Mathematically gifted students and high achievement: the role of motivation and classroom structure

One of the most intriguing questions for those who study intellectually gifted students is why some of them reach peak performances at school and others don’t. Moderator theories of giftedness assume that domain-specific gifts are transformed into achievement in a process influenced by non-cognitive and environmental variables. Thus, the current study investigates differences in the non-cognitive construct motivation (achievement goals, interest, self-concept, self-efficacy, implicit theories) and perception of classroom environment (classroom structure, class climate) between mathematically gifted high achievers (n = 66) and mathematically gifted students with non-high achievement (n = 144) using a latent variable approach. Gifted high achievers expressed higher levels of motivation than non-high achievers. Furthermore, they perceived a classroom structure that provides more tasks with a focus on learning and more autonomy.     

Alternative Assessment Portfolios for Students with Intellectual Disabilities: A Case Study

Abstract

Twenty‐eight classroom teachers identified students in their rooms who were low achievers, at‐risk learners; low achievers, not at risk; average achievers; and special education students. We videotaped these students during reading lessons conducted by their teachers. Using a stimulated recall procedure, we interviewed teachers and asked them to report their thought processes during instruction, especially those that pertained to the target children. We found that teachers reported significantly more negative thoughts about at‐risk learners' than about average achievers' attending behavior and ability‐performance. Furthermore, at‐risk learners received a greater number of comments focused on the need to monitor their performance. Special education students received significantly more positive and negative comments about attending than did average achievers. In addition, they received more miscellaneous positive comments than did low, not at‐risk, and average achievers. Finally, teachers reported making more classroom modifications for this group than for average students. Implications for prereferral classroom interventions are discussed.     

‘Let your data tell a story:’ climate change experts and students navigating disciplinary argumentation in the classroom

ABSTRACT

Science education trends promote student engagement in authentic knowledge in practice to tackle personally consequential problems. This study explored how partnering scientists and students on a social media platform supported students’ development of disciplinary practice knowledge through practice-based learning with experts during two pilot enactments of a project-based curriculum focusing on the ecological impacts of climate change. Through the online platform, scientists provided feedback on students' infographics, visual argumentation artifacts that use data to communicate about climate change science. We conceptualize the infographics and professional data sets as boundary objects that supported authentic argumentation practices across classroom and professional contexts, but found that student generated data was not robust enough to cross these boundaries. Analysis of the structure and content of the scientists’ feedback revealed that when critiquing argumentation, scientists initiated engagement in multiple scientific practices, supporting a holistic rather than discrete model of practice-based learning. While traditional classroom inquiry has emphasized student experimentation, we found that engagement with existing professional data sets provided students with a platform for developing expertise in systemic scientific practices during argument construction. We further found that many students increased the complexity and improved the visual presentation of their arguments after feedback.     

Impact of feedback request forms and verbal feedback on higher education students’ feedback perception,self-efficacy,and motivation

ABSTRACT

In higher education, students often misunderstand teachers’ written feedback. This is worrisome, since written feedback is the main form of feedback in higher education. Organising feedback conversations, in which feedback request forms and verbal feedback are used, is a promising intervention to prevent misunderstanding of written feedback. In this study a 2 × 2 factorial experiment (N = 128) was conducted to examine the effects of a feedback request form (with vs. without) and feedback mode (written vs. verbal feedback). Results showed that verbal feedback had a significantly higher impact on students’ feedback perception than written feedback; it did not improve students’ self-efficacy, or motivation. Feedback request forms did not improve students’ perceptions, self-efficacy, or motivation. Based on these results, we can conclude that students have positive feedback perceptions when teachers communicate their feedback verbally and more research is needed to investigate the use of feedback request forms.     

Investigating the impact of automated feedback on students’ scientific argumentation

ABSTRACT

This study investigates the role of automated scoring and feedback in supporting students’ construction of written scientific arguments while learning about factors that affect climate change in the classroom. The automated scoring and feedback technology was integrated into an online module. Students’ written scientific argumentation occurred when they responded to structured argumentation prompts. After submitting the open-ended responses, students received scores generated by a scoring engine and written feedback associated with the scores in real-time. Using the log data that recorded argumentation scores as well as argument submission and revisions activities, we answer three research questions. First, how students behaved after receiving the feedback; second, whether and how students’ revisions improved their argumentation scores; and third, did item difficulties shift with the availability of the automated feedback. Results showed that the majority of students (77%) made revisions after receiving the feedback, and students with higher initial scores were more likely to revise their responses. Students who revised had significantly higher final scores than those who did not, and each revision was associated with an average increase of 0.55 on the final scores. Analysis on item difficulty shifts showed that written scientific argumentation became easier after students used the automated feedback.     

