Assessment of Gender Difference on Learning Styles Preferences among Regular Undergraduate Students of Mekelle University Collage of Health Science

Introduction: Learning styles are the characteristics, strengths and preferences in the way people receive and process information. An individual’s learning style specifies their way of processing, internalization and memorizing new information. These styles help students learn more easily, remember information longer, think more positively about school and learning subjects, achieve academic goals quickly, and utilize information effectively. If students find a mismatch between their own learning styles and the lecturer’s teaching style, they are likely to reject the learning environment, lose interest in class, leading to poor performance in tests and examinations, failing their courses, and ultimately dropping out. Objectives: Assessment of gender difference on learning style preference among Regular undergraduate Students of Mekelle University, College of Health science Methods: A comparative cross section study design was employed with quantitative approach obtained by the use of Visual, Aural, Read/write and Kinesthetic (VARK) self-answered questionnaire at Mekelle University, College of Health Science which was collected between April10-30,2016 with a sample size of 415.Data was reported as percentage of students in each category of learning style preference while comparison of learning style preference based on gender was done using X2 analysis to determine if significant gender differences exist for each group, p-value less than 0.05 was considered as significantly associated. Result: This study showed that of the total 415 students 305(73.5%) of the students were unimodal of which 187(71.6%) were males and 118(76.6%) were female students. Among these 67(27.7%) of the male and 38(24.7%) of the female students dominantly preferred visual while also finding there was no significant association between gender and learning style preference (P=0.373). Conclusion and recommendation: Tough there were preference differences among male and female students, significant associations between gender and learning style preferences were not found to be evident therefore instructors must integrate the use of materials that aid in enhancing Visual understandings.

Author(s): Yemane Y*, Ambaye E, Alehegn A, Sahile E, Dimtsu B, Kebede S, Genetu A and Girma A

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