Sapientia Postgraduate

Vol. 2 No. 1 (2026)
Artículos originales

Beyond memorization: student perceptions of meaningful learning in higher education

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  • J. Jairo Núñez Cálix
J. Jairo Núñez Cálix
Universidad Católica de Honduras "Nuestra Señora Reina de la Paz"
Bio

Published 2026-09-11

https://doi.org/10.63975/sp.90

Keywords

  • meaningful learning; higher education; student perceptions; rote memorization; active learning; authentic assessment; university pedagogy.

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How to Cite

1.
Núñez Cálix JJ. Beyond memorization: student perceptions of meaningful learning in higher education. SP [Internet]. 2026 Sep. 11 [cited 2026 Sep. 29];2(1):1-7. Available from: https://revistas.unicah.edu/index.php/sapientia-postgraduate/article/view/90

Copyright (c) 2026 J. Jairo Núñez Cálix (Autor/a)

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Abstract

Despite three decades of rhetoric on educational innovation, the university experience remains caught between rote reproduction and the promise of meaningful learning. This study examines, from the student's situated voice, which pedagogical configurations activate real learning in the Honduran university. A qualitative survey with open-ended questions was administered to 173 undergraduate students at the Universidad Católica de Honduras (UNICAH) across eleven campuses and five departments, complemented by a bibliometric review of 20 Q1–Q2 indexed papers (2018–2026) on active and meaningful learning. Analysis followed a sequential exploratory mixed-methods design: inductive thematic coding, lexical frequency, and literature triangulation. Results show that 34.1% of students associate real learning with practical application, 17.3% with active dynamics and participation, and 9.8% with examples and real cases; only 5.2% mention teacher explanation or feedback as a primary vector. Memorization is recognized as necessary but insufficient when disconnected from understanding, application, or reflection. Findingsconverge with international evidence on the pedagogical superiority of active learning and suggest five redesign principles: situated experience, authentic assessment, metacognitive pacing, formative feedback, and teacher mediation as designer of meaning. Implications are discussed for university teaching and for the design of AI-assisted educational technologies.

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