Abstract:

One of the basic principles of modern education is to place the student at the center of the educational process. In other words, the entire organization of education should be designed to provide the student with the greatest benefit and thus make the best use of their time. Throughout history, teachers focused primarily on the content rather than how the content was delivered, and they usually developed their own teaching style without giving much thought to whether it fit the students.

VAK learning styles are a learning model designed by Walter Burke Barbe and later developed further by Neil Fleming. The VAK learning model divides people into three categories of learners: Visual Learners, Auditory Learners, and Kinesthetic Learners. The first group takes in information through vision, the second through hearing, and the third through movement.

People learn predominantly in one style - visual, auditory, or kinesthetic. Although each learner often incorporates elements of the other two learning styles, they are likely to get the most benefit from learning if they focus on their primary style.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the learning styles of students who focus on the STEM domain and to determine which style is predominant among them. Based on the results obtained, it is also intended to propose guidelines for the organization of the teaching process, with particular emphasis on the preparation of face-to-face classes, but also on the preparation of teaching materials, whether classical or digital.

The research would be conducted on a sample of students of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Faculty of Engineering, University of Rijeka, while the proposed guidelines would consist of general guidelines and guidelines specifically adapted to mathematics teaching. The guidelines themselves would be written in the context of modern teaching approaches of the Education 4.0 paradigm.

Keywords:

Learning styles, VAK learning model, STEM, mathematics teaching.