Learning Style Preferences of Baccalaureate Nursing Students

The Kolb and Canfield models of learning style were used to determine the relationship of age, and age and professional nursing employment experience to learning style preferences of basic and RN students respectively, and the differences in learning style preferences of basic and RN students. The age of basic students, and age and work experience of RN students did not account for differences in students' preferences for learning as defined by the Kolb and Canfield models of learning style. There were significant differences in the learning style preferences between basic and RN students for the conditions and modes of learning as defined by the Canfield model. However, these differences did not coincide with those that had been inferred from adult learning theory. Based on the finding of significant differences between the two student groups for this model, some alternative propositions about the ways adults prefer to learn were proposed.