The learning styles of Australian exercise science and clinical exercise physiology students

There has been a shift in tertiary education, whereby large portions of theory are now taught online, and the practical skills underpinned by this knowledge taught in clinical environments. It is unclear if this flipped approach is appropriate for the learning styles Exercise Science (ES) and Clinical Exercise Physiology (CEP) students. First- and second-year ES and CEP students at a South Australian metropolitan university were invited to participate between March 2021 and October 2022. Eligible participants completed the Kolb's Learning Style Inventory (KLSI) (Version 3.1) to identify learning styles. Descriptive statistics were calculated for the four KLSI learning orientations. Group scores for the learning orientations were used to identify group preference for abstractness over concreteness and action over reflection. A total of 69 students completed the KLSI fully. As a single cohort, Accommodators were the most common learning style, and there was a preference for concreteness over abstractness when gaining experience and a preference for action over reflection when transferring experience into knowledge. These findings indicate that Australian ES and CEP students have a unique learning style that may be suited to flipped classroom approaches, but only if they include opportunity to experience skill learning in a hands-on manner, while also allowing time for reflection.