Poster #15 - Undergraduate Students' Discipline-Specific Perceptions of Learning Practices: A Mixed-Methods Approach

• In Event: 34.099 - MTCC Poster Session Seven
  In Poster Session: 34.099-2 - College Student Learning and Development

Abstract

Students’ perceptions of learning affect their effort and approaches as they engage in the classroom; these perceptions and learning environments that feed them may vary across disciplines. We investigated these differences in 532 students from one humanities and two chemistry courses who completed questions on preferences for learning practices and epistemic beliefs (EBs). Open-ended responses were coded for constructivist and instructivist views of learning, and then grouped as a ratio. Regressions were used to determine discipline-specific differences, and any association between preferences for learning and EBs. Results revealed disciplinary differences in students’ learning preferences, as well as additional potential influential factors. Understanding students’ learning perceptions can have implications for future enrollment, invested effort, and approaches to learning within different disciplines.

Authors

• Andrea Kunze, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• Teomara Rutherford, University of Delaware