Integrating self-regulation in whole-class reciprocal teaching: A moderator–mediator analysis of incremental effects on fifth graders’ reading comprehension

In this classroom intervention study, reciprocal teaching (RT) of reading strategies was combined with explicit instruction in self-regulated learning (SRL) to promote the reading comprehension of fifth-grade students (N = 306). Twelve intact classes were randomly assigned either to an RT + SRL condition or to an RT condition without explicit instruction in self-regulation. Three additional classes served as a no-treatment comparison group. Strategies instruction was delivered by trained assistants in conventional German language lessons. Students practiced the application of these strategies in small groups. Both at posttest and at maintenance (8 weeks after the intervention), students in the two intervention conditions (RT and RT + SRL) outperformed comparison students in measures of reading comprehension, strategy-related task performance, and self-efficacy for reading. Relative to RT students, students in the RT + SRL condition were better able to maintain training-induced performance gains over the follow-up interval. A moderated mediation analysis revealed that this difference in the sustainability of the two treatments was (a) mediated by the successful mastery of the learned strategies and (b) most evident among students with poor reading fluency skills.     

Improving quick writing performance of middle-school struggling learners

Writing performanceperformance of 279 seventh- and eighth-grade students in four urban charter schools was evaluated in comparison group pretest/posttest quasi-experimental study. Thirty-three students, identified by cut scores on a standardized fluency measure, received supplemental one-to-one Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD) instruction for persuasive quick writing. Fifty-one students with scores below the cut participated as an eligible non-treatment comparison; 195 students with scores above the cut participated as a non-eligible comparison group. All students’ written responses were evaluated before and after the intervention. Results of repeated measures analysis indicated that students in treatment (additional instruction time + SRSD + planned practice-testing) significantly improved quick writing performance after instruction when compared to pretest performance, and when compared to eligible comparison, with large effect sizes for number of persuasive elements and organizational quality and medium effects for persuasive quality. When compared to non-eligible comparison, students in treatment had significantly higher scores for organizational quality (large effects) and persuasive quality (small effects).     

Teaching critical questions about argumentation through the revising process: effects of strategy instruction on college students’ argumentative essays

The effects of self-regulated strategy development revising instruction for college students that targeted the use of argumentation schemes and critical questions were assessed in three conditions. In the first condition, students were taught to revise their essays by asking and answering critical questions about the argument from consequences and argument from example schemes while writing about controversial topics. In the second condition, students were taught to revise their essays by using argumentation schemes to justify their standpoint, but did not learn the critical questions. In the third condition, students received no instruction about either the argumentation schemes or the critical questions. Compared to students in the contrasting conditions, those who were taught to ask and answer critical questions wrote essays that were of higher quality, and included more counterarguments, alternative standpoints, and rebuttals. These findings indicate that strategy instruction that includes critical standards for argumentation increases college students’ sensitivity to alternative perspectives.     

Examining perceived control level and instability as predictors of first-year college students’ academic achievement

The aim of the present study was to examine the intraindividual level and instability of perceived academic control (PC) among first-year college students, and their predictive effects on academic achievement. Two studies were conducted measuring situational (state) PC on different schedules: Study 1 (N = 242) five times over a 6-month period and Study 2 (N = 80) daily over a 2-week period. Consistent across both studies were confirmatory factor analyses and structural equation models demonstrating significant PC instability, as well as negative correlations between intraindividual PC levels (average across measurements) and instability (standard deviation across measurements). Also, in both studies PC level positively predicted subsequent academic achievement, although no significant PC instability first-order effects were found. Both studies revealed a PC level by instability interaction, as students with high-unstable PC typically received poorer grades than high-stable PC students. Study findings highlight the importance of considering both PC level and instability, and identify a previously unknown group of first-year college students at-risk of under-achieving academically – students with high-unstable perceived control.     

Enhancement of thinking skills: Effects of two intervention methods

Three studies were carried out with Compulsory Secondary Education students to verify the effectiveness of two intervention methods—the infusion method (IM) and the instrumental enrichment program (IEP)—to enhance thinking skills, creativity, behavioral self-regulation, and academic achievement. Study 1 (N = 118) was conducted in order to create the IM, an instruction method designed to teach these skills along with the syllabus content, and to compare its effects with the conventional method (CM). In Study 2 (N = 176), the effects of the IM, the IEP, and the CM were compared in the same variables. In Study 3 (N = 168, using the same subjects as in Study 2), the effects of the IM and the IEP were analyzed to determine whether they were maintained or they increased with time. The results showed that greater changes were obtained with the IM than with the IEP in all the criterial variables and that the effects attained in Study 2, in addition to being significant, persisted at least 1 year after completing the intervention. Relevant scientific and educational implications are drawn from the studies.     

