VARK Learning Preferences and their Gender Relation in First-Year Medical Technology Students of a Private University at Pathum Thani Province

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to study VARK (consisting of Visual, Aural, Read/write, and Kinesthetic) learning preferences, and their relation to the Medical Technology students’ gender. The subject group consisted of 167 purposively selected first-year Medical Technology students. The VARK questionnaires of Fleming & Mills’s learning preferences were used as research instruments to assess the students’ learning preferences. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the questionnaires was 0.892. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics and Chi-squared test. The findings showed that 1) the majority of the sample group were female and preferred to use a single learning preference (Uni-modal). Among them, 29.9% preferred the Auditory Preceptors, 26.3% preferred the Kinesthetic Preceptors, 11.4% preferred the Read/Write Preceptors, and 3.5% preferred the Visual Preceptors. The remaining participants who preferred more than one learning preference (Multi-modal) contributed 22.7% who chose Bi-modal, 6% who chose Tri-modal, and 0.6% who chose Quad-modal. There was only a significant relationship between the students’ gender and Fleming & Mills’ s Tri-modal learning preference (Chi-squared=10.000, Sig=.019).