The role of student and instructor VARK learning styles in principles of economics

David Sabiston and Ambrose Leung
Mount Royal University, Canada

Do students have preferred learning styles and, if so, can these preferences - in addition to other abilities and attributes - influence their performance in post-secondary education? There is a significant body of literature, across many disciplines, endeavouring to answer this question. In this paper, we examine a variant of this question with respect to the discipline of economics: to what extent do instructors' attributes and preferred learning styles also influence student performance in principles of economics courses? Employing the VARK (visual, aural, reading/writing, and kinesthetic) learning style preference methodology, we find evidence that student performance can be significantly influenced by (i) students who have a visual learning preference and (ii) instructors who share a preferred kinesthetic learning style with their students.
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Authors: David Sabiston is an Associate Professor in the Department of Economics, Justice, and Policy Studies at Mount Royal University in Calgary, Canada. His current research interests focus on collaborative learning experiences in the active learning classroom and identifying determinants of student success in the discipline of economics. Email: dsabiston@mtroyal.ca Ambrose Leung is an Associate Professor in the Department of Economics, Justice, and Policy Studies at Mount Royal University in Calgary, Canada. His current research explores pedagogical approaches and strategies in undergraduate economics teaching and learning. His main fields of teaching interests are microeconomics, economics of crime, and labour economics. Email: acleung@mtroyal.ca Please cite as: Sabiston, D. & Leung, A. (2020). The role of student and instructor VARK learning styles in principles of economics. Issues in Educational Research, 30(4), 1502-1521. http://www.iier.org.au/iier30/sabiston.pdf