Exhibition of ‘the Drawing Effect’ Across VARK Learning Preferences in High School Students

Abstract

In a free-recall experiment, the presence of 'the drawing effect' in relation to VARK learning preferences was examined in high school students. Participants were asked to draw and write out a list of presented words and afterwards completed a questionnaire to identify their VARK learning preferences. There was no statistically significant difference between the number of written words recalled versus the number of drawn words recalled. Further, no relationship between VARK learning scores and the drawing effect was identified. This experiment indicates that high school students of all VARK preferences do not display the drawing effect which may reflect a nuance in adolescent cognition or the recent modification of high school instructional practices. The findings of this study may encourage high school educators to focus more on quality of content rather than medium of presentation to create memorable lessons. Further research may determine whether the results of this research are consistent across age groups and with other high school student demographics.