Differences in medical student performance on examinations: exploring score variance between Kolb's Learning Style
Quentin J Reynolds1, Kurt O Gilliland2, Katie Smith3
1Department of Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA.
BMC Medical Education
|November 12, 2020
Summary
Kolb
Area of Science:
- Medical Education
- Learning Theories
Background:
- Kolb's Cycle of Learning Theory provides a framework for knowledge acquisition.
- Understanding preferred learning styles is crucial for academic success in medical school.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of Kolb's learning styles on medical student academic achievement.
- To compare the influence of learning styles on performance in locally-developed versus standardized examinations.
Main Methods:
- Kolb's Learning Style Inventory (LSI) administered to medical students (classes of 2020 and 2021).
- Pre-clinical examination scores (locally-developed and NBME) were matched with LSI results.
- Kruskal-Wallis Test used to compare examination scores across LSI classifications.
Main Results:
- 314 out of 360 students completed the LSI; Convergers and Assimilators comprised 84.1%.
- Accommodators scored significantly lower on specific locally-developed exams (Principles of Medicine, Hematology, GI).
- Only one NBME examination (Cardiovascular block) showed significant score variance across learning styles.
Conclusions:
- Customized National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) examinations demonstrated less performance variance among learning styles compared to local exams.
- NBME exams may offer a more equitable assessment strategy by minimizing differences related to learning styles.
Keywords:
Kolb’s theoryLearning style inventoryLocally-developed examinationsMedical studentsStandardized examinationsMore Related Videos
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