Dimension of learning styles among undergraduate dental students: A cross sectional study

Abstract

Objective: To document frequency of different learning styles among dental students.
Methodology: This cross-sectional study was conducted at Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences (LUMHS), Muhammad Medical college (MMC) and Bhitai Dental college (BDC) Mirpurkhas from May 2021 to August 2021. 2nd year BDS students (n=198) were enrolled for the study. In addition to demographic, study participants were requested to complete VARK inventory (visual, aural, read/write, and kinesthetic) online to gather preferences of learning style.
Results: During period of study, among selected 198 participants, 172 questionnaires were completed filled with re-sponse rate of 86.86. Results showed that 64.2% participants used multimodal learning style while 35.8 % dental un-dergraduate students liked to learn through unimodal learning style
Conclusion: As expected, the learning preferences showed wide variation and therefore educators should try to adapt their teaching methods to the learning styles of their students, especially those with unimodal learning styles. At the same time students who prefer unimodal learning styles should encourage to adopt multimodal learning methods partic-ularly if their previous academic performance was poor in order to enhance their educational experience.
Key words: Learning style, Dentistry students, VARK Model ,Academic Achievement