Learning styles and critical thinking skills of engineering students

Abstract

Learning styles reflect the behavior of students in determining preferences in learning situations. Students learn in various ways, such as by observing, listening, acting, reasoning, memorizing, and visualizing. Students also think in different ways, and critical thinking is a desirable competency in academic achievement. Critical thinking may be influenced by individual learning preferences. The learning styles and critical thinking skills of engineering students are factors that contribute to how they learn to achieve the learning outcome and to their readiness to enter the market. Existing technology and workplace trends require engineers who are equipped with critical thinking skills, such as solving problems, making decisions, and understanding of technical and engineering concepts for a successful future. Therefore, this paper discusses the analyses of the learning styles and critical thinking skills of 315 engineering students from Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia. The Index of Learning Styles was adopted to measure the learning styles of the students, whereas a questionnaire for critical thinking was used to determine the critical thinking skills of the students in four dimensions: analysis, evaluation, induction, and deduction. Result shows that the engineering students are more inclined to be visual than verbal learners and they have received moderate critical thinking scores in each dimension. The result also indicates that no relationship exists between the learning styles and critical thinking skills of the engineering students.