Students’ approaches to learning in problem-based learning: Taking into account professional behavior in the tutorial groups,self-study time,and different assessment aspects

Problem-based learning (PBL) represents a major development in higher educational practice and is believed to promote deep learning in students. However, empirical findings on the promotion of deep learning in PBL remain unclear. The aim of the present study is to investigate the relationships between students’ approaches to learning (SAL) and academic achievement in a PBL environment, taking into account the role of self-study time and students’ professional behavior in the PBL tutorial groups. In addition, different knowledge categories that determine achievement (i.e., understanding of concepts, understanding of the principles that link concepts, and the linking of concepts and principles to conditions and procedures for application) were taken into account. A hypothesized structural equation model including these variables was tested. Results showed that the PBL students in this study reported more use of a surface compared to a deep approach to learning. The hypothesized model demonstrated an excellent fit of the model with the data. The relationship between SAL and academic achievement was mediated by self-study time and professional behavior. These findings imply that self-study time and professional behavior are crucial variables to take into account when studying SAL.     

社科学报编辑应确立新的学术理念

学术是社科学报的灵魂。社科学报的学术特点主要包括:高水平的学术层次,多学科的学术集合,丰富宽泛的学术内容,理论建构的学术范式,解释分析的学术话语,主客一体的评价尺度。社科学报编辑要不断提升自身的学术品位,在编辑实践中正确处理学术与现实、学术与创新、学术与学科、学术与规范等关系,弘扬学术良知,坚持学术原则。     

The impact of Greek University students’ perceptions of their learning environment on approaches to studying and academic outcomes

The relationship between university students’ perceptions of their academic environment, their approaches to study, and academic outcomes was investigated for first and fourth-final year students. The responses of 88 first and 92 fourth year students were analysed using a path analysis model. Students’ perceptions of the learning environment were measured by an instrument based on the Course Perceptions Questionnaire (CPQ) and Course Experience Questionnaire (CEQ) inventories. The Approaches to Studying Inventory (ASI) was used to assess students’ approaches to studying. The structure of the ASI inventory was explored by factor analysis. The analysis gave two factors which reflect the deep and surface approaches to studying. Workload does not predict any of the studying approaches and academic outcomes. There was a pattern of relationships between deep approach, perceptions of learning environment which encourage this approach, and outcomes. Assessment methods was the best predictor of satisfaction for all of the students. For the first year students, University grade was not associated with any of the explored variables but the level of satisfaction was predicted by relationships with tutors and fellows. For the fourth year students, good teaching predicted achievement both directly and indirectly through the deep approach to studying. The findings indicate that fourth year students’ perceptions of the current learning environment are a stronger predictor of academic achievement than prior academic ability (university entrance examinations’ grade). The study suggests further exploration of the impact of affect in learning especially for the newcomers.     

Proficiency at academic studying

This article presents a hypothetical model, based largely on extant laboratory research, of (a) attributes of proficiency at academic studying, and (b) course features that should act to promote and support students' engagement in sustained self-directed learning. This ideal model is contrasted with normative study behavior as indexed by results from a recent survey of adolescents' study activities. Principles regarding the way in which course demands and supports act to inhibit study proficiency in academic settings are discussed.     

中外文化交流与多元借鉴中的学术传承——李大钊的马克思主义学术体系与外国学术资源

五四时期是一个学术开放的时代,同时也是在中外文化交流中创建中国马克思主义学术的时代。李大钊转变为马克思主义者以后在开创中国马克思主义学术的过程中,对英国的学术思想、法国的学术思想、日本的学术思想展开研究,吸收了其积极成果,从而为中国现代学术的发展作出了贡献。李大钊也成为五四时期研究外国学术思想的先驱。由李大钊创建中国马克思主义学术的努力及其与外国学术资源的关系而言,中国马克思主义学术的创建是在中外文化交流达到新的水平的背景中进行的,体现了多元借鉴与学术传承的特点。     

终身学习视野下的微型学习课程设计原则研究

移动通信技术的发展使依托移动设备的微型学习成为可能,满足了成人学习者短小、松散、实用的学习需求。微型学习的理念和移动学习融为一体,为提高学习效率和质量提供了保证。然而,从目前的现状来看,对微型学习课程设计原则的研究非常有限。要充分发挥微型学习＂短小、精悍、实用＂的特点,尤其需要针对成人学习的特点以及移动设备的特征对课程设计原则进行深入研究。通过对移动学习的相关学习理论、已有的课程设计原则进行了研究和分析,提炼微型学习课程设计的原则和要素,为形成符合成人移动学习特点的课程设计提供参考,使成人学习者能够利用＂零碎＂时间进行学习,发挥移动设备和技术的特点和功能,使新媒体技术支持下的学习变得更加高效。     

