Assessment of learning styles using VARK model in first year undergraduate medical students

Abstract

In the assimilation and processing of information, students favor different choices. Fleming described the VARK learning style model that includes a questionnaire which enables us to recognize a person’s sensory modality preference in learning. It categorizes the learning styles into four: visual (V), aural (A), read/write (R), and kinesthetic (K).1) To assess the learning styles of first year MBBS students of a Private Medical College in Kerala and find out prevalence of unimodal and multimodal learners. 2) To find association between scores of students in anatomy, biochemistry and physiology and their VARK categories. 3) To determine the association between gender and VARK categories.A cross-sectional self-administered questionnaire survey was conducted among first year undergraduate medical students in a private medical college in Kerala. VARK questionnaire, consists of 16 multiple choice questions, was distributed to the participants after obtaining written consent. Scores of their internal assessment were also collected. The data was analyzed and the learning styles were presented as percentages. Chi-square test, Mann-Whitney U test, and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used to find the association between learning styles and gender, and the scores in internal assessment. The total number of students enrolled for the study was100. Age ranged from 17 to 22 years and females constituted 62%. It was observed that 84% students were unimodal, out of which Kinesthetic (45.2%) was the most preferred. There were 12 bimodal and 4 trimodal learners. No association between learning styles and gender as well as between learning styles and academic performance based on written and practical exams of Anatomy, Physiology and Biochemistry were found. We found there were notable differences between males and females in unimodal kinesthetic and auditory learners in certain scores.The present study reported that unimodal learners were more frequent than bimodal and trimodal learners. There were no quadrimodal learners. The preferred method of learning amongst unimodal learners was the kinesthetic style. We found no association between gender and the preferred learning style. The study also found that there was no association between academic performance (scores) and their learning styles.