Diagrammatic Literacy in Secondary Science Education

Students in secondary science education seem to have difficulties with understanding diagrams. The present study focused on explanatory factors that predict students’ difficulties with process diagrams, i.e., diagrams that describe a process consisting of components that are related by arrows. From 18 compulsory national Biology exams of secondary school pre-university students, all process diagram tasks (n?=?64) were included in corpus. Features of the task, student, and diagram were related to the difficulty of that particular task, indicated by the cohort mean exam score. A hierarchical regression analysis showed main effects for (1) the cognitive task demand, (2) the familiarity of the components, and (3) the number of components in a diagram. All these main effects were in the expected direction. We also observed interactions. Within the category of tasks with a high cognitive demand, tasks about a diagram of which students have low prior content knowledge were more difficult than tasks about a diagram of which students have high prior content knowledge. Tasks with a high cognitive demand about a diagram with familiar arrows were, surprisingly, more difficult than tasks with a high cognitive demand about a diagram with unfamiliar arrows. This latter finding might be attributed to compensation for task difficulty by the large number of components in the diagrams involved. The final model explained 46 % of the variance in exam scores. These results suggest that students have difficulties (1) with tasks that require a deeper understanding when the content is new, (2) with diagrams that use unfamiliar component conventions, and (3) with diagrams that have a small number of components and are therefore probably more abstract.     

Poor Performance in Mathematics: Is there a basis for a self‐worth explanation for women?

The self‐worth theory of achievement motivation holds that in situations in which poor performance is likely to reveal low ability, certain students (known as self‐worth protective students) intentionally withdraw effort in order to avoid the negative implications of poor performance in terms of damage to self‐worth. In this study, evidence of self‐worth protection was sought where it is perhaps least likely to be seen: in women in mathematics, where the negative effects of stereotype threat are suggested. Links between self‐worth protection and performance on three maths tasks (a computational task, an algebraic task, and the Tower of Hanoi, a game‐like task tapping into mathematical skills yet devoid of mathematical signs and symbols) and a verbal task (a remote associates task) were examined in an intellectually evaluative situation (following failure) and in an intellectually non‐evaluative situation (following success). Relative to low maths self‐worth protective students, high maths self‐worth protective students performed poorly on both mathematical tasks, but not on either the Tower of Hanoi or the remote associates test. Collectively, findings are consistent with the conclusion that a self‐worth explanation can be applied to the poor performance of women in mathematics. Critical eliciting conditions appear to be mathematical signs and symbols and the presence of evaluative threat.     

Engaging ADHD students in tasks with hand gestures: a pedagogical possibility for teachers

This study examines the effects of teachers' speech and hand gestures on the task performances of students with Attention‐Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Forty‐five 7½‐year‐old students clinically diagnosed with ADHD participated in the study. The students were asked to solve three sets of puzzles. The teachers supported the students in the tasks by using three different scaffolding modalities: speech‐only, gesture‐only and speech in conjunction with gestures. The results indicate that when the teachers used the scaffolding that contained gesture components (either speech scaffolding in conjunction with gesture scaffolding or gesture‐only scaffolding), the ADHD students were more responsive, focused longer on the tasks and were more successful in completing the tasks. Moreover, teachers' representational and deictic gestures were found to be the most effective gestures in scaffolding. This study suggests that when teachers' hand gestures are used together with speech, they are a powerful pedagogical means to engage ADHD children in tasks.     

Instructional Correlates of Students' Academic Responses: Comparisons Between at-Risk and Control Students

This paper describes instructional arrangements in first grade classrooms and assesses their effects on academic responses of students at risk for failure. A parallel set of analyses of not-at-risk controls provides a basis for comparison. Time-sampled, in-class observations focused on multiple components of instruction (subject matter, tasks assigned, group size, and teachers' behavior) and students' response (active/academic, task management, and inappropriate). The associations of instructional structure with type of student response were considered significant if replicated across two samples. Relative to base- rates (unconditional probabilities) six specific arrangements were shown to be significantly associated with either accelerated or decelerated rates (conditional probabilities) of at-risk and control students' active, academic, or inappropriate responses. The pattern of results indicated that while only one instructional arrangement was associated with increased inappropriate behavior for both groups, only two infrequently occurring arrangements in- creased academic responding. Implications with respect to both research and practice are discussed.     

