Learning preferences of students studying Physiology in South India.

Abstract

Teachers of Physiology facilitate the learning of students belonging to different courses and each student has different sensory modality preferences while assimilating information. Students with a visual learning preference prefer learning with graphs and diagrams; students with an auditory preference learn by listening to information; those with a read/write preference prefer textual matter and those with a kinesthetic preference prefer to learn by physical experiences like touching and manipulating material. This study was done to determine the sensory modality learning preferences of first year dental students studying Physiology in South India. The VARK (Visual, Aural, Read/Write, Kinesthetic) questionnaire was administered to 89 first year dental students in a Medical College in South India. Results revealed that the majority of first year dental students (55%) preferred to use a single sensory modality while learning ie., they had unimodal learning preferences. Out of the students who had a unimodal preference, it was found that 47% had a preference for the aural modality and 41% had a preference for the kinesthetic modality. This knowledge of the sensory modality learning preferences of students studying Physiology can act as a catalyst to initiate reflection and subsequent appropriate action by teachers of Physiology. Keywords - Dental students, learning preferences, Physiology, unimodal, VARK