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Dissonant study orchestrations of high-achieving university students

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Abstract

This study focuses on the dissonant study orchestrations of high-achieving university students. Advanced psychology students’ dissonant study orchestrations were compared with previous findings of advanced medical students orchestrations. Further, the relation of study orchestrations to study success was examined. The subjects were 28 advanced psychology students at the University of Helsinki, Department of Psychology who returned a task booklet of learning; of these, 24 students completed a questionnaire concentrating on the students’ interests, expectations and evaluation of the curriculum. All students were high achievers who had gone through a demanding selection process. The subjects completed three questionnaires concentrating on their study practices, conceptions of knowledge, expectations, and evaluation of the instruction in the Department of Psychology. The results showed that seven out of 28 students expressed a dissonant study orchestration. The results further showed that students’ individual study orchestrations were not related to study success. A comparison between advanced medical and psychology students showed that although the profiles of dissonant study orchestrations were technically similar among medical and psychology students, content analyses revealed that reasons for the development of dissonant study orchestrations were different.

Résumé

L’étude est centrée sur les dissonantes ‘orchestrations de leurs études’ par de bons étudiants d’Université. Les auteurs comparent les ‘orchestrations dissonantes’ d’étudiants avancés en psychologie à des résultats antérieurs d’étudiants avancés en médecine. Ils examinent ensuite les relations entre ‘orchestration des études’ et réussite dans les études. L’étude a porté sur 28 étudiants de psychologie avancés du département de psychologie de l’Université d’Helsinki ayant rempli un livret concernant leur approche de l’apprentissage, leur régulation et leurs conceptions de l’apprentissage. Parmi eux, 24 étudiants ont rempli un questionnaire concernant leurs intérêts, leurs expectations et l’évaluation de leur curriculum. Tous les étudiants étaient de très bons étudiants ayant été soumis à un processus sévère de sélection. Les sujets ont rempli trois questionnaires concernant leurs pratiques d’études, leurs conceptions de la connaissance, leurs expectations et l’évaluation de leur formation dans le département de psychologie. Les résultats montrent que 7 des 28 étudiants expriment une orchestration dissonante de leurs études. Les résultats montrent également que l’orchestration des études n’est pas liée à la réussite. La comparison entre les étudiants avancés de médecine et de psychologie montre que les profils d’orchestration sont techniquement similaires chez les deux catégories d’étudiants. En dépit de cette similarité, les analyses de contenu révèlent cependant que les raisons du développement de l’orchestration des dissonances dans les études sont différentes.

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Correspondence to Sari Lindblom-Ylänne.

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Lindblom-Ylänne, S., Lonka, K. Dissonant study orchestrations of high-achieving university students. Eur J Psychol Educ 15, 19–32 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03173164

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