The learning approaches promoted by the physics department towards the first-year students at Lund University.

Sammanfattning: In the field of educational psychology are two type of learning approaches commonly mentioned; deep learning and surface learning. These two learning approaches contains methods used by the students, for instance, memorizing (surface learning) and hypothesize (deep learning). Several previously performed studies showed a connection between a high academic level, good grades and a high usage of the methods associated with the deep learning. Deep learning is, therefore, the preferred learning approach for students. Knowledge about all student’s choice of learning is important since it can help to improve the education in many aspects. However, the physics department at Lund university lacked this knowledge about their first-year students. The present thesis is, therefore, an attempt to reveal the physics student’s level of learning approaches and how the course (FYSA01) affects the students learning approaches. The result was attained by distributing a survey, well-used in the field, called the revised two-factor study process questionnaire (R-SPQ-2F). It was distributed in the physic course over three semesters; Fall 2017, Fall 2014 and Spring 2014. An increasing usage of the students deep learning and a decreasing usage of surface learning could be noticed for two semesters, Fall 2017 and Spring 2014. The third semester, fall 2014, didn’t show any change in the student’s usage of deep learning. It showed, however, a larger decrease in surface learning than the other two semesters. In summary, these results show that the teaching of the first-year students at the physic department influences the students learning approaches. The changes in the students learning approach is most likely an impact of the supplemental instruction meetings (SI-meetings). The students meet during this session and discuss physics problems in groups together with a more experienced student leading the SI-session. Another possible explanation for the improvement could be the peer-learning used during the lectures, where students discuss problems during the lecture. Additional studies will be needed to develop a full picture of the actual influence the students received by the Physics department. This study only followed the students during their first semester. Future studies could observe the changes of the students learning approaches during a longer period. Another possible area for future research would be to investigate and compare the students learning approaches when the department is implementing new methods.