A critique of the deep and surface approaches to learning model

This paper is a critical analysis of Biggs's deep and surface approaches to learning model, which is prominent in the higher education and tertiary learning fields. The paper reflects on the model's origins and the contextual pressures of the educational landscape extant at that time. It is argued that these pressures have led to a demonstrable lack of serious critique of the model, which has truncated the model's development, leaving it underdeveloped. There are significant problems with the model in the areas of supporting evidence, imprecise conceptualisation, ambiguous language, circularity, and a lack of definition of the underlying structure of deep and surface approaches to learning.

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