Learning to Learn - Study of Learning Styles at Medical School

Tayyeba Iftikhar Mirza; Irfan Shukr; Naushaba Sadiq; Ayesha Janjua; Ayesha Ghassan; Shazia Inam; Syeda Sana Fatima

Abstract:

Objective: To identify the different learning styles of third year medical students at foundation university medical college, by using VARK questionnaire, so that we can modify our teaching strategies accordingly and help students improve their academic performance. Study Design: Descriptive / Cross sectional study Place and Duration of study: This study was conducted at Foundation University Medical College, Islamabad May to July 2018. Materials and Methods: Data was collected using VARK questionnaire from 90students of third year MBBS using convenience sampling. They were fully explained the whole process. The modality that got maximum marks was considered to be the preferred learning style of student. Students had the permission of circling more than one option. Selection of one option pointed that the student was unimodal and mainly had one learning style preference whereas the selection of two or more options pointed that the student was multimodal and had two or more learning style preferences. Results: The majority of the students of third year MBBS are auditory learners. Out of the total 53% were unimodal, 37% were bimodal and 10% were trimodal. Among unimodal 40% were auditory, 29% were kinesthetic, 23% were read/write and only 8% were visual. Conclusion: Knowledge regarding students’ different preferred learning styles helped the medical teachers in developing suitable learning approaches to make the students’ educational journey more constructive.

research from:

• Foundation University Medical College

Year:

2019

Type of Publication:

Article

Journal:

Medical Forum Monthly

Volume:

30

Number:

4

Pages:

92-95

Month:

4