Definiciones Conceptuales

Choosing appropriate teaching methods is a crucial task in education. Research has shown that teaching methods that match a student’s learning style may lead to better learning than mismatched methods [6, 50]. Westwood [164] argues that, when selecting teaching methods, lecturers should consider not only the nature of the subject matter but also how students learn. This indicates that teaching approaches are relevant to approaches to learning.

Traditional methods of teaching are based on teacher-centred approaches, where lecturers talk and students listen. These teaching approaches are sometimes known

as direct instruction and whole-class interactive teaching. In universities, lecture- based teaching forms part of a teacher-centred approach in which students learn by being told [103]. Johnson et al. [72] state that the purpose of a lecture-based method is to convey information to a large group of people within a fixed period of time. The main advantage of this method is that lecturers can organise and deliver intrinsic knowledge on a subject to students, which benefits those who learn by listening [22]. The lecture-based method is sometimes considered to be ineffective because it presumes that all students have the same level of understanding. It is often passive, making it hard to know whether students are actually engaged with the material; therefore, the lecturer may encourage students to be more active by using a lecture-discussion method [32]. The lecture-discussion method allows students to interact with the lecturer through in-class question-and-answer sessions. Charlton [28] suggests that “lectures can be the best teaching method in many circumstances and for many students”. They are appropriate for lecturers who know what to teach, and for students who know what is worth learning.

The constructivist paradigm led to the emergence of the student-centred approach, where the instructional environment focuses more closely on students. The general concepts of constructivism in a learning context are that it is an active process in which students use present and past knowledge, including their experience, to construct new concepts and ideas [32]. The notion of constructivism in the student- centred approach can be classified into two types: cognitive constructivism and social constructivism. Cognitive constructivism was first introduced by Piaget [120], who believed that new concepts or knowledge are constructed internally by students, rather than by external sources such as colleagues or lecturers. Social constructivism was later introduced by Vygotsky [157], who believed that social interactions with other students help the learner to develop better understanding. Some teaching methods belong to both types of constructivism. Common teaching methods relating

to these types of constructivism are listed below.

• Discover learning [23]: This is a self-directed learning method in which

lecturers pose a problem to which students must find answers. Students are motivated to search for information themselves from external sources such as university libraries or the Internet, with or without assistance from lecturers. Other methods that rely on discovery learning include problem-based learning and WebQuest. In problem-based learning [49], the lecturer gives students real-world problems to solve, and there are normally many possible solutions to these problems. WebQuest [40] is another example of discovery learning in which the lecturer sets up a classroom inquiry activity. WebQuest focuses more on how students use both internal and external resources, rather than trying to support them in deep analysis.

• Hands-on learning [14]: This method uses the concept of discovery learn-

ing but focuses more closely on a practical form of learning, which may be considered as “learning by doing”. For example, in laboratory work where students are given a task to complete, the lecturer or demonstrator will act as a facilitator who provides guidelines but not answers. This motivates stu- dents’ learning and helps them to gain a deep understanding of the subject. Hands-on learning methods can be used with both individuals and groups of students.

• Learning through discussion and debates [18, 141]: This method is a

social learning approach in which students are grouped to discuss topics given by the lecturer. The lecturer acts as an experienced or expert member of the group. This method allows and motivates students to think and use their existing knowledge, and to co-operate with other students. A major factor affecting this kind of learning is group size.

Although the constructivist approach appears to be a promising paradigm for encouraging students to be active learners, Hoover [65] argues that some students may become confused because not all students have the same prior knowledge. In using the constructivist approach, lecturers must ensure that they engage students’ learning and bring their current understanding to the forefront [65]. In practice, the various teaching methods are usually blended together for use in higher education. Lecturers must therefore consider how students learn and balance their teaching approaches.

How teaching and learning methods affect revision strategy does not appear to have been investigated previously. However, by considering the outcomes of teaching and learning theories, some relationships between them can be deduced. For exam- ple, assume that there are two groups of students who all have the same capability to learn and gain knowledge. The first group is only exposed to the lecturer-based method, where students learn by being told in class. This group of students will obtain limited knowledge from the lecturer, through application of a surface ap- proach. Although the lecturer may tell them to study further by themselves, this may only motivate certain students. Kiewara’s [80] research indicates that students can capture only 20 to 40 per cent of a lecture’s main ideas in their notes. If they do not review the lecture material, after three weeks they can remember less than 10 per cent [19]. Therefore, this group of students is likely to need to revise intensively during the examination period. The second group learns by both the lecturer-based method and hands-on (laboratory) learning. Although this group of students will obtain less knowledge in class, they will have better problem-solving skills, such as analysis and critical thinking, as both surface and deep approaches are applied. Aleven and Koedinger [5] state that engaging students through problem solving helps strengthen their long-term memory. Therefore, this group of students will tend to spend less time on revision than the first group because they are likely to

have a better understanding of the material. They may simply need to revise some parts, such as definitions, or may immediately practise on past examination papers.

This thesis focuses only on supporting students during their revision, leaving the teaching stage for future study. The basic teaching and learning theories are used as guidelines to design the framework for revision described in Chapter 2. The next section discusses existing research on revision behaviour.