Effect of instructional procedure and pupil locus of control on achievement and attitudes

The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of instructional procedures differing in degree of student control on achievement and attitudes of pupils identified as having an internal or external locus of control. Two sixth-grade classes (N=47) were divided into internal and external locus of control groups. Half of the internals and externals in each class were randomly assigned a structured instructional procedure and half assigned a contract procedure. A two-week unit on nutrition was taught to all students, using a structured or contract method. There were no significant differences in achievement among any of the groups. However, the internal-contract group seemed to show a more positive attitude toward the unit than did the other three groups. These results suggest that instructional procedure may not differentially affect achievement of internal and external sixth graders over a short period, but that attitudes toward instruction may be affected.     

Supporting interest of middle school students in mathematics through context personalization and example choice

An experimental study examined the effect of context personalization and example choice on situational interest in mathematics of adolescent students. Middle school students (N = 736) learned about probability calculus and were assigned to one of four instructional conditions. Individual interest and perceived competence in mathematics was examined as moderator on three measures of situational interest: triggered situational interest, maintained situational interest, and perceived value. Context personalization promoted triggered and maintained situational interest, and perception of value among students with low individual interest and perceived competence in mathematics. Similar results were observed for example choice, with the exception of perceived value. Although context personalization and example choice promoted effort for students with low individual interest, we observed no effect on performance. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of the findings.     

An instructional intervention's impact on the science and literacy achievement of culturally and linguistically diverse elementary students

This research examined the impact of the first‐year implementation of an instructional intervention to promote achievement and equity in science and literacy for culturally and linguistically diverse elementary students. The research addressed three areas: (a) overall science and literacy achievement, (b) achievement gaps among demographic subgroups, and (c) comparison with national (NAEP) and international (TIMSS) samples of students. The research involved 1,523 third‐ and fourth‐grade students at six elementary schools in a large urban school district. Significance tests of mean scores between pre‐ and posttests indicate statistically significant increases on all measures of science and literacy at both grade levels. While achievement gaps widened with third graders on some of the measures, the gaps tended to narrow with fourth graders. The results based on item‐by‐item comparisons with NAEP TIMSS samples of students indicated overall positive performance of the students in the research at the end of the school year. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 42: 857–887, 2005     

The differential influence of instructional context on the academic engagement of students with behavior problems

The teacher–student interactions of 39 students exhibiting high externalizing behavior problems and 59 students exhibiting average behavioral adjustment from urban elementary schools were directly observed. Comparisons between these students within four different instructional contexts indicated that levels of student engagement were significantly related to both behavior and classroom context. Although teachers’ use of behavioral management strategies was minimal, it was significantly related to the type of instructional context in which it occurred. Findings are discussed in terms of how different instructional contexts place unique demands and offer distinct affordances for students with behavior problems. A more comprehensive understanding of the influence of these environmental contexts can allow teachers to scaffold task demands to bring them within the domains of the student's ability.     

The effects of matching instructional strategy with selected student characteristics on ninth grade physical science students' attitudes and achievement

The study investigated the benefits of a matching model of instruction for students enrolled in ninth grade physical science classes in one high school in a small, urban school district. Based on social learning theory, three independent variables were identified for purposes of matching: need level, cognitive style, and locus of control; attitude and achievement outcomes served as the dependent variables. Results of separate analyses of covariance revealed that attitude toward science in general improved with matching, but achievement, attitude toward physical science, attitude toward instruction, and attitude toward the teacher did not improve. Recommendations for subsequent “matching” experiments are discussed in light of the findings in this investigation.     

The extent to which teacher attitudes and expectations predict academic achievement of final year students

Competition in the market is a perennial and ever‐increasing problem for independent schools. How schools can meet this pressure and find ways to attract (the best) students is a continuing question and one that will get more onerous as the government funding for education is, in relative terms, decreasing. One of the ways in which schools can show their worth is the attraction of the best teachers and being able to show potential clients how their staff contribute to the academic success of their graduating students. This study considers the relationship between teachers’ attitudes toward their work and the expectations and the extent to which their attitudes and expectations predict the academic achievements of their final year students. Results found that academic achievement is enhanced when school leadership provides an academically oriented context where values and expectations of high academic achievement are part of the school culture. Other teacher variables found to improve academic achievement are the teachers’ need for greater input into decision‐making at their schools; less formalisation of rules, procedures and process; and support through personnel, facilities, finances, equipment and resources.     

