Variability of Higher Education Students’ Learning Styles Depending on Gender, Course, Degree and Institutional Context

Abstract

In higher education it is important to consider learning styles of students to facilitate the teaching–learning process. The aims guiding the research were to describe the learning styles predominating among students in the field of the social sciences, to analyse the results with respect to gender, year of study, degree course and institution, and to perform correlation analysis between these variables. The data analyses were carried out with non-parametric statistics with a confidence level of 95%. The sample was composed of 636 students at the Universities of Huelva (UHU), Cádiz (UCA), and Pablo de Olavide of Seville (UPO), who completed the Honey–Alonso Learning Styles Questionnaire and reported sociodemographic and educational data. The results showed a significant preference for the Reflector style. Significant correlations were found in most variables highlighting that the courses showed an inverse correlation with the learning styles, the Activist, Theorist, and Pragmatist styles being less preferred as they progressed in the career. It is worth noting the significant direct correlation between Reflector, Theorist, and Pragmatist styles, but the Activist style inversely correlates with all three. As a complementary contribution, a proposal for intervention in classrooms with a sustainable perspective is offered. It is important to attend to the evolution in the preference of the learning styles that students acquire as they advance in higher education courses in order to facilitate a more optimal and sustainable teaching–learning process.

Crossword puzzle as a learning tool to enhance learning about anticoagulant therapeutics

“…Second, gender variation in learning styles could have affected their perceptions about the time. Although some studies have reported more men being diverger and women have an assimilator learning style, others did not find such differences [ 44 , 61 – 63 ].…”

Investigating The Preferences of The Learning Style in Third Language Learning at A Public University

“…Based on the findings of this study, gender does not significantly influence the preference for each learning style, except for the Activist style, which exhibited a statistically significant difference. Numerous studies have also indicated the absence of statistically significant gender-related differences in learning styles (Biabani & Izadpanah, 2019;Yousef, 2018;Alonso-Martín et al, 2021;Gilchrist, 2021;Oravcova, 2009;Sopian et al, 2013;Gholami and Bagheri, 2013;Güngör et al, 2016). Thus, once again, this study reaffirms that there is no statistically significant difference between genders in terms of learning styles.…”

Estilos de aprendizaje en relación al rendimiento académico en modalidad virtual de estudiantes de carreras del área de la salud

“…Acuña, Silva y Maluenda (2009) en su estudio realizado en carreras del área de la salud en la Universidad de Antofagasta, Chile, de forma concordante encontraron que en el estilo reflexivo los valores son significativamente diferentes entre carreras, empero, en el estilo teórico no se apreciaron diferencias significativas. Alonso-Martín et al (2021) convergentemente al presente estudio, encontraron diferencias significativas en los estilos reflexivo y teórico según carrera en universidades españolas, aunque en disciplinas distintas al presente estudio. Por otro lado, Parra et al (2017) documentaron que en carreras del área de la salud de la Universidad de la Frontera, Chile, a pesar de que se aprecian diferencias en los porcentajes de los grados de preferencia para los estilos de aprendizaje entre las carreras, éstas no son significativas, de manera similar a lo observado en Cartagena, Colombia, con carreras de ingeniería (Yacub, Patron, Agámez & Acevedo, 2018).…”