A multi-centre study of learning styles of new nursing students

To describe beginning nursing student learning styles and to determine whether there are relationships between learning style and sociodemographic or educational background. We also aim to compare these data with the normative values of the 3.1 version of the Kolb learning style inventory and verify its reliability.

Learning style is related to the way in which an individual interacts with learning conditions, involving cognitive, affective, physical and environmental aspects. In nursing education, few studies have focused on knowing the learning styles of beginning nursing students, despite the need for students to develop critical thinking skills required of nurses.

Descriptive, cross-sectional, correlational, multi-site study.

The study took place at five universities in Brazil and one university in the United States. Data were collected from a sample of beginning nursing students (n = 176) in 2019, using the Portuguese and English 3.1 versions of Kolb's learning style inventory.

Most students' learning styles were classified as divergers (34.10%), while 28.41% were assimilators, 23.86% were accommodators and 13.63% were convergers. Kolb describes learning as a four-stage cyclical process grounded in experience. The mean score of one learning stage, the concrete experience, showed those who attended public high schools compared with private high schools was higher (mean = 26.22; p = .0019), and there were different results between Brazilian state universities, Brazilian federal universities and the American university (p = .0149).

The diverger style was the most common among beginning nursing students in Brazil and the United States. There was a significant relationship between learning style, the educational background of students, the type of institution they attend and their previous experience with some active learning methodologies.

Aligned with Kolb's experiential learning theory, nurse educators must be aware of student learning styles so they may use teaching strategies to meet their students' needs.