Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Constructivist learning and openness to diversity and challenge in higher education environments

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Learning Environments Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The increasing calls for diversity research signal a need to explore contemporary learning and instruction strategies that respond to diversity in courses and curricula. The major objective of this research was to measure the level of openness to diversity and challenge (ODC) among college students as a function of their perceived constructivist learning environment in traditional lecture-based courses (LBE) and seminars (SM). The study included 243 undergraduate students. Data were gathered using the Constructivist Learning in Higher Education Settings scale (CLHES), which measures students’ perceptions of the occurrence of constructivist practices in learning environments along three dimensions of constructive activity, teacher–student interaction and social activity, and the Openness to Diversity and Challenge scale. Structural equation modelling (SEM) results indicated a positive connection between the general factor of CLHES and ODC over and above several pre-entry variables such as gender and culture. According to a further SEM analysis, the social activity variable mainly explained the ODC variable whereas the teacher–student interaction factor was mainly connected to the constructive activity variable. Multivariate analysis of variance results indicated that students enrolled in SM perceived this environment as more constructivist and reported having higher levels of feelings of ODC than LBE students. Interpretation of these findings, in conjunction with theory, applications, and implications for future research are discussed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Also defined as Palestinian citizens of Israel.

  2. This research was mainly focused on openness to diversity. The term 'challenge' refers to openness to academic challenges, when implied in this paper it will be explicitly stated.

References

  • Ali, N. (Ed.). (2013). Representation of Arab citizens in the institutions of higher education in Israel. Sikkuy: The Association for the Advancement of Civic Equality in Israel. Retrieved from http://www.sikkuy.org.il/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/English_final2014_representation_higher_education1.pdf.

  • Alt, D. (2014a). The construction and validation of a new scale for measuring features of constructivist learning environments in higher education. Frontline Learning Research. doi:10.14786/flr.v2i2.68.

    Google Scholar 

  • Alt, D. (2014b). Assessing the connection between students’ justice experience and attitudes toward academic cheating in higher education new learning environments. Journal of Academic Ethics, 12, 113–127.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alt, D. (2014c). The contribution of constructive learning environment on democratic processes involvement. Megamot: Journal of Behavioral Science, 49(4), 75–795. (Hebrew).

    Google Scholar 

  • Alt, D. (2014d). Using structural equation modeling and multidimensional scaling to assess students’ perceptions of the learning environment and justice experiences. International Journal of Educational Research, 69, 38–49.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alt, D. (2015). Assessing the contribution of constructivist based academic learning environment to academic self-efficacy in higher education. Learning Environments Research, 18, 47–67.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alt, D., & Geiger, B. (2012). Goal orientations and tendency to neutralize academic cheating: An ecological perspective. Psychological Studies, 57(4), 404–416.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bentler, P. M. (2006). EQS 6 structural equations program manual. Encino, CA: Multivariate Software Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bollen, K. A., & Pearl, J. (2013). Eight myths about causality and structural equation models. In S. L. Morgan (Ed.), Handbook of causal analysis for social research (pp. 301–328). New York: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Bowman, N. A. (2014). Conceptualizing openness to diversity and challenge: Its relation to college experiences, achievement, and retention. Innovative Higher Education, 39, 277–291.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cabrera, A. F., Nora, A., Crissman, J. L., Terenzini, P. T., Bernal, E. M., & Pascarella, E. T. (2002). Collaborative learning: Its impact on college students’ development and diversity. Journal of College Student Development, 43(1), 20–34.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, J. (1969). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences. New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cuyjet, M. J., Howard-Hamilton, M. F., & Cooper, D. L. (2011). Introduction. In M. J. Cuyjet, M. F. Howard-Hamilton, & D. L. Cooper (Eds.), Multiculturalism on campus: Theory, models, and practices for understanding diversity and creating inclusion (pp. 401–420). Sterling, VA: Stylus.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Clercq, M., Galand, B., & Frenay, M. (2014). Learning processes in higher education: Providing new insights into the effects of motivation and cognition on specific and global measures of achievement. In D. Gijbels, V. Donche, J. T. E. Richardson, & J. D. Vermunt (Eds.), Learning patterns in higher education: Dimensions and research perspectives (pp. 141–162). London and New York: Routledge and EARLI.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dillenbourg, P., Baker, M., Blaye, A., & O’Malley, C. (1996). The evolution of research on collaborative learning. In E. Spada & P. Reiman (Eds.), Learning in humans and machine: Towards an interdisciplinary learning science (pp. 189–211). Oxford: Elsevier.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dochy, F. J. R. C., & Alexander, P. A. (1995). Mapping prior knowledge: A framework for discussion among researchers. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 10, 225–242.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Doolittle, P. E., & Camp, W. G. (1999). Constructivism: The career and technical education perspective. Journal of Vocational and Technical Education, 16(1), 23–46.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dooly, M. (2008). Constructing knowledge together. In M. Dooly (Ed.), A guidebook to moderating intercultural collaboration online (pp. 21–44). Bern: Peter Lang.

