Learning Style Differences between Nursing and Teaching Students in Sweden: A Comparative Study

The teaching profession has been continually challenged to provide evidence of the effectiveness of teaching and learning methods. Teacher education, as well as nursing education, is currently undergoing reforms in Sweden. At the university where the research was conducted, teaching and nursing programs are two priority educational programs and maybe knowledge of learning styles can improve the quality of these programs. The purpose of this research was to examine the learning style preferences for two student groups, teachers and nurses, to analyze their differences in light of international research on learning styles. The study involved 78 teaching students and 78 nursing students. Twenty subscales of the Productivity Environmental Preference Survey (PEPS) (Dunn, Dunn, & Price, 1984; 1991; 2000) were used to identify the participants’ learning style preferences. The results showed statistically significant differences between the two student groups. In comparison to teaching students, more nursing students were highly motivated, kinesthetic, and preferred authorities. More teaching students were highly persistent. The findings suggest the need for widely diverse teaching approaches and conscious didactic action skills in higher education, as well as implementation of learning strategies for students.