Learning styles of medical students (original) (raw)

Learning Style Preferences of Undergraduate Medical Students: A VARK Profile

Scholars International Journal of Biochemistry

Every student has different learning style and if the method of information delivered conforms to their learning habits, they learn better. To get best out of a student, facilitator needs to understand the student's learning modalities and 'tailor instruction' in such a way that students appreciate and follow it to learning. In this regard a study was designed to analyze the learning style distribution among 1st year MBBS students. A cross sectional questionnaire based study was conducted among 1 st year MBBS students (n=152) using validated VARK questionnaire (version 7.8).The questionnaire consists of 16 questions with 4 options, each of which corresponds to a particular sensory modality preference (visual, aural, read/write and kinesthetic). The responses in the questionnaires were assessed according to the keys provided in VARK guide. Demographic details were collected. Preferred learning styles were expressed as frequency and percentage. The response rate was 86.18% (131 students out of 152). Of these 71 (54.2%) were female and 60 (48.8%) were males. All the students preferred more than one sensory modality with 98% quad modal (n=129, M/F=59/70) and near 1% each in tri modal (n=1, M/F=1/0) and bimodal (n=1, M/F=0/1) learning preference. Knowing student's preferred learning modes; one can focus on developing strategies that are tailored for individuals. All the students in the present study showed multimodal learning styles which points towards the fact that they prefer information to arrive in a variety of modes. Lectures being the major proportion of teaching learning process in 1 st MBBS curriculum, one need to adopt active learning strategies and process during lectures which will cater to the needs of all types of learners.

Do students’ styles of learning affect how they adapt to learning methods and to the learning environment?

Marmara Medical Journal, 2015

Objectives: The process of development and evaluation of undergraduate medical education programs should include analysis of learners' characteristics, needs, and perceptions about learning methods. This study aims to evaluate medical students' perceptions about problem-based learning methods and to compare these results with their individual learning styles. Materials and Methods: The survey was conducted at Marmara University Medical School where problem-based learning was implemented in the curriculum for the first three years of the medical education. An evaluative questionnaire about a studentcentered learning environment and an "Inventory of Learning Styles" were completed by the students. One-way ANOVA and Kruskal Wallis tests were used for statistical analyses of the study. Results: It was found that personally interested students who need external regulation strategies and who were prone to learn by stepwise processing were less satisfied with problem-based learning and other active learning methods than students who were less dependent on these learning styles. Thus, the former students did not benefit much from the organization, content, acquired knowledge and skills of problem-based learning. Conclusion: It is important for the students to develop their self-regulated learning skills so that they can benefit from problem-based learning and student-centered learning activities. Curriculum development and program evaluation studies should consider improving the students' development of self-regulation and professional skills.

Learning Styles and Their Relationship with Educational Performance of Medical Students in an Outcome Based Integrated Curriculum

Journal of Evolution of Medical and Dental Sciences, 2021

BACKGROUND Learning modality preference is one of various components of learning style. This study has been done among medical undergraduate students to explore their learning mode preference and its relation to academic performance. METHODS We studied learning style as Sensory Mode Preference (SMP) and preferred Teaching Learning Methodology (TLM) of 4 th semester undergraduate medical students (n = 211; males = 168, females = 43) in Saudi Arabia. The validated VARK learning style questionnaire was used to determine SMP and standardized self-prepared questionnaire sheet was used to determine the most preferred TLM of students. We explored relationship between the determined sensory mode preferences of these students with their academic performance in the 2 nd semester. RESULTS Multimodal VARK (Visual + Auditory + Read-Write + Kinaesthetic) was the most preferred (25.5 %) LMP. There was significant difference between perceived SMP of male and female students. Significant difference was also found between perceived and determined SMP of students. There was significant difference between male and female students for the most preferred TLM. There was no significant correlation between SMP and academic performance. CONCLUSIONS Multimodal LMP is more common than unimodal in this group of medical students. There is strong preference for TLM in which there is provision for different learning styles. Students are generally not aware of their own learning styles and so there should be investigation of learning style of each student and they should be encouraged to find out their learning styles. This will help them in learning and in enhancing their metacognition. In an integrated medical curriculum, which comprises of variety of active teaching learning methodologies, limitation of learning styles can be nullified.

Does Learning Style Make a Difference on Student’s Academic Performance? Learning Style Preferences of Medical Students from University Tunku Abdul Rahman

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...

Learning style preferences among medical students in the College of Medicine University of Bisha Saudi Arabia 201820191216 105784 aqrz

Advances in Medical Education and Practice, 2019

Objectives: This research aims to describe the learning styles among undergraduate medical students at the College of Medicine, University of Bisha. Materials and methods: Type of study is a cross-sectional. Students preference of learning styles was assessed through VARK (abbreviation stands for Visual, Aural, Read/ Write, and Kinesthetic learning style) inventory questionnaire version 7.1. The questionnaire was bilingually translated. Data from the questionnaire were analyzed by SPSS (V20). Data were presented in the form of descriptive statistics. One-way ANOVA and Kruskal-Wallis test were used to assess the relations between study variables. Results: One hundred and eighteen students (86.8%) were unimodal in their learning preference , and 18 students (13.3%) were multimodal. The dominant unimodal style was aural (55.9%), and the lowest was reading (5.1%). Among multimodal the commonest preference was AK (77.8%) followed by VR and VK equally (11.1%). The multimodal pattern is limited to students in level one. Visual style increases in percentage with the academic levels. Conclusion: Students in the College of Medicine, University of Bisha (UBCOM) have different patterns and types of learning style. Aural is the dominant unimodal style. The visual style is widely distributed among students of different levels. Planning and implementation of educational activities that satisfy all learning styles will support the learning process.

