A Comparative Study of Student's Approaches to Learning Held by Honors and Non-Honors Students in Introductory Biology

Abstract

The problem of interest for this investigative study was to examine the approach to learning students take when enrolled in an introductory biology class at the University of Arizona. In particular, a comparison was drawn between students taking the introductory class who were enrolled in the university's Honors College and students who were not. The study sought to identify each student's approach to learning. A student's approach to learning is defined as the student's perception of a particular task and their method of learning that task (Marton and Saljo a and b) and has become a useful way of researching how students study and learn class material in postsecondary educational systems, due largely to the shift from K-12 learning environments and instructor-created learning tasks (Doyle).