Assessment of learning styles of undergraduate medical students using the VARK questionnaire and the influence of sex and academic performance

Abstract

While there are several tools to study learning styles of students, the visual-aural-read/write-kinesthetic (VARK) questionnaire is a simple, freely available, easy to administer tool that encourages students to describe their behavior in a manner they can identify with and accept. The aim is to understand the preferred sensory modality (or modalities) of students for learning. Teachers can use this knowledge to facilitate student learning. Moreover, students themselves can use this knowledge to change their learning habits. Five hundred undergraduate students belonging to two consecutive batches in their second year of undergraduate medical training were invited to participate in the exercise. Consenting students (415 students, 83%) were administered a printed form of version 7.0 of the VARK questionnaire. Besides the questionnaire, we also collected demographic data, academic performance data (marks obtained in 10th and 12th grades and last university examination), and self-perceived learning style preferences. The majority of students in our study had multiple learning preferences (68.7%). The predominant sensory modality of learning was aural (45.5%) and kinesthetic (33.1%). The learning style preference was not influenced by either sex or previous academic performance. Although we use a combination of teaching methods, there has not been an active effort to determine whether these adequately address the different types of learners. We hope these data will help us better our course contents and make learning a more fruitful experience.

Learning Style and Academic Performance of First Year Agricultural Undergraduates: A Case in Rajarata University of Sri Lanka

“…Findings of the study further elaborate that, the majority (89%) of the students perform the multimodal learning style, which is a collection of learning styles such as Bimodal, Trimodal and Quadrimodal) rather than one single learning style (Unimodal).Similarly, these results agree with the findings of the other studies (Zeynep&Melis, 2007;Urval et al, 2014;Kanchi et al, 2013;Loulwa, 2013;Turky& Almigbal, 2015) among medical science undergraduates. Victor (2011) did a similar study among the students at the Faculty of Science and Agriculture, the University of the West Indies and concluded that most of the students show similar characteristics as depicted in the above studies.…”

“…This study supports most of the arguments that gender has no significant influence on learning styles (Zeynep&Melis, 2007;Urval et al, 2014;Loulwa, 2013;Victor, 2011;Turky&Almigbal, 2015).…”

Visual, aural, read/write, and kinesthetic: An assessment of learning styles among undergraduate medical students of M R Medical College, Kalaburagi

“…Urval et al [8] and Nayak et al [9] in their study reported multimodality (68.7%) as the preferred mode where as our study reported unimodality as the preferred one. Similar report as our study was given by Baykan and Naçar.…”

Identification of Medical Students’ Learning Styles in Terms of Gender

“…the presentation of hypothetical anatomical models in the course of Anatomy) to them (Mohammadi et al, 2015). In studies conducted on Turkish medical students (Baykan & Naçar, 2007) and on students at Michigan University (Urval et al, 2014), most students preferred multiple learning styles. It must be noted that one of the features of effective learning is having the ability to apply multiple learning styles and strategies in different learning situations.…”