University students' conceptions of learning across multiple domains

Research on students' conceptions of learning is a growing and complex area of interest in the field of psychology of education. Even though much of the investigation addressed to explore conceptions of learning at the university level, still less research has considered how naïve (i.e. 'l...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:European journal of psychology of education 2018-10, Vol.33 (4), p.665-684
Main Authors: Vezzani, Claudio, Vettori, Giulia, Pinto, Giuliana
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Collaboration
College Students
Education
Educational Psychology
Emotions
Gender Differences
Humanities
Instructional Program Divisions
Intellectual Disciplines
Knowledge
Learning
Learning Motivation
Learning Processes
Learning Strategies
Pedagogic Psychology
Personal development
Resistance (Psychology)
Sciences
Self Efficacy
Social Influences
Student Attitudes
Success
Teachers
Teaching Methods
Technology
University students
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Summary:Research on students' conceptions of learning is a growing and complex area of interest in the field of psychology of education. Even though much of the investigation addressed to explore conceptions of learning at the university level, still less research has considered how naïve (i.e. 'learning as reduction of deficit knowledge through individual effort') and sophisticated (i.e. 'learning as opportunity and self-efficacy') conceptions of learning are related to personal and contextual factors. This research investigated how gender, academic area, and level of study influence university students' conceptions of learning. Three hundred forty-six university students participated in the study. They were either from humanities (240) or technical-scientific (106) areas of study and they were attending either a Bachelor (140) or Master's degree (206) course. Conceptions of learning were explored using a self-report instrument (Learning Conceptions Questionnaire; LCQ). A MANOVA revealed that females show conceptions of learning more related to social and motivational aspects of learning with a greater personal involvement, compared with males. No typical pattern of conceptions of learning was found for humanities students or for technical-scientific students. Increasing with the level of study, students showed both naïve and sophisticated conceptions of learning increased, since both 'learning as reduction of deficit knowledge through individual effort' and 'learning as opportunities and self-efficacy' were more likely. Implications of these results and future lines of research will be discussed.
ISSN:0256-2928
1878-5174
DOI:10.1007/s10212-017-0349-6