Students' Discipline Specific Perceptions of Learning Practices

Students' learning experiences shape their perceptions of effective learning practices, and these perceptions affect the effort and approaches students engage in when in a learning environment. The type of learning environment students engage with may vary across disciplines, therefore students' perceptions may be domain-specific. Data for this study were students' discipline-specific perceptions of effective course structures and activities for chemistry and humanities and their general epistemic beliefs. The responses (N = 532) across three courses were grouped as either constructivist or instructivist learning approaches and then reported as a ratio. A step-wise regression was used to determine domain-specific differences in the students' responses, and the association to epistemic beliefs and perceptions of learning. Results revealed disciplinary differences in students' perceptions of learning. Understanding students' perceptions of learning have implications for students' future enrollment, effort towards learning, and approaches to learning within different courses.