    Google Scholar 

  • Elicker, J. D., Thompson, M. N., Snell, A. F., & O’Malley, A. L. (2009). A training framework and follow-up observations for multiculturally inclusive teaching: Is believing that we are emphasizing diversity enough? Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 2(2), 63–77.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Erstad, O. (2011). Weaving the context of digital literacy. In S. Ludvigsen, A. Lund, I. Rasmussen, & R. Säljö (Eds.), Learning across sites: New tools, infrastructures and practices (pp. 295–310). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gellin, A. (2003). The effect of undergraduate student involvement on critical thinking: A meta-analysis of the literature 1991–2000. Journal of College Student Development, 44, 745–762.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gijbels, D., Coertjens, L., Vanthournout, G., Struyf, E., & Van Petegem, P. (2009). Changing students’ approaches to learning: A two-year study within a university teacher training course. Educational Studies, 35(5), 503–513.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hakkarainen, K., Lipponen, L., & Järvelä, S. (2002). Epistemology of inquiry and computer supported collaborative learning. In T. Koschmann, N. Miyake, & R. Hall (Eds.), CSCL2: Carrying forward the conversation (pp. 129–156). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heikkilä, A., & Lonka, K. (2006). Studying in higher education: Students’ approaches to learning, self-regulation, and cognitive strategies. Studies in Higher Education, 31(1), 99–117.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hobman, E. V., Bordia, P., & Gallois, C. (2004). Perceived dissimilarity and work group involvement: The moderating effects of group openness to diversity. Group and Organization Management, 29(5), 560–587.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hrynchak, P., & Batty, H. (2012). The educational theory basis of team-based learning. Medical Teacher, 34(10), 796–801.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hu, S., & Kuh, G. D. (2003). Diversity experiences and college student learning and personal development. Journal of College Student Development, 44(3), 320–334.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • King, P. M., Perez, R. J., & Shim, W. (2013). How college students experience intercultural learning: Key features and approaches. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 6(2), 69–83.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kujawa, S., & Huske, L. (1995). The strategic teaching and reading project guidebook (Revised ed.). Oak Brook, IL: North Central Regional Educational Laboratory.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lahn, L. C. (2011). Professional learning as epistemic trajectories. In S. Ludvigsen, A. Lund, I. Rasmussen, & R. Säljö (Eds.), Learning across sites: New tools, infrastructures and practices (pp. 53–68). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee, A., Williams, R., & Kilaberia, R. (2012). Engaging diversity in first-year college classrooms. Innovative Higher Education, 37(3), 199–213.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lueddeke, G. R. (2003). Professionalising teaching practice in higher education: A study of disciplinary variation and ‘teaching-scholarship’. Studies in Higher Education, 28, 213–228.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lund, A., & Hauge, T. E. (2011). Changing objects in knowledge-creation practices. In S. Ludvigsen, A. Lund, I. Rasmussen, & R. Säljö (Eds.), Learning across sites: New tools, infrastructures and practices (pp. 206–221). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mattick, K., Dennis, I., & Bligh, J. (2004). Approaches to learning and studying in medical students: Validation of a revised inventory and its relation to student characteristics and performance. Medical Education, 38(5), 535–543.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meyer, H. (2004). Novice and expert teachers’ conceptions of learners’ prior knowledge. Science Education, 88(6), 970–983.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Minick, N., Stone, C. A., & Forman, E. A. (1993). Introduction: Integration of individual, social, and institutional processes in accounts of children’s learning and development. In E. A. Forman, N. Minick, & C. A. Stone (Eds.), Contexts for learning: Sociocultural dynamics in children’s development (pp. 3–15). New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Packer, M. J., & Goicoechea, J. (2001). Sociocultural and constructivist theories of learning: Ontology, not just epistemology. Educational Psychologist, 35, 227–241.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pascarella, E. T., Edison, M., Nora, A., Hagedorn, L. S., & Terenzini, P. T. (1996). Influences on students’ openness to diversity and challenge in the first year of college. The Journal of Higher Education, 67(2), 174–195.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pasque, P. A., Chesler, M. A., Charbeneau, J., & Carlson, C. (2013). Pedagogical approaches to student racial conflict in the classroom. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 6, 1–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Perret-Clermont, A.-N., & Perret, J.-F. (2011). A new artifact in the trade: Notes on the arrival of a computer supported manufacturing system in a technical school. In S. Ludvigsen, A. Lund, I. Rasmussen, & R. Säljö (Eds.), Learning across sites: New tools, infrastructures and practices (pp. 87–102). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Popkewitz, T. S. (1998). Dewey, Vygotsky and the social administration of the individual: constructivist pedagogy as systems of ideas in historical spaces. American Educational Research Journal, 35, 535–570.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Price, L. (2014). Modelling factors for predicting student learning outcomes in higher education. In D. Gijbels, V. Donche, J. T. E. Richardson, & J. D. Vermunt (Eds.), Learning patterns in higher education: Dimensions and research perspectives (pp. 56–77). London and New York: Routledge and EARLI.

