Comparison between the Learning Style of Medical Freshmen and Fifthyear Students and its Relationship with their Educational Achievement

Background & Objective : Students learning style as one of the effective factors on learning and academic achievement is always taken into consideration in a successful educational system Identifying learners learning style would lead to selecting more appropriate teaching methods by teachers and learning styles by learners Therefore this study was aimed to identify medical students learning style and its relationship with their academic achievement Methods : In this descriptiveanalytic study medical freshmen and fifthyear students of Tehran University of Medical Sciences participated by completing the standard questionnaire of Kolbs The average of all students theoretical and practical exam scores together with the fifthyear students OSCE and preinternship exam scores were considered as indices for academic achievement Results : The most common learning styles among the freshmen were convergent (503%) and assimilation (366%) whereas the fifthyear medical students mentioned convergent (69%) and accommodation (167%) There was a statistically significant difference between learning styles in both student groups (P=00001) convergent and accommodation learning styles were more common among fifthyear students compared with the freshmen while such a result was the inverse for divergent and assimilation learning styles There was no significant difference between learning style and students academic achievement Conclusion : As convergent learning style was considered to be the dominant one and simulation laboratory assignments and problem–based learning are the most suitable learning atmospheres it is appreciated if educational planners prepare such environments