Research shows that a surface approach to learning is more common among students in the natural sciences, while students representing the "soft" sciences are more likely to apply a deep approach. However, findings conflict concerning the stability of approaches to learning in general. This study explores the variation in students'…

This study explores how the relationship between college students' learning strategies and their grade point average (GPA) differs across two culturally different institutions. Surveys of 621 students at a South Korean university and 824 students at a university in the USA were used to assess four types of learning strategies: motivation-related,…

This study explores factors affecting the study pace of law students during their first academic year. The participants comprised two student groups: those whose number of study credits were the lowest and highest. Altogether, 25 students (11 with a slow and 14 with a fast study pace) were interviewed. The factors affecting study pace mentioned by…

This study aims to identify student models of learning (sets of "intra-student" cognitions about learning) and to investigate their effect on study strategies. A two-step cluster analysis identified four student models of learning, representing students' self-efficacy beliefs, learning conceptions, attributions for academic performance…

A survey of 190 first- and second-year university students investigated the relationship between student orientation to learning (deep, surface, or achieving), perceptions of the skills and abilities being assessed by multiple-choice tests, and study strategies they intended to use for upcoming examinations. (Author/MSE)

The Approaches to Studying Inventory (ASI) measures orientations to learning in higher education. Two studies used different forms of the ASI to investigate possible gender variation in approaches to studying. No consistent evidence of significant difference between men and women on individual items, subscales, or learning orientations was found.…

Comparison of the study skills of 38 adult and 60 traditional-age college students in the same course found that older students had significantly higher scores on meaning orientation and lower scores on reproducing orientation and had persistence and educational attainment at least as high as that of traditional-age students. (Author/MSE)

A study of the approaches to learning of adult students in nine United Kingdom colleges of further education found them qualitatively different from those of traditional students as determined by a previous study. Results suggest that adult education courses may inculcate an educational culture inconsistent with the dominant culture in mainstream…

Approaches to studying were measured in male and female students taking arts and sciences degrees at three British colleges. Students taking science courses had greater reproduction orientation than those in arts courses. Females had greater meaning orientation in arts courses taken in a "female" learning environment, and when taking…