Sources of science self‐efficacy beliefs of middle school students

The purpose of this study was to investigate the degree to which A. Bandura's ( 1997 ) hypothesized sources of self‐efficacy predict the science self‐efficacy beliefs of middle school students (N = 319), to replicate previous findings that science self‐efficacy predicts science achievement, and to explore how science self‐efficacy and its antecedents differ by gender. Significant correlations were found between mastery experiences, vicarious experiences, social persuasions, physiological arousal, and self‐efficacy. Only mastery experiences significantly predicted science self‐efficacy. Girls reported stronger science self‐efficacy than did boys. Findings support and extend the theoretical tenets of Bandura's social cognitive theory. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 43: 485–499, 2006     

Self-efficacy beliefs and the writing performance of entering high school students

Path analysis was used to test the influence of writing self-efficacy, writing apprehension, and writing aptitude on the essay-writing performance of 181 ninth-grade students. A model that also included gender accounted for 53% of the variance in performance. As hypothesized, both aptitude and students' self-efficacy beliefs had strong direct effects on performance. Aptitude also had a strong direct effect on self-efficacy, which largely mediated the indirect effect of aptitude on performance. Self-efficacy had a strong direct effect on apprehension, which, in turn, had a modest effect on performance. Girls and boys did not differ in aptitude or performance, but girls reported lower writing self-efficacy. Native English-speaking Hispanic students had lower aptitude and performance scores, lower self-efficacy, and higher apprehension. Results support the hypothesized role of self-efficacy in Bandura's (1986) social cognitive theory. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Exploring epistemological approaches and beliefs of middle school students in problem-based learning

Abstract

The authors investigated the influence of engaging in a problem-based learning unit on middle school students' epistemic beliefs, and how such students' epistemic beliefs and approaches to argumentation within and outside of their small groups related. Data sources include state science achievement test scores, epistemic beliefs pre- and posttests, videotaped class sessions, retrospective interviews, and pre- and post-cognitive interviews. Quantitative data were collected and analyzed from 59 students, while the qualitative subsample consisted of 15 students. Engaging in problem-based learning led to a significant effect on students' epistemic beliefs. The effect was of a large magnitude among high-achieving students, of a small magnitude among average-achieving students, and of a small negative magnitude among lower-achieving students. Students employed different approaches to generating and evaluating arguments in different ecosystems, including as small groups and in discussions with the teacher.     

Parental involvement and academic achievement among elementary and middle school students

Asia Pacific Education Review - This study investigates the associations between parental involvement and academic achievement across three criteria: school level (elementary and middle school),...     

高中生学业成绩及相关因素的研究

本研究采用分层随机抽样方法,对五所高中各年级学生进行考试焦虑、学习方法及其它相关因素的测量和调查;对１４０５个有效样本进行了统计处理,发现学习方法、考试焦虑程度影响学业成绩;父母的职业、母亲的化程度对学生的学业成绩有影响;家庭经济收入、是否独生子女与学生的学业成绩无关;任学生干部累计年限越长,学业成绩优秀率越高。     

Achievement-oriented beliefs and their relation to academic expectations and school achievement among Qatari students

This study investigated the relation between motivational goals and university intentions, school valuing and school achievement. The premise of this study is that motivational goals play a key role in academic values and achievement. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to establish the construct validity of the motivational measures drawn from the Inventory of School Motivation (ISM): mastery (effort and task), performance (competition and social power), social solidarity (social concern and affiliation), extrinsic (praise and token). A set of eight regression analyses was conducted to examine the relations among these eight motivational measures, future goals to attend college, the value of school and six school subjects. Eight regression equations revealed that effort and task were the most significant predictors of the dependent variables of university intention, valuing school and school achievement scores. Students in Qatar exhibited ‘effort and task’ in goal motivation in relation to students’ beliefs regarding future academic goals and achievement scores in school subjects. As Qatar is a highly gender-segregated society, analyses were also conducted by gender.     

