Learning styles of first semester students in Arak University of Medical Sciences, 2008

One of the most important effective factors on students’ learning is their learning style. This study was done to determine learning styles of students in Arak University of Medical Sciences in 2008. In a descriptive cross sectional study, 241 first semester students in Arak University of Medical Sciences were selected by census sampling method. The data gathering tool was a questionnaire containing demographic questions and Kolb's learning style questionnaire. The most students learning style was assimilating (58.1%), Converging (25.31%), diverging (10.37%) and accommodating styles (6.22%) were followed. In all fields the most prevalent learning style was assimilating, too. The majority of operating room (56.2%), battle health with disease (57.9%), environment health (53.6%), nursing (43.9%), medical (72.4%), laboratory science (73.1%), midwifery (64.3%) and anesthesia students (65%) were this style. Considering the assimilator and converging learning styles among students, it is recommended to use lecture and self learning, visual methods, diagrams, teacher’s handouts, and face to face learning methods. Also, communication skills of medical science students must be supported, because, assimilating and converging have less interest to communicate with others.