“ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING STYLES AND ITS ASSOCIATION WITH PAST ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF UNDERGRADUATE DENTAL STUDENTS OF HAZARIBAG CITY-A CROSS SECTIONAL SURVEY”

Abstract

Aim: To assess the learning style preferences of undergraduate dental students in Hazaribag city
and to investigate whether learning style preferences is associated with past academic
performance. Methodology: A descriptive cross- sectional survey was conducted among the
dental students in Hazaribag city. Learning style was assessed using a validated VARK
questionnaire containing sixteen items with four answer selections corresponding to the four
sensory modalities (Visual, Aural, Read/write , Kinaesthic) and past academic performance was
collected from the respective college authorities. Descriptive statistics was applied and Chisquare
test was used to assess the association between learning style preferences and past
academic performance. Results: Majority of the dental students preferred bimodal style ( 35.5 %
) followed by trimodal (20.4 % ), quad modal ( 17.2 % ) ,kinesthetic ( 13.3 % ) , aural ( 7.7 % )
, verbal ( 3.4 % ) and read and write ( 2.4 % ). There was no significant association between
learning style preference and past academic performance of the students (p = 0.9).