Learning Styles in Students of Medical Sciences

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

Thrita, 2015

Background: The most spectacular progress of the mankind is made by learning. One of the most effective factors that help learning among students is their learning styles. According to individual differences, people use various learning styles; therefore, it is of utmost importance to know the learning style of learners and find what reasons can affect it, in order to train them. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to identify the relationship between the learning styles of postgraduate students in Kerman University of Medical Sciences and their baseline characteristics. Patients and Methods: In this cross-correlation study, 400 postgraduate students of Kerman University of Medical Sciences were randomly selected. To collect data, the Kolb's learning styles questionnaire was distributed among the participants. The validity of the instruments was determined in terms of content validity, and the reliability was gained through internal consistency methods. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient was found to be 0.75; Descriptive statistics (percentage, frequency, mean, and standard deviation) and analytical tests (ANOVA and chi-square) were performed to analyze the data. Results: The findings indicated a significant difference between learning styles; most postgraduate students at Kerman University of Medical Sciences used the converging learning style. Totally, 51%, 31%, 10%, and 8% of the participants used convergent, assimilator, accommodator, and divergent learning styles, respectively. No statistically significant relationship was found between the learning styles and baseline variables. Conclusions: According to the results of this study, the most dominant learning style of postgraduate students is the convergent style. These findings are useful for learning system. Therefore, the results of this study and similar research on students' learning styles in other universities can be considered as a baseline for the identification of learning styles as well as planning for them.

2017

Introduction: Since learning has a major role in health skill development and performing right care method, therefore, students must learn how to act in educational environment as a professional individual. This study is a cross-sectional study, which carried out among 218 students of Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences in 2015. In order to collect data, a questionnaire containing demographic questions and Kolb Learning Style Inventory was used. In the studied sample, 72% of samples were females and 27.1% were males. Among Learn ways, the highest mean correlated to objective experience (34.46) and the lowest correlated to abstract conceptualization (32.51). among the sample, of people who had absorbed learning style was 38 people (17.4%), converging learning style was 86 (39.4%), divergent learning style was 25 (11.5%) and adaptive learning style was 69 (31.7%). There was no statistically significant relationship between learning styles and demographic variables. This study sh...

International Journal of Research in Medical Sciences, 2020

Background: Learning is the act of acquiring, modifying and reinforcing existing knowledge, behavior, skills and values. This phenomenon of learning is dominated by an individual's learning style. Learning style is a popular concept in psychology and education, and it refers to how a person learns best. This study aims to identify the Learning Styles of the first year MBBS and BDS students at NBMC by administering the questionnaire of the VARK model. Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed in the Department of Physiology at North Bengal Medical College, West Bengal after. The VARK questionnaire 7.8 version was administered to 180 first year MBBS and BDS students from the 2017-2018 batch who had volunteered for the study. The Questionnaire consisted of 16 questions, along with a scoring chart. Students were allowed to choose more than one option. If in majority of the questions they opted for a single sensory modality they were considered as unimodal learners and if they chose multiple options, they were recognized as multimodal learners. Results: The study showed 57% of the students to be multimodal learners and 43% to be unimodal learners. Read/Write was the most preferred (31.22%) sensory modality followed by kinesthetic mode (29.57%). Conclusions: As majority of our students are multimodal learners teachers should incorporate active teaching and learning strategies to cater to all types of learners. Also, as the most preferred method is Read/Write which includes googling and the use of internet to browse for information, we must try and incorporate e-learning into our curriculum.

Knowledge of learning style can enhance the ability of teachers to build on student experiences and construct new learning opportunities. It is about how a person learns than what a person learn. This study examines the learning styles preferences in medical and physical education university students and the differences in their learning according to Learning Styles Kolb Questionnaire. This questionnaire is design to find out the preferred learning style and differs from other tests of learning style and personality used in education by being based on a comprehensive theory of learning and development. The group consist in 222 students. Six variables were assesses: four primary scores that measure an individual's relative emphasis on the four learning orientations: Concrete Experience (CE), Reflective Observation (RO), Abstract Conceptualization (AC), and Active Experimentation (AE), and two combination scores that measure an individual's preference for abstractness over concreteness (AC-CE) and action over reflection (AE-RO). According to the results of the study after applied One Way Anova and Bonferoni with SPSS package program it was seen that are not significant differences between groups for three learning orientation. Only for Abstract Conceptualization (AC) were founded differences between groups. With the results, we bring out the inventory of students learning stylea and performance.

Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2010

Stating the way in which a learner begins to concentrate on, processes, absorbs, and retains new and difficult educational situation or problem is expected to assist the learner in the development of effective study strategies. Knowing students learning preferences will help lecturers to better design learning materials and teaching styles. The research aims to find out the learning preferences of students in the faculty of science in Tishreen University, the differences in learning styles or preferences between male and female students and between departments in the science faculty. Ninety-seven first year and second year students from four departments participated in the survey. Non-parametric procedures were used to test the research questions. In the evaluation of the differences of learning styles or preferences among departments, the Kruskal-Wallis test, was used as a non-parametric method. This effectively tested the hypothesis of equal distributions of three or more independent samples. Results show that the students prefer different learning styles: Visual/Verbal, Audio/Verbal, Visual/Non Verbal and Tactile/ Kinesthetic. A finding of significant difference indicated that the two samples of females and males differed on the variable of interest. There are very few significant differences among departments. The paper discusses the findings and the implications to designing of instruction in higher education. It will conclude with recommendations to lecturers to accommodate their teaching styles so that it is compatible with their students learning styles and preferences.

