Shenoy Nandita, Shenoy K Ashok, U P Ratnakar
Reader, Manipal College of Dental Sciences , Mangalore, Karnataka, India .
J Clin Diagn Res. 2013 Aug;7(8):1683-5. doi: 10.7860/JCDR/2013/4940.3219. Epub 2013 Aug 1.
VARK is a questionnaire which was developed by Neil Fleming (www.vark.learn.com), who was a teacher and an educator in New Zealand, with respect to the perceptual preferences in learning. V stands for Visual- the students learn best from pictures, graphs and diagrams. A stand for Aural - the students learn best from spoken words, lectures and discussions. R stands for Reading - the students learn best from reading and writing texts. K stands for Kinesthetic - the students learn best when they move their bodies and manipulate things with their own hands.
The aim of the recent study was to investigate the learning styles among the dental students in our clinical set up.
The VARK-questionnaire contains 13 multiple-choice- questions with four possibilities to select an answer. Each possibility represents one of the four modes of perception. But, one can select more than one answer for each question, which is necessary for the identification of the poly modal modes of perception and learning. This is also a psychometric problem when an attempt is being made to state a measure of the reliability of the questionnaire. The VARK-questionnaire was distributed among 100 students and we received filled forms from only 70 students. This sample size represented a 70% response rate from the students in the class and it was markedly above the level which was required to make conclusions about the student preferences for receiving and processing information. The students spent about 10 minutes in an ordinary lesson to fill in the questionnaire. The students' register numbers and names were used in the study and no blinding was practised. We analyzed their learning styles with their performances in the university exams.
This was a questionnaire based clinical study.
The responses from the students in our University where classified into the multi-modal (VARK), tri-modal (VRK, VAK, VAR, ARK), bi-modal (VR, VA, VK, RK) and the uni-modal (V, A, R.K) categories. The results showed that the subjects had a higher preference for multimodal learning.
With our preliminary data, we conclude that the students in our clinical set up preferred a multimodal and a more of kinesthetic method of learning. To meet their needs, variations in the teaching, learning and the examination must be implemented. If not, the students with a high kinesthetic preference for perception and learning may be at the losing end.
VARK是一份由新西兰教师兼教育工作者尼尔·弗莱明（www.vark.learn.com）编制的关于学习中感知偏好的问卷。V代表视觉型——学生通过图片、图表和示意图学习效果最佳。A代表听觉型——学生通过口头讲解、讲座和讨论学习效果最佳。R代表阅读型——学生通过阅读和书写文本学习效果最佳。K代表动觉型——学生通过身体活动和亲手操作来学习效果最佳。
近期研究的目的是调查我们临床机构中牙科学生的学习风格。
VARK问卷包含13道多项选择题，每题有四种答案可供选择。每种答案代表四种感知模式之一。但是，对于每个问题，学生可以选择多个答案，这对于识别多模式感知和学习模式是必要的。当试图说明问卷的可靠性时，这也是一个心理测量问题。VARK问卷分发给了100名学生，我们仅收到70名学生填写的表格。这个样本量代表了班级学生70%的回复率，明显高于得出学生接收和处理信息偏好结论所需的水平。学生们在一堂普通课上花了大约10分钟填写问卷。研究中使用了学生的注册号和姓名，未实施盲法。我们将他们的学习风格与大学考试成绩进行了分析。
这是一项基于问卷的临床研究。
我们大学学生的回答被分为多模式（VARK）、三模式（VRK、VAK、VAR、ARK）、双模式（VR、VA、VK、RK）和单模式（V、A、R、K）类别。结果表明，受试者对多模式学习有更高的偏好。
根据我们的初步数据，我们得出结论，我们临床机构中的学生更喜欢多模式且更多动觉的学习方法。为满足他们的需求，必须在教学、学习和考试方面进行变革。否则，对感知和学习有高度动觉偏好的学生可能会处于劣势。
