(Dis)similarities in research on learning approaches and learning patterns

Over the last few decades, a lot of research effort has been invested in exploring the ways in which students learn in higher education. This research stems from a variety of research traditions (Lonka et al., 2004; Richardson, 2007b) and has evolved in different directions. A large number of studies have been carried out in diverse areas, such as: cognitive aspects of learning (Moskvina and Kozhevnikov, 2011); learning styles (Kolb, 1984); intellectual styles (Zhang and Sternberg, 2005); learning conceptions (Van Rossum and Schenk, 1984), approaches to learning (Marton and Säljö, 1997); aspects of self-regulation (Boekaerts et al., 2000); study orientations (Nieminen et al., 2004; Richardson, 1997); meta-cognition (Flavell, 1987); and motivational aspects of learning (Boekaerts and Martens, 2006). A shared feature of many of these studies is the search for relationships between various aspects of learning and an attempt to arrive at integrative models of learning (Biggs, 1993; Entwistle and McCune, 2004; Meyer, 1998; Vermunt and Vermetten, 2004).