曹操“孙子研究”初探

历史上,曹操确是一将《孙子兵法》联系实际、学以致用的典范,其生平战例中处处闪耀着孙子的身影;而《曹操注孙子》又是曹操“孙子研究”的最重要载体,所以,《曹操注孙子》在学术史上的地位非常崇高,其影响自然也异常巨大;但曹操毕竟不是一名专职的学者,且春秋战国时代的学术环境,学者们的认知特点及思维习惯,与秦汉以后是很不一样的,正源于那些学术断层、文献失落和“独尊儒术”的影响,使得身处汉末战乱时期的他,已难以去真正找回《孙子兵法》失去的“旨要”,这样,跨越曹操,还原孙子,成为当代孙子研究学者一项十分重要的任务。     

PBL学习模式之探讨

基于问题学习是一种研究性学习方式的教学模式,通过学生与指导教师、学习伙伴、以及学习资源之间的互动,帮助学生构建知识、发展能力。     

Factors affecting bioscience students’ academic achievement

The examination of academic progression has become an essential tool for measuring the effectiveness of educational systems. Research concerning the relationship between student learning and how they progress in their studies, however remains scarce. The aim of this study is two-fold: Firstly, the study aims to analyse first-year bioscience students’ perceptions of their teaching–learning environment and their approaches to learning as well as the relationship of these to academic achievement as measured by students’ progression in studies and how they succeed. Secondly, the present study explores factors students feel either enhance or impede their studying as well as the relationship of those factors with their approaches to learning and academic achievement. The data consist of responses from 188 first-year students who began their studies in the fall 2007 and 2008. The data were collected in a Finnish context with a modified and shortened version of the Experiences in Teaching and Learning Questionnaire (ETLQ). The analyses were carried out using factor analysis, one-way ANOVA and structural equation modeling. According to the results, organised studying was related to both academic progression and study success. In addition, academic progression was positively related to peer support. Furthermore, most of the students found that problems in time management impeded their studies and that pre-set schedules enhanced them. Results indicate that social support and self-regulation skills are important for academic achievement.     

Rule-Learning Events in the Acquisition of a Complex Skill: An Evaluation of Cascade

Acquiring a complex cognitive skill often involves learning principles of the task domain in the midst of solving problems or studying examples. Cascade is a model of such learning. It includes both rule-based reasoning and several kinds of analogical, case-based reasoning. Task domain principles are represented as rules, and Cascade learns new rules at rule-learning events, which are initiated by an impasse and utilize multiple kinds of reasoning. In this article, I evaluate Cascade's model of rule-learning events by analyzing ones gleaned from protocols of physics students solving problems and studying examples. As expected, Cascade's model is overly simple, but it appears feasible to extend it to cover all the observed learning events. The data themselves were surprising in that there are few learning events relative to the number that could have occurred, and those that did occur often involved forms of reasoning that are considerably shallower than expected. The data suggest ways that instruction can be improved to increase both the quantity and depth of learning events.     

美国高校的学术反思与学术评价

20世纪 80年代末以来 ,美国高教界对美国高校中存在的学术评价日益窄化和教师奖励制度越来越片面的倾向进行了深刻反思。尤其是博耶在 90年代初发表的两篇文献 ,提出了包括发现的学术、综合的学术、应用的学术和教学的学术四种形式在内的新学术观 ,并构建了包括学者的品质、学术工作的标准、学术证明和过程的可靠性四条原则的新的学术评价体系。博耶的新学术观拓展了学术概念的内涵 ,涵盖了现代大学日益丰富的使命。他提出的学术评价四原则 ,对于纠正当前我国高校学术评价中普遍存在的简单化、公式化、数字化倾向具有重要的现实意义     

中小学教师对学生学业失败归因的反应模式研究

本研究运用归因反应模式测验,以333名中小学教师为被试,探讨中小学教师对不同类型学生考试失败的归因,所引发的不同生气反应、奖惩以及对学生未来失败可能性的预测。结果发现高能力、低努力、无学习困难三类学生的考试失败会引发中小学教师较强的生气反应、较低的奖励;教师认为高能力学生比低能力学生在未来考试失败的可能性更小。小学教师主要基于学生是否努力,对其考试失败进行归因反应,而中学教师主要基于学生能力高低对其考试失败进行归因反应。     

Academic achievement among first semester undergraduate psychology students: the role of course experience, effort, motives and learning strategies

This study investigated the relationship between multiple predictors of academic achievement, including course experience, students’ approaches to learning (SAL), effort (amount of time spent on studying) and prior academic performance (high school grade point average—HSGPA) among 442 first semester undergraduate psychology students. Correlation analysis showed that all of these factors were related to first semester examination grade in psychology. Profile analyses showed significant mean level differences between subgroups of students. A structural equation model showed that surface and strategic approaches to learning were mediators between course experience and exam performance. This model also showed that SAL, effort and HSGPA were independent predictors of exam performance, also when controlling for the effect of the other predictors. Hence, academic performance is both indirectly affected by the learning context as experienced by the students and directly affected by the students’ effort, prior performance and approaches to learning.     

