Learning Strategies in Students From Different Universitary Carriers

Objectives: Identify and compare the learning strategies preferred by students of Dentistry (GO) and Architecture, Design and Urbanism (GA), UBA.
Methods: The sample was made up of 98 (GO) and 78 (GA) regular students in the initial stage of the undergraduate cycle. Methosd included: determination of the demographic profile of the students (age and sex); application of the questionnaire (ACRA-A) with 16 items distributed in 3 domains: learning acquisition and control (ACA), learning support domain (AAA) and study habits (HE); and statistical analysis of the responses comparing the differences between both groups in the preferences expressed considering the total score, the domains and the reactive items individually and dichotomized
Results: There were significant differences between the responses corresponding to the two groups (Student's t for independent samples) when comparing the means in: (a) the total score of the questionnaire (p = 0.002); in the "ACA" (p = 0.003) and "AAA" (p = 0.02) domains; (b) the score to the responses of item 1 (p = 0.027); 2 (p = 0.003); 4 (p = 0.005); 6 (p = 0.001); 8 (p = 0.019) and 11 (p = 0.023); and (c) the score of the preferences grouped in a polarized way (binomial test of independent proportions), showing more significant divergences between groups, in the ACA and AAA domains and in items 1, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 11. No significant differences were recorded in the HE domain, nor in the responses grouped according to demographic criteria
Conclusions: The differences and coincidences in the students learning preferences identified in this study reveal the role that interactions and processes developed during the initial cycle generate in the network of relationships that favor learning strategies aimed at acquiring tacit and implicit knowledge, specific to the each carrier.