Enhancing learning using generic and specific aspects of knowledge formation

Abstract

Recognising and understanding the diverse ways that students learn is an important step in setting up effective environments for learning. A traditional way of getting this information is to observe the quality of assessed work and classroom interactions. An alternative and more direct method is to actually ask students to tell you about their own learning. While some students will be less successful than others in articulating their ideas, an overall picture will emerge of the variety of ways in which students understand what it means to learn. Such an approach has been used to investigate students' experience of learning in a variety of contexts. One practical effect of this line of enquiry has been the discovery of the dichotomy between teacher focused, content orientations to learning associated with a surface approach to learning and student focused, learning orientations associated with a deep approach to learning. These qualitatively different conceptions of learning result in discernible differences in learning outcomes. While some aspects of learning seem to be universal, others depend on the context of learning. In this paper, we look at two parallel studies of students' conceptions of learning in statistics and in music, areas quite different both in content and traditional methods of pedagogy. Research in these and other academic disciplines suggests that there is a strong relation between students' (and teachers') perception of professional work and their conceptions of their discipline and learning within that discipline. We discuss how this 'Professional Entity' is apparent in statistics and music, and how an appreciation of the Professional Entity can help teachers enhance their students' learning in other disciplines.