Students’ intentions towards studying science at upper-secondary school: the differential effects of under-confidence and over-confidence

Understanding students’ intentions to study science at upper-secondary school, at university, and to follow science careers continues as a central concern for international science education. Prior research has highlighted that students’ science confidence has been associated with their intentions to study science further, although under-confidence and over-confidence (lower or higher confidence than expected, given someone’s attainment) have not been considered in detail. Accordingly, this study explored whether under-confident, accurately evaluating, and over-confident students expressed different attitudes towards their science education, and explored how under-confidence and over-confidence might influence students’ science intentions. The questionnaire responses of 1523 students from 12 secondary schools in England were considered through analysis of variance and predictive modelling. Under-confident students expressed consistently lower science attitudes than accurately evaluating and over-confident students, despite reporting the same science grades as accurately evaluating students. Students’ intentions to study science were predicted by different factors in different ways, depending on whether the students were under-confident, accurate, or over-confident. For accurately evaluating and over-confident students, science intentions were predicted by their self-efficacy beliefs (their confidence in their expected future science attainment). For under-confident students, science intentions were predicted by their self-concept beliefs (their confidence in currently ‘doing well’ or ‘being good’ at science). Many other differences were also apparent. Fundamentally, under-confidence may be detrimental not simply through associating with lower attitudes, but through students considering their choices in different ways. Under-confidence may accordingly require attention to help ensure that students’ future choices are not unnecessarily constrained.     

The impact of sub-skills and item content on students’ skills with regard to the control-of-variables strategy

The so-called control-of-variables strategy (CVS) incorporates the important scientific reasoning skills of designing controlled experiments and interpreting experimental outcomes. As CVS is a prominent component of science standards appropriate assessment instruments are required to measure these scientific reasoning skills and to evaluate the impact of instruction on CVS development. A detailed review of existing CVS instruments suggests that they utilize different, and only a few of the four, critical CVS sub-skills in the item development. This study presents a new CVS assessment instrument (CVS Inventory, CVSI) and investigates the validity of student measures derived from this instrument utilizing Rasch analyses. The results indicate that the CVSI produces reliable and valid student measures with regard to CVS. Furthermore, the results show that the item difficulty depends on the CVS sub-skills utilized in item development, but not on the item content. Accordingly, previous instruments that are restricted to a few CVS sub-skills tend to over- or underestimate students’ CVS skills. In addition, these results indicate that students are able to use CVS as a domain general strategy in multiple content areas. Consequences for science instruction and assessment are discussed.     

Developing pre-service teacher knowledge using online forums: supporting confident and competent teaching practices

ABSTRACT

This small study examines how one group (n = 59) of first-year undergraduate students developed their knowledge through co-construction using an online forum as a platform as part of a three-year Initial Teacher Training (ITT) programme. Professional dialogue at the online interface supported them to cope with the challenges they faced during teaching practice. The data showed that there were gains in student subject and pedagogical knowledge, observed to a greater extent among the peripheral learners. The data presented provide an alternative view from that published in the existing literature about the size and type of both peripheral and core online interactions that were useful in building the confidence and competence of students in the role of teachers in a primary classroom. Ultimately, the online knowledge exchange among peripheral participants provided agency in learning over actions and the ability to cope during teaching practice. This was corroborated by student self-assessment using post-online reflective brainstorms. Sixty-four per cent of the students concluded that they would use this new subject and pedagogical knowledge when in school as part of their teaching practice.     

Fitting in and feeling good: the relationships among peer alignment,instructor connectedness,and self-efficacy in undergraduate satisfaction with engineering

This study examined the relationships among peer alignment (the feeling that one is similar in important ways to one's engineering peers), instructor connectedness (the sense that one knows and looks up to academic staff/faculty members in the department), self-efficacy for engineering class work (confidence in one's ability to successfully complete engineering class work), and engineering students' satisfaction with the major. A total of 135 sophomore (second-year university students) and junior (third-year students) engineering students were surveyed to measure these three variables. A multiple regression analysis showed that self-efficacy, peer alignment, and instructor connectedness predicted student satisfaction with the major, and that self-efficacy acted as a mediator between both peer alignment and instructor connectedness on the one hand, and satisfaction on the other. The authors offer suggestions for practice based on the results.     

Determinants of teaching quality: What's important to students?