According to the fact that the individuals store what has been taught to them as appropriate information in their memories and make an effective use of it. They also have been indicated to have positive attitude to what has been learnt, there is this possibility that the individuals' learning style can be effective on their academic performance. Therefore, the present study intended to examine the relationship between learning style and the academic performance. the present study is a descriptive-analytical research which has been conducted on 220 students who were selected based on a randomized method in 2015. The data collection tool was a questionnaire which comprised of two parts. The first part was related to the demographic information and the second part pertained to the Vark learning style standard questionnaire. The data were analyzed by SPSS 19 software and descriptive statistics, chi-square test, Pearson's correlation, independent t-test and the variance analysis were used. in the present study the students' average age was 21.73 ± 3.83. The individuals' total score average was 15.21±1.55.Among the study sample volume, 128 individuals (58.2%) were male. The relationship between age and gender with academic performance and the learning style was not found to be statistically significant (P>0.05). The learning style frequency among the university students was, respectively, belonging to reading and writing (41.4%), kinesthetic sensory (17.7%), multimodal dimensions (17.7%), visual (15.0%) and auditory (8.2%). The relationship between the learning style and the academic performance was not statistically significant (P=0.676). the results of the present study indicated that there is no significant relationship between the learning style and academic performance.

Creative Education, 2013

This study was aimed to evaluate the learning styles of education faculty students and to determine the effect of their success and relationship between their learning styles and academic success. The population of this study is comprised of the students of Ondokuz Mayis University Education Faculty and the sample includes 140, 68 art, 72 preschool teacher department students. Depending on the results obtained from pre-test, it was aimed to improve students 'knowledge of and skills in studying. There was a significant difference between the scores of pre and post tests. The significant relationship between the scores of post test and the student success revealed that they learned how to study effectively. The validity and reliability of the test was determined by considering the Cronbach alpha coefficients for each and all of the items. The study has found statistically significant differences between the results of the first and final applications of the subtests on learning styles and academic success; those subtests covered the items as learning, planned study, effective reading, listening, writing, note taking, using the library, getting prepared for and taking exams ,class participation and motivation.

Asian Journal of Medicine and Health

Background: Learning preference is the effective and efficient modality or manner in which a learner has a natural preference to perceive process, store and recall new information. Learning style is the composite of cognitive, affective and physiological characteristics that indicate how a learner perceives, interacts and responds to the learning environment. Objectives: The objectives of the study were to assess the teaching and learning style preferences of medical students at UTAR by using VARK (Visual/Auditory/Reading/Kinesthetics) inventory questionnaires and to identify the different learning style preferences between gender and the academic year of medical education (pre-clinical year versus clinical year). Methodology: This was a university-based cross-sectional study involving 235 students from year 1 to year 5 in University Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia from December 2017 to December 2018. Students, selected via universal sampling, were given the VARK inventory questionnai...

JOURNAL OF CLINICAL AND DIAGNOSTIC RESEARCH, 2014

Background: Preferred learning styles of learners are different, which depend on tastes, mentality preparedness, as well as physical condition, in terms of sensory modalities. Identifying and employing appropriate learning styles could play an important role in selecting teaching styles, which can improve education ultimately. Aim: The present study aimed to assess the diversity of learning styles amongst medical students of a medical sciences university which was located west of Iran, in 2010. Methods: A cross-sectional study which employed VARK learning style's questionnaire was done on 141 first year medical sciences students at Ilam University of Medical Sciences in 2010. Data was collected with use of VARK questionnaire. The validity of the questionnaire was assessed on basis of experts' views and its reliability was calculated by using Cronbach's alpha coefficients (α=0.86). Data were analysed by using SPSS software and Chi-square test. Results: Overall, 41.6% of the samples preferred to use a single learning style (Uni-modal). Of these, 17.7% preferred the Aural style, 17% preferred Reading and Writing, 6.4% preferred Kinesthetic style and 0.7% preferred Visual styles. Among the rest of the 82 students who preferred more than one style (multimodal), 17% chose two modes (bimodal), 13.5% chose three modes (tri-modal), and 27.6% chose four modes (quad-modal). There was a significant difference between educational levels and majors on one hand and choice of quad modal of VARK styles on the other hand (p=0.008). A significant association was also found between participants' genders and selection of visual and reading/writing styles (p=0.03). Conclusion: The preferred learning styles of medical students in the present study were aural and reading/writing. It is suggested that all medical students must be tested to determine their desired learning styles by using VARK questionnaire, also to choose appropriate teaching methods and to improve educational goals.