Welche Studierenden sind im ersten Semester erfolgreich?: Zur Rolle von Selbsterklärungen beim Mathematiklernen in der Studieneingangsphase

Many mathematics students give up studying during their first year at university. Possible reasons for the high drop-out rate might be differences concerning the character of mathematics taught as well as the different learning cultures in school and at university. In this article, we present results of an empirical study, in which we investigate the role of individual learning strategies of 104 mathematics students during their first semester. Results indicate that particularly the development of self-explanations in self-study phases has an important impact on the development of interest in mathematics, mathematical self-concept as well as study success in the first semester. It is noticeable that the use of self-explanations during the self-study phases is not significantly connected to central cognitive and affective learner prerequisites when commencing studies. Therefore, this learning strategy comes probably into play by the more successful students during their first weeks of study when adapting to academic learning culture. Based on the results, we discuss approaches to support learners in their first semester at university.