Learning Strategies and Reasoning Skills of University Students

Abstract

The present study examined the learning strategies of university students and the differences in their use as a function of their performance on a fluid intelligence test, a scientific reasoning task, and a divergent thinking or creativity task — all of which are key skills involved in knowledge generation, which is one of the principal aims of the European Higher Education Area. We used 150 participants, divided into two groups according to their performance on the tasks. They completed a questionnaire of learning strategies for university students (CEVEAPEU), which assesses learning strategies organized into six subscales (motivational, affective, metacognitive, context-control strategies, information searching strategies, and information processing strategies). Those students with higher fluid and scientific reasoning skills reported a greater use of strategies aimed at context control (including social interaction and resource management), whereas participants with higher scores on the creativity task reported a significantly greater use of metacognitive, motivational, and purely cognitive strategies (information searching and processing). Overall, these results indicate that the use of learning strategies aimed at supporting and controlling information processing contribute to different reasoning skills, and suggest that the encouragement of social interaction and cooperation among university students would promote the development of basic cognitive skills such as creative thinking and problem-solving abilities.