LEARNING STYLE PREFERENCES OF FIRST YEAR UNDERGRADUATE MEDICAL STUDENTS

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Students have different preferences in the way they receive and process information. The VARK learning style model classifies students into four different learning modes; visual (V), aural (A), read/write (R), and kinesthetic (K). This model includes a questionnaire that identifies a person's learning preference. MATERIALS AND METHODS: VARK questionnaire version 7.3, having 16 multiple choice questions, was distributed to first year undergraduate medical students who gave consent. RESULTS: Majority of students (60.2%) were multimodal in their learning preference. Among the multimodal students, the commonest learning preference was the bimodal category (64%), of which the highest number was seen in the AK category (24 students). The highest unimodal preference was auditory (57% of unimodal learners). There were no visual unimodal learners. The most common trimodal preferences were ARK and VAK. The total individual scores in each category were V-326, A-635, R/W-393, and K-629; auditory having the highest preference followed by kinesthetic mode. Visual mode had the lowest overall score. There was no significant difference in learning preference between the sexes. CONCLUSION: Different students have different learning styles. The teachers should use combination of teaching strategies to cater to all types of learners. INTRODUCTION: Students entering the medical college face difficulty because of extensive syllabus and limited time period. These students differ in their age, experience, cultural background, level of preparedness and preferred learning styles. Teaching to such a diverse group is difficult as there is increased pressure of finishing the syllabus within the limited time. As the teaching is mostly didactic lecture, it fails to cater to all the students. A learning style or preference is the complex manner and conditions under which, learners most efficiently and effectively understand, process, store, and recall what they are attempting to learn. Learning style inventories are information-processing models that aim to identify a student's preferred intellectual approach in assimilating and processing information 1. There are many models to identify the learning styles of students. Some of these are Felder-Silverman learning and teaching styles model, Dunn & Dunn model, Kolb Learning Style Inventory and VARK questionnaire. VARK questionnaire 2 is a simple, freely available, easy to administer tool that encourages students to describe their learning behavior. 3 The acronym VARK stands for Visual, Aural, Read/write, and Kinesthetic. These are the sensory modalities that are used for learning by students. Visual (V) learners learn through seeing maps, diagrams, charts, graphs, symbols, flow charts etc. Auditory (A) learners learn from lectures, group discussions, and talking things