Relationships between formal-operational thought and conceptual difficulties in genetics problem solving

Seventy-one college general biology students were taught a unit in Mendelian genetics by the traditional lecture method. Emphasis was placed on meiotic formation of gametes, the Law of Segregation, and the Law of Independent Assortment. The Punnett-square model was used for all practice problems. Eight weeks later, a content-validated retention test was given to evaluate the students' retention of problem-solving skills. The test required students to use proportional reasoning (identifying ratios from the Punnett squares), combinatorial reasoning (identifying combinations of gametes from parental genotypes), and probabilistic reasoning (estimating gamete or offspring probabilities). Each of the 71 students was also given three Piagetian interview tasks to evaluate intellectual development in the areas of reasoning under question. The balance-beam task, the electronic switch-box task, and colored squares and diamonds were used to test for proportional reasoning, combinatorial reasoning, and probabilistic reasoning, respectively. Pearson correlations and factor analysis failed to show direct relationships among Piagetian tasks for the three kinds of reasoning and their corresponding occurrence in genetics problems. Some correlations were higher between different reasoning types than between similar types. Analysis of variance showed significant differences for all three reasoning types among concrete-operational, transitional, and formal-operational students with the retention test. Post-hoc analysis of ANOVAs indicated that formal-operational students had significantly more success in the three reasoning areas than transitional students, and transitional students had significantly more success than concrete-operational students.     

The relationships among students' commitment,self-esteem,organisational citizenship behaviour and academic performance

Abstract

As one of the most important dependent variables in education and work research, performance has been operationalised either as the proficiency with which core tasks are performed (task performance), or as extra-role behaviours that support core activities (organisational citizenship behaviours). Relative to academic performance (core academic achievement), there has been little research on the extent to which students practise organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB) in their academic work. The aim of the present study was to explore some correlates of both OCB and academic performance. Data used in the study were obtained from 185 students enrolled in a business course at the National University of Lesotho. Survey questionnaires inquiring about students' commitment, self-esteem, and OCB were administered to 204 third-year students. These were correlated with formal academic performance before and after the survey. Students' commitment was significantly related to both OCB and academic performance. Self-esteem was significantly correlated with OCB, but not academic performance. Two dimensions of OCB (altruism and civic virtue) were moderately but significantly related to academic performance. Results suggest that improving self-esteem might affect OCB, and improving commitment and certain elements of OCB might improve academic achievement.     

Motivational cost aspects of physical education in middle school students

Expectancy value theory presumes that learners’ motivation is determined by their expectancy beliefs and task values associated with learning tasks. This study examined students’ cost and its relation to expectancy beliefs, other task value components in physical education. Middle school students (N?=?593) from 11 schools completed the expectancy-value questionnaire. Qualitative analysis of students’ responses to open-ended questions showed motivational cost originated from curriculum content, instructional conditions/elements, physical discomfort, lack of social support and competence and teacher factors. Chi-square analysis suggests that students’ motivational cost is associated with their hypothetical choices of attending physical education. Motivational cost was found to be negatively associated with other task value components, but not with expectancy beliefs.     

Students' Visualization of Diagrams Representing the Human Circulatory System: The use of spatial isomorphism and representational conventions

This study investigated students' interpretation of diagrams representing the human circulatory system. We conducted an interview study with three students aged 14–15 (Year 10) who were studying biology in a Hong Kong school. During the interviews, students were asked to interpret diagrams and relationships between diagrams that represented aspects of the circulatory system. All diagrams used in the interviews had been used by their teacher when teaching the topic. Students' interpretations were expressed by their verbal response and their drawing. Dual coding theory was used to interpret students' responses. There was evidence that one student relied on verbal recall as a strategy in interpreting diagrams. It was found that students might have relied unduly on similarities in spatial features, rather than on deeper meanings represented by conventions, of diagrams when they associated diagrams that represented different aspects of the circulatory system. A pattern of students' understanding of structure–behaviour–function relationship of the biological system was observed. This study suggests the importance of a consistent diagrammatic and verbal representation in communicating scientific ideas. Implications for teaching practice that facilitates learning with diagrams and address students' undue focus on spatial features of diagrams are discussed.     

The role of diagrams in collaborative argumentation-based learning

In this article two studies on the use of diagrams in computer-supported collaborative learning are compared. Focus is on the way argumentative diagrams can be used during collaborative learning tasks, more specifically how diagrams support argumentative interaction between students when they discuss ill-defined topics. The main goal is to discover how diagram construction before discussion, and diagram construction during discussion, influence the way students explore the space of debate during discussion. Twenty pairs of 16/17-year-old students were randomly selected from 126 pairs. Ten pairs worked with a diagram before discussion and ten during discussion. The research showed that students use diagrams in very different ways, ranging from a means for talking to just a notebook. Our expectation that using a diagram during discussion leads to more depth in discussion than using one before discussion, was not confirmed. Possible explanations for this finding are structure of the task, and the way students interpreted the goal of the task.     

