Surgery resident learning styles and academic achievement

Abstract

Objective: To determine if surgical residents share a preferred learning style as measured by Kolb's Learning Style Inventory (LSI) and if a relationship exists between resident learning style and achievement as measured by a standardized examination (AME). Also, core faculty learning styles were assessed to determine if faculty and residents share a preferred learning style.

Design: Kolb's LSI, Version 3, was administered to 16 surgical residents and the residency program's core faculty of 6 attending physicians. To measure academic achievement, the American Medical Education (AME) examination was administered to residents.

Setting: The Hospital of Saint Raphael, General Surgery Residency Program, New Haven, Connecticut. Both instruments were administered to residents during protected core curriculum time. Core faculty were administered the LSI on an individual basis.

Participants: Surgical residents of the Hospital of Saint Raphael's General Surgery Residency Program and 6 core faculty members

Results: Analysis of resident learning style preference revealed Converging as the most commonly occurring style for residents (7) followed by Accommodating (5), Assimilating (3), and Diverging (1). The predominant learning style for core faculty was also Converging (4) with 2 Divergers. The average score for the Convergers on the AME was 62.6 compared with 42 for the next most frequently occurring learning style, Accommodators.

Conclusions: In this surgical residency program, a preferred learning style for residents seems to exist (Converging), which confirms what previous studies have found. Additionally, residents with this learning style attained a higher average achievement score as measured by the AME. Also, core faculty share the same preferential learning style as this subset of residents.