A Study of students' preferred learning styles at Sinclair Community College utilized the Learning Styles Inventory (LSI), which provides 100 discriminations within the following categories: Conditions, reflecting concern for learning situation dynamics; Content, indicating major areas of interest; Mode, showing the general modality through which learning is preferred; and Expectation, indicating the level of performance anticipated. Valid student responses numbered 968. Of this group the average student age was 28, with approximately 60% under 24 years, and half were classified as evening students. Younger students showed greater preference for both peer and teacher affiliation in the learning environment, inanimate (working with objects) content, iconic (pictorial) and direct experience modes, and overwhelmingly rejected reading as an educational technique. Older students preferred a structured environment stressing organization, detailed instructions and competition, qualitative (verbal) content, and listening and reading modes. The student population as a whole rejected numeric content or qualitative ideas. The disparity indicated in the preferred learning styles of older and younger students suggests a need for new instructional strategies aimed at the younger generation. (LH)