Attitudes and achievement of Bruneian science students

The aim of this study was to evaluate attitudes towards and achievement in science of Form 3 students studying in single-sex and coeducational schools in Brunei. The results demonstrated significant differences in attitudes towards and achievement in science of male and female students in single-sex schools and students in coeducational schools. These differences were at moderate level. In single-sex schools, the girls achieved moderately better in science than the boys despite their attitudes were only marginally better than the boys. However, there were no gender differences in attitudes towards and achievement in science of students in coeducational schools. The attitudes towards and achievement in science of girls in single-sex schools were moderately better than those of girls in coeducational schools. Whereas the attitudes towards and achievement in science of boys in single-sex schools were only marginally better than the boys in coeducational schools. However, further research to investigate (a) if these differences are repeated at other levels as well as in other subjects, and (b) the extent to which school type contributed towards these differences is recommended.     

Academic achievement among first semester undergraduate psychology students: the role of course experience, effort, motives and learning strategies

This study investigated the relationship between multiple predictors of academic achievement, including course experience, students’ approaches to learning (SAL), effort (amount of time spent on studying) and prior academic performance (high school grade point average—HSGPA) among 442 first semester undergraduate psychology students. Correlation analysis showed that all of these factors were related to first semester examination grade in psychology. Profile analyses showed significant mean level differences between subgroups of students. A structural equation model showed that surface and strategic approaches to learning were mediators between course experience and exam performance. This model also showed that SAL, effort and HSGPA were independent predictors of exam performance, also when controlling for the effect of the other predictors. Hence, academic performance is both indirectly affected by the learning context as experienced by the students and directly affected by the students’ effort, prior performance and approaches to learning.     

Implicit intelligence beliefs of computer science students: Exploring change across the semester

This study investigated introductory computer science (CS1) students’ implicit beliefs of intelligence. Referencing Dweck and Leggett’s (1988) framework for implicit beliefs of intelligence, we examined how (1) students’ implicit beliefs changed over the course of a semester, (2) these changes differed as a function of course enrollment and students’ motivated self-regulated engagement profile, and (3) implicit beliefs predicted student learning based on standardized course grades and performance on a computational thinking knowledge test. For all students, there were significant increases in entity beliefs and significant decreases in incremental beliefs across the semester. However, examination of effect sizes suggests that significant findings for change across time were driven by changes in specific subpopulations of students. Moreover, results showed that students endorsed incremental belief more strongly than entity belief at both the beginning and end of the semester. Furthermore, the magnitude of changes differed based on students’ motivated self-regulated engagement profiles. Additionally, students’ achievement outcomes were weakly predicted by their implicit beliefs of intelligence. Finally, results showed that the relationship between changes in implicit intelligence beliefs and student achievement varied across different CS1 courses. Theoretical implications for implicit intelligence beliefs and recommendations for STEM educators are discussed.     

Science achievement in semester and all-year courses

The study investigated the effects of full-credit semester and all-year timetables on science attitudes and science achievement of grade-10 students in British Columbia. All grade-10 students in British Columbia completed multiple matrix sampled assessment instruments in May of 1986. These instruments provided background information, affective scores, and cognitive scores which were used to compare the groups. It was found that, contrary to reported teacher perceptions of semester versus all-year courses, students in the all-year courses consistently outperformed both first- and second-semester students in the cognitive domains tested, and there were no significant differences in the affective domains. The finding that second-semester students out-performed the first-semester students casts doubt on the reported teacher perception that knowledge retention is of little concern under a semester system.     

提升高校大学生志愿服务成效探究

目前,高校大学生纷纷加入志愿服务行列,服务他人的同时,提升自我。大学生志愿服务已成为高校人才培养的有效方式。然而,大学生志愿服务还存在诸多问题,志愿服务短期化、形式化、任务化,严重阻碍了大学生志愿服务的成效。本文就如何提升高校大学生志愿服务成效进行探究。     

浅议大学生科学素质教育

科学素质教育是素质教育的重要内容。大学生科学素质教育的主要内容包含科学知识教育、科学思想教育、科学方法教育和科学精神教育 ,这四个方面构成一个有机整体。     

Predicting achievement goals in the East and West: the role of grit among American and Chinese university students

