Changes in Students’ Approaches to Learning on Engineering Mathematics Courses with Two Different Instructional Models

Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between first-year higher education students’ (N = 405) approaches to learning and academic performance on engineering mathematics courses. In addition, we study what combinations of approaches to learning students apply, how these combinations change over time, and whether they are linked to the pedagogical design. The students were divided into an intervention group taught with an instructional model based on flipped learning, and a control group taught with a modern lecture-based model. The students’ approaches to learning were measured five times during one academic year. Multiple linear regression, dominance analysis and cluster analysis were used in analyzing the data. We found that a high level of organized studying and a low level of surface approach to learning were positively linked to exam performance, but a deep approach to learning was not linked to performance. In the last three measurements, the students in the intervention group were overrepresented in the cluster with the most desirable profile in terms of approaches to learning. In the long term, flipped learning seemed to foster deep approach learning and organized studying better than the lecture-based model.