The relationship between preferred learning styles and academic achievement of Zanjan Nursing and Midwifery students

Learning Style is one of the most effective factors in academic achievement. Hence، attention to learning style is essential to success in any educational system. This study was conducted to investigate relationship between learning styles، and academic achievement among students of Zanjan School of Nursing and Midwifery in 2013. In this cross-sectional study 208 students who enrolled at least one semester in the School of Nursing and Midwifery were randomly selected. The instruments of collecting data were Kolb Learning Style Inventory (3. 1-2005) and a demographic form. These questionnaires were given to subjects in accordance with established ethical codes. The collected data were entered SPSS (18) and analyzed using descriptive and analytical statistics. The results indicate d that the highest mean belonged to abstract conceptualization learning styles (76. 5 ± 35. 33) and the lowest to actual experience (22. 6 ± 16. 26) respectively. In other words، most of the students in this study could benefit from the assimilating and diverging learning styles in their learning. There is a significant relationship between active experimentation learning style and students'' academic achievement (r= 0. 136، p= 0. 05). Since the majority of the student learning styles were assimilating and diverging، and there existed a significant relationship between the students’ learning styles and their academic achievement، teachers are advised to take practical steps to involve them in analytical and explanatory teaching.