A method for using student evaluations to help faculty improve their teaching performance is presented. A survey of current methods of student evaluations of teaching identified a need to improve the statistical information obtained from these evaluations. An ordinary least squares framework is used to identify the factors that students feel are important in teacher and course ratings. This framework is used to estimate weights that students assign to various teacher and course attributes and to test whether students apply these weights consistently across teachers and courses. About 81 percent of the explained variation in teacher ratings was associated with attributes that contribute to student enjoyment of the learning process. Over 90 percent of the explained variation in course ratings was associated with attributes that measure how much a student learned in the course. Students were found to apply these attributes or weights consistently across teachers and courses. Implications for developing effective teaching strategies, faculty recruitment, and curriculum reform are discussed.     

International Business Theatre (IBT): An alternative evaluation method for enhancing student learning in international marketing

This paper describes and documents a new method (International Business Theatre, IBT) for evaluating university students studying the subject International Marketing and reports on qualitative research used to explore the effectiveness of IBT as an evaluation method. IBT involves forming students into 'theatre troupes', randomly assigning each 'troupe' a country of study, then getting students to do country research with a view to writing and performing a play that integrates subject theory and highlights key aspects of doing business with that country. Plays, which are assessed for content and form, are scheduled for tutorial classes towards the end of the semester. Interpretive research was conducted using a sentence completion technique with 10 randomly selected undergraduate students in the subject International Marketing offered at the Blacktown Campus of the University of Western Sydney, New South Wales, Australia in 1998. Conclusions drawn from the preliminary study are that IBT makes student learning more enjoyable and interesting, exposes students to a more beneficial and alternative form of evaluation, stimulates student learning, encourages student creativity and develops student confidence in public speaking.     

高职院校大学生心理健康状况调查研究

以兰州石化职业技术学院508名大学生为研究对象,以大学生人格问卷（UPI）为研究工具,调查研究大学生心理健康状况,为高职院校心理健康教育工作提供理论依据。结果表明：第一类有明显心理问题的学生占1.2%左右,第二类有一般心理问题的学生占4.33%,第三类无显著心理问题的学生占94.47%;女生的严重程度明显的高于男生,男生的人数多于女生;大学生心理问题主要表现为人际关系不良、情绪和意志问题、自信心缺乏、性生理心理问题,而不幸的家庭和过去、失眠和对事情的兴趣程度也是大学生心理问题的衡量指标。     

The impacts of student-, teacher- and school-level factors on mathematics achievement: an exploratory comparative investigation of Singaporean students and the USA students

Reports from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) consistently show that there is a substantial gap in average mathematics achievement between Singapore and the USA. This study conducts an exploratory comparative investigation on the multilevel factors influencing the mathematics achievement of students from these two countries. A conceptual framework together with an integrated model is proposed for the analysis. The TIMSS 2011 eighth grader mathematics data were chosen for this study. Results reveal that the common features influencing mathematics achievement for the students of both countries are student self-confidence, school composition by student background and teacher confidence in teaching mathematics. The cause of the different effects of American students’ mathematics achievement is more associated with resources, whereas the effects of Singaporean students’ mathematics achievement are more related to attitudes, expectations and motivations. The major elements that affect Singaporean student mathematics performances are at the teacher level. Suggestions for future research are discussed.     

The size,stability, and consistency of school effects: evidence from Victoria

The bulk of public debate on education focuses on schools and school differences. Ideally, the characteristics of schools that add value to student performance can be identified and implemented for other schools. However, such scenarios assume that school effects are sizable, stable across cohorts, and consistent across subject areas. This study tests these assumptions by analysing school effects in both primary and secondary schools in 5 achievement domains with administrative data from almost all government school students in Victoria, Australia. Gross school effects are reasonably large but show only moderate stability. However, in net progress models which control for prior achievement, school effects are substantially smaller, display only low levels of stability across cohorts, and are not consistent across achievement domains. Therefore, it is difficult to identify schools that consistently increase (or decrease) student performance across subject areas beyond that expected by students’ intake characteristics, most notably prior student performance. Other policy goals are recommended.     

