Students’ Conceptions of
Constructivist Learning
ISBN 978-90-8559-275-4
Copyright 2007 S.M.M. Loyens
All rights reserved. No part of this thesis may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, by any means, electronic or mechanical, without the prior written permission of the author, or where appropriate, of the publisher of the articles.
Cover design and layout by Optima Grafische Communicatie, Rotterdam Printed by Optima Grafische Communicatie, Rotterdam
Students’ Conceptions of Constructivist Learning
Concepties van studenten van constructivistisch leren
PROEFSCHRIFT
ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam
op gezag van de rector magnificus Prof.dr. S.W.J. Lamberts
en volgens besluit van het College voor Promoties. De openbare verdediging zal plaatsvinden op
vrijdag 23 maart 2007 om 13.30 uur
door
Sofie Mariëtte Martine Loyens
PROMOTIECOMMISSIE
Promotor: Prof.dr. H.G. Schmidt Overige leden: Prof.dr. F. Paas
Prof.dr. P.A. Alexander Dr. S.E. Severiens
Voor mijn ouders, van wie ik de meeste wijze lessen geleerd heb
Curriculum Vitae 165
CURRICULUM VITAE
Sofie Loyens was born on May 20, 1978 in Bilzen, Belgium. She completed her secondary education in 1996 at the Heilig Graf Instituut in Bilzen. In June 2001, she received her Master’s degree in clinical psychology at Maastricht University. After her graduation, she worked as a psychological assistant at the out-patient clinic for eating disorders and later as a psychoso-cial therapist at the general psychiatry unit of the Maastricht University Hospital(azM). From November 2001 till February 2004, she became a co-worker of the ZAP-project (‘Zeer Actieve Psychologie’) at the Department of Psychology of Erasmus University Rotterdam. She was involved in the development of short, interactive, ICT-based programs (called ZAPs), which give students a firm understanding of fundamental concepts by allowing them to experience psychological phenomena firsthand. From June 2002 on, she combined the activities of the ZAP-project with a position as a researcher at the Department of Psychology.Her research concerned students’ conceptions of constructivist learning and resulted in the present dis-sertation. She has also been coordinating the first-year course on educational psychology and from January 2007, she has been coordinating the internships at the Department of Psychology of Erasmus University Rotterdam.
166
Publica
tions
PUBLICATIONS AS FIRST AUTHOR
Loyens, S. M. M., Rikers, R. M. J. P., & Schmidt, H. G. (in press-a). Students’ conceptions of distinct constructivist assumptions. European Journal of Psychology of Education.
Loyens, S. M. M., Rikers, R. M. J. P., & Schmidt, H. G (in press-b). The impact of students’ con-ceptions of constructivist assumptions on academic achievement and dropout. Studies in
Higher Education.
Loyens, S. M. M., Rikers, R. M. J. P., & Schmidt, H. G. (2006). Students’ conceptions of con-structivist learning: A comparison between a traditional and a problem-based learning curriculum. Advances in Health Sciences Education, 11, 365-379.
Loyens, S. M. M., Rikers, R. M. J. P., & Schmidt, H. G. (2005). Studenten en constructivisme: gaat dat wel samen? Opleiding & Ontwikkeling, 6, 40-44.
PUBLICATIONS AS CO-AUTHOR
Schmidt, H. G., Loyens, S. M. M., Van Gog, T., & Paas, F. (in press). Problem-based learning is compatible with human cognitive architecture: Commentary on Kirschner, Sweller, and Clark (2006). Educational Psychologist.
Te Winkel, W. W. R., Rikers R. M. J. P., Loyens S. M. M., & Schmidt H. G. (2006). Influence of learning resources on study time and achievement scores in a problem-based curriculum.
Advances in Health Sciences Education, 11, 381-389.
Rikers, R. M. J. P., Loyens, S. M. M., Te Winkel, W. W. R., Schmidt, H. G., & Sins, P. H. M. (2005). The role of biomedical knowledge in clinical reasoning: A lexical decision study. Academic
Medicine, 80, 945-949.
Hulshof, C. D., Eysink, T. H. S., Loyens, S. M. M., & de Jong, T. (2005). ZAP: Using interactive programs for learning psychology. Interactive Learning Environments, 13(1-2), 39-53. Rikers, R. M. J. P., Loyens, S. M. M., & Schmidt, H. G. (2004). The role of encapsulated knowledge
in clinical case representations of medical students and family doctors. Medical Education, 38, 1035-1043.
Publications 167
Eysink, T. H. S., Hulshof, C. D., Loyens, S. M. M., de Jong, T., Pieters, J. M., Te Winkel, W. W. R. (2003). Psychologie interactief ervaren en ontdekken: het ZAP-project. Onderzoek van
Onderwijs, 32(4), 64-66.
Rikers, R. M. J. P., Te Winkel, W. W. R., Loyens, S. M. M., & Schmidt, H. G. (2003). Clinical case processing by medical experts and subexperts. Journal of Psychology: Interdisciplinary and
Applied, 137, 213-223.
Rikers, R. M. J. P., & Loyens, S. M. M. (2002). Oefenen, oefenen en nog eens oefenen. Opleiding
& Ontwikkeling, 12, 15-18.
PRESENTATIONS
Loyens, S. M. M., Rikers, R. M. J. P., & Schmidt, H. G. (2006, April). Students’ conceptions of
constructivist assumptions: What is their relationship with academic achievement? Paper
presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco, CA.
Loyens, S. M. M., Rikers, R. M. J. P., & Schmidt, H. G. (2006, April). Students’ conceptions of constructivist learning: A comparison between a traditional and a problem-based learning
curriculum. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research
Association, San Francisco, CA.
Loyens, S. M. M., Rikers, R. M. J. P., & Schmidt, H. G. (2005, August). The impact of students’
conceptions of constructivist assumptions on academic achievement and dropout. Paper
pre-sented at the Biennial Conference of the European Association for Research in Learning and Instruction, Nicosia, Cyprus.
Loyens, S. M. M., Rikers, R. M. J. P., & Schmidt, H. G. (2005, August). Students’ conceptions of constructivist learning: A comparison between a traditional and a problem-based learning
curriculum. Paper presented at the Biennial Conference of the European Association for
Research in Learning and Instruction, Nicosia, Cyprus.
Schmidt, H. G., Loyens, S. M. M., & Rikers, R. M. J. P. (2005, April). Generality of a causal model
of problem-based learning: Further evidence. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the
168
Pr
esen
ta
tions
Loyens, S. M. M., Rikers, R. M. J. P., & Schmidt, H.G. (2005, January). Students’ conceptions of
constructivist assumptions. Paper presented at the Hawaii International Conference on
Education, Honolulu, HI.
Eysink, T. H. S., Hulshof, C. D., Loyens, S. M. M. (2003, August). Experiental learning in psychology:
The ZAP project. Paper presented at the Biennial Conference of the European Association
for Research on Learning and Instruction, Padova, Italy.
Loyens, S. M. M., & Te Winkel, W. W. R. (2003, May). Implementatie van ICT in onderwijs: ZAP
- een evaluatie. Poster gepresenteerd op de Onderwijs en Research Dagen, Kerkrade,
Nederland.
Loyens, S. M. M., Te Winkel, W. W. R., Eysink, T. H. S., Hulshof, C. D., Schmidt, H. G., & de Jong, T. (2003, April). Application of ICT in problem-based learning: ZAP – an evaluation. Paper pre-sented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, IL.
Loyens, S. M. M., Rikers, R. M. J. P., & Sins, P. H. M. (2002, April). The generation of clinical
knowledge in medical expertise. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the American
