Evolution of students learning approach between two different subjects in consecutive years

Several factors affect the student learning approach, being one of them the context of the student. Contextual factors can include the subject, the course where the subject is integrated in the curricula, the program itself or the institution or type of studies, as well as assessment system or teaching methodology. Students approach to learning can be classified in several ways, but the most common are deep or surface approach, that differ mainly in the involvement of the student in his/her own learning. The measurement of student approach to learning can be done with different tools and can help teachers to face their teaching methodology to improve student learning. One of the main tools to assess student approach to learning is the questionnaire R-SPQ-2F. In this study, the student approach to learning in two different subjects of the students of the Biotechnology degree was assessed with the R-SPQ-2F questionnaire. Student approach to learning was assessed in the first year in one subject, and in the following year in another subject taken by the same students. The reliability of the questionnaire was high for the main scales, but not for the subscales. The students showed a higher deep approach in the first year than in the second, without differences according to gender or language used as medium of instruction. The opposite behaviour was observed for the surface approach, that was lower in the first year. However, on student basis, this behaviour was not followed by all the students. These results can help to select methodologies to improve deep approach by the students.