Preferred Learning Styles and Teaching Methods Among Medical Students: A Cross-Sectional Study

Introduction Knowing the learning styles of medical students is an important factor as it can help in making learning more effective. Research has shown that medical students in various years of studies have selective learning styles and liking to a particular teaching strategy. The aim of the present study was to identify the preferred learning styles and teaching methods of medical students through all the years of study using the VARK (for Visual, Aural, Read/Write, Kinesthetic) questionnaire. Method A cross-sectional study was conducted among the medical students of year 1 (MD1) to year 6 (MD6), except MD5, at the College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sohar, Oman. The VARK questionnaire was used to record the learning style preference of the students, and an additional question was asked to know the teaching method that the students preferred to be used. Results A total of 292 students responded to the questionnaire. The majority of the students had preference for the multimodal style of teaching (54%), mostly bimodal (30%). This was followed by the kinesthetic mode of learning (30%) in the unimodal style. The MD1 and MD6 students had preference for the unimodal style whereas the other years (MD2, MD3, MD4) had preference for the bimodal style. The teaching method preferred by most of the students included clinical skills lab (64%) followed by interactive lecture (59%) and lab work (57%). Conclusion The study showed that most of the students had preference for more than one (bimodal) learning style. The research findings can help the teachers recognize the learning problems among students and execute the needed teaching strategies.