Background: The learning habit of a learner is the way he handles new information and experiences, and determines its outcomes. Various types of learning habits are adopted by students, including visual (V; learning from graphs, charts, and flow diagrams), auditory (A; learning from speech), read-write(R; learning from reading and writing), and kinesthetic (K; learning from touch, hearing, smell, taste, and sight).Understanding their preferred learning habits as visual, auditory, read-write or kinesthetic learners will help to improve the teaching methods adopted. Facilitators and supporters themselves may need guidance and training in how to identify feedback and adapt learning to individual's habits.
Objective: To assess different learning habits of medical students and hence provide student oriented education, producing efficient doctors.
Materials and Methods: This study was performed at Department of physiology in Govt. Medical College, Bhavnagar in March 2011.Eighty four (84) medical students of first MBBS were participated in the study. By using the English version of the visual, auditory, reading or writing, kinesthetic (VARK) questionnaire, we measured the difference in learning habits of First year medical students.
Results: In Unimodal learning habit highest preference was given to auditory mode (48.57%), then to Kinesthetic (28.57%) & then to read (14.29%) & visual (8.57%). Among Multimodal learning habit students (n=44), 64.29% students preferred bimodal, 2.38% students preferred trimodal and 33.33% students preferred quadrimodal learning habit.
Conclusion: Knowing that students have different preferred learning modes, will help medical instructors in our faculty develop appropriate learning approaches and explore opportunities so that they will be able to make the educational experience more productive. The results will help faculty to develop appropriate learning approaches and explore opportunities, so that they will able to make the educational experience more productive.
Key words: Learning Preferences; Unimodal and Multimodal Learning Habit; Medical Students
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