INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HEALTH RESEARCH IN MODERN INTEGRATED MEDICAL SCIENCES, ISSN 2394-8612 (P), ISSN 2394-8620 (O), Vol-2, Issue-1, Jan-Mar 201520

Original Article

Learning style preferences of first-year undergraduate medical students

studying Physiology

Gandhi Bhaskar Pathrudu, Siva Sankara Murty YV

Abstract: Different students choose to learn information in different ways or styles. A tool to assess the learning styles

of students in terms of visual, aural, read and write and kinaesthetic sensory modalities, called the VARK questionnaire

was developed by Flemming .The VARK questionnaire was administered to 124 first year undergraduate medical

students .Most students (70.2%) preferred multiple modes. Among these the percentages of modalities were, 2 modes,

14.5%; 3 modes, 11.3%; & 4 modes, 44.3%. 29.8 % of the students preferred a single mode of information presentation.

Calculating the individual K,A,R,V among all the modalities (unimodal, bimodal, trimodal, multimodal) put together,

the order of preference of learning styles of students was kinaesthetic ( 81.4% ) followed by aural (79.8%), read and

write (58.9%) and visual (50% ). As, most students preferred kinaesthetic (81.4%) among all the modalities put together,

more emphasis should be given to practical orientation and real life experience of knowledge. Overall, most students

preferred multiple modes, and hence teaching presentation should be multimodal, i.e. Visual, Auditory, Read and Write

and Kinaesthetic. Information about students learning styles can help in improvement of teaching strategies and is

beneficial to the students because they can learn the information easily if the subject is taught in their preferred learning

style.

Key Words: learning styles, VARK, Visual, Aural, Read & Write, Kinesthetic, medical teaching, sensory modalities

Introduction

Corresponding author

Gandhi Bhaskar Pathrudu

Assistant Professor, Department of Physiology

Maharajahs Institute of Medical Sciences, Nellimarla,

Vizianagaram - 535 217, Andhra Pradesh, India.

A learning style is a method by which a student can learn

information better and easily. Researchers doing studies

on learning styles say that each person has different

learning styles. 3, 10. Learning styles can be classified in

one way, through different sensory modes by which a

person can learn best. Learning styles can be assessed by

different learning style questionnaires or inventories.

Learning style questionnaires are based upon information-

processing models that aim to depict a persons preferred

mental approaches to assimilating knowledge. 15. Flemming

developed a questionnaire called VARK inventory for

assessing learning styles in terms of different sensory

modes like visual, aural, read and write and kinaesthetic.

The VARK inventory can be accessed online and also can

be downloaded for free. According to Flemming, the

creator of VARK questionnaire, visual learners learn best

using demonstrations and models.2, 12. Auditory modality

students learn easily when they engage in discussion,

debate.14, collaborative testing, answering questions and

games.3, 11. Read and write learners learn better by engaging

in writing tasks and reading activities. Kinaesthetic learners

learn easily by role playing.6, practical procedures,

manipulating models2 /learning through hands on

experience.

Awareness of the learning styles of students can help in

planning better teaching strategies which are beneficial

to the students for easy learning. When the teaching style

matches the learning styles and preferences, students

perform better and their motivation improves 9, 10. The

VARK questionnaire can inspire teachers to change from

their preferred teaching methods to using novel and

effective teaching methods. By doing this they can help

more students to learn effectively because of better co

ordination between teaching and learning styles. 1, 3, 4, 7, 9,

13, 17.

Materials & Methods: The VARK questionnaire

developed by Flemming, was administered to 150

Physiology medical students of Andhra medical college,

Visakhapatnam, at the end of a Cardiovascular physiology

lecture session. Of the 150 students, 126 students returned

the completed questionnaire. Instructions were given on

how to fill the questionnaire, according to the rules laid

out on the VARK website. Students were told that they

can leave one or more questions blank and that they can

mark more than one answer for each question. The

answered questionnaires were collected back, and they

were analysed.

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HEALTH RESEARCH IN MODERN INTEGRATED MEDICAL SCIENCES, ISSN 2394-8612 (P), ISSN 2394-8620 (O), Vol-2, Issue-1, Jan-Mar 2015 21

Analysis was done using the stepping stone method

described in the VARK website .The percentage of each

modality (Visual Aural read and write) or a combination

of modalities (Bimodal, Trimodal/Multimodal) preferred

by the students was determined.

Results: Majority of students (70.2 %) preferred multiple

modes of information presentation(Bimodal/trimodal/

quadrimodal).Of the 70.2% of students(87 students) who

preferred multiple modes, 14.5% preferred two modes

(bimodal) ;11.3% preferred three modes (trimodal) &

44.3% preferred four modes (quadrimodal).

Fig. 1. Percentages of students with different modalities of

learning style preferences (Unimodal, 29.8% ; Bimodal

14.5% ; Trimodal, 11.3% ; Quadrimodal, 44.3%)

Unimodal:

29.8% of the students preferred a single mode of

information presentation. Among these, 0.81% preferred

visual mode (V) ;13.71 % preferred auditory mode (A) ;

2.42% preferred read & write mode (R) & 12.90%

preferred kinaesthetic mode(K).

