Between deep and surface: procedural approaches to learning in engineering education contexts

This article describes two approaches to learning (in addition to the classic deep and surface approaches) identified in studies of student learning in engineering contexts. The first study identified the ‘procedural deep’ approach in a group of engineering foundation programme students in the UK, while the second study identified the ‘procedural surface’ (originally termed algorithmic) approach amongst second‐year South African chemical engineering students. Both these approaches involve a strategy of focusing on problem solving, but they have respectively deep and surface intentions (the former involving the intention to understand and the latter not). From both studies it was clear that the approaches students use are adaptations to particular course contexts, and it is suggested that a course focus towards a procedural deep objective might preclude the adoption of a deep approach.