Another Nail in the Coffin for Learning Styles? Disparities among Undergraduate Anatomy Students’ Study Strategies, Class Performance, and Reported VARK Learning Styles

2018/03/13 by Polly R. Husmann, Valerie Dean O’Loughlin · 249 citations
Psychology · Social Sciences · Medicine · #Learning Styles and Cognitive Differences #Innovative Teaching Methods #Evaluation of Teaching Practices #Class (philosophy) #Learning styles #Mathematics education #Psychology #Medical education #Medicine #Computer science

paper · doi:10.1002/ase.1777

published in Anatomical Sciences Education 12(1), 6-19 (Wiley)

openalex publication_date 2018/03/13 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/09

Abstract

The concept and existence of learning styles has been fraught with controversy, and recent studies have thrown their existence into doubt. Yet, many students still hold to the conventional wisdom that learning styles are legitimate, and may adapt their outside of class study strategies to match these learning styles. Thus, this study aims to assess if undergraduate anatomy students are more likely to utilize study strategies that align with their hypothetical learning styles (using the VARK analysis from Fleming and Mills, , Improve Acad. 11:137-155) and, if so, does this alignment correlate with their outcome in an anatomy course. Relatedly, this study examines whether students' VARK learning styles are correlated with course outcomes regardless of the students' study strategies, and whether any study strategies are correlated with course outcomes, regardless of student-specific VARK results. A total of 426 anatomy students from the 2015 and 2016 Fall semesters completed a study strategies survey and an online VARK questionnaire. Results demonstrated that most students did not report study strategies that correlated with their VARK assessment, and that student performance in anatomy was not correlated with their score in any VARK categories. Rather, some specific study strategies (irrespective of VARK results), such as use of the virtual microscope, were found to be positively correlated with final class grade. However, the alignment of these study strategies with VARK results had no correlation with anatomy course outcomes. Thus, this research provides further evidence that the conventional wisdom about learning styles should be rejected by educators and students alike. Anat Sci Educ. © 2018 American Association of Anatomists.

Citations

• Exploring the relation between visualizer–verbalizer cognitive styles and performance with visual or verbal learning material
• Attempted Validation of the Scores of the VARK: Learning Styles Inventory With Multitrait–Multimethod Confirmatory Factor Analysis Models
• The Myth of Learning Styles
• Learning Styles
• Using Learning Style Instruments to Enhance Student Learning
• Neuromyths in Education: Prevalence and Predictors of Misconceptions among Teachers
• Test-Enhanced Learning
• The Enduring Appeal of ‘Learning Styles’

Cited by

• Maybe they’re born with it, or maybe it’s experience: Toward a deeper understanding of the learning style myth.
• Learning styles [wikipedia]

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• Learning styles: where’s the evidence?