    Google Scholar 

  • Resnick, L. (1987). Education and learning to think. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Richardson, J. T. E. (2011). Eta squared and partial eta squared as measures of effect size in educational research. Educational Research Review, 6, 135–147.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schwarz, B., & De Groot, R. (2011). Breakdowns between teachers, educators and designers in elaborating new technologies as precursors of change in education to dialogic thinking. In S. Ludvigsen, A. Lund, I. Rasmussen, & R. Säljö (Eds.), Learning across sites: New tools, infrastructures and practices (pp. 261–277). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sciame-Giesecke, S., Roden, D., & Parkinson, K. (2009). Infusing diversity into the curriculum: What are faculty members actually doing? Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 2(3), 156–165.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shaviv, M., Binstein, N., Stone, A., & Fudem, O. (2013). Pluralism and equal opportunity in higher education expanding access for Arabs, Druze and Circassians in Israel. Report by the Planning and Budgeting Committee (PBC) of the Council for Higher Education (CHE). Retrieved from http://che.org.il/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Pluralism-and-equal-opportunities-in-higher-education-FINAL.pdf.

  • Snowman, J., & Biehler, R. (2006). Psychology applied to teaching (11th ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stahl, G. (2011). Social practices of group cognition in virtual match teams. In S. Ludvigsen, A. Lund, I. Rasmussen, & R. Säljö (Eds.), Learning across sites: New tools, infrastructures and practices (pp. 190–205). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Steffe, L. P., & Gale, J. (1995). Constructivism in education. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stulberg, L. M., & Weinberg, S. L. (2011). Introduction. In L. M. Stulberg & S. L. Weinberg (Eds.), Diversity in American higher education: Toward a more comprehensive approach (pp. 1–4). New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • The Central Bureau of Statistics. (2011). Women in higher education. Retrieved December 21, 2012 from http://www1.cbs.gov.il/www/publications/desc_exp/women.pdf. (Hebrew).

  • The Committee Report on Reforms in the Higher Education System. (2007). The Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Finance. Retrieved from http://che.org.il/?page_id=787. (Hebrew).

  • The Council for Higher Education. (2009). Planning and Budgeting Committee 34/35 report. Retrieved from http://www.che.org.il/download/files/contents_1.pdf. (Hebrew).

  • Vermunt, J. D., Bronkhorst, L. H., & Martinez-Fernandez, J. R. (2014). The dimensionality of student learning patterns in different cultures. In D. Gijbels, V. Donche, J. T. E. Richardson, & J. D. Vermunt (Eds.), Learning patterns in higher education: Dimensions and research perspectives (pp. 33–55). London and New York: Routledge and EARLI.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind and society: The development of higher mental processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wegerif, R., & De Laat, M. (2011). Using Bakhtin to re-think the teaching of higher-order thinking for the network society. In S. Ludvigsen, A. Lund, I. Rasmussen, & R. Säljö (Eds.), Learning across sites: New tools, infrastructures and practices (pp. 313–329). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • White, R. T., & Gunstone, R. (1992). Probing understanding. London: The Falmer Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Whitt, E. J., Edison, M. I., Pascarella, E. T., Terenzini, P. T., & Nora, A. (2001). Influences on students’ openness to diversity and challenge in the second and third year of college. The Journal of Higher Education, 72(2), 172–204.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Windschitl, M. (2002). Framing constructivism in practice as the negotiation of dilemmas: An analysis of the conceptual, pedagogical, cultural, and political challenges facing teachers. Review of Educational Research, 72(2), 131–175.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Worthington, R. L. (2012). Advancing scholarship for the diversity imperative in higher education: An editorial. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 5(1), 1–7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wyatt, T. H., Krauskopf, P. B., Gaylord, N. M., Ward, A., Huffstutler-Hawkins, S., & Goodwin, L. (2010). Cooperative M-learning with nurse practitioner students. Nursing Education Perspectives, 31(2), 109–113.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zefat Academic College (2015). Mission statement. Retrieved from http://www.iataskforce.org/entities/view/185.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Kinneret College on the Sea of Galilee, Jordan Valley, Israel

    Dorit Alt

Authors
  1. Dorit Alt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dorit Alt.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Alt, D. Constructivist learning and openness to diversity and challenge in higher education environments. Learning Environ Res 20, 99–119 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10984-016-9223-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10984-016-9223-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation