in this manual.

Part II of this manual consists of the research that we carried out to establish the technical qualities of this revised edition of the LSI and includes sections that describe the content validity, the construct validity, and the reliability.

Because we wanted to develop a manual and instrument that is easy for teachers and administrators to use and understand, we did not crowd the practical sections of the manual with large amounts of research and theoretical information. However, we consider this information to be very important, especially for individuals who want to prepare a rationale for using the LSI-III or for those who have an advanced interest in theory and research. We have included this information in the appendices.

Appendix A describes the theoretical rationale and underlying research that supports the usefulness of information about student learning styles. We review major theoretical perspectives on human abilities, interests, and styles--all critical concepts for understanding the diversity in individualsą approaches to learning tasks. We believe that these concepts are interrelated in many ways and best understood in the contexts in which they are observed and measured. In other words, a student's abilities, interests, and styles are not static, and teachers can make modifications to the curriculum and the range of instructional styles they employ in the classroom in order to capitalize on developed and developing abilities, interests and styles. The Learning Styles Inventory, Version III represents a practical application of this perspective as it helps teachers recognize the particular learning styles that their students prefer.

Because the LSI-III addresses only one part of how a student engages in an act of learning, Appendix B describes other instruments that can help educators develop and examine a more complete picture of student abilities, interests, and learning and expression styles--including the Interest-A-Lyzer family of instruments (Renzulli, 1977, 1997; Renzulli & Rizza, 1997), Scales for Rating Behavioral Characteristics of Superior Students (Renzulli et al., 2002), and My Way: An Expression Styles Inventory (Kettle, Renzulli, & Rizza, 1998)--and explains how teachers can put all this and other student information together in a Total Talent Portfolio (Purcell & Renzulli, 1998). (Appendix C presents sample pages from these instruments.) By analyzing the total student picture compiled in the Total Talent Portfolio, educators can then make informed curricular and instructional modifications that capitalize on students strengths, needs, and interests.

Finally, Appendix D includes samples of both the elementary and middle school instruments of the LSI-III as well as the teacher edition. To obtain classroom sets of the instruments, contact Creative Learning Press, Inc. (888-518-8004; www.creativelearningpress.com).

While the purpose of the LSI-III is to identify students' learning style preferences, educators should make every effort to avoid stamping a child with a learning style in the manner that some children are labeled according to intelligence level or disability. In rare cases certain students may prefer to pursue most of their studies through a single method such as independent study, but the majority of learners vary their preferences for different instructional techniques based on their age and the subject matter. We therefore recommend that the LSI-III be readministered at various intervals in a student's academic career so that teachers can document and accommodate changes in individual preferences.