Self-efficacy and classroom learning

This article discusses the role of perceived self-efficacy during classroom learning of cognitive skills. Self-efficacy refers to personal judgments of performance capabilities in a given domain of activity. Students enter classroom activities with various aptitudes and prior experiences, which affect their initial sense of self-efficacy for learning. During task engagement, students may assess self-efficacy by utilizing cues made cognitively salient by educational practices and which convey information about their capability to acquire knowledge and skills, such as performance outcomes, attributions, situational circumstances, outcome patterns, perceived model similarity, and persuader credibility. In turn, heightened learning self-efficacy enhances motivated learning, or motivation to acquire knowledge and skills. Research findings are presented showing how different educational practices affect self-efficacy. Future research needs to determine how students derive efficacy information from multiple cues, and to specify in finer detail how the cognitive processes involved in understanding instruction and appraising self-efficacy influence one another.     

Confidence in prior knowledge,self-efficacy,interest and prior knowledge: Influences on conceptual change

This study explored how confidence in prior knowledge, self-efficacy, interest, and prior knowledge interact in conceptual change learning. One hundred and sixteen college students completed an assessment of confidence in prior knowledge, self-efficacy, interest, prior scientific understanding, and prior misconceptions before reading a refutation text on seasonal change. Students’ misconceptions and scientific understanding of seasonal change was then assessed before and after reading a refutation text, and again at a two week delayed posttest. Three profiles of students emerged based on their confidence in prior knowledge, self-efficacy, interest, prior scientific understanding, and prior misconceptions. The profiles included: (1) Low (low confidence, self-efficacy, interest, and prior scientific understanding and high prior misconceptions), (2) mixed (high confidence, self-efficacy, and interest, but low prior scientific understanding and high prior misconceptions), and (3) high (high confidence, self-efficacy, interest, and prior scientific understanding and low prior misconceptions). Results indicated that the mixed profile appeared to be most productive for conceptual change and that learner characteristics most productive for conceptual change learning may differ from those most productive in other learning situations.     

Self-efficacy and prior domain knowledge: to what extent does monitoring mediate their relationship with hypermedia learning?

While research has documented the key role of monitoring processes during hypermedia learning, limited empirical research has used process data to examine the possibility that these processes mediate the relationship between motivational constructs (such as self-efficacy) and cognitive factors (such as prior domain knowledge) with hypermedia learning outcomes. This multi-method study addressed this issue by examining: (1) The extent to which the relationship between self-efficacy and hypermedia learning outcomes is mediated by the use of specific monitoring processes and; (2) The extent to which the relationship between prior domain knowledge and hypermedia learning outcomes is mediated by the use of specific monitoring processes. Participants included 68 education majors. A self-report questionnaire was used to measure self-efficacy, a pretest was used to measure prior domain knowledge, a posttest was used to measure learning outcomes, and a think-aloud protocol were used to identify the deployment of monitoring processes during a 30-min hypermedia learning task. Results indicated that the relationship between self-efficacy and specific monitoring processes (Monitoring Understanding, Monitoring Environment, and Monitoring Progress Towards Goals) was significantly detectable. Additionally, the relationship between prior domain knowledge and Monitoring Understanding was significantly detectable. Lastly, regression analyses revealed that the relationship between self-efficacy and hypermedia learning outcomes was mediated by the extent to which participants monitored their understanding and the environment.     

A macro-level analysis of SRL processes and their relations to the acquisition of a sophisticated mental model of a complex system

In this study, we used think-aloud verbal protocols to examine how various macro-level processes of self-regulated learning (SRL; e.g., planning, monitoring, strategy use, handling of task difficulty and demands) were associated with the acquisition of a sophisticated mental model of a complex biological system. Numerous studies examine how specific micro-level SRL processes such as judgments of learning or prior knowledge activation are related to learning outcomes. However, it is also valuable to look at these processes in macro-level aggregates because efficacy and use of micro-level strategies can vary due to individual differences. Two hundred and nineteen high-school and middle-school students produced think-aloud protocols while learning with a hypermedia environment. We transcribed and coded participants’ learning sessions for the use of micro- and macro-level SRL processes. Participants’ developmental level, prior knowledge, and monitoring behaviors were associated with posttest mental model sophistication. These results illustrate that monitoring is a key SRL process when developing an understanding of a complex science topic using hypermedia.     

