Learning style preferences: A study of Pre-clinical Medical Students in Barbados

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dc.contributor.authorOjeh, Nkemcho
dc.contributor.authorSobers-Grannum, Natasha
dc.contributor.authorGaur, Uma
dc.contributor.authorUdupa, Alaya
dc.contributor.authorMajumder, Anwarul Azim
dc.date.accessioned2025-01-22T16:11:37Z
dc.date.available2025-01-22T16:11:37Z
dc.date.issued2017
dc.description.abstractEducators need to be aware of different learning styles to effectively tailor instructional strategies and methods to cater to the students’ learning needs and support a conductive learning environment. The VARK [an acronym for visual (V), aural (A), read/write (R) and kinesthetic (K)] instrument is a useful model to assess learning styles. The aim of this study was to use the VARK questionnaire to determine the learning styles of pre-clinical medical students in order to compare the perceived and assessed learning style preferences, assess gender differences in learning style preferences, and determine whether any relationships exists between awareness of learning styles and academic grades, age, gender and learning modality. The VARK questionnaire was administered to preclinical students taking a variety of courses in the first three years of the undergraduate MB BS degree programme at the Faculty of Medical Sciences, The University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, Barbados in 2014. The majority of the students were multimodal learners with no differences observed between males (59.5%) and females (60.0%), with tetramodal being the most common. Read/write (33.8%) followed by kinesthetic (32.5%) were the most common learning style preferences. The sensory modality preference for females was read/write (34.2%) and for males it was kinesthetic (40.5%). Significant differences were observed between the perceived and assessed learning style preferences with a majority of visual and read/write learners correctly matching their perceived to their actual learning styles. Awareness of learning styles was associated with learning modality but not with academic performance, age or gender. Overall, 60.7% of high achievers used multimodal learning compared to 56.9% low achievers. The findings from this study indicated that the VARK tool was useful in gathering information about different learning styles, and might assist educators in designing blended teaching strategies to cater to the students’ needs as well as help the students in becoming aware of their learning style preferences to enhance learning.
dc.identifier.urihttps://jamp.sums.ac.ir/article_41008_962fbd00b1456e4204ffd14c53b81143.pdf
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/2139/57150
dc.language.isoen_US
dc.relation.ispartofseriesJournal of Advances in Medical Education & Professionalism, Vol. 5 No. 4
dc.subjectlearning style
dc.subjectlearning preferences
dc.subjectmedical students
dc.subjectinstructional strategies
dc.subjectVARK
dc.titleLearning style preferences: A study of Pre-clinical Medical Students in Barbados
dc.typeOther

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