Evaluation of the Relationship between Students' Learning Styles and Academic Engagement at the Faculty of Medicine, Zagazig University, Fakous Branch

Background: Individual learning differences - personality, learning styles, techniques, and concepts - are interrelated and collectively shape how effectively people learn. Personality can influence preferred learning styles and the motivation to use certain techniques, while learning styles may guide how individuals approach concepts. Effective learning techniques help bridge the gap between personal preferences and conceptual understanding, enhancing retention and comprehension. Aim: enhance student engagement through exploring different learning styles. Materials and Methods: This analytical, cross-sectional design was conducted at the Faculty of Medicine, Zagazig University, Fakous Branch, to assess the preferred learning styles and its effects on students' engagement (1st, 2nd and 3rd year) students by using quantitative tools in the form of questionnaire: VARK Learning Styles Questionnaire- Arabic version, and Medical Students' Engagement Questionnaire. Results: Our study revealed that there was a significant positive relationship between student engagement and each learning style. The strongest correlation was observed in students with a visual learning style, followed by a strong correlation for those with a kinesthetic learning style and a moderate correlation for those with an auditory learning style. Which echoes the importance of increasing the understanding of learning styles for educators and students about their significance and consequences for enhancing medical education and developing more capable physicians. Conclusion: Most medical students prefer a unimodal learning style. First-year students predominantly use a kinesthetic learning style, while second- and third-year students favor an auditory learning style. We should increase our efforts in attracting students' attention, increasing their involvement in their studies, take their opinions and feedback into account and offer them a variety of activities within a learner-centered approach to accommodate the diverse styles present in the classroom which in turn will increase their engagement.