Association for Surgical Education
Learning style influences student examination performance

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Abstract

Background: The Kolb Learning Style Inventory (LSI) measures preference for each of four learning orientations: abstract conceptualization, concrete experience, active experimentation, and reflective observation. These orientations define four learning styles: convergence, divergence, assimilation, and accommodation.

Methods: To determine if learning style correlates with objective multiple-choice and clinical measures of performance, the learning styles of third-year medical students (n = 227) were evaluated using the LSI. Performance was assessed using the United States Medical Licensing Examination step 1 (USMLE 1), the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) multiple-choice surgical subject examination (MCQ), and NBME computer-based case simulations (CBX).

Results: The data showed a significant (P ≤0.05) relationship between learning style and performance on the USMLE 1. There was a significant (P ≤0.05) and direct correlation between an abstract orientation and performance on the USMLE 1 (r = 0.33) and MCQ (r = 0.20). There was no relationship between learning style and clinical performance measured using the CBX.

Conclusions: These data demonstrate that performance on objective measures of academic achievement is influenced by learning style, while application of that knowledge in the management of clinical situations may require additional skills beyond those measured.

Section snippets

Methods

The Kolb LSI (1985) was administered to two consecutive classes of third-year medical students during the 1994–95 and 1995–96 academic years. Participation was voluntary and the Institutional Review Board waived informed consent after reviewing the study protocol. Students (n = 252) were asked to complete the LSI at the beginning of their third-year surgical clerkship. This instrument consists of 12, four-item sentence completion sets. Each item in a set corresponds to one of the four learning

Results

Of the 124 students in the 1994–95 cohort, 106 (85%) participated in the study by completing the LSI and providing identifying information. In the 1995–96 group, 121 out of 128 students (94%) participated. There were no significant differences between the classes in learning orientation or academic performance. Consequently, data from the two cohorts were combined. A comparison of respondents and nonrespondents (n = 25) revealed that the latter tended to score lower on the NBME subject

Comments

Learning styles were not uniformly distributed among the students participating in this study. A majority (45%) were convergers, followed by assimilators (26%), accommodators (21%), and divergers (8%). The relative absence of divergers in this study is similar to samples described by Baker et al5 and by Newland and Woelfl.3, 4 More recently, Davies et al14 surveyed students at Eastern Virginia Medical School and reported that 22% of the students in their sample were classified as divergers.

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