How do my Students Study? An Analysis of Students’ of Educational Disciplines Favorite Learning Styles According to VARK Classification

AbstractRespect for student's individuality, manifested, for example, by his or her favourite learning style, can significantly contribute to the increase in the efficiency in education. The awareness of the learning styles preferred by particular students can help the teacher customize educational materials intended for both frontal teaching and self-study so that they best fit the students.The aim of the conducted survey research, the selected results of which are submitted in this paper, was to carry out an analysis of a representative sample of students, in order to determine what learning styles, classified according to sensory preferences, they prefer. The applied questionnaire of VARK classification contained 13 questions, based on everyday situations, since this classification is primarily intended for the auto detection of the favourite learning style of adolescents and/or adults. The research sample consisted of 354 students of Palacky University in Olomouc.Based on the assessment of the acquired research data, a classification of students into four groups according to their favourite style of learning according to VARK classification was performed. The largest group of students consisted of those preferring motion (kinesthetic) learning style. The classification of the students into the other three learning styles was more or less even.The proportional representation of men and women according to their favourite learning style is the same in each group and corresponds to the total ratio of men and women in the sample, with just one exception. It is the kinesthetic learning style, where the proportion of men is higher than with the other three learning styles.By respecting learning styles while designing and creating innovative educational materials, it is possible to achieve for the students a “new” quality allowing valuable content presentation, adequate interaction, and comfort that the latter have never experienced before. It is thus necessary to systematically study the interrelation and to explore new approaches that would enable a continuing development of the field and a formulation of new principles leading to an even deeper interaction between the student and the learning content. It is advisable to respect the fact within the framework of teachers ‘lesson planning which itself should involve multiple elements or properly adapted educational materials that would allow individual groups of students a more effective learning