Study On Learning Style Of Nursing Student And Teaching Strategy

Background: Learning style, as one of the concepts to describeindividual differences, is a study method that a learner uses consistentlywith characteristics of personality and learning inclination. Learningprocess includes: Concrete Experience (CE), which consists of learningfrom feelings or reaction to new experiences, Reflective Observation(RO), which consists of learning from listening and observing, AbstractConceptualization (AC), which consists of learning from thinking oranalyzing problems in a systematic method, and Active Experimentation(AE), which consists of learning by doing. These four cycles are tied intolearning styles in that each style incorporates two cycles. Divergers preferto learn using by Concrete Experience and Reflective Observation.Assimilators prefer to learn by using Reflective Observation and AbstractConceptualization. Convergers prefer to learn using by AbstractConceptualization and Active Experimentation. Accommodators prefer tolearn using by Active Experimentation and Concrete Experience.Understanding learning styles will help teachers recognizeindividual differences, and explore the ways to help students enhancetheir learning abilities through their particular strength with learningstyles, so as to enhance their active roles in learning. Therefore, weshould pay more attention to learning styles.Objective: To know about learning styles of nursing students and the correlation between learning styles and academic achievements, andbased on that to probe into teaching strategies so as to promote teachingeffect and quality.Methods:①In order to understand individual learner differences inlearning styles and hobbies in learning process, Kolb's Learning StylesInventory was administered to 404 nursing majors. Learning styles andhobbies of all students in learning process were analyzed.②168 seniornursing students' academic achievements were assessed by averagescores of required courses and nursing skills. The correlation betweenlearning style and academic achievement was analyzed.③72 Studentswere assigned to two groups, Intervened group and Control group. Everygroup had 36 persons. Intervened group: 4 students with differentlearning styles (at least 3 kinds) were assigned into a cooperative group.Teacher should encourage students to communicate with each other andhelp students reach a balance in their preferred and less preferred styles.Control group: Students were assigned randomly. Teacher answeredstudents' questions. Nursing skills achievements were compared betweentwo groups.Results:①Of all subjects, 31.1% preferred the diverger style; 32.2%preferred assimilator style; 18.2% preferred the converger style; 18.5%preferred the accommodator style.②Participants in this study scored inthe lower boundary of the 60-80% percentile for CE, and the upperboundary of the 60-80% percentile for AC; However, the AE score fell inthe boundary of the 20-40%, and the RO score fell in the boundary of the40-60%.③The data showed a significant (p＜0.05)relationship between learning style and performance. There was a significant (p＜0.05)correlation between learning hobby and learning performance.Convergers and accommodators did better than dirvergers in academicachievement, and the AC score had significant positive correlation withtheoretical performance; Convergers and assimilators did better thandirvergers in nursing skill performance, and the AE score had significantpositive correlation with nursing skill performance.④Students withdifferent learning styles working as a group did better than the controlgroups.Conclusion:①Nursing students have higher capability of perceivinginformation, and have better theoretical knowledge,but they are relativelylack of interpersonal communication capability and capability to solveproblems, while could not process information well.②Learning stylesaffect academic achievements. In the course of nursing teaching, thepractical capability and creativity of nursing students must bestrengthened so as to enhance their self-learning capability. Andteachers should also pay attention to promote interpersonalcommunicative ability of students. Meanwhile, in order to enhance theircreative ability, students should be encouraged to take an active role inexperimentation.③Students of different learning styles seem to conferadvantages on overall group performance, suggesting that complementarypreferences and skills may foster increased creativity in the learning team.