Browsing by Subject "tieto- ja oppimiskäsitykset"

The purpose of this study was to investigate how epistemological beliefs and self-regulation of learning (SRL) differs and how it develops students of various academic domains during their early studies. This study was part of the RYM Indoor Environments project. The data were collected from students in five different departments (teacher education, chemistry, law, theology, electrical engineering) between year 2012 (N = 353) and 2015 (N = 295), with MED NORD -questionnaire (Lonka et al., 2008). The material was analyzed by creating sum variables of epistemological beliefs (Collaborative knowledge building, Reflective learning, Valuing metacognition, Certain knowledge, Practical value) and SRL (Self-regulation, Lack of self-regulation). A one-way analysis of variance was conducted to see how the students from the different departments differed in terms of epistemological beliefs and SRL in the first year of their studies. The development of the epistemological beliefs and SRL was analyzed by paired sample t-test. During the first year of studies, teacher, chemistry and electrical engineering students' epistemological beliefs differed from each other. Teacher students valued collaborative knowledge building, metacognition and practical knowledge the most, and certain knowledge the least. The chemistry and electrical engineering students valued certain knowledge more than the others. SRL most clearly differed between chemistry and law students at the first year. The report showed that law students were the best and chemistry students' were the weakest in self-regulation. In the development of epistemological beliefs the most important finding was that the valuation of certain knowledge decreased in all except law students. In the development of the self-regulation, the major finding was the decrease of the self-reported regulation in law and theology students during their studies. The results of this study indicated that there is disciplinary variation in epistemological beliefs. These beliefs develop during university education. It is possible that the differences in students' epistemological beliefs at the first year occur, because of different interests and orientations before university studies. Studying at university environment can however, change these existing perceptions. In terms of self-regulation of learning more research is needed to find out on how to support students' self-regulation in different learning environments through their studies.

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.