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Students’ experiences of studying physics concepts: The effects of disintegrated perceptions and approaches

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Abstract

Recent research on student learning has revealed that a number of students in any learning context are unable to distinguish between contrasting contextualised approaches to learning. In other words, the relationship between their perceptions of the learning context and their approaches to learning disintegrates and becomes incoherent. These students are observed to be among the lower academic achievers in their group. This paper reports on the results of a study which shows that physics students’ prior understandings of key concepts are systematically related to the way they approach their studies, their perceptions of the learning context and the quality of the outcomes of their studies. As with previous studies, one group reported disintegrated learning experiences. As a group they were found to have the poorest pre-conceptual knowledge, to have the poorest postconceptual knowledge, and to be the lowest achievers. These results are consistent with the earlier studies, but extend them by showing that disintegrated perceptions and approaches are related to students’ understanding before and after the subject as determined using qualitative indicators of understanding as well as assessment results.

Résumé

La recherche récente sur l’acquisition universitaire a montré qu’un certain nombre d’étudiants, quel que soit le contexte d’apprentissage dans lequel ils sont mis, sont incapables de distinguer des approches de l’apprentissage contextualisées de façons différentes. En d’autres termes, la relation entre leur perception du contexte d’apprentissage et leurs stratégies d’apprentissage se désintègre et devient incohérente. Ces étudiants sont parmi ceux qui ont les résultats les plus faibles. Cet article rapporte les résultats d’une étude conduite auprès d’étudiants en physique; elle montre que la compréhension initiale des notions clefs est systématiquement associée à leur façon d’approcher leurs études, leur perception du contexte d’apprentissage, et la qualité des résultats de leurs études. Comme dans les recherches antérieures, un groupe d’étudiants a fait état d’expériences d’apprentissage désintégrées. Ces sujets se sont révélé avoir les connaissances pré- et post-conceptuelles les plus pauvres et les résultats les plus bas. Ces résultats rejoignent les constats antérieurs, mais les prolongent en montrant que les perceptions et stratégies désintégrées sont liées aux compréhensions pré et post-conceptuelles de la matière enseignée, appréciées aussi bien à partir d’indicateurs qualitatifs que de résultats d’évaluation.

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Correspondence to Michael Prosser.

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Prosser, M., Trigwell, K., Hazel, E. et al. Students’ experiences of studying physics concepts: The effects of disintegrated perceptions and approaches. Eur J Psychol Educ 15, 61–74 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03173167

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03173167

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