title: Medical students' change in learning styles during the course of the undergraduate program: from 'thinking and watching' to 'thinking and doing'.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Most students admitted to medical school are abstract-passive learners. However, as they progress through the program, active learning and concrete interpersonal interactions become crucial for the acquisition of professional competencies. The purpose of this study was to determine if and how medical students' learning styles change during the course of their undergraduate program.
  
  
  METHODS
  All students admitted to the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (PUC) medical school between 2000 and 2011 (n = 1,290) took the Kolb's Learning Style Inventory at school entrance. Two years later 627 students took it again, and in the seventh and last year of the program 104 students took it for a third time. The distribution of styles at years 1, 3 and 7, and the mobility of students between styles were analyzed with Bayesian models.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Most freshmen (54%) were classified as assimilators (abstract-passive learners); convergers (abstract-active) followed with 26%, whereas divergers (concrete-passive) and accommodators (concrete-active) accounted for 11% and 9%, respectively. By year 3, the styles' distribution remained unchanged but in year 7 convergers outnumbered assimilators (49% vs. 33%). In general, there were no gender-related differences.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Medical students change their preferred way of learning: they evolve from an abstract-reflexive style to an abstract-active one. This change might represent an adaptation to the curriculum, which evolves from a lecture-based teacher-centered to a problem-based student-centered model.
authors.affiliation: Centro de Educación Médica, Facultad de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (PUC).
authors.forename: Marcela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bitran
authors.affiliation: Centro de Educación Médica, Facultad de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (PUC).
authors.forename: Denisse
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zúñiga
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Recursos Humanos, PUC.
authors.forename: Nuria
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Pedrals
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Salud Pública, Facultad de Medicina, PUC.
authors.forename: Oslando
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Padilla
authors.affiliation: Centro de Educación Médica, Facultad de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (PUC).
authors.forename: Beltrán
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mena