Abstract
In modern university education, quantitative analytical skills seem best acquired through deep learning of complex, multi-faceted problems. Our quasi-experimental design tested whether student achievement in an immersive classroom case study might affect subsequent academic performance, presumably reflecting deeper learning of fundamental principles in an accounting course. We analyzed exam scores of three behavior-based student groups: (a) “OOP,” who Opted Out of the immersive case study Project, (b) “BMP,” who earned Below Median marks on the Project, and (c) “AMP,” who scored At least the Median on the Project. Results indicate that student academic performance declined at effectively equal rates among the three student groups in any given semester. Surprisingly, students’ self-reported deep strategy more strongly predicted their academic performance, accounting for more than 30% of exam score variation; group membership explained only 1.93% of exam score variation. These results underscore the need to document student learning approaches explicitly in order to complement observations of student classroom behaviors and academic performance.
Highlights
Case studies are common ways to engage students in complex learning
Exam scores significantly varied across the course
Mean exam scores appeared to decline across the seven exams
Summary
Case studies are common ways to engage students in complex learning. A case study can challenge students to reflect expansively and profoundly on a particular subject (Healy & McCutcheon, 2010). 683), and students who were presented a slightly more complete accounting cycle early in the course, focusing on “transactions that affect both balance sheet and income statement accounts” Given that scholars have not addressed student learning of the complete accounting cycle (i.e., from analyzing transactions through production of financial statements), we decided to investigate how current pedagogical practices in an introductory accounting course might benefit university students. One such student-centered practice is instructor-guided immersion using two consecutive accounting cycles of a hypothetical consulting company
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