An Exploratory Study of Situated Conceptions of Learning and Learning Environments

Abstract

This paper describes a study designed to test whether situated conceptions of learning can be measured using questionnaires, and the relations between these aspects of students' awareness, their awareness of other environmental variables, and their learning outcomes. A situated conception of learning is one that is evoked and adopted by students in response to their perceptions of their learning tasks in a particular context. It may reflect the aims they have for their studies, once they have started that study and experienced that study environment. The results from this small-scale, limited-context study showed that when students perceived the learning environment as being more supportive of learning, they were more likely to describe a situated conception of learning that was more closely aligned with those promoted by the University. They also had higher scores on the deep approach to learning scale, lower scores on the surface approach scale, and expected to leave university with a higher degree classification. These associations, which suggest that situated conceptions, like prior experience of learning, may be a crucial indicator of learning approach and outcomes of learning, are sufficiently large to warrant more rigorous investigations.

University students’ conceptions of learning across multiple domains

“…McClure, Meyer, Garisch, Fischer, Weir, & Walkey, 2011) as well as teaching methods (Trigwell & Ashwin, 2006) could greatly influence conceptions of learning. Accordingly, in further studies performance indicators, such as achievements, and cross-cultural bounds related to teaching methods could be considered as potential factors able to affect students' conceptions of learning.…”

The Relationships between Students' Conceptions of Learning Engineering and their Preferences for Classroom and Laboratory Learning Environments

“…The laboratory setting and its student-centered focus for learning engineering is consistent with this viewpoint. Research also suggests that students' conceptions of learning are more closely aligned with those learning approaches used within a learning setting (Trigwell and Ashwin, 2006). A student-oriented learning environment may stimulate students to think critically and then develop a high-level view of learning (e.g., "applying" and "understanding"), whereas a learning environment focused on memorization of facts may cause students to learn passively and reproductively (Wierstra et al, 2003).…”

Conceptions of learning and approaches to learning in Portuguese students

“…These two basic conceptions of learning have been observed in several contexts and labelled in different ways. For instance, recently Trigwell and Ashwin (2006) wrote about 'aligned and non-aligned conceptions'. Marton, Dall'Alba, and Beaty (1993) identified specific variants of each of the main conceptions of learning.…”