Learning styles of Brazilian dental undergraduate students by vark questionnaire

The purpose of this study was to identify the learning styles of undergraduate dental students at private education institutions in the State of Ceará, Brazil, and the factors that influence their formation. 459 students participated in this study by answering the VARK questionnaire and filling out a sociodemographic form. Data were analyzed using Pearson’s Chi-squared test and multinomial logistic regression. 46.40% of the participants were unimodal (n=213) and 53.60% were panmodal (n=246). The most prevalent learning style was the K (13.9%; n=64). First semester students were unimodal or bimodal, fourth semester students were trimodal or panmodal, and tenth semester students were unimodal, bimodal or panmodal (p<0.05). Students who attended daycare were unimodal or panmodal while those who went straight to school were bimodal or trimodal (p<0.05). There were no statistically significant differences in gender, age and maternal education level whether the student was taught how to read and write at home or at school (p>0.05). This occurred for the other variables: primary education/secondary education completed in public/private schools, sports or arts practices in childhood and adolescence (p>0.05). However, these preferences were not influenced by constitutional or external factors, except for students who attended daycare at preschool age.