Background: Introducing innovative curricular designs can be evaluating by scrutinizing the learning patterns students use.
Aim: Studying the potential of Vermunt's Inventory of Learning Styles (ILS) in detecting differences in student learning patterns in different medical curricula.
Methods: Cross-sectional between-subjects comparison of ILS-scores in third-year medical students in a conventional, an integrated contextual and a PBL-curriculum using one-way post hoc ANOVA.
Results: Response rate was 85%: 197 conventional, 130 integrated contextual and 301 PBL students. The results show a differential impact from the three curricula. In relation to processing strategies, the students in the problem-based curriculum showed less rote learning and rehearsing, greater variety in sources of knowledge used and less ability to express study content in a personal manner than did the students in the conventional curriculum. The students of the integrated contextual curriculum showed more structuring of subject matter by integrating different aspects into a whole. In relation to regulation strategies, the students in the problem-based curriculum showed significantly more self-regulation of learning content and the students in the integrated contextual curriculum showed lower levels of regulation. As to learning orientations, the students in the problem-based curriculum showed less ambivalence and the students of the conventional curriculum were less vocationally oriented.
Conclusion: The study provides empirical support for expected effects of traditional and innovative curricula which thus far were not well supported by empirical studies.