Differently structured advance organizers lead to different initial schemata and learning outcomes

Does the specific structure of advance organizers influence learning outcomes? In the first experiment, 48 psychology students were randomly assigned to three differently structured advance organizers: a well-structured, a well-structured and key-concept emphasizing, and a less structured advance organizer. These were followed by a sorting task, a text study phase, and a posttest. The results indicated that differently structured advance organizers lead to different proto-schemata before and different learning outcomes after the text study phase. The second experiment replicated and extended these findings with 53 mathematics students. As in experiment 1, three differently structured advance organizers were used; but to rule out alternative explanations, the sorting task between the advance organizer and the text study phase was omitted. The results showed strong beneficial effects of well-structured advance organizers on near and far transfer tasks. Taken together, both experiments support the claim that the structure of advance organizers has an effect on preliminary schemata and learning outcomes. On a general level, the results indicate that advance organizers can support the generation of proto-schemata and thus can be more than the activation of “existing” concepts in long-term memory. With regard to education, this implies that educators should not only think about whether prior domain-specific knowledge is present, but also about how to scaffold the generation of proto-schemata at the beginning of instruction.     

Linkages between approaches to learning,perceived stress and expected and actual academic outcomes among first-semester psychology students

Previous research indicates that higher educational students’ perceptions of stress are in part related to the teaching and learning context, and influence academic outcomes. This study intends to deepen our understanding of these processes by examining the linkages between approaches to learning, perceived stress and expected and actual academic outcomes within a specific educational setting. First-semester psychology students (N = 191) completed a questionnaire, including short versions of ASSIST and PSS, and estimated their course grade before a written examination. Later, actual grades were added. The results suggest that surface approach to learning is positively associated with high levels of perceived stress, and reflected in lower levels of expected grades. The relationships between deep and strategic approaches to learning and perceived stress seem to be more ambivalent, despite positive associations with expected grades. Coping and motivational aspects of the concepts of surface and strategic approaches to learning seem to be crucial to understanding the linkages between the examined factors. Also, the significance of a strategic approach in relation to actual academic outcomes is highlighted.     

Expectancy-value and cognitive process outcomes in mathematics learning: a structural equation analysis

Existing research has yielded evidence to indicate that the expectancy-value theoretical model predicts students' learning in various achievement contexts. Achievement values and self-efficacy expectations, for example, have been found to exert positive effects on cognitive process and academic achievement outcomes. We tested a conceptual model that depicted the interrelations between the non-cognitive (task value, self-efficacy) and cognitive (deep-learning approach, reflective-thinking) processes of learning, and academic achievement outcomes in mathematics. University students (n = 289) were administered a number of Likert-scale inventories and LISREL 8.80 was used to test various a priori and a posteriori models. Structural equation modeling yielded some important findings: (1) the positive temporally displaced effects of prior academic achievement, self-efficacy expectations and task value on achievement in mathematics, (2) the positive relations between self-efficacy expectations and task values and cognitive process outcomes and (3) the possible mediating role of self-efficacy expectations and task value between prior academic achievement and deep learning, reflective-thinking practice and academic achievement. Overall, our research investigation has provided empirical groundings for further advancement into this area of students' learning.     

The influence of concept mapping on achievement,self-regulation,and self-efficacy in students of English as a second language

This study investigated the effectiveness of concept mapping used as a learning strategy with students in English as a Second Language classrooms. Seventy-nine ESL students participated in the study. Variables of interest were students’ achievement when learning from English-language text, students’ reported use of self-regulation strategies (self-monitoring and knowledge acquisition strategies), and students’ self-efficacy for learning from English-language text. A randomized pre-test–post-test control group design was employed. The findings showed a statistically significant interaction of time, method of instruction, and level of English proficiency for self-monitoring, self-efficacy, and achievement. For all four outcome variables, the concept mapping group showed significantly greater gains from pre-test to post-test than the individual study group. The findings have implications for both practice and research.     

Collaborative learning tasks and the elaboration of conceptual knowledge

In this article we present the results of an experimental study of the influence of task characteristics on the characteristics of elaboration of conceptual knowledge in social interaction. With a pre-test and post-test we measured individual learning outcomes. We constructed a coding scheme that focuses on the communicative functions and propositional content of utterances and on elaborative episodes. The subjects were 40 students who worked in dyads on a collaborative task about electricity in one of four conditions. We compared a concept mapping task with a poster task and investigated the effect of a phase of individual preparation. The post-test scores were significantly higher than the pre-test scores. Individual preparation created better learning results and the asking of more questions. The concept mapping conditions showed more discussion of electricity concepts, collaboratively elaborated conflicts and reasoning, but no higher individual learning outcomes. In the concept mapping conditions, elaboration was related to individual learning outcomes.     

The effects of cooperative learning and feedback on e-learning in statistics

This study examined whether cooperative learning and feedback facilitate situated, example-based e-learning in the field of statistics. The factors “social context” (individual vs. cooperative) and “feedback intervention” (available vs. not available) were varied; participants were 137 university students. Results showed that the feedback intervention clearly supported learning. Feedback proved especially beneficial for students with little prior knowledge. Cooperation did not promote learning outcomes; however, group performance in the learning phase was superior to individual performance. Also, cooperative learning enhanced perceived performance and perceived competence. Probably, collective efficacy had a halo effect on self-efficacy.     