QuickSmart: a basic academic skills intervention for middle school students with learning difficulties

QuickSmart is a basic academic skills intervention designed for persistently low-achieving students in the middle years of schooling that aims to improve the automaticity of basic skills to improve higher-order processes, such as problem solving and comprehension, as measured on standardized tests. The QuickSmart instructional program consists of three structured, teacher- or teacher aide-directed, 30-minute, small-group lessons each week for approximately 26 weeks. In this study, 42 middle school students experiencing learning difficulties (LD) completed the QuickSmart reading program, and a further 42 students with LD took part in the QuickSmart mathematics program. To investigate the effects of the intervention, comparisons were made between the reading and mathematics progress of the intervention group and a group of 10 high-achieving and 10 average-achieving peers. The results indicated that although the standardized reading comprehension and mathematics scores of QuickSmart students remained below those of comparison students, they improved significantly from pretest to posttest. In contrast, the standardized scores of comparison students were not significantly different from pretest to posttest. On measures of response speed and accuracy gathered using the Cognitive Aptitude Assessment System (CAAS), QuickSmart students were able to narrow the gap between their performance and that of their high- and average-achieving peers. Implications are drawn regarding the importance of interventions that emphasize the automaticity of basic academic skills for students with learning difficulties.     

Negotiating the transition to middle school: the role of self-regulatory processes

The present research examined the role of maladaptive self-regulatory beliefs as vulnerability factors for academic and emotional difficulties during the transition to middle school. A short-term longitudinal design was employed to follow two groups of early adolescents: 187 adolescents who experienced a school transition between the fifth and sixth grades, and 142 adolescents who did not experience a school transition between the fifth and sixth grades. Adolescents completed measures of perceptions of academic control and importance of academic success, experience of chronic academic strain, daily school hassles, and depressive symptoms. Teachers reported on students' academic engagement, including levels of helpless behavior, effort, and academic performance. Consistent with the proposed model of self-regulation, maladaptive self-regulatory beliefs (i.e., decreased perceptions of academic control and importance) predicted individual differences in perceived school-related stress and depressive symptoms over the course of the middle school transition, but were not associated with academic and emotional difficulties in adolescents who remained in a stable school environment. Moreover, a self-regulatory sequence was identified proceeding from maladaptive self-regulatory beliefs, to academic disengagement, to enhanced perceptions of school-related stress, to depressive symptoms. This study bridges prior theory and research concerning the psychological impact of normative developmental transitions, the developmental context of depression, and the associations among self-regulatory beliefs, achievement-related behavior, and emotional experience.     

The differential impact of academic self-regulatory methods on academic achievement among university students with and without learning disabilities

Although research on academic self-regulation has proliferated in recent years, no studies have investigated the question of whether the perceived usefulness and the use of standard self-regulated learning strategies and compensation strategies provide a differential prediction of academic achievement for university students with and without learning disabilities (LD). We developed and tested a model explaining interrelationships among self-regulatory variables and grade point average (GPA) using structural equation modeling and multiple group analysis for students with LD (n = 53) and without LD (n = 421). Data were gathered using a new instrument, the Learning Strategies and Study Skills survey. The results of this study indicate that students with LD differed significantly from students without LD in the relationships between their motivation for and use of standard self-regulated learning strategies and compensation strategies, which in turn provided a differential explanation of academic achievement for students with and without LD. These paths of influence and idiosyncrasies of academic self-regulation among students with LD were interpreted in terms of social cognitive theory, metacognitive theory, and research conducted in the LD field.     

Influence of motivational beliefs and strategies on recall task performance in elementary, middle and high school students

In the present study, we propose a model describing how motivational beliefs and strategies influence study performance of students at three different school levels: elementary (age 8-10), middle (11-14), and first year high school (15). Participants were administered the AMOS 8-15 instrument (Cornoldi et al. 2005) designed for measuring the influence of motivational beliefs and strategies on recall task performance. Results of multigroup analysis confirmed the relations proposed in our model between motivational beliefs and strategies for all three groups, the largest difference being in how these aspects influenced performance on recall tasks: in elementary and middle school, motivational beliefs have direct influence on performance, whereas in high school they influence performance through strategy use.     

A preliminary research on middle school students’ academic subjective well-being and its major influential factors

This study is conducted with self-developed questionnaire on 910 middle school students, aimed at describing middle school students’ academic subjective well-being and exploring its influential factors. Results show that (1) Academic subjective well-being of middle school students is generally low and there exist differences in different schools and grades. Students from non-key middle schools have lower academic subjective well-being than those from the key schools. Grade 2 students in both junior and senior middle schools have the lowest academic subjective well-being. (2) Factors directly affecting middle school students’ academic subjective well-being are academic experience and the present academic achievements · · with the former playing a major role. (3) Factors indirectly influencing middle school students’ academic subjective well-being are social pressure and expected academic achievements, both of which influence students’ academic subjective well-being through students’ academic experience or their present academic achievements. __________ Translated from Educational Research and Experiment, 2004:4     