Story grammar and comprehension and production of narrative prose by students with learning disabilities

This study investigated both quantitative and qualitative differences between subjects with and without learning disabilities (LD) across three grade levels on two tasks requiring active processing of story grammar. There was no evidence, for either task, of developmental differences in relation to either story comprehension or production. However, there were significant differences between students with LD and normally achieving students in the amount as well as the type of information included in the retellings and written stories. The results provide support for the hypothesis that students with LD have acquired a rudimentary but not fully developed schema for narrative prose.     

I Am Sure There May Be a Planet There: Student articulation of uncertainty in argumentation tasks

We investigated how students articulate uncertainty when they are engaged in structured scientific argumentation tasks where they generate, examine, and interpret data to determine the existence of exoplanets. In this study, 302 high school students completed 4 structured scientific arguments that followed a series of computer-model-based curriculum module activities simulating the radial velocity and/or the transit method. Structured scientific argumentation tasks involved claim, explanation, uncertainty rating, and uncertainty rationale. We explored (1) how students are articulating uncertainty within the various elements of the task and (2) the relationship between the way the task is presented and the way students are articulating uncertainty. We found that (1) while the majority of students did not express uncertainty in either explanation or uncertainty rationale, students who did express uncertainty in their explanations did so scientifically without being prompted explicitly, (2) students’ uncertainty ratings and rationales revealed a mix of their personal confidence and uncertainty related to science, and (3) if a task presented noisy data, students were less likely to express uncertainty in their explanations.     

Individual Differences in Adapting to Three Different Tasks of Selecting Information from Texts

This study examined individual differences in selecting main points according to three types of tasks. In all, 133 students (10th-graders) participated. Each student studied three instructional texts, and each text was preceded by one instruction. In the linguistic task, the students had to underline the author's main points. In the educational task, students had to underline text elements considered to be important by a portrayed teacher. And in the interest task, interesting text fragments had to be underlined. The students were divided into five groups identified by a typical selection pattern. Only 24 students adjusted their selection of main points to each of the tasks (the adaptive group). This group differed in some study strategies and learning conceptions from the nonadaptive groups. In all, this study begins to give more insight into individual differences in selecting main points.     

Adult word recognition and visual sequential memory

Two experiments were conducted investigating the role of visual sequential memory skill in the word recognition efficiency of undergraduate university students. Word recognition was assessed in a lexical decision task using regularly and strangely spelt words, and nonwords that were either standard orthographically legal strings or items made from words with internal transposed letters. Symbol memory was evaluated in a recognition procedure in which sequences of three to five unfamiliar complex symbols were presented, each followed by a subsequent array containing the symbols either in the same order or with an order transposition. In Experiment 1, there was no independent contribution of symbol memory to either word or nonword processing independently of the ability to discriminate the symbols from one another. In Experiment 2, although symbol memory made a significant contribution to word recognition independently of symbol discrimination and letter identification for two conditions??long strangely spelt words and short transposed-letter items, the effects were extremely small. It was concluded that non-verbal visual sequential memory skill does not play a central role in underpinning efficiency of word recognition in experienced adult readers.     

Hyperlink format, categorization abilities and memory span as contributors to deaf users hypertext access

Sixty deaf and hearing students were asked to search for goods in a Hypertext Supermarket with either graphical or textual links of high typicality, frequency, and familiarity. Additionally, they performed a picture and word categorization task and two working memory span tasks (spatial and verbal). Results showed that deaf students were faster in graphical than in verbal hypertext when the number of visited pages per search trial was blocked. Regardless of stimuli format, accuracy differences between groups did not appear, although deaf students were slower than hearing students in both Web search and categorization tasks (graphical or verbal). No relation between the two tasks was found. Correlation analyses showed that deaf students with higher spatial span were faster in graphical Web search, but no correlations emerged between verbal span and verbal Web search. A hypothesis of different strategies used by the two groups for searching information in hypertext is formulated. It is suggested that deaf users use a visual-matching strategy more than a semantic approach to make navigation decisions.     

The performance of college students on piaget-type tasks dealing with distance,time, and speed

Research was done to probe and extend Piaget's theory of the conception of speed. Specifically tested was the hypothesis that there is no hierarchical relationship in performance on the following Piaget-type tasks: conservation of distance, asymmetric series of speeds, one-to-many (circular) speeds, symmetric speeds, time, and proportional reasoning. The research also tested the gender-related performance on these six tasks. One hundred freshman and sophomore college students were shown demonstrations of equipment individually for each of the six tasks. A set of open-ended questions based on the demonstrations was administered to each subject in a 45-minute interview. Subjects were scored as “pass” on a given task if they manipulated objects in certain ways and gave specific types of explanations. A scalogram analysis of the data yielded a z-score of — 3.7 which indicated that subjects passed the task in a certain sequence. The tasks were found to form a unidimensional scale and to be increasingly difficult in the order listed above. A chi-square test for two independent samples showed a significant difference (alpha = 0.05) in performance between males and females on all speed tasks. No significant differences in performance between males and females were found for the distance and time tasks.     

