How do first year Malaysian chemical engineering students approach learning?

Abstract

Dynamic technology development and innovation of the 21st century have challenged chemical engineers in their working aspects. Future engineers are required to have high competitiveness in knowledge and skills in a fast changing world, requiring them to adapt and learn fast at a deep level. Consequently, education becomes a crucial means in developing matured learners who can efficiently adapt and acquire new knowledge and skills. Determining the students' approach to learning as early as possible, whether deep or surface learning, is important to assist the students in their learning. Their approach to learning can reflect their academic performance. The objective of this study is to determine the learning approach of first year chemical engineering students in a Malaysian research university. To achieve this objective, a pre-post quasiexperimental design was used to determine the approach to learning of 57 first year chemical engineering students. Revised Study Process Questionnaire (RSPQ-2F), a 20-item instrument developed by John Biggs and colleagues was used to measure the student's learning approach at the beginning and at the end of the first semester. The quantitative data were analyzed using pair-sample t-Test to measure the mean RSPQ-2F scores. A p-value < .05 was considered as significant. The findings show that the students mostly use deep approach compared to surface approach to learning at the beginning of the semester. At the end of the semester, there was a slight increase in their deep approach to learning, although the increase is not significant. Similarly, there was a slight decrease in surface learning, although the decrease is not significant.