The contribution of students’ learning styles to competences development through the use of Kahoot learning platform

Abstract

This study explored the relationship between students’ learning styles and their learning process through Kahoot in developing competencies within a target group of 89 high school students from Technical College "Dimitrie Ghika”, Romania. Initially, the students’ learning styles were identified using Reid’s VAK model. As a second step, the teacher created learning opportunities where information was available via each learning style by introducing a creative and innovative pedagogical method–Geography experiential learning using the Kahoot method. The last stage of the research tested the working hypothesis on the correlations between the learning styles of the students–the teaching strategy used (Kahoot) and its benefits in the formation of competences. The results showed that most students had 2-3 well developed learning styles, which made their learning with Kahoot easier. The findings showed that Visual has a major contribution (78%) in the development of concentration capacity, in the perception that Kahoot is a learner-centred method (79%) and in fostering thinking and memory (36%). Auditory science makes a significant contribution to creating associations with benefits such as learning from mistakes (88%), stimulating thinking and memory (55%), improving STEM skills (52%), creative methods (40%), and not inhibiting (86%). The practical style has a particular contribution to establishing correlations with the benefits of inserting maps and images (89%), carrying out mental reasoning (72%), logical and intuitive thinking (61%), usefulness in preparing for assignments and Baccalaureate (63%). The benefits of learning outcomes (the formation of skills) were highlighted by adapting the teaching strategy (Kahoot) to the particularities of students (learning styles).