Variation of learning styles and its relationship with academic performance in medical students

Abstract

Background: the adaptation of the learning style to the requirements of the degree course being studied favors the acquisition of knowledge in the students.Objective: to determine the variation of the learning styles and its relationship with the academic performance during the first five years of the degree in medicine with students from the Affiliated School of Medical Sciences of Puerto Padre, University of Medical Sciences of Las Tunas.Methods: an analytical, prospective and correlational study was carried out with 69 students who entered the degree in medicine in the 2015-2016 academic year, at the aforementioned teaching site. The CHAEA questionnaire on learning strategies was given at the beginning and at the fifth year of the studies. The variables, learning style, sex and academic performance were analyzed. Descriptive tests were used for statistical processing and Student's t-test, ANOVA, Chi-square test and Pearson's correlation coefficient were used for the comparison of variables.Results: at the beginning of the degree, the reflective style predominated and at the end of the fifth year, this, together with the theoretical, were the most represented ones; at the end of the fifth year, 72,47 % of the students modified their learning style and obtained the better grades; the greatest association at the end of the fifth year was found between the theoretical and the reflective styles, as well as between the pragmatic and the active ones. A correlation was also observed between the variation of the style and the accumulated academic grade.Conclusions: the variation of the learning styles and its relationship with the academic performance in medical students from Puerto Padre was determined.

Keywords

• academic performance
• learning health system
• students, medical
• education, medical