A STUDY ON THE LEARNING STYLES OF THE STUDENTS OF URMIA UNIVERSITY OF MEDICAL SCIENCES BASED ON "VARK" DEVELOPING CRITICAL THINKING, LIVELINESS AND ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION

The purpose of the educational system of any country has got an utmost
importance. Several factors, such as thinking, learning styles, motivation, environment, family,
community, quality of schools, the quality of the players can affect it. Learning and thinking is the
fundamental aim of educational systems, and critical thinking is a favorable outcome related to
education. Learning styles is also effective which can be achieved through experience and each person
can find his own learning style. The motivation of the students, is associated with their learning and
academic achievement. The aim of study was to investigate the relationship between learning styles
"VARK" with the development of critical thinking, vitality and achievement motivation among students
of Urmia University of Medical Sciences in the academic year 2015-2014.
Materials & Methods: This is a cross-correlation study. The population of the study included all
undergraduate students in Urmia University of Medical Sciences (2181). 377 people were selected based
on Morgan and a multi-stage stratified random sample size. "VARK" as a survey of learning styles,
Fleming and Mills (2004), and Watson Glaser as a critical thinking questionnaire, Form (A) (1980) of
Dehghanizadeh and HOSSEINCHARI research as academic vitality questionnaire (1391) and Herman’s
(1970) as achievement motivation questionnaire, and Cronbach's alpha (0.89) as the reliability criteria
were chosen.
Result: The results showed that 68 percent of university students in Urmia University of Medical
Sciences applied read and write style, 14 percent have auditory learning styles, and 12 percent used
visual learning styles, and 6 percent applied other learning styles. A relationship was observed between
"VARK" learning styles and vitality and achievement motivation. VARK learning methods contributed
87.1 percent, developing critical thinking 83.6 percent, liveliness 84.7 percent and achievement
motivation contributed 86.9 percent in the learning styles of the students of Urmia University of Medical
Sciences.
Conclusion: The results reinforced the learning styles of the students to develop critical thinking. To
reach the academic achievement, the vitality and motivation of the students in training centers should
be considered at its highest level