“Can do!” Teacher Promotion of Optimism in Response to Student Failure Expectation Expressions in Classroom Discourse

ABSTRACT

This study offers detailed observational analyses of how teachers use optimism as an instructional resource when responding to students’ failure expectation displays in classroom situations. The results were based on video-recordings of 25 lessons in two Finnish part-time special education settings, analysed by means of applied conversation analysis. The results showed that the teachers boosted optimism by inverting students’ negative utterances, giving examples of successful experiences of peers, offering praise for students’ earlier performance or focusing on problems through instructional support. The study underlines the importance of addressing and elaborating students’ negative learning-related self-assessments in classroom interactions.     

Mine the process: investigating the cyclical nature of upper primary school students’ self-regulated learning

The present study investigates primary school students’ self-regulated learning (SRL) process by exploring the sequence in which SRL activities are conducted during learning. The aims of this study are twofold: investigating the presence of the theoretically hypothesized cyclical nature in students’ SRL process, as well as potential differences herein for high, average, and low achievers. Think-aloud data of 104 upper primary school students were analysed by means of process mining analysis. The results indicate that students commonly adopt a cyclical approach to learning by implementing preparatory, performance, and appraisal activities during learning. However, the results indicate clear differences in the quality of students’ SRL process. High achievers, compared to low and average achievers, show a more strategic and adaptive approach to learning during all phases of their learning process. They more strategically and effectively orient on and plan assignments, combine different cognitive strategies, and adopt self-evaluation to regulate their learning process.

     

An Investigation of the Joint Influence of Faculty Control and Student Locus of Reinforcement on Instructional Evaluation

Abstract

This research was based on the theoretical belief that student evaluations of faculty teaching are related to the person-environment congruence between students’ locus of reinforcement and the degree of control exercised by faculty instructional styles. Fifty-seven college students were classified as internally or externally reinforced based on Rotter’s locus of reinforcement theory. Students evaluated high and low faculty control instructional styles by rating daily seven classroom evaluative questions on a five-point differential scale. It was hypothesized that the evaluation of instruction by students experiencing congruent control styles (internal students/low control and external students/high control) would be more positive than incongruent combinations (external students low control and internal students/high control). ANOVA results yielded a significant 937’value p <.01) for interaction effects which supported the research hypothesis. Implications for student evaluation of faculty teaching are discussed.     

Achievement goals and classroom goal structures: Do they need to match?

Abstract

It is often assumed that students’ personal achievement goals are most beneficial when they match the goal structures of the classroom, but interaction between achievement goals and goal structures is not well researched. In this study, we aim at providing a nuanced picture of the direct, interaction, and nonlinear effects of achievement goals and goal structures on test performance and autonomous motivation. We used multiple linear regressions, including interaction and quadratic terms, in combination with response surface methodology to analyze questionnaire data from students in Grades 6-10. We found no evidence for a general match effect, and only weak indications of interactions between achievement goals and goal structures. Thus, the match between classroom goal structures and students’ personal goals may be less important for students’ motivation and achievement than previously assumed. Still, based on our results we recommend a focus on mastery structures in the classroom.     

Perceived teacher feedback and academic performance: the mediating effect of learning engagement and moderating effect of assessment characteristics

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the mediating effect of learning engagement on the relationship between perceived teacher feedback and college students’ academic performance, and the moderating effect of assessment characteristics on the relationship between perceived teacher feedback and learning engagement. A sample of 2,458 students in a university in mainland China was studied. Results indicated that perceived teacher feedback had a positive impact on students’ academic performance; learning engagement had a mediating effect on the relationship between perceived teacher feedback and students’ academic performance; and assessment frequency, difficulty and diversity had moderating effects between perceived teacher feedback and learning engagement. With the three factors of high frequency, difficulty and diversity assessment, perceived teacher feedback was more likely to improve students’ learning engagement. In contrast, feedback without these three factors could decrease or have no impact on students’ learning engagement. This indicates that teacher feedback indirectly affects college students’ academic performance by promoting their learning engagement, and is more effective when the frequency, difficulty or diversity of assessments is high.     

