Learning style preferences of public health students

Revista Brasileira de Educação Médica

Introduction: The concept of "learning styles" derives from theories postulating that students learn by following diverse pathways and that learning is more effective when the adopted teaching strategies more closely match specific student characteristics and learning preferences. Objectives: To determine, in first-year students attending different undergraduate courses in the health area at the same higher education institution, the frequency of different learning styles, categorized according to the four dimensions of Felder & Soloman (FS) model, and to detect any differences associated with the type of course and gender. Method: The study population (N=283; 190 women) consisted of first-year students attending the Medicine, Biomedical Sciences, Physical Therapy, Speech-Language Pathology, Nutrition and Metabolism, and Occupational Therapy courses, with 68.2% of them aged between 18 and 20 years. The students answered a sociodemographic characterization questionnaire and the FS Index of Learning Styles (ILS) questionnaire, which allowed determining the frequencies of the different learning styles and their associations with the type of undergraduate course and gender. Results: the student group showed a predominance of "Sensory", "Visual", "Reflective" and "Sequential", learning styles, in the "Perception", "Input", "Processing" and "Understanding" dimensions of learning, respectively. There was no statistically significant difference in terms of learning styles, in any of the dimensions, that could be associated with the type of course and gender, although women showed a significant predominance of the "Reflective" style in the "Processing" dimension. Conclusion: It was not possible to establish significant differences between the different undergraduate courses in the health area, or between men and women, regarding the students' predominant learning styles, although women showed a significantly higher frequency of the Reflective style. These findings must be considered when planning learning activities and, mainly, in pedagogical support, giving students the opportunity to learn about their learning styles and helping them to better adapt to the strategies employed in each institution.

1999

This study investigated differences in two-year and four-year college students' learning styles in general education as compared to allied health education. It noted whether being a general education student or an allied health education student contributed to each student's learning style and whether being a traditional or nontraditional student in a two-year or four-year college would contribute to learning style. Participating students from two-year and four-year colleges in West Virginia and Alabama completed the Group Assessment of Logical Thinking (GALT), which identifies learning style as concrete, transitional, or formal. General education students in the two-year college tested in the expected range. A large percentage of them, regardless of whether they were traditional or nontraditional, were concrete learners. Two-year students in the allied health fields fit into the expected ranges, as 46.14 percent were concrete learners. Among the four-year general education students, 11.54 percent were concrete learners, 34.61 percent were transitional learners, and 53.85 percent were formal learners. These numbers did not fit the expected percentages of approximately 50 percent concrete learners. When comparing traditional and nontraditional students in two-year and four-year colleges, researchers noted that there were many more nontraditional students in the two-year college than the four-year college. (Contains 13 tables.) (SM)

Medical Teacher, 2008

The Inventory of Learning Styles (ILS)(Vermunt 1998) has been developed in the context of higher education, and helps to study three different levels of student learning. The executing level is represented by processing strategies; the control level by regulation strategies; and the third level by learning conceptions and learning orientations. Key characteristics are represented in table 1.

Chiang Mai Medical Journal, 2010

Background Identifying the characteristics of individual students is seen as a potential way of improving course design and the learning outcomes of the individual. This study examined the learning style of pre-clinical students in medical school.

Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2012

In this study it is aimed to determine the studies and used scales with students of health departments of universities in 199 8-2008. PUBMED, Cochrane, EBSCO and Clinical Evidence data basis were searched between the dates 25 April -15 June 2009. "Learning style" was used as key world for all data basis. The inclusion criteria were the date (1998)(1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008) and population (health department of universities) of study. We reached 25 full text articles. The study populations were comprises mostly medical a nd nursery students. Of the nine studies Kolb Learning Style Inventory, three studies Felder and Solomon's Learning Style Inventory and three studies VARK were used. There are many studies that have been used different scales/ inventory in health area. The investigator should select any of them according to their subscales which are needed.

Revista Brasileira de Educação Médica

Learning is a complex construct that involves several factors, mainly the interaction between teachers and students in the process of teaching and learning. Understanding how students learn and which factors influence academic performance is essential information for lesson planning and evaluation, in addition to allowing a better use of students’ learning potential and outcomes. The ability to constructively modify one’s behavior depends on how well we combine our experiences, reflections, conceptualizations, and planning to make improvements. This seems particularly relevant in medical education, where students are expected to retain, recall, and apply vast amounts of information assimilated throughout their training period. Over the years, there has being a gradual shift in medical education from a passive learning approach to an active learning approach. To support the learning environment, educators need to be aware of the different learning styles of their students to effectiv...