Learning Style Preferences of First Year Medical Students-A Single Institute Study

Journal of Research in Medical Education & Ethics, 2017

The goal of this study was to determine preferred learning styles of first year medical students of BankuraSammilani Medical College, Bankura, a rural medical college of West Bengal, India. Methods: A cross sectional study of first year medical students with 65 male and 30 female (n=95) was performed. The validated VARK questionnaire Version7 was used to categorize the preferred mode of learning styles of students. Descriptive statistics were used to identify the learning styles of the students. Results: 95%was the response rate. 84.21% of students preferred multiple learning styles. Among multi modal learners bimodal learners (32.63%) surpass quad modal (30.52%) and tri modal (21.05%) learners. The most preferred combination of learning style among bimodal students were Auditory-Kinesthetic (9.47%) and Kinesthetic-Reading/Writing (9.47%). Conclusion: The result of this study shows that most students of this medical college are able to learn effectively as long as the teacher provide a blend of visual, auditory, reading/writing and kinesthetic activities

Learning Styles in Students of Medical Sciences

Introduction: learning is a human's natural tendencies; therefore, the identification of factors affecting it, is very important in fixing problems and deficiencies in educational systems. One of the factors contributing to students' academic achievement and increased learning outcome is to identify their learning styles leading to better and more satisfying learning. The aim of the present study was to examine learning styles in students of Medical Sciences. Methodology: The present descriptive-analytical study was conducted on 417 students of Medical Sciences selected based on cluster random sampling method in the academic year 2015-2016. The data were collected through a two-part questionnaire. The first part was consisting students' demographic characteristics. The second part was validated VARK questionnaire to categorize learning styles in the students. The collected data were analyzed through descriptive statistics, Fisher's exact test, Chi-square test and ANOVA in SPSS version 19.0 Results: The results showed the following average scores for students' learning styles: read/write learning style (7.21±1.52), kinesthetic learning style (6.59±0.97), visual learning style (6.23±1.00), auditory learning style (6.00±0.84) and multiple learning styles (5.25±1.00). The results showed no significant relationship between students' demographic characteristics and their learning styles (p>0.05). Conclusions: Based on the results of this study, the most preferred learning style by medical students was the read/write style. Most university teachers believe that the cause of students' academic failure is lack of studying; however, this failure may be due to a mismatch between students' learning styles and teachers' teaching styles. In view of that, one of the requirements for appropriate education is to examine students' learning styles at the beginning of each educational year and apply appropriate teaching styles accordingly.

How different are students and their learning styles?

International Journal of Research in Medical Sciences, 2013

Learning style is defined as the "composite of characteristic cognitive, affective and physiological characters that serve as relatively stable indicators of how a learner perceives, interacts with, and responds to the learning environment. 1 Undergraduate dental education, as with any other educational program, needs ongoing improvements to meet the changing demands of dental practice in the 21 st century. Although the complexities of ABSTRACT Introduction: Students, like anybody else differ from each other. As students they differ in their preferred mode of learning, i.e. their preferred modes in gathering, organizing and thinking about information. A recent classification proposed by Neil Fleming and associates state that students learning styles can be divided into Visual/graphic, Aural, Read/write and Kinesthetic types, VARK. Aim: The aim of the recent study is to investigate learning styles among dental students in two different dental colleges of India. Method: The VARK-questionnaire contains 15 multiple-choice-questions with four possibilities to select an answer. Each possibility represents one of the four modes of perception. But, one can select more than one answer to each question, which is necessary for the identification of poly modal modes of perception and learning. This is also a psychometric problem when trying to state a measure of the reliability of the questionnaire. The VARK-questionnaire was distributed among 200 students and was collected back. This sample size represents 100% response rate from the students in the class and is markedly above the level required to make conclusions about student preferences for receiving and processing information. The students spent about 10 minutes in an ordinary lesson to fill in the questionnaire. Students register number and name were used in the study and there was no blinding practiced. Study Design: Questionnaire based clinical study Results: The responses from the students in our University where classified into multi-modal (VARK), tri-modal (VRK, VAK, VAR, ARK), bi-modal (VR, VA, VK, RK) and uni-modal (V, A, R.K) categories. Results showed that subjects had a higher preference for multimodal learning. Conclusion: We conclude that students in our set up prefer multimodal and more of Kinesthetic of learning. To meet their needs, a variation in teaching, learning and examination must be implemented. If not, these students with a high kinesthetic preference for perception and learning may be at the losing end.

Students awareness of learning styles and their perceptions to a mixed method approach for learning

International Journal of Applied and Basic Medical Research, 2015

Background: Individualization of instructional method does not contribute significantly to learning outcomes although it is known that students have differing learning styles (LSs). Hence, in order to maximally enhance learning, one must try to use a mixed method approach. Hypothesis: Our hypothesis was that awareness of preferred LS and motivation to incorporate multiple learning strategies might enhance learning outcomes. Aim: Our aim was to determine the impact of awareness of LS among medical undergraduates and motivating students to use mixed methods of learning. Materials and Methods: Before awareness lecture, LS preferences were determined using Visual, Aural, Read/Write, and Kinesthetic (VARK) questionnaire. Awareness of LS was assessed using a validated questionnaire. Through a lecture, students were oriented to various LSs, impact of LS on their performance, and benefit of using mixed method approach for learning. Subsequently, group discussions were organized. After 3 months, VARK preferences and awareness of LSs were reassessed. Student narratives were collected. Qualitative analysis of the data was done. Results: There was a significant increase in the number of students who were aware of LS. The number of participants showing a change in VARK scores for various modalities of learning was also significant (P < 0.001). Conclusion: Thus, awareness of LSs motivated students to adapt other learning strategies and use mixed methods for learning.