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D. Kobayashi1, Y. Saimon1, A. Sato1, K. Furukawa1, A.-C. Goh1
1Iryo Sosei University, Physical Therapy, Iwaki, Japan
Background: In physiotherapy education, it is important to understand learning outcomes such as students’ level of understanding and independence. The learning outcomes of physiotherapy students may depend on several factors such as intelligence and emotional maturity, particularly for young freshmen undergraduates. In addition, the student’s learning style and gender may also affect the learning outcome. It is also necessary for students to develop clinical reasoning skills, which may be influenced by their self-efficacy, during their undergraduate studies and is important for future success as a physical therapist. Currently, the relationship amongst these factors are not clearly understood.
Purpose: The aim of this survey is to evaluate the relationships amongst learning styles, intelligence / emotional quotients, and self-efficacy scales in freshmen undergraduate students.
Methods: This descriptive study was carried out using questionnaire surveys. Learning style was evaluated using the Kolb’s Learning Style Questionnaire, and self-efficacy with Physical Therapist Self-Efficacy (PTSE) Scale for Clinical Reasoning and New General Self-Efficacy (NGSE) scale. Intelligence was evaluated using the Cattell Culture Fair Intelligence Test (CFIT) and Emotional Intelligence Scale (EQS). Data analysis was carried out using Pearson’s and Spearman’s Correlation Coefficients and statistical significance was set at 0.05. Informed consent was obtained and this study was approved by the university’s ethics committee (No 19-05).
Results: A total of 69 students (39 Males, 30 females) responded to the survey. The results showed the following:
(1) For males, EQ was correlated with Pragmatist learning style (rho = 0.33, p<0.05);
(2) For females, EQ was correlated with Activist (rho = 0.63, p<0.01), Theorist (rho = 0.43, p<0.05), and Pragmatist (rho = 0.50, p<0.01) learning styles;
(3) IQ was not correlated with learning styles for males and females;
(4) IQ was correlated with PTSE (r = -0.34) for males only;
(5) EQ was correlated with PTSE (males: r = 0.33, p<0.05; females: r = 0.62, p<0.01) and NGSE (males: r =0.54, p<0.01; females: r=0.81, p<0.01); (6) No correlation between IQ and EQ for males and females.
(1) For males, EQ was correlated with Pragmatist learning style (rho = 0.33, p<0.05);
(2) For females, EQ was correlated with Activist (rho = 0.63, p<0.01), Theorist (rho = 0.43, p<0.05), and Pragmatist (rho = 0.50, p<0.01) learning styles;
(3) IQ was not correlated with learning styles for males and females;
(4) IQ was correlated with PTSE (r = -0.34) for males only;
(5) EQ was correlated with PTSE (males: r = 0.33, p<0.05; females: r = 0.62, p<0.01) and NGSE (males: r =0.54, p<0.01; females: r=0.81, p<0.01); (6) No correlation between IQ and EQ for males and females.
Conclusion(s): There are relationships between learning styles and EQ, between IQ and PTSE, and between EQ and PTSE / NGSE. Females have a more diverse learning style (Activist, Theorists, Pragmatist) compared with males (Pragmatist). For freshmen undergraduates, EQ was more important than IQ in relation to their perceived self-efficacy for both males and females.
Implications: Students’ learning styles have an impact on faculty’s teaching methods. Understanding variations in learning styles for both males and females may enable faculty members to adopt appropriate teaching methods to ensure effective learning outcomes.
Funding, acknowledgements: Nil
Keywords: Learning styles, Intelligence, Self-efficacy
Topic: Education: methods of teaching & learning
Did this work require ethics approval? Yes
Institution: Iryo Sosei University
Committee: University Ethics Committee
Ethics number: 44700
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
