Michael Prosser

A phenomenographic study of academics' conceptions of science learning and teaching

Abstract This paper outlines the qualitative research method and results of an investigation of the conceptions of teaching and learning held by teachers of first year university chemistry and physics courses. In both cases a limited number of qualitatively different categories of description were identified (6 and 5 respectively) ranging from information transmission to facilitating conceptual change in teaching and knowledge accumulation to conceptual change in learning. An analysis of the referential and structural components of the conceptions is used to develop the internal structure of the conceptions. Finally, the relation of the results to conceptual change programs is discussed.

Scholarship of Teaching: A model

In this paper we present a model which describes the scholarship of teaching. We first explore what scholarship of teaching means, both in terms of the way it is represented in the literature and also the way it is understood by academic staff themselves. From this information, we derive a multi-dimensional model of scholarship of teaching which captures the variation found in the literature and empirical studies. In the final section, we illustrate how the model is used in informing the design of programs for development of the scholarship of teaching in universities.

The “How” and “What” of learning physics

Recent research on student learning in higher education has increasingly focussed on experiential aspects of how students approach their studies and what they learn from their studies. In this paper we describe the results of a study using phenomenographic research techniques, which focusses on student learning in a first year university physics course. The study, using interviews with sixteen volunteer students from the course, shows that only those students who actively sought to change their conceptions of the subject matter did so, while those who sought only to reproduce that subject matter did not.RésuméLes recherches les plus récentes dans l’Enseignement supérieur ont mis l’accent sur la façon dont les étudiants conçoivent leur activité d’étude et les apprentissages qui en découlent. Dans cet article nous décrivons les résultats d’une recherche phénoménographique concernant les activités d’apprentissage de la physique par des étudiants de première année d’Université. L’analyse d’entretiens conduits auprès de 16 étudiants révèle que ceux qui ont recherché à modifier leurs préconceptions dans le domaine ont tiré un plus grand bénéfice que ceux qui ont simplement reproduit les contenus enseignés.

What University Teachers Teach and How they Teach It

In this article we make three related arguments. The first isthat different teachers have different intentions concerning whatstudents will learn and consequently in their teaching they constitutethe topic or subject to be taught quite differently. The second is thata teachers intentions concerning what it is that students should learnis closely aligned with a teachers expectation of how students learnand how they can be helped to learn through teaching. The third is thatwhen teachers focus specifically on the teaching of a particular topic,within a specific context, there is a close relationship between theirintentions and their teaching practice. In this article we explore thesearguments through an empirical study which considers the different waysin which 26 university teachers intended to constitute a subject ortopic for their students to study, how they then taught the subject andsubsequently how consistent were their intentions and their practice.The analysis shows that when the context of teaching and learning istightly defined there is a clear relationship between a teachersintention and their practice. In particular, university teachers whoadopt more conceptual change and student-focussed approaches to teachingconstitute objects of study which are more relational and focus on thestudents knowledge. Approaches which are more information transmissionand teacher-focussed constitute objects of study which are moremulti-structural and have a focus on knowledge which is as constitutedas being external to the student.

Students’ perceptions of teaching quality in higher education: the perspective of currently enrolled students

The psychometric properties of a version of the Course Experience Questionnaire revised for students currently enrolled at the University of Sydney, the Student Course Experience Questionnaire (SCEQ), were assessed, gathering students’ perceptions on a number of scales, including Good Teaching, Clear Goals and Standards, Appropriate Assessment, Appropriate Workload, and an outcome scale measuring Generic Skills development. Confirmatory factor analyses supported the hypothesised factor structure, and estimates of inter‐rater agreement on SCEQ scales indicated student ratings of degrees can be meaningfully aggregated up to the faculty level. The authors discuss the SCEQ’s usage as an integral part of a broader quality assurance programme at the University of Sydney, including benchmarking relationships with other universities.

Students' experiences in studying for multiple choice question examinations

ABSTRACT A sample of 190 first- and second-year university students from three courses in two faculties completed questionnaires on their general orientations to learning (classified as deep, surface or achieving), their perceptions of the skills and abilities being assessed by multiple choice question (MCQ) examinations and the study strategies (either deep or surface) they intended to employ for their forthcoming MCQ examinations. The above variables were analysed in relation both to one another and to outcome based on their performance in the examination. Results revealed an association between achievement and deep and/or achieving general, but not surface, orientations to study. Students with surface general orientations to study, in contrast, appear to have a confused perception of MCQ examinations and no planned strategies with which to prepare for them, suggesting that they are passive and unreflective about their studies. Suggestions are included for improving learning in higher education institut...

