From eating to discovering: How metaphors of learning change during students' enculturation

During their enculturation process students need to adapt their conceptions of learning to the learning culture at the university. However, conceptions are usually implict and thus difficult to assess. Metaphors have been proposed as a possibility to examine conceptions. Therefore, in a longitudinal study (N=30), changes to metaphors of learning were examined over the course of the first year of studies. In general, we found that metaphors were more congruent with university learning culture in the 2 nd year of studies than in the 1 st year, indicating that students undergo a complex enculturation process changing their conceptions of learning. 16.12.2015 | Elisabeth Wegner & Matthias Nuckles (Freiburg)