基于研究生能力培养的应用数学专业课程教学实践

分析了目前研究生的学习动机与学科要求之间的矛盾,指出学科对研究生5种能力的要求。以专业课《脉冲微分方程及其应用》为例,实践了将研究生能力的培养融入课程教学。     

论体育对高职学生职业核心能力培养的意义和作用

高职院校不仅要注重学生职业特定能力、行业通用能力的培养,更要注重其职业核心能力——学会学习的能力、沟通交际能力、组织和管理能力、解决问题的能力等的培养。体育教学与体育活动是培养学生职业核心能力的重要载体,体育教师要更加重视体育本身具备的丰富德育因素,要在日常教学、课外活动中加以引导,就会在高职人才培养工作中显示出更深远的意义和更有效的作用,大有可为。     

Towards a sociocognitive model of progression in spoken English

Current approaches to oral assessment of English in English secondary schools tend to concentrate more on ‘confidence’ and ‘participation’ than on the quality of children's thinking. This undermines the rich possibilities in classroom talk for cognitive development. Behavioural assessment approaches deny the essentially cognitive character of spoken English. This paper compares two brief representative extracts from a larger data‐set of students engaged in small group debate on the subject of abortion. One group of students are hindered in their discussion by an inability to conceptualize abstractly. It is suggested that a formative assessment approach based on a model of cognitive progression such as Vygotsky's could enable all students to develop as speakers by encouraging their teachers to focus more explicitly on the development of the quality of thinking. A sociocognitive framework for conceptual progression could guide teachers in their interpretation of peer debate in order to develop the quality of students' understanding and argument. Building on the work of Newman, Griffin and Cole, and Torrance and Pryor, further research should be conducted into the ways in which formative teacher–student and student–student assessment dialogue might enhance students' ability to think through talk.     

Disconnections Between Teacher Expectations and Student Confidence in Bioethics

This study examines how student practice of scientific argumentation using socioscientific bioethics issues affects both teacher expectations of students’ general performance and student confidence in their own work. When teachers use bioethical issues in the classroom students can gain not only biology content knowledge but also important decision-making skills. Learning bioethics through scientific argumentation gives students opportunities to express their ideas, formulate educated opinions and value others’ viewpoints. Research has shown that science teachers’ expectations of student success and knowledge directly influence student achievement and confidence levels. Our study analyzes pre-course and post-course surveys completed by students enrolled in a university level bioethics course (n = 111) and by faculty in the College of Biology and Agriculture faculty (n = 34) based on their perceptions of student confidence. Additionally, student data were collected from classroom observations and interviews. Data analysis showed a disconnect between faculty and students perceptions of confidence for both knowledge and the use of science argumentation. Student reports of their confidence levels regarding various bioethical issues were higher than faculty reports. A further disconnect showed up between students’ preferred learning styles and the general faculty’s common teaching methods; students learned more by practicing scientific argumentation than listening to traditional lectures. Students who completed a bioethics course that included practice in scientific argumentation, significantly increased their confidence levels. This study suggests that professors’ expectations and teaching styles influence student confidence levels in both knowledge and scientific argumentation.     

Exploring alternative conceptions from Newtonian dynamics and simple DC circuits: Links between item difficulty and item confidence

Croatian 1st‐year and 3rd‐year high‐school students (N = 170) completed a conceptual physics test. Students were evaluated with regard to two physics topics: Newtonian dynamics and simple DC circuits. Students answered test items and also indicated their confidence in each answer. Rasch analysis facilitated the calculation of three linear measures: (a) an item‐difficulty measure based upon all responses, (b) an item‐confidence measure based upon correct student answers, and (c) an item‐confidence measure based upon incorrect student answers. Comparisons were made with regard to item difficulty and item confidence. The results suggest that Newtonian dynamics is a topic with stronger students' alternative conceptions than the topic of DC circuits, which is characterized by much lower students' confidence on both correct and incorrect answers. A systematic and significant difference between mean student confidence on Newtonian dynamics and DC circuits items was found in both student groups. Findings suggest some steps for physics instruction in Croatia as well as areas of further research for those in science education interested in additional techniques of exploring alternative conceptions. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 43: 150–171, 2006     

Gauging the gaps in student problem-solving skills: assessment of individual and group use of problem-solving strategies using online discussions

For the past 3 yr, faculty at the University of New Mexico, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology have been using interactive online Problem-Based Learning (PBL) case discussions in our large-enrollment classes. We have developed an illustrative tracking method to monitor student use of problem-solving strategies to provide targeted help to groups and to individual students. This method of assessing performance has a high interrater reliability, and senior students, with training, can serve as reliable graders. We have been able to measure improvements in many students' problem-solving strategies, but, not unexpectedly, there is a population of students who consistently apply the same failing strategy when there is no faculty intervention. This new methodology provides an effective tool to direct faculty to constructively intercede in this area of student development.     

