Gender and science achievement: A reanalysis of studies from two meta-analyses

Data from 30 studies of the magnitude of gender differences in science achievement previously examined in two separate reviews were synthesized using modern methods for meta-analysis. Two meta-analysis methodologies were used: analyses of effect sizes (standardized mean differences) and vote-counting estimation procedures. Analyses revealed that magnitudes of gender differences in science achievement varied according to the subject matter under study. Males showed significant advantages in studies of biology, general science, and physics, but significant differences were not found for studies of mixed science content, and geology and earth sciences, or in a single study of chemistry. However, in all cases the numbers of effects examining each subject-matter area were quite small (seven or less). Also, studies which had focused on gender differences evidenced larger gender differences than other studies. Other possible predictors of the magnitudes of gender differences, such as grade level of the subjects and test length, did not account for significant amounts of variation among these study outcomes. Consequently, they also did not provide as strong an explanation of the patterns of gender differences as did subject matter and focus on gender.     

A causal analysis relating previous achievement,attitudes, discourse,and intervention to achievement in biology and chemistry

This study described the relationship of 38 variates to achievement in high school biology and chemistry classes. Forty-four teachers prepared audio tape recordings of discussions throughout a nine-month period. Equal-sized groups received treatment consisting of wait time feedback and/or supportive intervention, a form of peer coaching. Other variables were initial measures, which included the variates of class size and previous science grade, pre- and posttest scores on student attitudes and perceptions, and prediscourse and discourse analyses, which included the variates of wait times, actions, and response durations. While previous research has shown that wait time feedback and supportive intervention are effective means of changing teacher behavior, the results of the present study revealed that previous student achievement and the attitudes of students accounted for 70% of the variation in the final examination scores (New York State Regents) on the basis of only the first three weeks of data collection on the variables assessed. Generally, little emphasis on higher-level thinking, wait time, or problem solving was found at the beginning of the school year, and only minimal changes resulted from the application of the treatment variables. Pressures for content coverage and preparation for externally imposed statewide examinations that emphasize memory-level learning augured against the changes that the independent variables were designed to produce.     

略论杜威和陶行知的知识观

知识观是指人们对知识内涵、种类、发展获得等问题看法及观点的总和,它是直接指导和影响教育教学组织实施的核心观念。作为美国的实用主义教育家约翰·杜威(John.Dewey)和他的学生我国伟大的人民教     

Promoting self-regulated learning to improve achievement: A case study in higher education

Abstract

The aim of this article is to report on a study conducted to assess the effect of an intervention programme to improve SRL and the achievement of a group of poorly performing undergraduate students at the Tshwane University of Technology. SRL was used as theoretical framework. The case study reports on 20 Engineering students who attended learning skills intervention sessions and wrote a college version of the learning and study strategies inventory (LASSI) pre-test and post-test. The intervention consisted of 12 workshop sessions presented over a period of three months. The LASSI pre-test showed that the group scored below the 50th percentile on four scales (anxiety, attitude, selecting main ideas and test-taking strategies). Observed improvements in the post-test scores of the LASSI scales for seven out of ten scales were statistically significant. The students’ academic achievements also improved. The findings are important for improving student success and throughput in South African higher education.     

Self-regulation of homework behaviour: relating grade,gender, and achievement to homework management

Abstract

The present investigation linked grade, gender, and maths achievement to homework management strategies using data from 305 Chinese students in grades 7, 8, and 9. These strategies included arranging the environment, managing time, handling distraction, monitoring motivation, and controlling potentially interfering emotion. A three-way MANOVA examined the effects of grade, gender, and maths achievement on homework management strategies. Grade or gender was not related to homework management strategies. Meanwhile, high-achieving students (compared with low-achieving students) were more likely to arrange the environment, manage time, handle distraction, monitor motivation, and control negative emotion.     

College grades and adult achievement: A research synthesis

The present study used meta-analytic methodology to synthesize research on the relationship between college grades and adult achievement. The data for the meta-analysis came from 108 studies correlating grade average in college to various criteria of adult achievement or success. The average correlation between grade average and a composite success criterion was .18, a small effect. Correlations between grade average and eight other criteria of adult achievement were also small, ranging from .09 to .20. Correlational effects were larger in military settings and for studies conducted prior to 1950. The results of this meta-analysis may be somewhat discouraging to those who place a great deal of importance on the predictive value of grades.     

