Browsing by Author "Jokimies, Susanna"

The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between university students' epistemic beliefs, conceptions of learning, socioeconomic background and academic achievements during their first years at the university. In addition, it was examined what kind of epistemic beliefs and conceptions of learning students had, what kind of socioeconomic background they had and did the epistemic beliefs and conceptions of learning differ between students with different age, gender and socioeconomic background. This research setup was chosen because the relationship between epistemic beliefs, conceptions of learning and study success has not been adequately studied and there is a need to find factors that influence the progress of university students. The data (n = 929) for this study were acquired from the Academy of Finland Mind the Gap -research data which was collected from first-year students from the University of Helsinki at 2013 and 2014. The credits and grades from two years studies were added to the data. 33 primary school 6th graders in Helsinki in spring 2013. Evaluating based on average values and a one-way analysis of variance with paired sample t-test was conducted to see how students' epistemic beliefs and conceptions of learning differed between age, gender and socioeconomic background. The relationship between epistemic beliefs, conceptions of learning, socioeconomic background and academic achievement were evaluated using stepwise regression analysis. The results suggested that valuating certain knowledge had a negative effect in progress of studies and valuating Collaborative knowledge building had a positive effect in university students' study success. The university students' parents' socio-economic status was not significantly related to the progress of the studies or the academic success. The results of the research can be utilized in developing and designing university and pre-university education, and in particular from the point of view: what kind of knowledge and learning concept these studies develop.