Training self-assessment and task-selection skills: A cognitive approach to improving self-regulated learning

For self-regulated learning to be effective, students need to be able to accurately assess their own performance on a learning task and use this assessment for the selection of a new learning task. Evidence suggests, however, that students have difficulties with accurate self-assessment and task selection, which may explain the poor learning outcomes often found with self-regulated learning. In experiment 1, the hypothesis was investigated and confirmed that observing a human model engaging in self-assessment, task selection, or both could be effective for secondary education students’ (N = 80) acquisition of self-assessment and task-selection skills. Experiment 2 investigated and confirmed the hypothesis that secondary education students’ (N = 90) acquisition of self-assessment and task-selection skills, either through examples or through practice, would enhance the effectiveness of self-regulated learning. It can be concluded that self-assessment and task-selection skills indeed play an important role in self-regulated learning and that training these skills can significantly increase the amount of knowledge students can gain from self-regulated learning in which they choose their own learning tasks.     

It's all about Baxter: task orientation in the effective teaching of writing

This New Zealand‐based study of the classroom practice of nine exemplary teachers of writing to upper primary‐age students explored the significance of task orientation as a component of effective teacher instruction and the instructional strategies or actions that effective teachers utilise to promote such. Effectiveness pertains to teachers being able to generate a positive impact on learners' engagement and academic outcomes. Particular attention was given to the content and organisation of the tasks and activities that teachers required of their students. Analysis of observed teacher practice in relation to learner gains showed actions associated with task orientation to be strongly associated with student progress in writing. Two indicators linked particularly with learner gains in writing. They relate to teachers being able to select and promote learning tasks that are purposeful and challenging for students and to students being involved in the selection or construction of learning tasks. There were relatively high levels of proficiency with regard to teachers being able to select and promote purposeful and challenging tasks but significant operational variability with regard to teachers involving their students in task selection or construction. Classroom illustrations are provided on how effective teachers promote learner involvement in task selection or construction.     

Self‐monitoring and its relationship with educational level and task importance

To investigate students' self‐monitoring practice and effects of educational level and task importance on self‐monitoring, 510 students, varying in educational level from elementary through graduate school, reported the self‐monitoring strategies they employed in three learning situations with different levels of task importance. The study identified six self‐monitoring strategies used by students but found a low involvement in self‐monitoring at all educational levels. It was found that older students used more complex self‐monitoring strategies more frequently than younger students. The study also showed that students' self‐monitoring increased with task importance. The self‐monitoring deficiencies that students experienced in difficult learning tasks were attributed to the lack of a system of self‐monitoring. Educational applications of teaching self‐monitoring strategies and developing self‐monitoring systems for difficult learning tasks were discussed.     

The role of diagrammatic representation in learning sequences,identification and classification as a function of verbal and spatial ability

Grade 9 subjects learned the evolutionary sequence of dinosaurs and to classify them by type. Instruction was by menas of flow diagrams that showed the evolutionary sequence running across the page either from left to right or reversed from right to left, with or without drawings of dinosaurs. It was found that subjects seeing left-right ordered diagrams scored better on tests of sequence and classification than those seeing reversed diagrams. Also, the addition of drawings helped subjects identify dinosaurs by type. Verbal ability predicted learning as a function of treatment. Spatial ability did not. However, some evidence was found that high-spatial low-verbal subjects could classify the animals equally well from normal-order or reversed diagrams, while high-verbal subjects who were also low-spatial could classify them better if they had seen normal-order diagrams. These results suggest that diagrams provide different types of information and that learners may process each type differently.     

Isolation and distinctiveness in the design of e-learning systems influence user preferences

When faced with excessive detail in an online environment, typical users have difficulty processing all the elements of representation. This in turn creates cognitive overload, which narrows the user's focus to a few select items. In the context of e-learning, we translated this aspect as the learner's demand for a system that facilitates the retrieval of learning content – one in which the representation is easy to read and understand. We hypothesized that the representation of content in an e-learning system's design is an important antecedent for learner preferences. The aspects of isolation and distinctiveness were incorporated into the design of e-learning representation as an attempt to promote student cognition. Following its development, the model was empirically validated by conducting a survey of 300 university students. We found that isolation and distinctiveness in the design elements appeared to facilitate the ability of students to read and remember online learning content. This in turn was found to drive user preferences for using e-learning systems. The findings provide designers with managerial insights for enticing learners to continue using e-learning systems.