Towards an Understanding of Individual Acts of Teaching and Learning.

Abstract This article uses a phenomenographic perspective to interpret and integrate the results of relational research, including phenomenography in particular, in analysing the experiences of teaching and learning in higher education. In this analysis the experience is conceived of as temporal and not extended over time. We describe conditions associated with two qualitatively different approaches to teaching which, as suggested by other research results, are associated with differences in the quality of student learning. Such an analysis can help explain the variation in the experience of the same lecturer in different teaching contexts or of different lecturers in the same teaching context.

Phenomenographic pedagogy and a revised Approaches to teaching inventory

The Approaches to teaching inventory (ATI) is now being widely used as an instrument for formally monitoring approaches to teaching. A lesser‐known use is as a stimulant for discussion among groups of teachers to raise awareness of the variation in qualitatively different ways of approaching teaching. The phenomenographic origins of the ATI are consistent with these uses in academic development, both formative and summative. Following this increase in use, the validity and utility of the ATI were reviewed in 2003 using data from over 1600 teachers. We now summarize the outcomes of this review and report new results of the tests conducted on an expanded ATI with a further 318 academics. While the revised ATI maintains a focus on the qualitative variation in two key dimensions of teaching (a conceptual change/student‐focused approach and an information transfer/teacher‐focused approach), the number of items in those scales has now been increased. This version enhances those features of the original instrument that helped make it a useful trigger tool in ‘phenomenographic pedagogic’ discussion. Both phenomenographic pedagogy and the development of the ATI are discussed in this paper.

Relating the Process of Undergraduate Essay Writing to the Finished Product.

ABSTRACT This paper reports on research into the process and product of student essay writing at undergraduate level. The research was carried out from two different theoretical perspectives: phenomenonographic research on student learning in higher education, and systemic functional linguistic research on student writing in higher education. The research highlights both the qualitatively different ways that students conceive of essays and therefore approach the process of writing them, and the qualitatively different types of essays that emerge. The paper discusses the relationship between the two sets of findings, and raises some pedagogical issues for the teaching of essay writing in higher education.

Students’ experiences of studying physics concepts: The effects of disintegrated perceptions and approaches

Recent research on student learning has revealed that a number of students in any learning context are unable to distinguish between contrasting contextualised approaches to learning. In other words, the relationship between their perceptions of the learning context and their approaches to learning disintegrates and becomes incoherent. These students are observed to be among the lower academic achievers in their group. This paper reports on the results of a study which shows that physics students’ prior understandings of key concepts are systematically related to the way they approach their studies, their perceptions of the learning context and the quality of the outcomes of their studies. As with previous studies, one group reported disintegrated learning experiences. As a group they were found to have the poorest pre-conceptual knowledge, to have the poorest postconceptual knowledge, and to be the lowest achievers. These results are consistent with the earlier studies, but extend them by showing that disintegrated perceptions and approaches are related to students’ understanding before and after the subject as determined using qualitative indicators of understanding as well as assessment results.RésuméLa recherche récente sur l’acquisition universitaire a montré qu’un certain nombre d’étudiants, quel que soit le contexte d’apprentissage dans lequel ils sont mis, sont incapables de distinguer des approches de l’apprentissage contextualisées de façons différentes. En d’autres termes, la relation entre leur perception du contexte d’apprentissage et leurs stratégies d’apprentissage se désintègre et devient incohérente. Ces étudiants sont parmi ceux qui ont les résultats les plus faibles. Cet article rapporte les résultats d’une étude conduite auprès d’étudiants en physique; elle montre que la compréhension initiale des notions clefs est systématiquement associée à leur façon d’approcher leurs études, leur perception du contexte d’apprentissage, et la qualité des résultats de leurs études. Comme dans les recherches antérieures, un groupe d’étudiants a fait état d’expériences d’apprentissage désintégrées. Ces sujets se sont révélé avoir les connaissances pré- et post-conceptuelles les plus pauvres et les résultats les plus bas. Ces résultats rejoignent les constats antérieurs, mais les prolongent en montrant que les perceptions et stratégies désintégrées sont liées aux compréhensions pré et post-conceptuelles de la matière enseignée, appréciées aussi bien à partir d’indicateurs qualitatifs que de résultats d’évaluation.