How need for cognition affects the processing of achievement-related information

The present article analyzed, how need for cognition (NFC) influences the formation of performance expectancies. When processing information, individuals with lower NFC often rely on salient information and shortcuts compared to individuals higher in NFC. We assume that these preferences of processing will also make individuals low in NFC more responsive to salient achievement-related cues because the processing of salient cues is cognitively less demanding than the processing of non-salient cues. Therefore, individuals lower in NFC should tend to draw wider ranging inferences from salient achievement-related information. In a sample of N = 197 secondary school students, achievement-related feedback (grade on an English examination) affected changes in expectancies in non-corresponding academic subjects (e.g., expectation of final grade in mathematics or history) when NFC was lower, whereas for students with higher NFC, changes in expectancies in non-corresponding academic subjects were not affected.     

Pursuing their own learning agenda: How mastery-oriented students jeopardize their class performance

This study explored why mastery-based achievement goals often are unrelated to class grades despite promoting deep learning strategies and high course interest. We hypothesized that mastery-oriented students jeopardize their exam performance by allowing their individual interests to dictate their study efforts such that they neglect boring topics in favor of preferred ones. General Psychology students (N = 260) reported their achievement goals, interest in the course material, and usage of various study strategies. Supporting the hypothesis, path analysis showed that mastery-oriented students allocated their study efforts disproportionately to the personally interesting material, and this in turn predicted low grades in the class. Performance-oriented students did not show this pattern. Theoretical implications and new research directions are discussed.     

高职院校如何构建学生素质教育的平台

高职院校要坚持对学生进行综合素质教育,全面提高学生综合素质水平,为社会培养有用人才,这是高职教育的根本任务。本文从六个方面探讨了高职院校如何构建学生素质教育的平台,对学生进行全方位的综合素质教育,从而提高学生的综合素质水平。     

Stereotype threat among students with disabilities: the importance of the evaluative context on their cognitive performance

European Journal of Psychology of Education - This study investigated the hypothesis that cognitive performance of students with physical disabilities may be influenced by the evaluators’...     

小学数学课堂教学中如何培养学生的创新实践能力

创新是人类社会发展与进步的永恒的主题 ,开展创新教育培养学生的创新意识、创新思维、创新实践能力是我国基础教育的神圣使命 ,也是素质教育和新课程标准提出的具体要求。小学数学教学的过程 ,既是学生在教师的指导下对数、形及其它空间结构的认知过程、智力发展的过程、知识再创造的过程 ,同时又是让学生主动学习与创新精神、实践能力得以培养和提高的过程。那么在小学数学课堂教学中应如何培养学生的创新实践能力呢 ?一、营造民主平等和谐的课堂氛围课堂教学中 ,创设一个民主和谐的课堂氛围是培养学生创新实践能力的基础。只有在民主和谐…     

The effect of goal instructions and need for cognition on interactive argumentation

This study examines the effect of goal instructions on students’ reasoning and argumentation in an interactive context (discussing a topic on-line). Goal instructions specify the goal of a discussion. General goals (to persuade or explore) were crossed with specific goals (to generate reasons or counterarguments/rebuttals) in a 3 × 3 randomized design using 224 undergraduates. The design also controlled for need for cognition, which measures dispositions to think. The goal instruction to “generate as many reasons as possible” resulted in deeper, more contingent arguments, closer to Mercer’s (1996) notion of exploratory talk, whereas the persuade goal resulted in arguments that were more adversarial and somewhat better supported. The other goals had less dramatic effects. Need for cognition also predicted total argument claims and depth. These findings have important implications for building richer interactive discussions that promote the integration of ideas.     

How Mexican students perceive their classroom experience from their professors

Tertiary Education and Management - What relationships exist between Mexican students and their professors? This paper compares student expectations with their experiences. This comparison is done...     

Sustained Dialogue: How students are changing their own racial climate

Sustained Dialogue, used in the past to ease international tensions, is finding its way into colleges and universities that wish to change unhealthy race‐based attitudes and behaviors. The campus approach brings small groups of students from widely different backgrounds together for a year of deep conversation.     

From conception to performance: How undergraduate students conceptualise and construct essays

Interviews with forty six undergraduate students enrolled in either first or third year of a Bachelor of Education explored how they conceptualised and undertook an essay writing task. The conceptual structure of their essays was analysed using the SOLO Taxonomy. Comparisons between students who wrote essays of differing levels of complexity revealed that there were major differences between students at every stage of the essay writing process. Compared to students writing essays with simple conceptual structures, students writing more complex essays engaged in processes of reconstruction rather than knowledge telling, put more effort into finding references, used organisational systems for integrating their notes according to topics or themes, built arguments rather than presented information when structuring and drafting their essays, were concerned with improving ideas and arguments as well as mechanics when revising their essays, had a more sophisticated understanding of the concepts underlying the assessment criteria, and expected and received higher grades. The results suggest a developmental process in underlying conceptualisations of both the body of knowledge forming the content of the essay, and the essay writing processes themselves. As such, attempts to improve students' essay writing skills need to shift from a focus on discrete skills to an emphasis on the relationship between students' understanding of the content and their ability to write about it. As part of the writing process, students need help building understandings representing the body of knowledge they are writing about, and this help needs to be geared to their current level of operation.     