International Journal of Therapy and Rehabilitation, 2013

Learning styles of allied health sciences students at Kuwait University Background/aim: Little is known about learning style preferences of allied health students in the Middle East as the majority of learning style studies have been conducted in the western world. This study examined the learning styles of undergraduate allied health students at Kuwait University. Methods: A stratified sampling method was used to compare the learning styles of 256 students enrolled in five allied health programs at the Faculty of Allied Health Sciences Centre at Kuwait University. The students completed the Kolb Learning Style Inventory (LSI-IIa) questionnaire in the first weeks of their course. Results: The response rate was 73.1% (n=256). All of the allied health students from the five educational programs were highest in the areas of abstract conceptualization (AC). All the other allied health students, except physical therapists (PT), also indicated a preference for reflective observation (RO). Conclusion: This study's participants' learning style preferences were 'assimilator', which is formed by an intersection of the AC and RO learning styles. Healthcare educators working in the Arab cultures are encouraged to modify their teaching styles in order to improve learning among their students.

Introduction: Knowledge of learning styles of the students helps educators to address various needs of learners. Study objective was to determine learning styles of undergraduate medical students. Methods: A cross sectional survey was conducted at Lahore Medical & Dental College (LMDC), Lahore, between January and March 2011 among students from first to fourth year MBBS classes using an online VARK inventory. Additional information was obtained using a structured questionnaire. Data was analysed using SPSS version 16 computer package. Chi square test was applied for association and statistical significance was determined with p ≤0.05 as the cut-off point. Results: Among the 338 study participants, 61% were females, 63% were between the age groups 20-23 years and 78% had done FSc. Each class representation was 1st year (26%), 2nd year (25%), 3rd year (29%) and 4th year (20%). Most students depicted multimodal learning style (69%). The preferred unimodal styles were aural (14%) and kinesthetic (12%). In different combinations, the favoured learning modes were kinesthetic (70%), read/write (60%), aural (57%) and visual (55%). Around 89% of ―A‖ level students, compared with 66% of those who had done FSc were multimodal (p=0.002). The preference for multiple learning modes increased with the transition from pre-clinical first and second years to the clinical third and fourth years (p= 0.006). Conclusion: Medical students prefer multiple variety of information transfer. For a better impact, learning style diversity can be converted into appropriate teaching and learning methods that enable more students to attain success. Key Words: Learning style, VARK questionnaire, visual, aural, read/ write, kinesthetic, modal, medical students

Journal of Education and Health Promotion, 2019

PURPOSE: There are different learning styles adopted by medical education participants. The aim of this study is to investigate which learning styles and approaches are preferred to be learnt by medical students. METHODOLOGY: It is a cross-sectional study; 320 students were selected through stratified random sampling. Visual, auditory, read/write, and kinesthetic questionnaire was used which measures dimension of learning styles and approaches. RESULTS: Majority of medical students have preferred (32%) for Kinesthetic modality; 26% for Aural; Visual 21% and Reading/Writing 21%. The majority (53%) preference for Bimodal modality; 41% for Unimodal; 5% for Trimodal and 1% for Multimodal. CONCLUSION: Medical education participants commonly used kinesthetic styles, and there is no difference among different year of study; but, in learning approach, multimodal has increased as year of studying increased. It suggests that curriculum of medical education should be revised according to result of research.

Advances in …, 2010

Gurpinar E, Alimoglu MK, Mamakli S, Aktekin M. Can learning style predict student satisfaction with different instruction methods and academic achievement in medical education ? Adv Physiol Educ 34: 192-196, 2010; doi:10.1152/advan.00075.2010The curriculum of our medical school has a hybrid structure including both traditional training (lectures) and problem-based learning (PBL) applications. The purpose of this study was to determine the learning styles of our medical students and investigate the relation of learning styles with each of satisfaction with different instruction methods and academic achievement in them. This study was carried out with the participation of 170 first-year medical students (the participation rate was 91.4%). The researchers prepared sociodemographic and satisfaction questionnaires to determine the characteristics of the participants and their satisfaction levels with traditional training and PBL. The Kolb learning styles inventory was used to explore the learning styles of the study group. The participants completed all forms at the end of the first year of medical education. Indicators of academic achievement were scores of five theoretical block exams and five PBL exams performed throughout the academic year of 2008 -2009. The majority of the participants took part in the "diverging" (n ϭ 84, 47.7%) and "assimilating" (n ϭ 73, 41.5%) groups. Numbers of students in the "converging" and "accommodating" groups were 11 (6.3%) and 8 (4.5%), respectively. In all learning style groups, PBL satisfaction scores were significantly higher than those of traditional training. Exam scores for "PBL and traditional training" did not differ among the four learning styles. In logistic regression analysis, learning style (assimilating) predicted student satisfaction with traditional training and success in theoretical block exams. Nothing predicted PBL satisfaction and success. This is the first study conducted among medical students evaluating the relation of learning style with student satisfaction and academic achievement. More research with larger groups is needed to generalize our results. Some learning styles may relate to satisfaction with and achievement in some instruction methods.