Oliveira IM, Rodríguez-Fuentes G Faculty of Physiotherapy, University of Vigo

1. LEARNING STRATEGIES AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE WITHIN PHYSIOTHERAPY STUDENTS AT UNIVERSITY OF VIGO. Oliveira IM, Rodríguez-Fuentes G Faculty of Physiotherapy, University of Vigo irismacoli@uvigo.es, gfuentes@uvigo.es KEYWORDS: Learning strategies; Academic performance; Physiotherapy. INTRODUCTION OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to analyse the amount of learning strategies used by physiotherapy students and the possible correlation between the used learning strategies and their respective academic performance. At the present, the teaching-learning process at the university has as one of its leitmotifs to encourage the active role of the students. This entails that students should be strategic in their own learning process, because this would facilitate the information acquisition, codification, recovery and support. In this study, the objective was to analyse the possible correlation between the used learning strategies by the students and their respective academic performance. METHODOLOGY RESULTS • The main results observed were the higher use of learning strategies (total ACRA score) by women (p<0.001) when compared to men. There are no significant differences when compared students from both courses. • Regarding the amount of use for each strategy that integrates the tool, there are significant differences in 14 of 44 strategies by gender (higher for women), and in 2 of 44 strategies by course (higher for third course). In table 1, the strategies where significant differences were observed by gender and academic course are described. • Concerning the dimensions of the scale there were significant differences in D1 and D2 by gender (higher for women) and there were no significant differences by academic course. To the subscales, there were significant differences in information acquisition, recovering and support by gender (higher for women), and no significant differences were observed by academic course. There were significant differences for 6 of 13 factors by gender (higher for women), and only for 2 of 13 by course (Table 2). • There were no significant differences referent to academic performance by gender; however it was significant by course (higher for third course). Total ACRA scores presented significant differences by gender, but no significant differences by course (Table 3). • In the correlation analysis between the different variables and academic performance, there was only a significant positive correlation (p<0.05) between academic performance and factor 8 (social support). Table 1. Strategies where significant differences were observed by gender and academic course. Table 2. Dimensions, subscales and factors where significant differences were observed by gender, and factors where significant differences were observed by academic course. Table 3. Academic performance and total ACRA score by gender and academic course. REFERENCES CONCLUSION • Ramírez-Salguero, M.I. (2001). Las Estrategias del Aprendizaje. Eúphoros, 2001 (3), 113-131. • Pérez, J.C.N., González-Pienda, J.A., Rodríguez, M.G., González-Pumariega, S., Montero, C.R., Pérez, L.A. & Torres, M.C.G. (1998). Estrategias de aprendizaje, autoconcepto y rendimiento académico. Psicothema, 10, 97-109. • Carreño, M.J.S., Quiero, M.L., Vergara, P.T., Contreras, J.L., Cabrera, E.M. & Muñoz, E.C. (2011). Diferencias de género en el rendimiento académico y en el perfil de estilos y de estrategias de aprendizaje en estudiantes de química y farmacia de la Universidad de Concepción. Revista Estilos de Aprendizaje, 7(7). • Saíz, M.C., Montero, E.,Bol, A. & Carbonero, M.A. (2012). 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Theoria, 13, 103-110. • López, B.G., Rodríguez, J.S., Remesal, A.F. (2007). Estrategias de aprendizaje y rendimiento académico en estudiantes universitarios. Revista de Investigación Educativa, 25(2), 421-441. • RossiCasé, L.E., Neer, R.H., Lopetegui, M.S. & Doná, S. (2010). Estrategias de aprendizaje y rendimiento academic según el género en estudiantes universitarios. Revista de Psicología, 2010 (11), 199-211. The academic performance of the students from the Degree in Physiotherapy seems not to be linked to the amount of use of strategies or groups of strategies, except for the strategies related to social support. This fact could mean that other variables would be implicated with higher academic performance among our students, thus suggesting that other studies employing other instruments in order to assess the relationship between learning and academic performance are needed. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS All the students implicated in the study.