Locus of control,instructional mode and students' achievement

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships among locus of control, instructional mode and achievement. Externally and internally oriented students were taught by the same instructor using two different teaching methods. The findings posited a definite relationship among locus of control, instructional style and achievement. Notably, students who were internally oriented appeared to attain higher levels of achievement under conditions where intrinsic reinforcers constitute the stimuli.     

Effects of conceptual systems and instructional methods on general chemistry laboratory achievement

Conceptual systems theory predicts four system orientations. System 1 individuals are highly concrete in their reasoning ability and beliefs. System 2 individuals are strongly negative toward authority and institutions and tend to be autonomous and rebellious. System 3 individuals are more abstract than System 1 or System 2 individuals and have strong need to maintain secure relationships. System 4 individuals have the most abstract, flexible, and open-minded orientation and have an analytical approach to problem solving. Conceptual systems orientations of subjects taking a general chemistry laboratory were determined using the “This I Believe” test. Subjects were classified into Systems 1, 2, 3, 4, or admixtures. Laboratory sections were assigned randomly to three instructional methods (traditional approach, learning cycle, computer simulation) for teaching a three-hour laboratory covering spectrophotometry principles. Factorial analysis of covariance indicated no significant conceptual system by instructional method interaction. The main effect for conceptual system was significant, and pairwise comparisons of adjusted mean posttest scores indicated that System 4 subjects as well as System 3 subjects scored significantly higher than System 1 subjects. There was no significant difference in scores between System 4 and System 3 individuals. Conceptual systems orientation is an attribute variable that may influence chemistry learning.     

Observing instructional quality in the context of school evaluation

Observational measures of instructional quality are used in both research and evaluation contexts. In European school evaluation systems, one main intended use of classroom observation results is to inform schools' instructional improvement efforts. This study examined the quality of such diagnostic information in the context of a school evaluation system in Germany. The factor analytic results indicate that the empirical structure of the observation instrument lacks correspondence with its original normative model but does mirror a five-factor model based on recent literature, including classroom management, two different aspects of student orientation, cognitive activation, and classroom assessment. The generalizability analyses show that both indicators and observers represent important sources of measurement error. Additionally, their magnitude is larger for shorter observations (lesson segments). At least two, sometimes three, observers and between five and ten indicators per dimension are needed to achieve sufficiently reliable results, but results importantly depend on which dimension of instructional quality is being assessed.     

Toward fluent instructional design in the context of people

The instructional designer faces the dual task of driving the instructional design process while managing a positive relationship with the subject matter expert. It is this latter task of relationship management that is often overlooked in practice and research in the field of human performance technology.     

The effects of instructional context and reasoning complexity on mathematics problem-solving

The focus of this study was on the effects of relevance in instructional context and reasoning complexity on mathematics problem-solving achievement, transfer, and attitude. Forty-six fifth graders participated in the five-day study. Students received either contextualized or decontextualized instruction involving either simple or complex reasoning. Two types of achievement questions were used, context-rich and context-poor, which required either single or multiple computational steps to solve. An interaction was found between complexity of treatment and complexity of questions. Students who studied simple problems in decontextualized contexts performed best on one-step questions, while students who studied complex problems in contextualized contexts performed best on multi-step questions (p = .003). A complexity effect was also found for student attitudes toward perceived lesson difficulty (p = .0001) as well as for perceived relevance of mathematics (p = .015). Students who studied simple problems perceived lesson difficulty and mathematics relevance more favorably than those who studied complex problems. These findings suggest that rich mathematical instructional contexts best support mathematics problem-solving, but simple, decontextualized instruction yields the most favorable attitudes.