Session Information
Contribution
Description: Universities have always valued quality learning, though their understanding of what this term actually means has varied across different contexts and different periods of time. Presently, descriptions of quality learning are likely to involve such matters as the quality of students' understandings of subject matter, their skills of problem solving and critical thinking. One of the major indicators for students' understanding and critical thinking is the kind of questions they ask. On the other hand, it is widely accepted that students' conceptions of learning also affect the way they approach learning. It has been claimed that there is a relationship between students' conceptions of learning and the questions they ask, and that each conception of learning evokes different types of questions (Entwistle & Marton, 1984). However, there is little empirical evidence to support this theory. From these circumstances, the present study has a dual purpose: i) to analyse the nature of students' questions and ii) to explore possible empirical relationships between students' questions and their conceptions of learning.
There is a large body of research into conceptions of learning after Saljo's work after the 1970s. From this literature, a series of six hierarchically arranged conceptions of learning have been consistently found ranging from 'increasing one's knowledge' to 'changing as a person' (Marton, Dall'Alba & Beaty, 1993). A student with the first conception of learning will be anxious concerned about how to recall information which, concretely reproduced, will complete the next step in the perceived course requirements. They will ask mainly low-level questions ('Acquisition' questions) - those questions dealing with simple facts, ideas, objects, processes, procedures, or concepts which do not require evaluation, judgement, or drawing conclusions (Pedrosa de Jesus, Almeida & Watts, 2004). A student with the second conception of learning will ask predominantly higher-order questions ('Integration' questions) - which are characterized by the reorganization of concepts into novel patterns, to predict, to detect anomalies and to hypothesize new or different applications of principles learned (Pedrosa de Jesus, Almeida & Watts, 2004). These students will see learning as reorganization and transformation of their understanding of aspects of the surrounding world (Kolb, 1984).
Methodology: Our sample has involved 100 Chemistry first year students in Science and Engineering courses, at University of Aveiro, Portugal. They were observed in different classroom settings and undertaking a range of learning tasks. In order to help the characterisation of their conceptions of learning, ten of these students were then selected for interview. Both oral and written students' questions were then collected through different systems so that, for example, they could deliver their written questions via a software intranet system or through 'question- boxes', placed in lecture rooms.
Conclusions: The data confirms the relationship between learners' questions and their conceptions of learning, as advanced by Entwistle & Marton (1984). That is, acquisition or low level questions, are more frequently asked by students with the first three conceptions of learning (increasing knowledge, memorizing and applying) and integrative or high level questions, are predominantly asked by students within the other three conceptions of learning (understanding, seeing something in a different way, changing as a person).
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