Models of Causal Relationships of Critical Teaching–Surface Learning Process Factors amongst Construction Engineering Undergraduates

Education is a teaching-learning systemic process, involving teachers, students, the curriculum content and the environment. The process consists of three sub-processes, namely teaching, learning and evaluation, in which students as well as learning process are central. Having established that construction engineering undergraduates in Hong Kong employ a common surface learning approach the research reported in this paper aimed at understanding the nature of the relationships between the variables with an assumption of causality in the teaching and learning process. Three structural equation models of teaching approaches namely: context-transferring, shaping and traveling have been established using the LISREL program. These models largely confirm existing theories within the construction education environment.