Based on the hierarchical model of achievement motivation, this study examined how grit predicted achievement goals among two university student samples from American and Chinese cultures. Grit, as a personality trait, includes consistency of interest and perseverance of effort; achievement goals are represented by four types of goals, namely, mastery-approach, performance-approach, mastery-avoidance and performance-avoidance goals. Two hundred and seventy-two undergraduate students (158 Americans and 114 Chinese) were recruited and completed the survey online. Results showed that, though positively correlated, the two aspects of grit predicted achievement goals in very different ways. Specifically, consistency of interest negatively predicted performance-avoidance goals, whereas perseverance of effort positively predicted all four achievement goals (i.e. mastery-approach, performance-approach, mastery-avoidance, and performance-avoidance goals). Multi-group structural equation modelling revealed that this pattern was equivalent across the two cultural samples.     

Predicting the academic achievement of Puerto Rican and Mexican-American ninth-grade students

The study examines the predictive value of several variabls on ninth-grade grade point average for Mexican-American and Puerto Rican high school students. English and Spanish proficiency in reading, writing, speaking, and understanding the language as well as the use of Spanish or English in the home represented the language variables. The students' immigration status, gender, place of geographic residence, and mother's education were also included. Gender andimmigration status significantly predicted GPA. English proficiency was significantly different for the two groups, and the more English-proficient Mexican-Americans did more poorly in high school. No other language variables were significant predictors of the students' GPA in the study.     

Ethnicity,test anxiety and science achievement in Nigerian students

Abstract

This study investigated ethnic and gender differences in test anxiety and achievement test performances of Nigerian junior secondary school students. The sample consisted of 100 Ibibio, 100 Yoruba and 100 Tiv students randomly drawn from four rural schools in each ethnic zone. Each sample consisted of 50 male and 50 female students, between the ages of 11 and 16. Two research instruments, a test anxiety scale and an integrated science multiple‐choice test, were used, Multivariate analysis of variance indicated that: (i) there were significant ethnic and gender effects on the test anxiety and achievement test performance of the students; (ii) there was significant negative correlation between test anxiety and achievement test performances for the ethnic and gender groups of the students, except for the Yoruba female students who had insignificant negative correlation for the two variables. The significant negative correlation remained when the effects of gender and ethnicity were statistically controlled; (iii) test anxiety was affected by the inter‐active effects of gender and ethnicity; (iv) achievement test performance was affected by gender, ethnicity and test anxiety, and their interactive effects.     

Why students fail during their first university semesters

This article focuses on Norwegian students' achievement and adjustment in their first university semesters. A survey showed a positive correlation between success in upper secondary school and success at university. The study also showed that to have good organised study habits had a positive effect on self-confidence during the students' first semester, but the organised study habits did not, surprisingly, have a direct influence on grades in this semester. The effect on grades emerged as late as in their fourth semester. The article shows that increasing the amount of study hours does not automatically contribute positively to achievement. Comments made by students during interview indicated that successful students were more actively involved with the course and in their studies as a whole, than the unsuccessful students.

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Zusammenfassung Dieser Artikel konzentriert sich auf die Leistungen norwegischer Studenten und ihre Eignung in den ersten Semestern des Hochschulstudiums. Eine Studie zeigte positive Beziehungen zwischen Erfolg in der weiterführenden Sekundärschule und Erfolg im Studium an der Universität. Die Studie machte außerdem deutlich, daß gut organisierte Lernmethoden beim Studium einen positiven Einfluß auf das Selbstbewußtsein der Studenten im ersten Semester hatten, während sich überraschenderweise jedoch kein Einfluß auf die Noten in diesem Semester zeigte. Eine Auswirkung auf die Noten stellte sich erst im vierten Semester heraus. Der Artikel weist außerdem darauf hin, daß sich eine Erhöhung der Lernstunden nicht automatisch günstig auf die Leistungen auswirkt. Von den Studenten abgegebene Erklärungen während der Befragungen deuteten darauf hin, daß erfolgreiche Studenten aktiver an den Kursen und ihrem Studium insgesamt beteiligt waren als nicht erfolgreiche Studenten.

