Purpose
We evaluated the degree of “learning skills” and “the will to learn” among students in an Acupuncture and Moxibustion course by investigating their awareness and determining the dominant causes of the results of this investigation.
Methods
At the end of October 1996, we delivered questionnaires to 185 students in the 3rd year of our Acupuncture and Moxibustion course. Responses were collected from 141 students (76.2% of surveyed. Survey was conducted anonymously in each class. As analysis methods, we selected variance analysis and factor analysis. The former was selected to determine the distribution of student attributes, while the latter was done to extract and examine latent factors in the students.
Results
1) As a result of the variance analysis, it was suggested that the main results of each survey involved the age factor.
2) Among the questions whose loading rate showed 0.6 or more (absolute value), we detected the following latent factors :
(1) Regarding “the skill of learning”, we called the first factor “the ability to grasp key points” (showed a minus direction), the second factor “the ability to deepen understanding”, the third factor “the subsidiary skills” (minus direction), and the fourth factor “the ability to relate”.
(2) Concerning “the will to learn”, we called the first factor “the will to pursue problems”, the second “the will to participate in classes”, the third “the will to take up challenging tasks” (minusdirectlon), and the fourth “the will to create a learning schedule” (minus direction).
Consideration and Conclusion
Regarding “learning skills” and “the will to learn”, we conclude following about the students' attributes :
1) Age is a large factor.
2) Among the four factors involved in “learning skills”, “the ability to grasp key points” and “subsidiary skills” are factors that students were weak in, while “the ability to deepen understanding” and “the ability to relate” are skills students were strong in. Concerning “the will to learn”, “the will to pursue problems” and “the will to participate in classes” were stronger, while “the will to take up challeng tasks” and “the will to create a learning schedule” were weaker.