Identifying and Comparing the Learning Styles based on Gender, Syllabus and Educational Level with Emphasis on Cluster Analysis

The factors affecting learning are very wide and it is very important to identify these factors in solving the problems in the educational system. Learning style is one of these factors. Hence, present study was conducted to identify and compare the learning styles based on the gender, the syllabus and the educational level by using cluster analysis.

This study was an applied research in its goal and a descriptive-survey study in its methodology. The study population included all the primary school students of grades 4, 5 and 6 in West Azerbaijan in the academic year 2017-2018. Among which, a sample of 1961 students (928 boys and 1033 girls) was selected by multi-stage clustering and completed VARK Learning Style Questionnaire (1998). Data were analyzed by cluster analysis and Chi-square.

The results of cluster analysis indicated five learning styles in the students, including the visual, auditory, reading/writing, kinesthetic and multiple styles. Among which, the multiple style was the most prevalent, while the auditory style was the least prevalent one. Results also showed that learning style is different according to the gender (P<0.01 ; X2=16.87) and educational level (P<0.05 ; X2=18.320), but no significant difference was found in the learning style of the students based on the syllabus.   

Based on the results of this study, students prefer using multiple learning styles. Learning styles are different based on the gender and educational level, however no significant difference was found according to the syllabus. Accordingly, identifying the learning style of the students can help teachers in teaching more efficiently and decreasing the learning problems.