Visual discrimination of letter-like forms and its relationship to achievement over time in children with learning disabilities

The purpose of this study was to better understand whether visual discrimination abilities are related to reading intelligence and other achievement areas in children with learning disabilities and normally achieving children. Children with visual discrimination problems were identified using the Gibson letter-like visual discrimination task. This task was given to a large sample of children with learning disabilities as well as a sample of normally achieving children. All children were followed throughout elementary school. Results indicated that children with learning disabilities who had visual discrimination problems at 6 or 7 years of age performed more poorly in reading and general achievement over the elementary school years in comparison to the other children with learning disabilities and compared to normally achieving children. Discussion centers around the importance of this skill for reading.     

Effects of self-assessment on self-regulated learning and self-efficacy: Four meta-analyses

This meta-analytic review explores the effects of self-assessment on students' self-regulated learning (SRL) and self-efficacy. A total of 19 studies were included in the four different meta-analyses conducted with a total sample of 2305 students. The effects sizes from the three meta-analyses addressing effects on different measures of SRL were 0.23, 0.65, and 0.43. The effect size from the meta-analysis on self-efficacy was 0.73. In addition, it was found that gender (with girls benefiting more) and certain self-assessment components (such as self-monitoring) were significant moderators of the effects on self-efficacy. These results point to the importance of self-assessment interventions to promote students’ use of learning strategies and its effects on motivational variables such as self-efficacy.     

普适性的合作学习方法--小组成绩分享法简介

随着新课程改革的推进 ,合作学习在教育实践中得到日益广泛的运用。小组成绩分享法是一种具有突出使用价值的合作学习方法。本文将介绍小组成绩分享法的实施步骤和注意事项 ,以便教师借鉴该方法在教育实践中有效地组织合作学习。     

A self-determination theory approach to predicting school achievement over time: the unique role of intrinsic motivation

Although many studies have examined the relation of academic motivation to school achievement using the Self-Determination Theory perspective, the results have been inconsistent. The present investigation represents the first systematic attempt to use a meta-analysis and controlled, longitudinal studies to examine the relations of specific types of motivation to overall academic achievement. The meta-analysis (Study 1) pointed toward a potentially important role of intrinsic motivation in predicting school achievement. Three empirical studies of high school and college students in Canada (Studies 2 and 3) and in Sweden (Study 4) showed that intrinsic motivation was the only motivation type to be consistently positively associated with academic achievement over a one-year period, controlling for baseline achievement. Amotivation was significantly associated with lower academic achievement in Studies 3 and 4. Interestingly, intrinsic motivation was also associated with reduced amotivation in two of our studies and it was reciprocally associated with higher school achievement in another study. Overall, our findings highlight the unique importance of intrinsic motivation for the future academic success of high school and college students.     

The relationship of estimated learning potential to performance on a learning task and achievement

The Estimated Learning Potential (ELP), a score obtained through the System of Multicultural Pluralistic Assessment (SOMPA), is purported to be a more appropriate index of potential for socioculturally different children. Prior studies have suggested a lower correlation with academic achievement than that of the traditional IQ score. The validity of the ELP has, therefore, been questioned. This study attempted to determine whether the ELP or IQ score would be the better predictor of performance on a learning task for 31 black and 32 white EMR children. The learning task was presented in a test-teach-test paradigm. Results suggest that the ELP did not correlate more highly with learning task performance than did the IQ score. However, the ELP may be more differentially sensitive to declassifying black children as retarded. The validity and the social consequences of the use of the IQ, ELP, and performance, after teaching, on the learning task for classification decisions also are discussed.     

Self-regulated learning partially mediates the effect of self-regulated learning interventions on achievement in higher education: A meta-analysis

It is often assumed that interventions aimed at supporting students’ self-regulated learning (SRL) are effective for improving achievement because these interventions support SRL activity. In this study, meta-analytic structural equation modeling (MASEM) was used to test whether SRL activity indeed mediates the effect of SRL interventions on achievement in higher education. Contrary to popular belief, the results only provide evidence for partial mediation. Furthermore, three separate meta-analyses were performed to investigate the role of possible moderators of the relations between: (1) SRL interventions and achievement, (2) SRL interventions and SRL activity, and (3) SRL activity and achievement. Although SRL interventions were effective in improving SRL activity and achievement, most of the study, measurement, and intervention moderators did not explain significant variance of the investigated effect sizes. Other factors, such as task motivation and time on task, potentially influence the effectiveness of SRL interventions. Practical, theoretical and methodological implications are provided.     

