A quantitative investigation of learning styles, motivation and learning strategies for undergraduate engineering students

Abstract

Students' learning styles, motivation and learning strategies have been receiving increasing attention in the international engineering education community in recent years, and there is a need to design the most appropriate curriculum and pedagogy to best meet the diverse needs of students. The present study focuses on a quantitative investigation of learning styles, motivation and learning strategies among a representative group of undergraduate engineering students at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. Statistical analysis based on student responses to the index of learning styles (ILS) survey and to the motivated strategies for learning questionnaire (MSLQ) survey was performed. The results show that the surveyed students have a balanced preference for all learning style dimensions, except for visual learning, and that they have better motivation than learning strategies. The research findings imply that when designing curriculum and pedagogy, instructors should pay attention to providing students with visual aids, as well as step-by-step guidance for problem-solving, and should also emphasise teaching students how to learn.