开设文科类物理课程的必要性和重要性

培养文理兼通的人才是当今高教改革的发展趋势,在高校开设文科类物理课程是深化教育改革的必要举措之一,该文主要阐述了开设文科类物理的必要性和重要性,以及目前文科类物理课程教学存在的问题和相关建议。     

How consistently do students use their alternative conceptions?

Existing research indicates that many students hold an alternative conception that “an object in motion must have a force pushing it along”, but they do not apply this conception consistently to problems involving different types of motion. This project was designed to investigate the degree of consistency of student responses to questions concerned with linear motion. The results indicated that most students were unable to consistently apply either the alternative conception or the correct scientific response. The students appeared to have a general problem in recognising similarities between contexts, even when the contexts were closely related. The results also suggested that the responses of some students were influenced by contextual factors such as the nature of the moving body, the direction of the motion and the speed of the motion. Specialization: science education.     

Academic goals,goal process cognition,and exam performance among college students

We investigated the nature of and linkages between student-generated academic goals, individual differences in self-regulatory thinking (goal process cognition), and exam performance among college students. In Study 1 (N = 365) and in Study 2 (N = 325), we elicited students' self-ascribed most important academic goals for introductory psychology and their goal process cognition toward their most important goal. In addition, in Study 2, we collected data on students' exam scores in introductory psychology and their most important academic goal and goal process cognition for another course. Three types of academic goals were identified: performance (39–55%), mastery (22–39%), and study strategies (20–23%). Students with mastery academic goals had the highest positive arousal whereas students with performance academic goals had the highest negative arousal. Compared to students with performance academic goals, students with mastery academic goals had lower exam scores in introductory psychology and this difference was mediated, in part, by goal process cognition.     

How high school students envision their STEM career pathways

Given that many urban students exclude Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics careers from their career choices, the present study focuses on urban high school students and adopts the social-cultural approach to understand the following questions: how do students envision their careers? What are the experiences that shape students’ self-reflections? And how do students’ self-reflections influence the way they envision their future careers? Five students were interviewed and data were coded in two ways: by topic domains and confidence levels. The research findings indicate that: first, a lack of information about future careers limits students from developing effective strategic plans; second, students’ perceived ability to handle situations of potential barriers and communications with their parents might contribute to their certainty about and confidence in future careers.     

汉语对国外学生语言教学的重要性分析

目前汉语对国外语言教学研究仅仅局限于最初的阶段,与之相关的著作及教材非常少。面对国外学生汉语教学的重要性不能忽视,学生自身的文化语言背景直接对学习新的一门语言有一定的影响,我们要对不同国家学生所处文化环境进行差异分析,进行有针对性的教学辅导。本人通过对学生的问卷调查及个别采访,对欧美和日韩学生之间的语言差异进行重点分析,从这些差异对国外学生的语言教学的重要性进行思考与分析。     

The role of need for cognition and reader beliefs in text comprehension and interest development

This study was an attempt to integrate motivation into reading comprehension, with active knowledge construction as a linkage. The study examined two motivational constructs, need for cognition and reader’s beliefs, in terms of their role in text comprehension and interest development. The results of the study provided empirical evidence for the independent contributions of the two variables to reading comprehension. Furthermore, the results suggested that effects of these variables on comprehension cut across expository and narrative genres. The study further explored direct and mediated effects of need for cognition and transaction belief on topic interest and the possible mediational role of comprehension. Strong effect sizes of relations found between these variables support the notion of motivational processes as an integral part of effective text comprehension, and suggest the dynamic interplay of reader characteristics, comprehension activity, and interest development.     

How do tutors use data to support their students?

ABSTRACT

Despite widespread enthusiasm, evidence of the effectiveness of learning analytics remains mixed. One possible explanation for this is that insufficient attention has been paid to the contexts in which it is introduced. We report here on a small-scale study into the prior use of data and communications technologies by tutors, who comprise a key user group in The Open University’s tuition model. Tutors interviewed reported using a complex set of data sources and information tools, and creating local/personal tools and methods for keeping track of students and their interactions with them.     

Work commitment and job satisfaction for program staff: How to build it

Children develop appropriately in social, cognitive, physical, and emotional ways in a stable environment. Early childhood administrators can help create this stable environment by minimizing staff turnover. Staff turnover can be kept at a reasonable rate through the development of administrative skills which will enhance staff self-esteem and job satisfaction.Nora Palmer Gould is an Early Childhood Administrator who is currently working as a consultant to Early Childhood Programs.