An
idea developed by Swedish researchers Ference Marton and Roger
Saljö in 1976: students learn what they perceive the task
to demand of them, not what teachers think they should learn.
Students using a ‘surface’ approach see a task as
requiring specific answers to questions, so they rote learn bits
and pieces; students using a ‘deep’ approach want
to understand, so they focus on themes and main ideas.
My own take on this was to develop two questionnaires on approaches to learning, the Learning
Process Questionnaire (LPQ for school students) and the Study
Process Questionnaire (SPQ for tertiary students) to assess students’
use of these approaches. I also added an ‘achieving’ approach, which students use to maximise grades. Students' responses to these were to indicate their reaction to their teaching and learning environment, not type them as using this or that 'learning style', a term I think is not very helpful.
My use of students’ approaches and their relation to teaching
is explained in Teaching for Quality Learning at University,
Buckingham: Open University Press/McGraw-Hill, Biggs and Tang (2007). Google “students’ approaches to learning” but be very selective and don't get lost! |
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