Student and staff conceptions in environmental and natural sciences
This longitudinal study was designed to identify conceptions (essentially ideas and beliefs) held by students and academic staff, and to monitor changes in student conceptions over the course of a degree programme. Our research was focused on the following conceptions:
- nature of academic discipline
- good / effective teaching
- good / effective learning
- the purpose of fieldwork
- the purpose of labwork
- the purpose of work based learning
- student success
The ideas and beliefs held by students about the teaching and learning context can directly influence the learning process. Learning will also be influenced by the conceptions held by academic staff, since their own ideas and beliefs will impact upon the teaching that they deliver. The conceptions that students bring to learning situations will be largely shaped by their prior experiences. For example, students with experience of residential fieldwork at GCSE or A-level are likely to hold different ideas and beliefs about the role of fieldwork in their discipline than students with no prior experience. Students in the CETL (and other) disciplines arrive at university from a wide range of backgrounds, and are hence likely to hold a range of conceptions. What are these conceptions, and how do they differ between students in different disciplines, and with the conceptions held by academic staff? Conceptions are strongly influenced by experience, so do students’ conceptions change as they progress through their undergraduate programmes and move along the continuum from novice to expert?
To investigate these, and other, questions we have successfully collected data from across
the CETL disciplines, and have longitudinal data from cohorts of students starting their degrees in 2006. Findings from this research have been presented at national and international conferences.
