Impacts of Teaching Approaches on Learning Approaches of Construction Engineering Students: A Comparative Study between Hong Kong and Mainland China

Abstract

Teaching and learning contexts influence the learning process and determine the learning outcome or product. Teaching approaches may vary across different engineering and science courses and students. This study was aimed at understanding the differences in teaching approaches between two regions (Hong Kong and mainland China) and their relevant impacts on the learning process in construction engineering education. An exploratory survey was conducted on construction engineering students in China to investigate relationships between teaching approaches, learning approaches, and teaching satisfaction. Results indicate that the "transferring" and "shaping" teaching approaches are commonly used in the first and second class universities in the mainland, while the "transferring" and "traveling" approaches are commonly applied in Hong Kong. Teacher-centered teaching is correlated to a "surface" learning approach among students at Hong Kong universities but it is correlated to a "deep" learning approach for students in the mainland. Students at universities in mainland China are satisfied with all four teaching approaches, "transferring," "shaping," "traveling," and "growing;" while students in Hong Kong are only significantly satisfied with the "growing" teaching approach.

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“…Andrade (2006) suggests that the change to student-centered teaching can be a slow process. Indeed, contrary to earlier studies (Watkins, 2000;Biggs, 1994), the later studies do show that Chinese students are adapting to the student-centered teaching (Xiao, 2006;Leung & Lu, 2008;Zhang, 2006), which promotes critical thinking.…”

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