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Learning style preferences of occupational therapy students
Summary
Occupational therapy students prefer learning with instructors they know and like, setting personal goals, and working independently. They favor hands-on learning and collaboration over reading or numerical tasks.
Area of Science:
- Occupational Therapy Education
- Learning Styles Research
Background:
- Understanding student learning preferences is crucial for effective pedagogy in higher education.
- Occupational therapy programs require diverse learning approaches to prepare students for practice.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the learning style preferences of undergraduate and graduate occupational therapy students.
- To identify preferred learning conditions, content, and modes among these students.
Main Methods:
- A survey was administered to 55 undergraduate and 22 graduate occupational therapy students.
- The Canfield-Lafferty Learning Styles Inventory was used to assess learning preferences.
Main Results:
- Students preferred learning conditions that included personal connection with the instructor, self-set objectives, and independent work.
- Highest preferences were for learning content through working with people and learning modes involving direct experience.
- Lowest preferences were for working with numbers and reading.
Conclusions:
- Occupational therapy students' learning preferences align with interactive, experiential, and self-directed approaches.
- Educational strategies should incorporate opportunities for personal instructor interaction and hands-on activities.
- Curriculum design may need to balance preferred learning styles with the necessity of engaging with numerical data and textual information.