THEME 3: HOW PEOPLE LEARN &
LEARNING THEORIES
APPROACHES TO LEARNING
& THEORETICAL MODELS

Think about your own learning
 Would you categorise your learning usually as

http://www.audiosparx.com/sa/play/port_lofi.cfm/sound_iid.4696

 Marton (1975): Approaches to study
 Students’ approaches to a task (their intention),
(perhaps) determines the level of engagement & thus the quality of the outcomes
 These approaches may be classified as either DEEP or SURFACE
 More recently extended to include ‘STRATEGIC
LEARNING’ (Entwistle, 1997)
 http://www.learningstyles.co.uk/enh_eyls_msl_.php
 http://ericec.org/digests/e638.html

‘SURFACE’ APPROACH TO LEARNING
 Generically refer to ‘inappropriate’ learning activities as comprising a surface approach to learning….
 Intention to (merely?) complete the given task
 Memorize the information - Rote learning
 No distinction between new ideas & existing knowledge
 Superficial cognitive processing gives the impression that max. learning has occurred.
Facts are learned outside a context of meaning
‘To cope with course requirements’

 “Learner sees task as external imposition
 Instrumentally or pragmatically motivated and seek to meet demands of task with minimum effort
 Overall involved in study without reflection on purpose or strategy with the focus of that study on the words, the text, or the formulae.”

 Adopt strategies which include:
*focus on unrelated parts of the task
*separate treatment of related parts (such as principles and examples)
*focus on what are seen as essentials (factual data)
*reproduction of the essentials as accurately as possible
*rote memorising information for assessment purposes rather than for understanding

 Generically refer to ‘appropriate’ learning activities as comprising a deep approach to learning….
 Intention to seek and understand meaning
 Relate concepts to existing experience
 Distinguish between new ideas & existing knowledge
 Critically evaluate & determine key themes & concepts
Facts are learnt within a meaningful framework
‘To understand for yourself’

 “Learner aims to understand ideas and seek meanings
 Learner has intrinsic interest in task and expectation of enjoyment in carrying it out
 Overall focus on meaning in argument, the message or the relationships, aware of meanings carried by words, text or formulae”

 to help satisfy curiosity e.g.
*making task coherent with own experience;
*relating and distinguishing evidence/argument;
*looking for patterns/underlying principles
*integrating task with existing awareness
*Seeing parts of task making up the whole
*forming hypotheses
*relating what s/he understand from other parts of the same subject and from different subjects
(PROSSER & TRIGWELL, 1999) Ch.1

Often seen as engaging elements of both surface & deep approaches
 Put consistent effort into studying
 Find the right conditions & materials for learning
 Managing time and effort effectively
 Being alert to assessment requirements & criteria
 Gearing work to perceived preference of lecturers
‘To achieve the best possible grades’

 What factors might contribute to a particular approach to study being adopted?
 Please provide a practical example!
 How might this awareness impact upon your own professional practice?

To encourage deep learning focus on:
 PRESAGE: student factors and teaching context
 PROCESS: activities focused to encourage deep and discourage surface learning
 PRODUCT: learning outcomes – facts; skills; structure; transfer; involvement
 http://www.engsc.ac.uk/er/theory/cons tructive_alignment.asp

 Intention only to achieve minimal pass – meal ticket? Relevance?
 Non-academic priorities exceeding academic
 Insufficient time, workload too high
 Misunderstanding requirements – recall adequate
 A cynical view of education
 High anxiety
 Genuine inability to understand particular content at a deep level”
BIGGS (1999)

 Teaching in piecemeal fashion: providing lists, not bringing out intrinsic structure of subject
 Assessing for independent facts – short answers and multiple-choice tests
 Teaching and especially assessing in a way that encourages cynicism
 Providing insufficient time to engage in tasks, emphasising coverage at the expense of depth
 Creating undue anxiety or low expectations of success: “Anyone who can’t understand this isn’t fit to be at university”.
BIGGS(1999)

 Intention to engage the task meaningfully and appropriately (intrinsic curiosity or determination to do well)
 Appropriate background knowledge; ability to focus at high conceptual level, working from first principles, requires well-structured knowledge base
 A genuine preference, and ability, for working conceptually rather than with unrelated detail”
( BIGGS,1999)

 Teaching and assessing in a way that encourages a positive working atmosphere, so students can make mistakes and learn from them
 Emphasising depth of learning, rather than breadth or coverage
 In general, and most importantly, using teaching and assessment methods that support the explicit aims and objectives of the course”
(BIGGS,1999)

 Teaching in such a way as to bring out the structure of the subject explicitly
 Teaching to elicit a positive response from students, e.g. by questioning or presenting problems, rather than teaching to expound information
 Teaching by building on what students already know
 Confronting and eradicating students’ misconceptions
 Assessing for structure rather than for independent facts”
(BIGGS,1999)

 PROVIDE CLEAR STATEMENT OF GOALS
 INCLUDE LEARNER INPUT TO COURSE
STRUCTURE AND CONTENT
 TUTOR/LEARNER INTERACTION
 LEARNER/LEARNER INTERACTION
 ACTIVE/INTERACTIVE EXERCISES
 TEACH LEARNING SKILLS EXPLICITLY
 CHOICE AND/OR RANGE OF ASSESSMENT
TASKS
 ENGAGE LEARNERS IN INVESTIGATION AND
REFLECTION
 COLLABORATIVE PROJECTS
 FULL FEEDBACK

 Should we be promoting deep, surface or strategic learning?
 Do we promote any of these unintentionally?
 How does the use of virtual learning environments affect the student or teacher approach to learning?
 How does deep learning relate to teaching smarter?

Not everything that is deep is beautiful…..

 BIGGS, J., 1999,
Teaching for Quality at University
Open UP and SRHE, Buckingham
Especially Chapter 2 for theory of “Constructive alignment”
 PROSSER,M. & TRIGWELL,K, 1999,
Understanding Learning & Teaching: The Experience in Higher Education
Open UP and SRHE, Buckingham
Especially Chapter 7

Deep and surface approaches to learning
–an introduction
 http://www.ntlf.com/html/pi/9512/articl e1.htm
 http://www.engsc.ac.uk/er/theory/learn ing.asp
 http://www.learningandteaching.info/le arning/deepsurf.htm
 http://www.iml.uts.edu.au/learnteach/e nhance/understand/index.html
 http://www.lsda.org.uk/files/PDF/1543.
pdf
 Read the original authors for detail