Tutorial Programs for Freshman Engineering Students

The purpose of this study was to examine the potential of a 1-year tutorial program to reduce the incidence of academic failure and attrition problems among freshman engineering students. A year-long program in English, mathematics, and physics plus general tutoring was provided for freshman engineering students (ninety-four fall, ninety-four winter, and ninety-three spring quarters) throughout the 1967-68 school year.

In eleven of the nineteen comparisons between tutored and non-tutored, the tutored group’s mean adjusted grade point average (GPA) was either significantly higher or approached significance. A higher percentage of tutored students were achieving at above a 2. 00 GPA after 1 year when compared with two separate non-tutored samples (51% - 43% - 22%). A lower percentage of tutored students withdrew during the first year when compared with two separate non-tutored samples (14% - 24% - 35%). The results support the use of a tutoring program at the freshman level as a means of reducing the number of academic and attrition problems.     

大学新生学习适应:问题表征与行动探索

学习适应问题在大学新生的个体发展中处于重要地位,受到越来越多的关注。文章采用参与式行动研究法,以北京大学医学部自愿报名的6位新生和3位老生组成探究的社群,通过参与式活动、深度访谈和焦点团体等方法收集资料,叙说大学新生学习适应问题的多维表征,展现多种参与式活动的介入对于新生学习适应状况的改变与帮助。     

《现代汽车工程》新生研讨课的教学改革与实践

新生研讨课是大学一年级新生实现人生角色转变的重要课程,有助于大学一年级新生实现人生定位的转变、学习目的的转变、学习内容的转变和学习方式的转变.结合<现代汽车工程>新生研讨课,阐述了课程的教学定位、知识体系、教学方法和考核方式.     

Self-Ideal Discrepancy and the Correlates Sex and Academic Achievement

There is little opportunity for the individual student to speak in class. The ratio of speaking time to the time of other language activities is improper. The speaking time of the individual can be prolonged many times over in a 2-way communication model, based on the principle of paired learning with planned partner rotation and the teacher acting as a supervisor with special functions. This communication model provides the individual learner with a maximum of speaking time under controlled conditions.     

资源勘查工程专业本科新生基本能力现状调查及训练目标

本文通过读书报告和问卷调查等形式对紫金矿业学院资源勘查工程专业本科新生的基本能力现状进行了摸底调查,结合福州大学教改项目的实施,制订系统的训练计划,对学生的各项基本能力进行培养和拓展训练,以期大多数学生能够获得较强的文字处理能力、文献研读能力、资料综合运用能力,最终使学生的综合素质得到真正提高。     

Freshman Retention

Aggregate college data are used to help understand how college characteristics influence the decision for freshman to remain in school another year. Taking advantage of the aggregate data, we estimate a three-stage least squares model which takes retention, enrollment and SAT scores as all endogenous. Our results highlight interactions between the three endogenous variables which confirms our suspicion of the need for multiple equations. In addition, a variety of specific results emerge, including the impact of interviews, ability, socioeconomic status, and the student-faculty ratio of the college. In general many of these results can be understood in terms of the human capital model in which the decision to continue depends on a weighing of the benefits against the full costs of college. Both this framework and our specific estimation bring new evidence to an examination of the retention decision.     

Freshman Disorientation

Abstract

A Provocative Collection The War against the Intellect: Episodes In the Decline of Discourse By Peter Shaw Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1989, 181 pages, $22.50 hardcover, $10.95 paperback. Reviewed by Robert L. Spaeth

Giving Freshmen What They Deserve The Freshman Year Experience M. Lee Upcraft, John N. Gardner and Associates San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1989, 443 pages, $32.95 Reviewed by Roy Starling     

新生研讨课：一种有效的新生教育途径

文章通过追溯美国大学新生研讨课的产生背景及发展轨迹,从宏观层面分析了其成功地帮助新生完成大学适应转变与学术转变的原因,认为我国大学应通过开设研讨课程,使教师参与到新生教育过程中。这将有益于提高本科教育质量。     

Academic and Social Motivational Influences on Students' Academic Performance

We discuss ways in which aspects of academic and social motivation interact to influence student's academic performance. Research on academic and social motivational constructs is reviewed, focusing on students' ability and efficacy beliefs, control beliefs, achievement values, and achievement goal orientations. Relations between academic and social motivational processes are discussed, as well as how motivational processes from both domains might interact to influence academic outcomes. We also discuss motivation from the perspective of contextual factors and school socialization processes that have the potential to influence student motivation and subsequent performance. In this regard, teachers' instructional practices and interpersonal relationships with students are highlighted as potentially powerful factors influencing student motivation and performance.     

