ERIC Number: ED187238
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1980-Feb
Pages: 34
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
College Students--How Do They Learn?
Poythress, Marianne; And Others
The strategies used by upper-division college students (juniors and seniors) to learn information in a variety of task materials were assessed. Fifty juniors and seniors enrolled in an undergraduate psychology course at the Univeristy of Texas at Austin were administered the Learning Activities Questionnaire (LAQ) along with an accompanying booklet entitled Seven Learning Activities. Part 1 of the LAQ asked respondents to describe any methods or mental tricks they used to learn and remember the information, events or ideas contained in the activities booklet. The booklet contained two free recall lists, three paired-associates lists and two reading passages. After writing a description of each strategy, participants were then asked to respond to several questions on how the study method was learned and why it helped in learning new material. The remainder of the LAQ was a checklist of specific strategies used by learners in mapping out learning strategies. Responses were then classified into one of five strategy categories: rote, physical, imagery, elaboration and grouping. Results of the study showed that upper-division college students use imagery, elaboration and grouping strategies for free recall tasks; all five strategy categories for paired-associate tasks; and physical, imagery and grouping strategies for reading passages. The researchers were disturbed to find that respondents appeared to lack the elaboration strategy for reading tasks, and suggest that a number of undergraduates may need some remedial training in this learning method. A number of statistical tables are appended, along with a list of references and a sample LAQ. (DC)
Publication Type: Reports - Research; Speeches/Meeting Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A
Note: Paper presented at the Southwest Educational Research Association