AbstractBackground: Learning style is a way of learning that allows the individual to learn best. Four learning styles which are often identified in students are visual, auditory, reading/writing and kinaesthetic (VARK). The VARK focuses the learners to use their senses i.e. hearing, seeing, reading, writing and experiencing to learn. Materials & Method: A newest version of the VARK questionnaire (16 questions) was administered to 208 third and fourth year medical students (104 males and 104 females) during their course of forensic medicine course at SSR Medical College. The Students were allowed to choose multiple answers as per instruction given on the prescribed questions’ sheet. The scoring algorithm of VARK was then applied to identify the modality preference of each student. Result: The results from a chi square analysis (÷2 =0.710, df = 3 and p = 0.871) indicated that there was no difference in learning preferences by gender. Conclusion: VARK encourages teachers to respect the diversity of the learners. The students have ability to learn in different ways, if the methods of teaching are appropriate to the students’ preference.
Keywords: Learning styles; Gender difference; VARK; Medical Students.