Learning analytics to uncover inequality in behavioural engagement and academic attainment in a distance learning setting

Abstract

Although the attainment gap between black and minority ethnic (BME) students and white students has persisted for decades, the potential causes of these disparities are highly debated. The emergence of learning analytics allows researchers to understand how students engage in learning activities based on their digital traces in a naturalistic setting. This study investigates the attainment gap by analysing the differences in behavioural engagement between different ethnic groups. Using multilevel models of academic performance, demographics, and online traces of 149,672 students enrolled in 401 modules in a distance learning setting, we confirmed the existing attainment gap. After controlling for other demographics, module characteristics and engagement, BME students were between 19% and 79% less likely to complete, pass or achieve an excellent grade compared to white students. Given the same academic performance, BME students spent 4-12% more time on studying than white students. While the attainment gap remained persistent after controlling for academic engagement, our study further highlighted the inequality of attainment between BME and white students.     

建构主义学习理论在西方经济学教学中的应用

建构主义学习理论是当代西方一种新的学习理论,为我们提供了全新的教学观。根据建构主义学习理论的教学设计原则,结合西方经济学的教学特点,探讨在西方经济学教学中运用启发式教学、角色模拟和案例教学法、合作协议学习和体验式教学等教学方法,有助于提高西方经济学的教学效果。     

研究性学习方法与学科课程知识结构教学法研究

根据认识论和教育科学理论研究了大学生研究性学习方法的掌握、研究性学习习惯的养成与学科课程知识结构教学法的关系问题,得到了“运用学科课程知识结构教学法进行教学,有利于大学生研究性学习心态的形成、研究性学习方法的掌握、研究性学习习惯的养成,有利于培养大学生的创新意识和创新才能”的结论。给出了研究性学习学科课程中的概念、规律、篇章知识结构、学科课程知识结构的模式;给出了学科课程中的概念、规律、篇章知识结构、学科课程知识结构的教学模式。     

Course design,teaching method and student epistemology

Previous research into student learning in departments of higher education has shown that links can be established between students' approaches to studying and their perceptions of the academic environment. It has also been found that students with differing study orientations are likely to define effective teaching in ways which reflect those orientations. The study reported here began by identifying different types of student epistemology and then investigated those factors within the academic environment which appeared to influence their incidence. Employing a naturalistic methodology-observations, interviews and case studies - the study was conducted in four departments in one institution of higher education: two arts and two science. Through a process of progressively focusing upon emergent issues, the study evolved through three stages, culminating in a model of the factors appearing to influence the development of student epistemology. It is found that the development of student epistemology is influenced by the interrelated factors of student learning approach, perception of the academic environment and lecturers' theories of teaching, which tends to uphold previous findings. It is also found, however, that students' conceptions of knowledge and their learning approaches are influenced by the ways in which knowledge is structured and presented within departments. Most particularly, a relationship was found between historical and philosophical studies, the methods of teaching them, and the development of student epistemologies.     

Investigating how college students’ task definitions and plans relate to self-regulated learning processing and understanding of a complex science topic

Winne and Hadwin (2008) identified four phases of self-regulated learning (SRL) including defining the task, setting goals and making plans, studying (i.e., learning), and adaptation. The vast majority of SRL research has focused on processing during the third phase, studying. In this study, we developed coding rubrics that allowed us to examine how the results of college students’ processing during phases one and two of Winne and Hadwin’s model, task definitions and plans, affected their SRL processing while learning with a hypermedia learning environment (HLE), and their subsequent academic performance. Our findings showed that, on average, participants gained both factual knowledge and integrated conceptual understanding over the course of learning with the HLE. The quality of participants’ task definitions and plans at pretest, as well as their SRL processing during learning, were related to learning outcomes. On average, participants’ task definitions improved from pretest to posttest. The findings from this study and the associated coding methodologies have implications for educational research and practice.     

Implementing vertical and horizontal engineering students’ integration and assessment of consequence academic achievement

Recent scholarship references indicate that integration of the student body can result in an enhanced learning experience for students and also greater satisfaction. This paper reports the results of a case study whereby mechanical engineering students studying at a newly established branch campus in Dubai of a British university were exposed to vertical and horizontal integration. Different activities have been embedded to ensure that students integrated and worked together with their peers and colleagues at different levels. The implemented processes and practices led to improved academic achievements, which were better than those of a similar cohort of students where no effort had been made to integrate. The analysis revealed that cooperative learning and the degree of academic support provided by teachers are positively and directly correlated with academic as well as the students’ own sense of personal achievement. The results are discussed in light of previous research and with reference to the cultural context of the study.