Doing a psychology degree: an investigation of student understanding about the learning and teaching of psychology

Learning from experience: the expectations and experiences of first‐year undergraduate psychology students

“…Also, by the end of the first year, students were not as interested in all aspects of their course as they had thought they would be at the beginning of the year (Stage 1: mean53.70; Stage 2: mean53.16): F (1,167)514.929, p,0.001, g 2 50.082. Wallwork, Mason and Mahoney (2006) reported that, compared with first-year students who tend to see psychology as uncovering underlying truths about human nature, second-and thirdyear students are more likely to appreciate psychology as an area characterised by multiple perspectives and diversity of focus. The data presented here could provide a first indication of this in our participants.…”

“…Although students who withdraw from university often report dissatisfaction with their course as the principle reason for leaving (Ozga and Sukhnandan 1997;Harrison 2006), little is known about incoming psychology students' (1) expectations about the content of their degree course, or (2) their ideas about psychology as a discipline. Furthermore, first-year psychology students seem to hold beliefs about psychology that are not consistent with the typical core undergraduate syllabus; overestimating the extent to which the purpose of psychology is to 'change, help or cure individuals' and tending to see psychological knowledge as being gained from observation and introspection (Wallwork, Mason and Mahoney 2006).…”

Significance of Epistemological Beliefs for Teaching and Learning Psychology: A Review

“…Focus groups conducted with beginning, second-and third-year UK psychology students showed a shift in third-year students who emphasised the importance of personally experiencing the discipline's complexity (Wallwork et al, 2006). The authors suggested that aiding psychology students' development of independent learning and critical thinking might require educators to avoid providing increasing structure and support, because this may maintain information acquisition (dualist) models of learning.…”

“…Focus groups conducted with beginning, second-and third-year psychology students in the United Kingdom (UK) showed that beginning students viewed psychology as being open-ended and creative (suggesting relativist and constructivist epistemologies), but also as constituting a body of knowledge (suggesting a dualist epistemology; see Wallwork, Mahoney, & Mason, 2006). Second-and third-year students referred to the discipline's complexity, with this being viewed more positively by third-years.…”

“…A number of authors have provided relevant suggestions for teaching practice (e.g., Bendixen & Rule, 2004;King & Kitchener, 2004;Muis, 2007). Strategies such as encouraging students to structure knowledge themselves via optimally supportive learning environments (Wallwork et al, 2006), reviewing historical development of an area (Hofer, 2001), attending to individual student variability and potential anxiety about constructivist approaches (Lea et al, 2003), and giving assessment feedback that emphasises core understanding rather than surface issues (Lea & Street, 1998) are demonstrated or likely to be helpful in psychology.…”