Effects of developmental relationships with teachers on middle-school students’ motivation and performance

We examined how middle-school students’ motivation, belonging, school climate, and grade point average (GPA) are affected by students experiencing developmental relationships—those that go beyond teachers being caring (e.g., showing warmth to students) and providing challenge (e.g., high expectations) to also include teachers providing support, sharing power, and expanding students’ sense of possibilities. We also examined variations in those associations by student socioeconomic status (SES). The study included 534 diverse Grades 6–8 students (51% female, 46% non-White, 33% eligible for free and reduced price meals). Structural equation modeling and regressions showed that students with better developmental relationships with their teachers had better outcomes. Developmental relationships strongly predicted academic motivation at both the beginning and end of the school year, and also directly predicted students’ sense of belonging and school climate. Relationships indirectly predicted GPA, through motivation. Student–teacher relationship quality for low-SES students was lower and declined more than for other students. The results both reflect current literature in showing the importance of strong student–teacher relationships, and extend it in showing the worsening relationships quality for low-income students, and in suggesting that strengthening multiple facets of student–teacher developmental relationships may have important effects on motivation and achievement of middle-school students.     

Impacts of augmented reality and a digital game on students’ science learning with reflection prompts in multimedia learning

Educational technology research and development - Although a great deal of research has evidenced the effects of proper instructional design on multimedia learning, most has focused on the...     

An exploratory study on singaporean secondary school students’ perceptions of choral learning

This paper explores 122 secondary school students’ perceptions of the choral learning environment. A survey questionnaire was developed taking into consideration the responses of a pilot study in which students were requested to list what they liked and disliked about the choir. The participants rated their degree of agreement on a five-point scale on psychosocial and other perspectives of choral learning. Three research questions were posed: (1) What are Singaporean secondary school students’ perceptions of choral learning? (2) Are there any gender differences in their perceptions of choral learning? (3) Are there any across school differences in their perceptions of choral learning? The findings of the study were discussed from the perspective of Singapore’s education and learning environment research.     

Psychological determinants of university students’ academic performance: An empirical study

This study utilises an integrated conceptual model of academic performance which captures a series of psychological factors: cognitive style; self-theories such as self-esteem and self-efficacy; achievement goals such as mastery, performance, performance avoidance and work avoidance; study-processing strategies such as deep and surface learning; and effort. We investigate a group of first-year university undergraduates taking a course in business statistics at a British university. The results show a significant causal path of the form: self-esteem→ self-efficacy→ mastery→ effort→ performance. We conclude that the strengthening of any of the elements in this path would have beneficial effects on students’ academic performance and discuss various approaches to pedagogy, primarily assessment and feedback, to achieve this goal.     

Effects of embedding a problem-posing-based learning guiding strategy into interactive e-books on students’ learning performance and higher order thinking tendency

Owing to the popularity of tablet computers and smart phones, e-books have become an important medium for both formal and informal learning. However, conventional e-books are mainly designed to provide information in the form of multimedia, implying that students spend most of their time memorizing and comprehending what they read from e-books, while seldom engaging in higher order thinking. In this study, a problem-posing framework is proposed for developing an interactive e-book for guiding students to observe and pose questions. An experiment on an elementary school natural science course was conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. The participants were 46 fourth-grade students. From the experimental results, it was found that the problem-posing-guiding interactive e-book can significantly improve the students’ learning achievements, critical thinking tendency, and deep motive. It was also found that the proposed approach did not increase the students’ cognitive load owing to the provision of proper supports during the problem-posing process, which has generally been identified as a challenging task.     

Individual flipped learning and cooperative flipped learning: their effects on students’ performance,social, and computer anxiety

The purpose of this study is to differentiate the effect of cooperative learning strategy integrated with a flipped learning (FL) model from sole FL implementation in promoting students’ performances while decreasing their social and computer anxiety in an undergraduate course. As a method, a classical experimental design is used. The participants were from the department of English Language and Literature, and Translation and Interpretation. Students were randomly assigned to individual FL (the control group) class; and FL with cooperative activities (experimental group) class. The groups were randomly assigned as experimental and control by tossing a coin. The implementation took 10 weeks. Students’ performances (grades), social anxiety, and computer anxiety were dependent variables of the study and they were compared through multivariate analysis of variance. The results indicated that there is no significant mean difference between groups’ performances; however; the group of FL with cooperative activities had less social anxiety, but no significant change occurred at their computer anxiety level.     

