Marwaha Komal, Sharma Urvashi
Department of Medical Education, Paul L. Foster School of Medicine, Texas Tech University Health Science Center, El Paso, Texas, United States.
Department of Pedodontics, Dr. Harvansh Singh Judge Institute of Dental Sciences and Hospital, Chandigarh, India.
Adv Physiol Educ. 2025 Sep 1;49(3):704-711. doi: 10.1152/advan.00060.2025. Epub 2025 Jun 6.
To address the ambiguity regarding learning style preferences as predictors of academic success, this study examines the relationship between learning style preferences, gender, lecture attendance, and academic performance among undergraduate dental students. Learning style preferences using the Visual, Auditory, Reading/Writing, and Kinesthetic (VARK) questionnaire were assessed in 326 undergraduate dental students. Their gender, attendance, and academic scores were recorded to analyze correlations. The results showed that 58% of students preferred a multimodal learning style, with kinesthetic being the most common unimodal preference (23.6%). A significant correlation was found between lecture attendance and academic performance ( < 0.001), as 69.2% of students scoring below 50% were irregular attendees. However, some high-achieving (scores ≥70%) students were also irregular attendees, suggesting that self-directed study strategies may compensate for missed lectures. No significant association was observed between gender and lecture attendance or academic performance, reinforcing prior findings that multiple factors beyond gender influence academic success. Additionally, no significant correlation was found between assessed learning styles and academic performance, challenging the effectiveness of learning style-based instruction. A significant discrepancy between students assessed and perceived learning styles ( < 0.05) indicated that students may not accurately identify their learning preferences, relying instead on perceived preferences during independent study. Given these findings, adapting teaching strictly to assessed learning styles may be an inefficient use of resources. Instead, fostering active learning environments and emphasizing evidence-based study strategies may be more beneficial. These findings contribute to the ongoing discourse on learning styles and highlight the importance of research-driven educational practices in health professional education. This study challenges the effectiveness of learning style-based instruction by demonstrating no significant correlation between assessed learning styles and academic performance among dental students. It highlights a discrepancy between students' assessed and perceived learning styles, suggesting that students may not accurately identify their learning preferences. Additionally, the findings emphasize that self-directed study strategies can compensate for missed lectures, reinforcing the need for active learning approaches over rigid learning style-based teaching methods in health professional education.
为解决学习风格偏好作为学业成功预测指标的模糊性问题，本研究考察了本科牙科学生的学习风格偏好、性别、课堂出勤率与学业成绩之间的关系。对326名本科牙科学生使用视觉、听觉、阅读/写作和动觉（VARK）问卷评估了学习风格偏好。记录他们的性别、出勤率和学业成绩以分析相关性。结果显示，58%的学生偏好多模态学习风格，动觉是最常见的单模态偏好（23.6%）。课堂出勤率与学业成绩之间存在显著相关性（<0.001），因为69.2%成绩低于50%的学生出勤不规律。然而，一些成绩优异（分数≥70%）的学生出勤也不规律，这表明自主学习策略可能弥补错过的课程。未观察到性别与课堂出勤率或学业成绩之间存在显著关联，这强化了先前的研究结果，即性别以外的多种因素会影响学业成功。此外，评估的学习风格与学业成绩之间未发现显著相关性，这对基于学习风格的教学效果提出了挑战。评估的学习风格与感知的学习风格之间存在显著差异（<0.05），表明学生可能无法准确识别自己的学习偏好，而是在自主学习期间依赖感知到的偏好。鉴于这些发现，严格根据评估的学习风格调整教学可能是资源的低效利用。相反，营造积极的学习环境并强调基于证据的学习策略可能更有益。这些发现为关于学习风格的持续讨论做出了贡献，并凸显了研究驱动的教育实践在健康专业教育中的重要性。本研究通过证明牙科学生评估的学习风格与学业成绩之间无显著相关性，对基于学习风格的教学效果提出了挑战。它凸显了学生评估的学习风格与感知的学习风格之间的差异，表明学生可能无法准确识别自己的学习偏好。此外，研究结果强调自主学习策略可以弥补错过的课程，强化了在健康专业教育中采用积极学习方法而非僵化的基于学习风格的教学方法的必要性。
