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DOI 10.1007/s10734-006-9023-7
ORIGINAL PAPER
António M. Duarte
Received: 27 July 2005 / Accepted: 6 June 2006 / Published online: 9 July 2006
Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2006
Introduction
Students’ conceptions of learning and the ways they approach learning are significant
factors of the quality of their learning products.
Conceptions of learning have been studied through Phenomenography and refer
to students’ natural understanding, or interpretation, of the learning phenomena
(Marton, 1981). Basically, research identified two opposing conceptions of learning:
reproductive, or quantitative, and comprehensive or qualitative (Marton & Säljö,
1976).
A quantitative conception of learning views learning as a process of accumulating
information in order to reproduce or apply it. In contrast, a qualitative conception of
A. M. Duarte (&)
Faculty of Psychology and of Educational Sciences, University of Lisbon,
Portugal Alameda da Universidade, 1649-013 Lisboa, Portugal
e-mail: antonio.duarte@fpce.ul.pt
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782 High Educ (2007) 54:781–794