Learning styles for medical students: is it as simple as it seems? [Letter]

Abstract

Mustafa Saad Al-Khayat, Munad-Ar-Rehman Mohammad, Muhammad Yousuf HayatFaculty of Medicine, St. George’s Hospital Medical School, London, UKWe read with great interest the article by Parashar et al1 regarding learning styles. We would like to offer our reflections as medical students. The author highlighted that kinesthetic and aural forms of learning are preferred by early year medical students; it also concludes that a multimodal approach is best for enhanced learning. We agree that a multifaceted approach should be used, but how it is applied is where the discussion lies.We feel it is important to discuss and highlight a number of salient points pertaining to learning styles. There are studies which show that, despite some effect, multimodal learning does not result in significantly higher grades than other learning styles.2 We believe a cohort study where students experience different modes of learning with subsequent examinations to survey changes from baseline knowledge would be better suited to explored enhanced learning, rather than a cross-sectional study.View the original paper by Parashar and colleagues

Keywords

• medical students
• learning styles
• education