Exploring changes in college students' attributions after participation in a learning strategies course

Abstract

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] This study was designed to determine how learning strategies courses may serve to promote more adaptive attributions in early college students. Data were collected from undergraduates enrolled in combined learning strategies and freshmen experience courses at a large Midwestern university. Students were asked to reflect on an academic failure and attribute causes for this failure via a survey at the beginning and end of the semester.Teachers' epistemological beliefs were also assessed to investigate their influence on the students' attributions. Findings suggest that students' attributions did not change and that the teachers' epistemological beliefs had no influence on the students' attributional change. The study and findings are discussed within a theoretical framework of conceptual change known as Cognitive Conflict Theory.