This study explores the learner dimension in learning biological science topics in five elementary school classrooms instructed by different teachers using a common course of study and outcome measures. Specifically, the study addressed the associations among conceptual, metacognitive, cognitive, stylistic, and affective characteristics and science achievement. Results of the cognitive learning style assessment suggests that the students were primarily field-dependent. In terms of personality-based learning style, the students were described primarily as either sensing-feeling or intuition-feeling learners with differences between males and females. No clear pattern of relationships was found between cognitive-based learning style and personality-based learning style. Findings suggest that students with high metacognitive awareness and metacognitive self-management made greater gains in conceptual knowledge than did those with low metacognitive awareness and self-management. Cognitive learning styles were found to correlate strongly with prior conceptual knowledge, metacognitive measures, and science achievement. Contains 52 references. (JRH)