Abstract
Objectives: To examine the learning style preferences of undergraduate dental students and determine the influence of gender on their selection.
Methods: This descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted at the College of Dentistry, King Saud University, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from September 2016 to January 2017. The Arabic version of visual, audio, read/write, and kinaesthetic questionnaire was administered to students from the first to the fifth academic year. Data was analysed using SPSS 21. P<0.05 was considered significant.
Results: Of the 491 students, 368(75.1%) completed the questionnaire. Of them, 269(73.1%) were males and 99(26.9%) were females. Significant differences were found when learning styles were compared (p<0.05). No significant differences could be found when the models were assessed as in the unimodal, bimodal, trimodal or quadmodal methods (p>0.05). A significant difference was found between genders when learning styles were compared (p=0.05). Males preferred the unimodal style, while females preferred the bimodal and quadmodal styles almost equally (p<0.05).
Conclusion: Most dental undergraduate students preferred multi-modal learning.