Exploring the Impact of Prior Knowledge and Appropriate Feedback on Students' Perceived Cognitive Load and Learning Outcomes: Animation-based earthquakes instruction

The aim of this study was to develop an animation-based curriculum and to evaluate the effectiveness of animation-based instruction; the report involved the assessment of prior knowledge and the appropriate feedback approach, for the purpose of reducing perceived cognitive load and improving learning. The curriculum was comprised of five subunits designed to teach the ‘Principles of Earthquakes.’ Each subunit consisted of three modules: evaluation of prior knowledge with/without in-time feedback; animation-based instruction; and evaluation of learning outcomes with feedback. The 153 participants consisted of 10th grade high-school students. Seventy-eight students participated in the animation-based instruction, involving assessment of prior knowledge and appropriate feedback mechanism (APA group). A total of 75 students participated in animation-based learning that did not take into account their prior knowledge (ANPA group). The effectiveness of the instruction was then evaluated by using a Science Conception Test (SCT), a self-rating cognitive load questionnaire (CLQ), as well as a structured interview. The results indicated that: (1) Students' perceived cognitive load was reduced effectively through improving their prior knowledge by providing appropriate feedback. (2) When students perceived lower levels of cognitive load, they showed better learning outcome. The result of this study revealed that students of the APA group showed better performance than those of the ANPA group in an open-ended question. Furthermore, students' perceived cognitive load was negatively associated with their learning outcomes.     

浅议学生自我效能感的培养

自我效能感的培养蕴含着巨大的教育实践价值,它影响着学生的学习动机、学习成绩、心理健康和心力的培养。适当运用外部强化,引导学生自我强化,帮助学生体验成功,树立类似的榜样,训练正确的归因方式,创造宽松和谐的教育环境等,是培养学生自我效能感的主要途径和策略。     

Does school context moderate longitudinal relations between teacher-reported self-efficacy and value for student engagement and teacher-student relationships from early until midcareer?

Teachers’ self-efficacy and value represent two central components of their motivation. However, there is a scarcity of knowledge regarding the relevance of value for teaching quality and student outcomes, as well as the extent to which interrelations depend on contextual resources and demands. Engaging students in their learning is an essential aspect of teachers’ work which should promote warm and positive relationships between them and their students. Not only teachers’ self-efficacy for student engagement, but also the value they attach to being able to engage students, should be important for teacher-student relationship quality. Using longitudinal structural equation models, we analyzed relations between self-efficacy and value for student engagement, reported teacher-student relationships, and the potential moderating roles of perceived excessive work demands and the resource of school belonging. Data from 395 Australian teachers in primary and secondary schools encompassed 3 timepoints from the end of teacher education, during teachers’ early career (average 3 years teaching), and midcareer (average 10 years teaching). Informed by social cognitive, expectancy-value and job demands-resources theories, key findings revealed that teachers’ reported relationships with their students at midcareer were predicted only at low levels of perceived excessive demands, by early career self-efficacy and early career value in interaction with self-efficacy. At midcareer, value associated with teacher-reported relationships with students only at low levels of excessive demands, and school belonging. Conversely, perceived teacher-student relationship in early career predicted teachers’ value for student engagement at midcareer. Implications for theory, teacher education and teachers’ professional practice are discussed.     

An analysis of knowledge representation of students in electronic problem tasks

This paper investigates the nature of learning outcomes of thirty six electronics students who were receiving training under the recent reform processes advocated by the Australian government. The reform processes place great emphasis on macro issues thereby unintentionally relegating the micro issues, such as learning in the classroom, to a lower priority. Such misdirected emphasis may hinder the development of an intelligent workforce. A multi method approach which involved a problem task, interviews and concept maps was used to establish the learning outcomes. The learning outcomes were analysed to identify the nature of students’ knowledge structures and the sophistication in their understanding of the topic “Frequency Division Multiplexing”. Students’ knowledge structures and levels of understanding were compared with those generated by 3 experts. The findings indicated a low level of understanding and a very lean knowledge structure with limited relational links to other elements in the given information. Furthermore, a comparison of students’ knowledge structures and levels of understanding was made between students with more than 2 years work experience and those coming to their course straight from secondary schools. The findings of this analysis did not support the argument that work experience enriches students’ knowledge and understanding, as students with no work experience performed better then the work experience students. Thus, there needs to be more empirical research on the nature of real work experience routines and how it affects learning rather than theorising on ideal work situations.     

Concept mapping as a follow-up strategy to learning from texts: what characterizes good and poor mappers?