Fig. 2. Percentages of students with unimodal learning style

preferences( Visual, 0.81% ; Aural, 13.71% ; Read and Write,

2.42% ; Kinaesthetic, 12.90 % )

Bimodal: Of the 14.5% of students who preferred two

modes of information presentation ,0.8% preferred visual

& kinaesthetic (VK) ; 9.7% preferred auditory &

kinaesthetic(AK) ; 1.6% preferred auditory and reading

or writing(AR) ; 2.4% preferred reading/writing &

kinaesthetic(RK).

Fig. 3. Percentages of students with Bimodal learning style

preferences (VK, 0.8% ; AK, 9.7% ; AR, 1.6% ; RK, 2.4% )

Trimodal:

Of the 11.3% of students who preferred three modes of

information presentation ,0.8% preferred visual ,reading

or writing and kinaesthetic combination (VRK) ; 3.2 %

preferred the combined use of visual auditory &

kinaesthetic (VAK) & 7.3% preferred auditory, reading

or writing & kinaesthetic combination (ARK).

Fig. 4. Percentages of students with Trimodal learning style

preferences (VRK, 0.8% ; VAK, 3.2% ; ARK, 7.3%)

Calculating the individual K,A,R,V among all the

modalities(unimodal, bimodal, trimodal & quadrimodal)

put together, the order of preference of learning styles of

students was kinaesthetic ( 81.4% ) followed by aural

(79.8%), read and write (58.9%) and visual (50%).

Discussion: Since majority of students (70.2%) preferred

more than one mode as a combination, information

presentation should be multimodal. Also as about half

(44.3%) of the total students preferred all the four modes

in combination (quadrimodal), information should be

presented in a combination of visual, aural, read & write

and kinaesthetic.

In the present study, about one third of the class (29.8%),

are unimodal (i.e) prefer to take in information through a

single sensory modality. This is similar to Lujan and

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HEALTH RESEARCH IN MODERN INTEGRATED MEDICAL SCIENCES, ISSN 2394-8612 (P), ISSN 2394-8620 (O), Vol-2, Issue-1, Jan-Mar 201522

DiCarlos assessment of learning style preferences among

first-year medical students, which showed that, only 36.1%

of the students preferred a single mode of information

presentation. 8 Also, in his study, most students (63.8%)

preferred multiple modes of information presentation ,

which is similar to the present study (70.2%).

Among the students who preferred unimodal learning

style, the order of preference was auditory (13.71%),

followed by kinaesthetic (12.90%) , followed by reading/

writing (2.42%) & visual (0.81%).Since among the

unimodal students, most students preferred auditory and

kinaesthetic, care should be taken so that these two styles

are compulsorily taken care of in teaching.

Of the 70.2% of multimodal students who preferred more

than one mode in a combination, majority (44.3%)

preferred a combination of all four modes namely, visual,

aural read & write and kinaesthetic. This is followed by

bimodal students (14.5%) ,who preferred receiving

information through a combination of two modes. Next

came the trimodal (11.3%) , who preferred a combination

of three modes.

Of the 14.5% of students who preferred bimodal

presentation, most students (9.7%), preferred auditory and

kinaesthetic (AK) . This is followed by reading/writing &

kinaesthetic(RK), (2.4%). Next came the auditory and

reading or writing (AR) combination(1.6%).

Since among the bimodal students most students preferred

auditory & kinaesthetic combination & also as among

unimodal students a combination of auditory and

kinaesthetic students were the majority, information

presentation/ teaching should always include auditory and

kinaesthetic modes.

Among 11.3% of students who were trimodal ,most

students (7.3%) preferred (i.e) auditory reading/writing

& kinaesthetic (ARK) combination .This is followed by

Visual ,auditory & kinaesthetic combination (VAK), 3.2%.

Next came the visual reading /writing & kinaesthetic

combination (VRK), (0.8%).

As most students preferred kinaesthetic (81.4%) and

auditory (79.8%) modes by calculating the individual

K,A,R,V among all the modalities (Unimodal, Bimodal,

Trimodal,Quadrimodal) put together, teaching should

compulsorily include practical orientation, real life

experience of knowledge and auditory method of teaching

in addition to other modes.

Assessment of the studies on learning styles show that

learning style preferences of students in health profession

may be specifically unique. Nevertheless, it cannot be

concluded that they are fixed learning styles (5). A strategy

for making majority of students interested in learning, is

instruction adapted to the learning styles of students, a

teaching method that involves multiple teaching style

approaches and not a single method16. Awareness of the

students learning styles can help teachers to modify their

habitual predisposition to teach all students in the same

way and motivate them to change from their preferred

teaching methods to ones that benefit the majority or all.

All types of students will benefit if teaching is done in a

combination of styles i.e., a combination of visual,

auditory, read and write and kinaesthetic.

Teaching can be done in auditory style by conventional

lectures, making audio recordings , group discussions etc.

Visual mode of delivery of information can be done by

diagrams, flow charts, pictures, models and other methods.

Read and write method of information presentation can

be done by giving students notes of the lectures, written

or printed handouts and by instructing them to write notes

as the teacher delivers the lecture. Kinaesthetic method

of information presentation can be done by including

practical experiments, hands on training, role playing etc

in the teaching schedule. Students academic achievement

is likely to improve if teaching is done in all the sensory

modalities.

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