Effect of blended learning and learners’ characteristics on students’ competence: An empirical evidence in learning oriental music

Blended learning emerged as the most popular instructional design strategy in the field of education since last decade to present date. In fact, it is well acknowledged that blended learning approach significantly elevate students’ engagement and competency in learning process. Despite immense potentiality, many countries are still lag behind adopting this instructional design, such as Sri Lanka. Therefore, the primary aims of this study are two fold, (a) to investigate the effect of blended learning and learners’ characteristics on students’ competence and (b) to investigate the effectiveness of blended learning in teaching Oriental Music. This study mainly carried out among the senior secondary schools students at Colombo, Sri Lanka. A mixed methods, experimental and survey, were carried out to test the effectiveness of blended learning and identifying the important factors for enhancing students’ competence in learning Oriental Music. Results of independent sample t-test confirmed that blended learning is effective in terms of improving students’ performance in learning Oriental Music. Similarly, regression analysis confirmed that attitude and motivation are the two most important determinants for improving students’ competence. This study fulfilled an existing research gap by utilizing blended learning to teach highly traditional abstract art. Results of the study contributes to the curriculum designing field with novel ideas to adapt in hybrid instructions to teach secondary level students effectively. The curriculum designers will make use of these findings during innovation and future researcher would be benefitted to overlook more possible platforms to deliver music instructions. It will help them to understand how their set objectives have been achieved in technology integrations and seek for improvement where necessary.     

Can more become less? Effects of an intensive assessment environment on students’ learning performance

Online interactive systems offer the beguiling prospect of an improved environment for learning at minimum extra cost. We have developed online interactive tutorials that adapt the learning environment to the current learning status of each individual student. These Adaptive Tutorials (ATs) modify the tasks given to each student according to their previous responses. Feedback, assessment and remediation are also adapted. Over a three-year period we progressively blended ATs into notoriously challenging courses in introductory Engineering Mechanics. We assessed the impact of this initiative by reviewing three lines of data: (i) the built-in diagnostics of the system, (ii) changes in student grades from year-to-year and (iii) supplementary surveys. Generally, students liked the new blended system and grades improved. Detailed analysis revealed nuances in the measures of student learning, such as differences between high-performing and low-performing students. With these insights we are able to further adapt the system to meet the learning needs of our students.     

Effects of a concept mapping-based problem-posing approach on students’ learning achievements and critical thinking tendency: An application in Classical Chinese learning contexts

In language courses, it is important to foster students’ systematic thinking and to develop their competence to express, appreciate, criticize and reflect, in particular in such courses as classical Chinese, which aim to develop students’ cultural and literature knowledge. Problem posing is a promising strategy to achieve this objective. However, without sufficient supports, students could feel frustrated since problem posing is a challenging task, in particular for young students. In this study, a fill-in concept mapping-based problem-posing approach was proposed to address this problem. A learning system was developed based on the proposed approach and a quasi-experiment was conducted on an eighth-grade classical Chinese course to evaluate the performance of the proposed approach. The experimental results show that the concept mapping-based problem-posing approach improved the students’ learning achievement, critical thinking tendency and problem-posing quality. The interview results further show that the students perceived the approach as being effective from the perspectives of “Improving article comprehension,” “Improving problem-posing performances,” and “Boosting diverse thinking.”     

Teachers’ and students’ perspectives on teaching and learning through virtual learning environments

The aim of this investigation was to get an insight into how teachers and students responded to the use of virtual learning environments (VLE) in engineering education and what their expectations were from online courses. Teachers designed their online courses with the assistance of a support e-learning team and questionnaires were used for teachers and students to express their views on the online courses. Teachers pointed out that the online courses by themselves would be able to tackle limited lecture time and strengthen the students’ background knowledge. Students, on the other hand, stated that their difficulties regarding the courses could be facilitated by using a more interactive teaching approach with the use of collaboration tools and receiving individual feedback. Thus, students suggested that teachers adopt a more student-centred approach by using VLE. Teachers’ and students’ perspectives were related to their personal characteristics, as students were more familiar with everyday e-communication tools.     

