Learning styles of dental students

Abstract

Aims

This study was conducted to determine the learning styles of dental students at King Saud University.

Methods and material

The Arabic version of the VARK questionnaire was administered to undergraduate dental male students in first, second, third, fourth and fifth years to determine their learning style preferences. Descriptive statistics were used to identify the learning styles of students.

Results

There were more students who preferred a multimodal learning style (58.4%) than those who preferred a unimodal learning style (41.6%). The quadmodal learning style was the preferred style among multimodal learners in total sample and in each year separately. Of the unimodal learners, 35.1%, 35.1%, 18.1%, and 11.7% of the students were Kinesthetic (K), Aural (A), Visual (V), and Reading/Writing (R) learners, respectively.

Conclusions

58.4% and 41.6% of the students were found to have multimodal learning preferences and unimodal learning styles, respectively. The distribution of students’ learning styles reflects strong kinesthetic and aural preferences. The learning preference does not differ between undergraduate male students from first to final years at College of Dentistry, King Saud University.