Much of formal higher education research on learning experiences has focused on processing strategies and outcomes, however, less attention has been paid to their precursors. This study employed Biggs' 3P model to examine the contributions of learning conceptions (as part of learning patterns (LPs) research; construction of knowledge, intake of…

From an early age, understanding proportional reasoning is a fundamental pillar in mathematics education, and therefore, teachers should have a thorough knowledge of it. Despite its significance, there are few studies that analyse the difficulties that student teachers have in understanding proportionality, and even less so inverse…

Purpose: The individual characteristics of students can have a strong influence on the success of the adopted innovations in terms of their transferability and sustainability. The purpose of this paper is to compare the motivations and approaches to learning on degrees with differing vocational components. Design/methodology/approach:…

The CAPPLE project is an exploratory research project that aims to analyse the PLEs of future Spanish professionals. An ad-hoc survey about their habits for learning was conducted using a sample of 2054 university students from the last year of a degree. After data collection, two main processes were carried out: (1) the analysis of some of the…

Introduction: Motivation is an important factor in the learning of mathematics. Within this area of education, word problem solving is central in most mathematics curricula of Secondary School. The objective of this research is to detect the differences in motivation in terms of the strategies used to solve word problems. Method: It analyzed the…

In order to self-regulate their learning, students need to use different strategies to plan, monitor, and evaluate their learning activities (meta-cognitive strategies), as well as to control their motivation and emotion (volitional strategies). Students' effectiveness in their self-regulated learning process also varies depending on the academic…

A programme to enhance first-year college students' self-regulated learning strategies is proposed and assessed in two samples, one from the University of Oviedo (Spain) and the other from the University of Minho (Portugal). Each sample was divided into two groups (experimental and control). The Spanish sample comprised 44 students in the…

Introduction: This study examines the relationship between student basic need satisfaction (autonomy, competence, relatedness and belonging), their reporting of approaches to learning (deep and surface), their reporting of avoidance strategies (avoidance of effort and challenge, avoidance of help seeking and preference to avoid novelty) and…

Introduction: The main objective of this study is to analyze the dimensions which underlie new university students' preferences for instructional methods, and how these preferences relate to their learning styles and motivational strategies. Method: The sample consisted of 158 students in their first year of teacher training at the University of…

The main purpose of this study was to examine the effect of teachers' and students' thinking styles on students' satisfaction with the course followed and on their learning process. The sample was made up of 102 instructional psychology college students who responded to two administrations of the Thinking Style Inventory, one about their teacher…