Instruction and science learning: A quantitative synthesis

The purpose of this study was to quantitatively synthesize quality and quantity of instruction studies with the same or similar independent variables in the published science education grade 6-12 research of the 1963-1978 period. Fifty-two studies formed six clusters and revealed significant positive cognitive outcomes due to the use of preinstructional strategies, training in scientific thinking, increased structure in the verbal content of materials, and increased realism or concreteness in adjunct materials. In general, systematic innovation in instruction was found to produce positive improvements over the norm or traditional practice. Methodologically, improved research design quality was related to larger effect sizes. Recommendations are made regarding application, use of multiple measures, attitudinal research, use of general education findings, and the reporting of research.     

Ability and science learning: A quantitative synthesis

The quantitative relationship of measured ability to measured science learning was synthesized from the reported correlations in 34 studies on grade 6-12 students over a 16-year period. The findings indicate a stable central tendency and deviation of correlations across ability and cognitive learning outcome categories and across several study variables such as sample size. Reliability of measures had the greatest and only statistically significant influence on ability-cognitive outcome correlations. Ability was found to account for an average of 23% of the variance in science learning.     

White working class achievement: an ethnographic study of barriers to learning in schools

This study aims to examine the key barriers to learning to raise achievement of White British pupils with low‐income backgrounds. The main findings suggest that the worryingly low‐achievement levels of many White working class pupils have been masked by the middle class success in the English school system and government statistics that fail to distinguish the White British ethnic group by social background. The empirical data confirm that one of the biggest groups of underachievers is the White British working class and their outcomes at each key stage are considerably below those achieved by all other ethnic groups. One of the main reasons for pupil underachievement, identified in the case study schools and focus groups, is parental low aspirations of their children’s education and social deprivation. It is also perpetuated by factors such as low‐literacy levels, feelings of marginalisation within the community exacerbated by housing allocation, a lack of community and school engagement, low levels of parental engagement and lack of targeted support to break the cycle of poverty and disadvantage, a legacy of low aspiration that prevents pupils from fulfilling their potential across a range of areas. The study concludes that the main obstacle in raising achievement is the government’s failure to recognise that this group has particular needs that are not being met by the school system. The government needs to recognise that the underachievement of White British working class pupils is not only a problem facing educational services but profoundly a serious challenge. Policy implications and recommendations are discussed in the final section.     

A meta-analysis of the impact of mobile learning on mathematics achievement

Education and Information Technologies - The technological developments of the twenty-first century have enabled the emergence of alternative teaching-learning models and instructional tools. One...     

Secondary school students' conceptions of learning and their relationship to achievement

Conceptions of learning were investigated in three studies. Study 1 piloted a modified version of Purdie and Hattie's (2002) Conceptions of Learning Inventory (COLI-I) with 236 secondary students. Multilog analysis was used to remove items with poor measurement characteristics. Study 2 used a nationally representative sample of 701 New Zealand secondary school students who completed the COLI-II. The measurement model had marginally acceptable fit. Study 3 consisted of 608 secondary students who completed a slightly revised COLI-III and provided standardised academic reading and mathematics achievement data. The Study 2 and 3 samples were found to have configural invariance and the structural model mapping students' conceptions of learning onto their academic achievement had acceptable fit. The conception that learning is a duty predicted lower achievement and the conception of learning as continuous predicted higher achievement. This is the first study to empirically demonstrate a direct relationship between learning conceptions and academic outcomes in the secondary sector.     

Synthesizing research evidence on self-regulated learning and academic achievement in online and blended learning environments: A scoping review

The present study synthesizes research evidence on self-regulated learning (SRL) and academic achievement in online and blended learning environments from intervention and cross-sectional studies. We examined 163 studies conducted in various countries and different learning contexts in terms of study characteristics, methodology, and SRL features. The current study found that SRL in the online and blended learning contexts has been an important topic and has received increased attention. The results revealed the importance of SRL for improving students' academic performance in the STEM field. It also demonstrated that the majority of the studies adopted multiple SRL strategies throughout mixed phases. This study confirmed the effectiveness of SRL on academic achievement in online or blended learning. However, the present study also identified that research on children's and adolescents' SRL strategies in online learning contexts is urgently needed and most of the available research did not focus on the preparatory and planning phases of SRL which are extremely important.