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Résumé Cet article porte sur le rendement des étudiants norvégiens et leur adaptation au cours des premiers semestres à l'université. Une étude a montré une corrélation positive entre le succès dans l'enseignement secondaire et le succès à l'université. Cette étude a, par ailleurs, révélé que le fait d'avoir des habitudes d'étude bien organisées a un effet positif sur la confiance en soi des étudiants en premier semestre, mais que ces bonnes habitudes n'ont pas, de manière suprenante, d'influence directe sur les notes obtenues durant ce semestre. L'effet exercé sur les notes n'apparaît qu'au cours du quatrième semestre. Le présent article montre que l'augmentation du nombre d'heures d'étude ne contribue pas automatiquement à des résultats positifs. Les commentaires émis par les étudiants durant l'interview indiquent que ceux qui réussissent sont, dans l'ensemble, davantage engagés dans le programme et dans leurs études que ceux qui réussissent moins bien.

     

Improving pre-laboratory preparation of first year university chemistry students

This study uses an action research approach to investigate how different modes of pre-laboratory preparation contribute towards a fruitful laboratory experience for first year students on an access programme. We considered the experience to be fruitful if the students successfully acquired procedural understanding, communicative competence and were able to apply the conceptual understanding to make the purpose of the labs meaningful. A group of students was observed by participant observers during 1996. Data was gathered during laboratory sessions and from written pre-laboratory work. These data were analysed and changes were instituted in the running and conceptualization of the laboratory in the subsequent year. A group of students was again observed and data collected. Two important factors emerged from the analysis of the data. One finding was the importance of adequate student preparation for the laboratories, regardless of the mode of preparation employed. Another was that the ability to prepare depended on the conceptual and procedural understanding of the laboratory as a whole. Preparedness is also important if conceptual benefit is to be obtained from the practical experience.     

The work values of first year Spanish university students

This study analyzes the work values of 2,951 first-year university students in Spain enrolled in degree programs within the five major areas of university studies. For our research, participants were asked to respond to a Scale of Work Values in which intrinsic, social, and pragmatic extrinsic values as well as extrinsic values related to geographic mobility are differentiated. Our findings show these students to have high levels of intrinsic and pragmatic extrinsic values as well as differences that vary according to their gender, major area of study and their chosen study program. By means of cluster analysis, we have also identified seven distinct types of students aligned with the work values under study. This paper explores the implications of this study for the development of work values and the education of students at the university level as well as the study’s possible utility as a means of providing orientation to students that will prepare them better for their entry into the labor market.     

Memory content of scientific concepts in beginning university science students

This study examines the characteristics of the content of scientific concepts stored in memory by beginning university science students. The features of this representation are examined and compared to the memory content of abstract non-scientific concepts shown by previous studies. Property generation task, a tool extensively used in identifying conceptual content, was used for this purpose. The findings show that the content of scientific concepts stored in memory by beginning university students is characterised by a predominance of entity properties along with, to a lesser extent, situation and introspective properties. This stands in contrast to previous findings about non-scientific abstract concepts, where situation properties are predominant. The implications of this finding on the acquisition and use of scientific concepts are discussed.     

Physics knowledge of first semester physics students in Germany: a comparison of 1978 and 2013 cohorts

ABSTRACT

Over the last decades, the percentage of the age group choosing to pursue university studies has increased significantly across the world. At the same time, there are university teachers who believe that the standards have fallen. There is little research on whether students nowadays demonstrate knowledge or abilities similar to that of the preceding cohorts. However, in times of educational expansion, empirical evidence on student test performance is extremely helpful in evaluating how well educational systems cope with the increasing numbers of students. In this study, we compared a sample of 2322 physics freshmen from 2013 with another sample of 2718 physics freshmen from 1978 at universities in Germany with regard to their physics knowledge based on their results in the same entrance test. Previous results on mathematics knowledge and abilities in the same sample of students indicated that there was no severe decline in their average achievement. This paper compares the physics knowledge of the same two samples of students. Contrary to their mathematics results, their physics results showed a substantial decrease in physics knowledge as measured by the test.     

Qualitative differences in approaches to teaching first year university science

Changing lecturers' teaching strategies to improve learning in higher education may mean first having to address the intentions associated with those strategies. The study reported in this paper used a phenomenographic approach to explore the intentions associated with the teaching strategies of first year physical science lecturers. Approaches found ranged from those involving information transmission to those where the intention was to develop learning through conceptual change, but in all approaches, logical relations were found between intention and strategy. The implications for attempts to improve teaching through developing strategies are discussed.