Scaffolding group explanation and feedback with handheld technology: impact on students’ mathematics learning

Based on strong research literatures, we conjectured that social processing of feedback by cooperating in a small group setting—with social incentives to ask questions, give explanations and discuss disagreements—would increase learning. We compared group and individual feedback, using two technologies: (1) Technology-mediated, Peer-Assisted Learning (TechPALS), which uses wireless handheld technology to structure feedback in small groups as they solve fractions problems and (2) a popular desktop product, which provides feedback to individual students as they solve fractions problems individually. Three elementary schools participated in a randomized controlled experiment conducted in the 2007–2008 school year. Students in the TechPALS condition learned more than did the control group students, with effect sizes ranging from d = 0.14 to d = 0.44. Analysis of observational data confirmed that students in the TechPALS condition participated socially in questioning, explaining, and discussing disagreements, whereas students in the individual condition did not. We conclude that an integration of technology, cooperative activity designs and broader educational practices can lead to impact on students’ mathematics learning.     

Coping with mismatched courses: students’ behaviour and performance in courses mismatched to their learning styles

Although learning styles are considered as an important factor in education, students often have to learn in courses that do not support their learning styles. A challenge for technology facilitated learning is therefore to assist and help students to cope with courses that do not match their learning styles by training and developing their less preferred skills. In this paper, the interactions between students’ learning styles, their behaviour, and their performance in an online course that is mismatched regarding their learning styles were analysed. The results show which learners need more help in mastering mismatched courses, help in getting a better understanding about how students with good performance record and poor performance record learn with respect to their learning styles, and provide information about how to identify learners who might have difficulties in learning based on their behaviour.     

Effects of different evaluative feedback on students’ self-efficacy in learning

Two studies examined the effects of four types of teachers’ evaluative feedback on Chinese students’ self-efficacy in English vocabulary acquisition. In Study 1, a random sample of Grade 8 students (N = 79) learned prefixes and received either formative or summative feedback after failure in test. The results showed that students who received summative feedback showed a larger decrease in their self-efficacy than those who received formative feedback. In Study 2, a random sample of Grade 7 students (N = 77) went through similar procedures as in Study 1 except that students received either self-referenced or norm-referenced feedback. The results showed that self-referenced feedback was more beneficial to students’ self-efficacy than norm-referenced feedback. The influences of teachers’ evaluation and feedback on students’ self-efficacy are discussed.     

Impact of multimedia on students’ perceptions of the learning environment in mathematics classrooms

We investigated (1) whether the learning environment perceptions of students in classes frequently exposed to multimedia differed from those of students in classes that were not, (2) whether exposure to multimedia was differentially effective for males and females and (3) relationships between students’ perceptions of the learning environment and student engagement in classes that were exposed to multimedia. The sample involved 365 high-school students in 16 classes, nine that were frequently exposed to multimedia and seven that were not. Two instruments were administered to students: one to assess students’ perceptions of the learning environment and another to assess student engagement. There were statistically significant differences between the two groups for all of the learning environment scales, as well as statistically significant interactions between exposure to multimedia and sex for three learning environment scales (Involvement, Task Orientation and Equity). Finally, the learning environment in mathematics classes that involved multimedia was related to student engagement. These results offer potentially important insights into how student exposure to multimedia could promote more positive learning environments and improve student engagement in mathematics.     

