Abstract, The present studies were conducted to investigate students conceptions of distinct constructivist assumptions. To that end, a questionnaire was developed containing statements about four constructivist assumptions: The importance of knowledge construction, cooperative learning, self-regulation, and the use of authentic problems together with self-perceived inability to learn and motivation to learn. The studies demonstrate that the questionnaire was able to unearth students conceptions of the distinctiveness of constructivist assumptions. Students were able to identify the six factors underlying the questionnaire, as indicated by the fit of the hypothesized model. The test for measurement invariance showed that factor loadings were equivalent across groups and that the questionnaire's underlying factor structure gave evidence of cross-validation. Testing alternative models with one and three latent factors resulted in poor model fits, supporting the questionnaire's latent factor structure. The questionnaire developed appeared an adequate instrument to investigate students conceptions of constructivist assumptions of learning and students acknowledge the importance of these assumptions as distinct influences on their learning process.

Les études en question ont été menées afin d'examiner les conceptions des étudiants quant aux principes constructivistes. Le questionnaire, mis au point a cette fin, contient quatre piliers de conceptions constructivistes: l'importance de la construction cognitive, l'apprentissage cooper-off, l'autorégulation, et l'emploi de problèmes authentiques conjointement avec l'incertitude de l'apprentissage et la motivation d'étudier. Ces études démontrent que le questionnaire était capable de mettre en évidence les conceptions que se faisaient les étudiants a propos du caractère distinctif des principes constructifs. Les étudiants étaient capables d'identifier les six facteurs sous-jacents au questionnaire, comme la forme du modèle d'hypothèses l'indique. Le test visant à mesurer la constance a révélé que les analyses factorielles (le poids des facteurs) étaient équivalentes entre les groupes et que la structure des facteurs implicite du questionnaire a mis en évidence la validation croisée. Le modèle a six facteurs a été mis a l'épreuve vis-à-vis des modèles d'un facteur versus trois facteurs. Les analyses factorielles confirment que le modèle a six facteurs révèle la solution la plus optimale et que les autres modèles révèlent des solutions sub-optimales. Apparentement, le questionnaire permet de développer un instrument utile pour étudier la conception qu'ont les étudiants a propos des principes constructivistes de l'apprentissage. De même, les étudiants comprennent l'importance de ces suppositions en les considérants comme des influences directes de leur processus d'apprentissage.

Key words: Conceptions of learning, Constructivism, Cooperative learning, Knowledge construction, Self-regulation.

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