Contemporary constructivist practices in higher education settings and academic motivational factors

This study was aimed at assessing the relationships between college students' pre-entry factors, self-efficacy and motivation for learning, and the perceived constructivist learning in traditional lecture-based courses and seminars (SM). The study included 411 undergraduate third-year college students. Several scales were administered to the participants: The Constructivist Learning in Higher Education Settings scale (CLHES) aimed at measuring students' perceptions of occurrences of contemporary constructivist practices in learning environments, along three dimensions: constructive activity, teacher student interaction and social activity; the Academic Motivation Scale - College (CEGEP); and the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ). Regression analysis main results showed that the constructive activity and teacher- student interaction factors were positively correlated. The teacher- student interaction variable was highly effective in enhancing intrinsic motivation for learning which in turn, contributed primarily to academic self-efficacy. The motivational factors were not solely affected by the learning environment perception but were also informed, to some extent, by several pre-entry factors. Multivariate analysis of covariance results have corroborated the research hypothesis, indicating that students perceive seminar learning environments as more constructivist when compared with lecture-based course perceptions. Implications of these findings and directions for future research are discussed.