The Effectiveness of an Initial Teacher Training Partnership in Preparing Students to Teach Art in the Primary School

Recent government reform of initial teacher education has increased teachers’ responsibility for training students in schools, bringing about some fundamental changes in the professional relationship between the schools, higher education institutions (HEIs), teachers and students. This paper reports on primary undergraduate student teachers’ and their class teachers’ perceptions of school-based training to teach art. Class teachers were interviewed about their preparedness to train students and questionnaires and interviews were used to gauge students’ views of the effectiveness of university-based courses and the support given to them by teachers. The findings indicate that teachers were able to support students in matters of classroom management and resources but that they were mostly unable to assist them in developing subject knowledge and understanding of art teaching and learning. This raises concerns about teachers’ subject knowledge and their confidence in training students. Our findings suggest that there is significant room for improvement in the partnership arrangements between schools and HEIs in order to better support students’ teaching of art.     

How does information consistency influence prospective teachers’ decisions about task difficulty assignments? A within-subject experiment to explain data-based decision-making in heterogeneous classes

In order to provide adaptive instruction in heterogeneous classes, teachers have to consider performance-related information for their decisions on which task difficulty level fits best for a particular student. Focusing on prospective teachers’ data-based decision-making, we aim to investigate their use of proximal and distal indicators of students’ ability and readiness to deal successfully with domain-specific tasks that are available for 32 student cases in a digital test environment. To address several hypotheses on the participants’ information-processing behaviors and decisions, we conducted a within-subject experiment in which we systematically varied the informational consistency of the presented student cases. We used a mixed-methods approach to measure observable information-processing behavior and decision-making. We assessed the effects of consistent/inconsistent cases on the amount, sequence, and perceived relevance of selected information, the type of processed information, the time needed for information processing, and the subjective confidence when making a decision via linear dynamic panel-data modeling.     

School tutoring and academic performance: A too close relationship?

In Spain, each student class is assigned a tutor teacher who is also responsible for individually following their tutoring students’ performance, guiding them in personal issues and regularly meeting their families. Although tutors may suppose an important support for students during their school life, their close personal relationship may also influence the teaching and learning process in additional ways. This research analyses whether the fact that the tutor teaches a particular subject makes any difference in students’ academic achievement in that subject and if this differential achievement is conditioned by tutor-student/family relationship or not (being a possible over/under-marking). With this objective we employ a rich administrative census database from the most populated region of Spain (Andalusia), using student fixed-effects within-students between-school subjects. Our main results show that tutors seem to be only slightly inclined to over-mark their tutoring students, being this small bias conditioned by their relationship with the student.     

高校社团与大学生自我教育能力之关系——基于广州番禺职业技术学院的案例研究

提出假设高校社团能够促进由自主学习能力、自我管理能力、自我评价能力和沟通能力构成的大学生自我教育能力的发展,并据此在番禺职业技术学院做了实证案例研究。从研究结果来看,学生从社团中的收获与教育者的价值预设基本相吻合,但也存在一定的偏差。调查结果表明,目前学生的社团学习需求是迫切的,然而社团组织和管理过程还不能完全满足学生个性化的发展需要。社团对自我教育能力养成有作用,然而其作用也是有限的。通过调查研究者发现了高校社团中存在的其他问题,并从学校教育者角度提了合理化建议。     

Comparing primary student teachers’ attitudes,subject knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge needs in a physics activity

This research explores and compares primary student teachers’ attitudes, subject knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) in physics in two institutions in England and Finland, using a practical physics activity and questionnaire. Teaching of physics activities was rated unpopular both in Finland and England, although English students were more confident, but no more knowledgeable nor more secure in their PCK. We argue that confidence needs to be developed alongside knowledge. Teacher education programmes in physics should particularly concentrate on helping student teachers to teach difficult concepts in a meaningful and accessible way, developing positive attitudes alongside understanding and pedagogical skills.