Transforming students' attitudes towards learning through the use of successful educational actions

Javier Díez-Palomar; Rocío García-Carrión; Linda Hargreaves; María Vieites

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0240292

Transforming students' attitudes towards learning through the use of successful educational actions

PLoS One. 2020 Oct 12;15(10):e0240292. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0240292. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Javier Díez-Palomar¹, Rocío García-Carrión², Linda Hargreaves³, María Vieites⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Linguistic and Literary Education, and Teaching and Learning of Experimental Sciences and Mathematics, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
² Faculty of Psychology and Education, University of Deusto, Ikerbasque, Basque Foundation for Science, Bilbao, Spain.
³ Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
⁴ CREA-Community of Research of Excellence for All, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.

Abstract

Previous research shows that there is a correlation between attitudes and academic achievement. In this article, we analyze for the first time the impact of interactive groups (IG) and dialogic literary gatherings (DLG) on the attitudes that students show towards learning. A quantitative approach has been performed using attitude tests validated by previous research. The data suggest that in both cases, the participants show positive attitudes. The social context has an important influence on students' attitudes. The items with higher correlations include group work, mutual support, and distributed cognition. In the case of IGs, group work is much more appreciated, while in the case of DLGs, self-image and self-confidence are the two most clearly valued attitudes. The positive impact of IGs and DLGs on students' attitudes may have potential for teachers in transforming their practices and decision-making within the classroom.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Achievement*
Attitude*
Female
Humans
Learning / physiology*
Male
Models, Theoretical
Principal Component Analysis
Social Environment
Surveys and Questionnaires

Grants and funding

JDP, RGC, LH and MVC want to acknowledge the funding provided by the EU Commission under the grant num. 2015-1-ES01-KA201-016327, corresponding to the project Schools as Learning Communities in Europe: Successful Educational Actions for all, (SEAS4ALL), under the program ERASMUS +; and the Spanish Ramón y Cajal Grant RYC-2016-20967 for open access publication of the article.