Academic feedback in veterinary medicine: a comparison of school leaver and graduate entry cohorts

This study analysed the expectations and experiences of students on a five-year undergraduate (n?=?91) and four-year graduate entry (n?=?47) veterinary medicine degree programme relating to academic feedback. Qualitative and quantitative methodologies were used to explore new students’ expectations and prior experiences of feedback and capture experiences across one academic year. The majority of the students expect no less feedback at university than at school. Students’ experiences of the course highlighted themes of not knowing what was expected of them, a perceived need for more guidance and the importance of timely feedback. The impact of the staff–student relationship on how students obtain and perceive feedback and the emotional impact of positive and negative feedback were also highlighted. In addition, a recurring theme was the social context of veterinary medicine with issues relating to high academic achievers, competition between students and the need to gain professional and clinical skills. This study confirms a mismatch in student expectations versus experience. The paper draws on a rich data-set based on both quantitative and qualitative methods and is the first study of this type to be carried out in the context of students of veterinary medicine.     

Using a Dialogical Approach to Examine Peer Feedback During Chemistry Investigative Task Discussion

Peer feedback is an inherent feature of classroom collaborative learning. Students invariably turn to their peers for feedback when carrying out an investigative task, and this feedback is usually implicit, unstructured and may positively or negatively influence students’ learning when they work on a task. This study explored the characteristics of verbal peer feedback during a collaborative investigative chemistry task involving New Zealand Year 13 students. During the planning stage of the students’ investigation, the discussions of five pairs of students were recorded and then transcribed. Analysis of transcribed verbal data focused on interactions that involved peer feedback along two dimensions, interactive/non-interactive and dialogic/authoritative (Mortimer and Scott, 2003). The findings indicated that although students adopted a predominantly interactive/authoritative communicative approach, with peer feedback as confirmation or evaluation, they are also capable of a more interactive/dialogic exchange, characterised by elaborative peer feedback. We discuss how this dialogic perspective on peer feedback provides an alternative approach to the analysis and study of student–student interactions during science investigations. The findings should be interpreted in light of the limitations in terms of sample size, grouping and specificity of the coding scheme. Implications for teacher practice are discussed in relation to facilitating peer feedback discourse in the science classroom.     

The Effect of Selected Media Feedback upon the Interactive Behavior of Student Teachers

Abstract

The problem involved in this study was to ascertain whether student teachers receiving supervisory feedback with the aid of video and/or audio tape replay demonstrate a greater change in their classroom verbal interactive behavior than student teachers who receive supervisory feedback with no video or audio feedback. Evidence indicates that those receiving video feedback utilize less “direct teaching influence” and more “indirect teaching influence” as categorized by Flanders’ Verbal Interaction Analysis System, Within the audio group, the magnitude of change in the student teachers’ instructional behavior was not statistically significant. The magnitude of the directional change was greater for those students receiving video or audio recorded feedback than the magnitude of change in the control group.     

The effects of explanation-driven inquiry on students’ conceptual understanding of redox

ABSTRACT

The study that is the subject of this paper tested the effects of EDI (explanation-driven inquiry) on students’ redox conceptual understanding and their misconceptions. Two classes of 119 10th grade high school students were involved. Two groups of students in the same school were chosen. One class that was taught by EDI teaching was set as the treatment group and another class that received conventional teaching was set as the control group. Students’ conceptual understanding was measured by a standardised instrument, and the students’ misconceptions were compared. The analysis of covariance showed that EDI teaching had significant effects on students’ redox conceptual understanding, and the results of the chi-square test demonstrated that students’ conceptual understanding level was improved by using EDI teaching. Also, after comparing the two groups of students’ misconceptions of redox, the results indicated that the students’ misconceptions changed toward deeper conceptual understanding in the treatment group that used EDI. Finally, some suggestions were made on how to implement EDI in the classroom.     

The Mismatch between Students’ Mental Models of Acids/Bases and their Sources and their Teacher’s Anticipations thereof

The aim of this study is to compare the characteristics and sources of students’ mental models of acids and bases with a teacher’s anticipations and, based on this comparison, to explore some possible explanations why motivated students might fail to learn from a subject‐knowledgeable chemistry teacher. The study involves a chemistry teacher and her 38 ninth graders and focuses on the mental models of three high achievers and three low achievers who were interviewed in depth. Four students’ mental models of acid and base are identified. The mental models and sources of students’ conceptions of acids and bases that influenced the high achievers are compared to those of the low achievers. We find that the teacher in the study made accurate anticipations of her students’ mental models in the case of the high achievers but inaccurate anticipations of the low‐achievers’ mental models and the diverse sources influencing their mental models. In addition, the teacher incorrectly attributed the poor achievement of the low‐achieving students to their intuition and underestimated the effects of her teaching on the achievement of these students. As a result, the teacher’s instruction reinforced the low‐achievers’ incorrect mental models. Finally, the different approaches for teaching students with different achievements are emphasized according to the empirical data in this study.     