初一学生学习适应性对学业成绩的调节作用:基于多水平分析的研究

本研究对大连市23615名初一学生进行了学习适应性调查、基本能力测验和学科期末测验,然后采用逐步建立多层线性模型的方法,探索了学习适应性对不同学科学业成绩的调节作用。研究结果显示:学习适应性对学业成绩具有直接影响和调节作用。在控制了学生性别等基本变量后,学习适应性对学业成绩有显著的正向预测作用,并且,学习适应能够调节性别与学业成绩、基本能力与学业成绩的关系,学习适应水平越高,不同性别学生学业成绩的差异越小,基本能力对学业成绩的预测作用相对减弱。     

The efficacy of utilizing a phonics treatment package with middle school deaf and hard-of-hearing students

Research indicates that the acquisition of phonemic awareness and phonic skills is highly correlated with later success in learning to read. Numerous studies support the hypothesis that deaf and hard-of-hearing children are able to utilize alternative systems to develop phonological awareness that are not dependent on the ability to hear sounds or accurately pronounce words. A quasi-experimental, pre- and posttest design was employed in this study that evaluated the efficacy of implementing a phonics treatment package with middle-school-aged students. Results indicate that treatment students were able to demonstrate acquisition and generalization of the phonic skills taught. Additionally, acquisition of these skills did not appear to be related to degree of hearing loss.     

Spiritual beliefs among Chinese junior high school students

Objective: To explore the characteristics of the spiritual beliefs among junior high school students. Method: 431 junior high school students are measured by Students’ Basic Information Questionnaire (SBIQ) and Middle School Students’ Spiritual Beliefs Questionnaire (MSSSBQ). Results: (1) The overall characteristics of the spiritual beliefs among junior high school students are as follows: social beliefs rank first, practical faith second, and supernatural beliefs last. The ranks of the seven beliefs from high to low are nationalism, political conviction, family’s doctrine, life worship, religious beliefs, money/material and gods worship. (2) Boy students have higher political conviction and money/material faith than girl students. Girl students have higher religious beliefs than boy students. (3) On the beliefs of money/material and life worship, students in Grade 9 take the first place, Grade 8 second and Grade 7 last. (4) Non-student cadres have stronger money/material faith than cadres. (5) League members have higher political beliefs than non-members. (6) Students who are good at studies have stronger national faith than students who are average or poor at studies. Students who are poor at studies have stronger money/material faith than other students. Conclusion: The spiritual beliefs of junior high school students are positive. __________ Translated from Psychology Development and Education, 2005:2.     

The impact of video exposure on students entering school psychology

School psychology is experiencing a shortages crisis. Within this two‐part study, the Social Cognitive Career Theory was used to examine the impact of video interventions on students' choice and application to school psychology programs. A sub‐sample of participants were followed across 4 years. Findings suggest that, when measured immediately before and after, a short video intervention had a significant impact on participants' perceived knowledge and intentions to apply to a school psychology training program. However, when measured across several years, the video was not found to have a significant impact on actual application to a school psychology training program. Nevertheless, exposure to school psychology from multiple sources was still found to be the best predictor of actually applying to a school psychology program. Study results highlight the importance of concerted efforts throughout the career development pipeline to expose students to the profession of school psychology.     

中学生英语学习情况微探

英语是高考的重要科目,所以很多家长都很重视孩子的英语学习,但是英语学习要掌握正确的方式方法,方能达到事半功倍的效果。     

开展中学生心理咨询初探

学校心理咨询工作是一个复杂的动态的开放系统，这个系统由教师、学生和心理咨询方式等相互联系的要素所构成。了解中学生对心理咨询的心态和行为，并采取相应的方式，将会促进中学生心理咨询工作健康发展。     

Perfectionism differences in gifted middle school students

Perfectionism has been cited as a major characteristic associated with children and adolescents who have been identified as gifted and talented. This study explored grade level, birth order, and gender differences among 391 students in three gifted and talented programs. The students completed an adaptation of the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale. A2 × 3 × 3 between subject multivariate analysis revealed that females expressed more concern than males about organization, while males reported stronger parental expectations. First born adolescents reported higher parental criticism and expectations than youngest children. Females' concerns about making mistakes increases from grade 6 to grade 8 while the pattern for males fluctuated insignificantly. Patterns of parental criticism varied between males and females from grade 6 through grade 8.