Effects of multimedia story reading and questioning on preschoolers’ vocabulary learning,story comprehension and reading engagement

The use of multimedia story applications on touch-interactive mobile devices has become prevalent in early education settings. However, despite the promise of multimedia story applications for early learning outcomes, there has been a dearth of research on the educational benefits of such tools, and whether their effects can be strengthened with the integration of questioning strategies. This study investigated the effects of multimedia story reading and questioning on children’s literacy skills, including vocabulary learning, story comprehension and reading engagement. Using a 2 (multimedia vs. paper) × 2 (question vs. no question) design, a total of 72 participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: multimedia story reading, multimedia story reading with questioning, paper story reading, and paper story with questioning. To identify the effects of Media and Questioning on children’s vocabulary learning, story comprehension, and reading engagement, we conducted a series of two-way ANCOVAs, controlling for different covariates as appropriate. The results showed significant interaction of media and questioning on target vocabulary and significant main effect of media for engagement, but the results showed no significant main effects of either media or questioning for comprehension. This study demonstrated research tools to examine children’s learning and engagement with interactive mobile devices, and suggested potential benefits of multimedia story reading and questioning for learning. We discuss implications of these findings for the design and use of multimedia storybooks.     

Effects of online strategies on students’ learning performance,self-efficacy,self-regulation and critical thinking in university online courses

Educational technology research and development - Fostering students’ abilities to deal with practical problems is an important objective of professional training. To enable students to have...     

Students’ academic performance and various cognitive processes of learning: an integrative framework and empirical analysis

The main aim of this study is to test a conceptualised framework that involved the integration of achievement goals, self‐efficacy and self‐esteem beliefs, and study‐processing strategies. Two hundred and ninety (178 females, 112 males) first‐year university students were administered a number of Likert‐scale inventories in tutorial classes. Data were analysed through structural equation modelling procedures. The results provided support, in part, for the hypothesised relationships; for example, both self‐efficacy and self‐esteem exerted positive effects on deep processing, and academic performance was influenced positively by mastery goals and deep processing. Similarly, surface processing exerted a negative effect on academic performance. One key finding was the positive effect that self‐esteem exerted on self‐efficacy. Finally, a one‐way MANOVA indicated statistically significant differences between men and women in their self‐esteem; women reported higher self‐esteem than men. This study provides support for the amalgamation of key motivational and learning theories and accentuates the importance of achievement goals, self‐efficacy and study‐processing strategies as possible mediators of students’ academic performance.     

Is problem-based learning associated with students’ motivation? A quantitative and qualitative study

In this study, a mixed-method design was employed to investigate the association between a student-centred, problem-based learning (PBL) method and law students’ motivation. Self-determination theory (SDT) states that autonomous motivation, which is associated with higher academic performance, can be reached when there is fulfillment of three psychological needs: autonomy, competence and relatedness. PBL aims to trigger autonomous motivation. In Study 1, 85 PBL law students (37% male; Mean age = 21.99 years) and 69 law students of a lecture-based, non-PBL program (39% male; Mean age = 22.72 years) filled out the Self-Regulation Questionnaire and an adapted version of the Work-related Basic Need Satisfaction Scale in order to measure autonomous and controlled motivation and perceived autonomy, competence and relatedness. In order to compare both groups, two MANOVAs were conducted and results showed differences neither in autonomous and controlled motivation, nor in feelings of autonomy and competence. However, PBL students experienced more relatedness. Additionally, in Study 2, focus-group discussions that were conducted indicated that PBL contains both autonomy-supportive and controlling elements, which might explain why no differences were found in perceptions of autonomy and autonomous and controlled motivation between PBL and non-PBL students. Furthermore, students reported that tutorial groups in PBL contributed to feelings of relatedness.     

The effects of self-regulated learning training on community college students’ metacognition and achievement in developmental math courses

The effects of training in self-regulation on metacognition and math achievement were investigated. The participants were 116 community college students enrolled in developmental math courses. Students enrolled in 16 classrooms were randomly assigned to the treatment and control groups. Participants in the treatment group completed four self-regulated learning (SRL) exercises based on Zimmerman’s (2002) cyclical model. The exercises were completed weekly and repeated for a total of 3 weeks. During the last week of class, participants completed a final exam to measure math achievement as well as the metacognitive self-regulation and time/study environment management scales on the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire ([MSLQ], Pintrich, Smith, Garcia, & McKeachie, 1991). There were significant differences between the two groups, indicating that training in SRL improved math achievement and metacognitive skills assessed on both MSLQ scales. The findings suggested that training in SRL improves math achievement, metacognitive self-regulation and time/study environmental management skills of students enrolled in developmental math courses.