日本的学力问题

一、引言从1999年上半年起,随着倡导“综合学习时间”(以下简称“综合学习”)的新学习指导要领的颁布(1998年),诸如“学力低下”、“学力危机”、“学力崩     

Entrepreneurship Education and Academic Performance

The significant increase of entrepreneurship education (EE) is a trend in Europe. Entrepreneurship education is supposed to promote general and specific entrepreneurial abilities and improve academic performance. This paper evaluates whether EE influences academic performance, measured by Grade Point Average. The main indicator used for EE is the Company Program (CP), a program taught in upper-secondary school in 40 European countries. The data derive from surveys conducted in Norway in 2008 (1,400 pupils) and 2011 (1,100 post-graduates). Results from econometric analyses show that there is no difference in the GPA between participants in CP and other forms of EE and non-participants. This indicates that EE is neither good, nor bad as a teaching method for improvement of academic performance.     

The Effect of Subconscious Performance Goals on Academic Performance

We investigated the impact of subconscious goals on academic performance in two field experiments. We show that unobtrusive priming of goals with regard to achievement motivation by means of a photograph improves performance in different educational contexts. High-school students who were exposed to an achievement-related photograph achieved higher grades than students in two control conditions. This effect was not affected by students’ prior performance. University students exposed to a photograph representing a specific, difficult goal reached even higher performance than students taking the exam with a general achievement photograph. For practice, subconscious goals may form a powerful, cost-effective tool to enhance academic performance. However, varying results across the experiments also prompt the need for further investigations of such effects.     

The Freshman 20

If you are coming to the United States for university,you probably have heard the phrase"freshman 15,meaning freshmen will gain 15 pounds during the first year.Before I came to the US,I always thought that this so- called"freshman 15"is an exaggeration.But for me,it is not.I over gained my"freshman 15"-after one semester,I gained 20 pounds.No kidding.     

Instructional Correlates of Students' Academic Responses: Comparisons Between at-Risk and Control Students

This paper describes instructional arrangements in first grade classrooms and assesses their effects on academic responses of students at risk for failure. A parallel set of analyses of not-at-risk controls provides a basis for comparison. Time-sampled, in-class observations focused on multiple components of instruction (subject matter, tasks assigned, group size, and teachers' behavior) and students' response (active/academic, task management, and inappropriate). The associations of instructional structure with type of student response were considered significant if replicated across two samples. Relative to base- rates (unconditional probabilities) six specific arrangements were shown to be significantly associated with either accelerated or decelerated rates (conditional probabilities) of at-risk and control students' active, academic, or inappropriate responses. The pattern of results indicated that while only one instructional arrangement was associated with increased inappropriate behavior for both groups, only two infrequently occurring arrangements in- creased academic responding. Implications with respect to both research and practice are discussed.     

Instructional Correlates of Students' Academic Responses: Comparisons Between at-Risk and Control Students

This paper describes instructional arrangements in first grade classrooms and assesses their effects on academic responses of students at risk for failure. A parallel set of analyses of not-at-risk controls provides a basis for comparison. Time-sampled, in-class observations focused on multiple components of instruction (subject matter, tasks assigned, group size, and teachers' behavior) and students' response (active/academic, task management, and inappropriate). The associations of instructional structure with type of student response were considered significant if replicated across two samples. Relative to base- rates (unconditional probabilities) six specific arrangements were shown to be significantly associated with either accelerated or decelerated rates (conditional probabilities) of at-risk and control students' active, academic, or inappropriate responses. The pattern of results indicated that while only one instructional arrangement was associated with increased inappropriate behavior for both groups, only two infrequently occurring arrangements in- creased academic responding. Implications with respect to both research and practice are discussed.     

Some Non‐Academic Developmental Correlates of Ability‐Grouping in Secondary Schools

Using data from the National Child Development Study, the relationship between certain non‐academic aspects of children's development and their school's ability‐grouping policy were examined.

The four areas of non‐academic development considered were: the young people's rating of their own ability in English, mathematics, science and practical subjects, their academic motivation, their plans for further education and occupational aspirations and their behaviour at school. However, in general there were no differences in any of these respects between children in streamed, setted and mixed‐ability schools.

The implications of these findings are discussed, in particular the potential differences which could arise between schools with different policies if more appropriate methods of teaching and organisation were adopted.