Psychometric Analysis of Study and Learning Strategies in Immunology

• Main Authors: Jean Carlos Souza Silva, Dayseanne Araujo Falcão, Iron Macêdo Dantas
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul 2021-04-01
• Series: Investigações em Ensino de Ciências
• Subjects: ensino de imunologia; inventário de estratégias de estudo e aprendizagem; lassi; psicometria
• Online Access: https://www.if.ufrgs.br/cref/ojs/index.php/ienci/article/view/2003

The lack of learning and study strategies is one of the most important reasons for student frustration and school failure, therefore, learning and study strategies are similar to a tool applied in solving academic problems, helping the student to develop skills required in your academic course. Identifying and leveraging these strategies helps the subject to succeed in university education depending on their own abilities, discovering and strengthening them. With this goal in mind, an investigative process was established about the study and learning strategies of students enrolled in the subject of Immunology, in view of the challenges faced by professors in disciplines in the biomedical area. The method of choice for the survey was the application for students of the validated version for Brazil of the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory - LASSI, which makes it possible to collect quantitative statistical data, and consequently, the degree and profile of use of the learning strategies of the students. selected students. The categories were evaluated: information processing, anxiety, time organization, concentration, attitude, concern when studying, selection of main ideas, study aids, motivation and the internet as a study source. The categories were analyzed independently of each other and in comparison, with different subgroups of students, such as: gender, performance of paid activity, course modality and institution of training in high school. The exploratory research made it possible to collect data about a context not yet investigated in the area of Teaching Immunology. With this survey, it was possible to present an overview of the use of study and learning strategies by students enrolled in the discipline of Immunology in the academic year of 2017. The results allowed the identification of areas in which students experience setbacks, difficulties, disturbances and dysfunctions in subject analyzed, such as: reduced use of the library as a tool to aid studies, difficulties in organizing and managing time, high degree of anxiety and tension. As a result of the comparison of the strategies used by different groups, it was identified that students of the bachelor's degree are more skilled in selecting the main ideas and more motivated; that students exercising paid work have a greater attitude towards studies. In this way, the investigation allowed the analysis of the several factors that can contribute to deficits in the students' learning process and the direction of possible strategies to be used in intervention projects aimed at facilitating learning and building meaningful knowledge.