The Relationship Between the VARK Learning Styles and Academic Achievement in Dental Students.

Abstract

BackgroundLearning style is a factor influencing academic achievement. There are contradictory results in studies on the relationship between learning styles and academic achievement. The current study aimed at investigating the relationship between learning styles and academic achievement in dental students.MethodsIn the current descriptive-analytical study, 184 dental students were selected by simple random sampling. The VARK questionnaire was used as the data collection tool. The grade point average (GPA) of previous semester was used as an indicator of academic achievement, and accordingly, students were divided into two groups of strong (GPA ≥15) and weak (GPA ≤14.99).ResultsThe most common learning styles in strong students were unimodal (n = 55, 42%) and bimodal (n = 41, 31.3%), while they were unimodal (n = 28, 47.2%) and bimodal (n = 24, 45.3%) in the weak students. There was no significant relationship between learning styles and academic achievement in the two groups of strong and weak students.ConclusionNo significant relationship was found between learning style and academic achievement. Further studies with larger sample sizes are recommended. Further studies with larger sample sizes are recommended.