Learning styles and approaches toward pharmacology curriculum among medical undergraduates

Abstract

Background: Learning styles (LSs) and learning approaches (LAs) of each medical student vary to a great extent. If LSs and LAs of the students are known, the teaching-learning programs can be developed in an appropriate way for better learning. Aims and Objectives: The present study was designed to evaluate the change in LSs and LAs at different semesters of pharmacology curriculum and to correlate LSs and LAs with gender and academic performance in the 2nd year MBBS students. Materials and Methods: LSs were determined using visual, auditory, reading/writing, kinaesthetic questionnaire. The ASSIST questionnaire was used to assess the LAs adopted by students. Student’s 3rd and 5th semester examination marks were considered for evaluating the performance of the students. Results: Students in 3rd semester showed almost similar preference for multimodal (51%) and unimodal LS (49%). In the 5th semester, preference of these students for unimodal LS (55%) was higher than for multimodal LS (45%). Quadrimodal was the preferred multi-modal LS in both semesters while auditory was the preferred unimodal LS. Majority of students followed deep approach in both semesters. There was no significant difference in LSs and LAs between genders in both the semesters. Both LSs and LAs were not related to a student’s academic performance. Conclusion: Students showed diverse LSs, i.e., unimodal and quadrimodal, while majority students preferred deep LA. The teachers have to evaluate the LSs and LAs of students and develop appropriate teaching methods. This can help students perform better both in and out of the classroom.