Teacher and student perceptions of creativity in the classroom environment

The purpose of this study was to investigate teachers and students perceptions about characteristics which either stimulate or inhibit the development of creativity in the classroom environment. Interviews were conducted with seven Connecticut public school teachers and 31 students (grades 3 and 4). The findings suggest that both teachers and students believe that a classroom environment which enhances creativity provides students with choices, accepts different ideas, boosts self‐confidence, and focuses on students’ strengths and interests. On the other hand, in an environment which inhibits creativity, ideas are ignored, teachers are controlling, and excessive structure exists.     

Advancement of Low Achievers within Technology Studies at High School

Abstract

Upper secondary education in Israel is divided into a ‘general track’ and a ‘technological track’. About half the students in the ‘technological track’ sit matriculation examinations. Mechanics studies, at the non‐matriculating level, suffers from a negative image and poor students’ motivation. A 3 year experiment was carried out with the goal of helping low achieving high school students progress to matriculation level. Class activities consisted of: project oriented studies; use of modern computerised machines (i.e. instructional CNC); use of computers for design, drawing and simulation; gradual progress while giving the student continual feedback. The pilot class (tenth grade) contained 13 students. In the second year two further schools joined the programme and in the third year it was expanded to six schools with 86 students, starting in tenth grade and progressing through grades 11 and 12. Data were gathered by interviews and follow‐up on achievements in school and state examinations. The results showed a change in the class atmosphere and students’ self image and motivation improved. In parallel to the growth in the number of students participating in the programme, the number of high achievers in technology studies in mechanics at the same schools rose, and the number of non‐matriculating students decreased. The technology studies united the class as a group and affected their motivation at general studies like Hebrew and English studies     

Exploring the pedagogical features of integrating essential competencies of scientific inquiry in classroom teaching

ABSTRACT

Background: As inquiry-based instruction is not universally implemented in science classrooms, it is crucial to introduce instructional strategies through the use of contextualized learning activities to allow students with different background knowledge and abilities to learn the essential competencies of scientific inquiry and promote their emotional perception and engagement.

Purpose: This study explores how essential scientific competencies of inquiry can be integrated into classroom teaching practices and investigates both typical and gifted secondary students’ emotional perception and engagement in learning activities.

Sample: A case teacher along with 226 typical and 18 gifted students from a suburban secondary school at Taiwan participated in this study.

Design and methods: After attending twelve 3-hour professional development workshops that focused on scientific inquiry teaching, the case teacher voluntarily developed and elaborated her own teaching activities through the discussions and feedback that she received from workshop participants and science educators. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected through activity worksheet, questionnaire, video camera, and tape recorders. Frequency distribution, Mann-Whitney U test, and discourse analysis were used for data analyses.

Results: Case teacher’s teaching activities provide contextual investigations that allow students to practice making hypotheses, planning investigations, and presenting and evaluating findings. Students’ learning outcomes reveal that typical students can engage in inquiry-based learning with positive emotional perception as well as gifted students regardless of their ability level. Both gifted and typical students’ positive emotional perception of and active engagement in learning provide fresh insight into feasible instructions for teachers who are interested in inquiry-based teaching but have little available time to implement such instructions into their classrooms.

Conclusions: The results of our work begin to address the critical issues of inquiry-based teaching by providing an exemplary teaching unit encompassing essential scientific competencies     

Classroom choice-making for Chinese master’s students: choice,motivation and learning contexts

ABSTRACT

Under the framework of self-determination theory, choice is a supporting factor for autonomy in the classroom. The provision of choice in the classroom is a distinct feature of higher education, through which students experience a shift from mandatory tasks to those are more learner-controlled. This study explores Chinese master’s students’ perspectives on choice and the relationship between choice and motivation, also, compares the choice-making opportunities in different learning contexts (China vs. UK). 60 Chinese master’s students, studying in China and the UK, participated in this study. The findings of this study indicate that most master’s students hold a positive attitude towards classroom choice, considering choice contributes to increased learning motivation in the classroom in most cases. Then, limited choices may not automatically decrease students’ motivation and students studying in China possess fewer opportunities for choice-making than students in the UK, which is influenced by the social and academic culture.