Concept maps consist of nodes that represent concepts and links that represent relationships between concepts. Various studies have shown that concept mapping fosters meaningful learning. However, little is known about the specific cognitive processes that are responsible for such mapping effects. In a thinking-aloud study, we analyzed the relations between cognitive processes during concept mapping as well as the characteristics of the concept maps that the learners produced and learning outcomes (38 university students). To test whether differences in learning outcome are due to differences in general abilities, verbal and spatial abilities were also assessed. In a cluster-analysis two types of ineffective learners were identified: ‘non-labeling mappers’ and ‘non-planning mappers’. Effective learners, in contrast, showed much effort in planning their mapping process and constructing a coherent concept map. These strategies were more evident in students with prior concept-mapping experience (‘advanced beginners’) than in those who had not used this learning strategy before (‘successful beginners’). Based on the present findings, suggestions for a direct training approach (i.e., strategy training with worked-out examples) and an indirect training approach (i.e., supporting the learners with strategy prompts) were developed.     

Learning environment,self-efficacy for teaching mathematics,and beliefs about mathematics

Learning environment research has a long history of significant relationships between the learning environment and student outcomes. This study investigated relationships between the learning environments of mathematics courses in a teacher education program and two outcomes, mathematics teaching self-efficacy and beliefs about mathematics. These two outcomes have been repeatedly shown to influence the future teaching practices of preservice teachers but, to date, their relationships with learning environment have been investigated neither with preservice teachers nor at all in the United Arab Emirates or wider Gulf region. The learning environment was found to be significantly related to preservice teachers’ mathematics teaching self-efficacy and beliefs about mathematics. Learning environments perceived more favourably by preservice teachers were associated with higher self-efficacy for teaching mathematics, but also with more-traditional beliefs, making these findings important for higher education institutes and teacher educators.

     

Effects of Example Choice on Interest,Control, and Learning

We investigated example choice as a new method for the teaching of formal theoretical principles. Formal principles are presented with several examples from different topics, and students choose the one that interests them most. Example choice might be related to prior knowledge, interest, or perceived control. In an experimental study, we examined the effects of degree of example choice and degree of prior knowledge on interest, perceived control, and learning outcomes in a presentation on confirmation bias. The main finding was that participants who could choose an example showed more interest in the presentation of the formal principle than participants who either were given an example by the experimenter or only saw the presentation. Control was lowest for the group without example choice and without prior knowledge. Finally, prior knowledge, but not example choice, increased performance on a transfer of knowledge task. Example choice thus offers a new approach for closing the gap between formal principles as presented at school and a student's interests.     

Self-regulated learning by writing learning protocols: Do goal structures matter?

Having students write learning protocols is an established follow-up task to course work that elicits processes of self-regulated learning. To date, a wealth of research has focused on optimizing the learning protocol task itself by integrating instructional support measures such as prompts. By contrast, research that focuses on optimizing the context in which learning protocol writing is embedded is widely missing. In the present study, we approached this gap by focusing on the role of the contextual factor goal structure. Specifically, in an experiment with N = 166 high school students we tested whether embedding the learning protocol task in a mastery goal structure would be more beneficial than embedding it in a performance goal structure. The mastery goal structure fostered metacognitive processes, learning outcomes, and learning efficiency. We conclude that considering contextual factors such as the goal structure is crucial for understanding and optimizing the effects of learning protocols.     

Relationships among individual task self-efficacy,self-regulated learning strategy use and academic performance in a computer-supported collaborative learning environment

This study investigates relationships between self-efficacy, self-regulated learning strategy use and academic performance. Participants were 96 undergraduate students working on projects with three subtasks (idea generation task, methodical task and data collection) in a blended learning environment. Task self-efficacy was measured with self-reports administered during each subtask. Learning strategies were assessed by counting each instance of strategy use as it occurred in peer-to-peer conversations typed into a computer software system. Results showed that for each subtask, learners with higher task self-efficacy had higher task performance. Those who used more learning strategies on each subtask also had higher performance. In turn, high performance was associated with high self-efficacy on subsequent subtasks. Surprisingly, results showed that task self-efficacy and learning strategy use were not significantly related during any subtask. Overall, results imply that task self-efficacy, learning strategy use and past performance are important predictors of task performance.     

Student Views of Concept Mapping Use in Introductory Tertiary Biology Classes

Introductory tertiary level science classes (i.e., at the university or post-compulsory school level) including those for biology face increasing diversity in intake. Previous research has indicated university level teachers assume a certain level of prior knowledge which may or may not be possessed by such students. This report focuses on the use of concept mapping in introductory biology tutorial classes. The research findings suggest that the students found the use of concept mapping enjoyable and that it can enhance meaningful learning for topics that require students to link concepts.