Self-regulated strategy development instruction for writing an opinion essay: Effects for six students with emotional/behavior disorders

A multiple-probe across-subjects design was used to examine persuasive writing performance of six 2^nd- through 5th- grade students with emotional/behavior disorders (EBD). Students’ writing was evaluated before and after self-regulated strategy development (SRSD) instruction for the POW (Pick my idea, Organize my notes, Write and say more) + TREE (Topic sentence, Reasons – three or more, Ending, Examine) strategy. Students’ essays written during and immediately after instruction indicated that the students had learned to write independently a persuasive essay with five parts. Generalization and maintenance performance, however, varied across students and appeared to be associated with behavior as opposed to the inability to transfer or remember the strategy.     

Justice judgments concerning grading in school

This article investigates justice judgments concerning grading. In two studies with secondary students (N₁ = 350 academic-track students; N₂ = 225 intermediate [n = 81] and academic-track students [n = 144]) attending the 7th to the 12th grade level, participants were presented with vignettes describing three different grading systems: criterion-referenced grading, norm-referenced grading, and individual-referenced grading. The subjects graded and other situational characteristics were varied. In both studies, factor analyses consistently revealed that students’ justice judgments were contingent on the comparison standard applied, but independent of other situational characteristics. Criterion-referenced grading was rated as the most just practice, individual-referenced grading as almost just, and norm-referenced grading as almost unjust. The better the grades received the more the students evaluated criterion-referenced grading to be just. Students attending intermediate-track schools did not object to norm-referenced grading as strongly as their peers at academic-track schools did. Consequences for teachers’ grading practices are discussed.     

The relative benefits of learning by teaching and teaching expectancy

The purpose of this study was to explore the hypothesis that learning is enhanced through the act of teaching others. Specifically, two experiments aimed to disentangle the relative effects of teaching expectancy (i.e., preparing to teach) and actually teaching (i.e., explaining to others for instructional purposes) on learning. Some participants studied a lesson on the Doppler Effect without the expectation of later teaching the material and then took a comprehension test on the material (control group). Other students studied the same lesson with instructions that they would later teach the material; of those expecting to teach, some participants actually taught the material by presenting a brief video-recorded lecture before being tested (teaching group), whereas others only prepared to teach before being tested (preparation group). Results of Experiment 1 indicated that both the preparation group and teaching group significantly outperformed the control group on an immediate comprehension test (Teaching vs. Control: d = 0.82; Preparation vs. Control: d = 0.59). However, when the same test was given following a one-week delay (Experiment 2), only the teaching group significantly outperformed the control group (Teaching vs. Control: d = 0.79; Preparation vs. Control: d = 0.24). Overall, these findings suggest that when students actually teach the content of a lesson, they develop a deeper and more persistent understanding of the material than from solely preparing to teach.     

Drawing pictures during learning from scientific text: testing the generative drawing effect and the prognostic drawing effect

Does using a learner-generated drawing strategy (i.e., drawing pictures during reading) foster students' engagement in generative learning during reading? In two experiments, 8th-grade students (Exp. 1: N = 48; Exp. 2: N = 164) read a scientific text explaining the biological process of influenza and then took two learning outcome tests. In Experiment 1, students who were asked to draw pictures during reading (learner-generated drawing group), scored higher than students who only read (control group) on a multiple-choice comprehension test (d = 0.85) and on a drawing test (d = 1.15). In Experiment 2, students in the learner-generated drawing group scored significantly higher than the control group on both a multiple-choice comprehension test (d = 0.52) and on a drawing test (d = 1.89), but students who received author-generated pictures in addition to drawing or author-generated pictures only did not. Additionally, the drawing-accuracy scores during reading correlated with comprehension test scores (r = .623, r = .470) and drawing scores (r = .620, r = .615) in each experiment, respectively. These results provide further evidence for the generative drawing effect and the prognostic drawing effect, thereby confirming the benefits of the learner-generated drawing strategy.     

Feedback providing improvement strategies and reflection on feedback use: Effects on students’ writing motivation, process, and performance

This study investigated the effects of feedback providing improvement strategies and a reflection assignment on students’ writing motivation, process, and performance. Students in the experimental feedback condition (n = 41) received feedback including improvement strategies, whereas students in the control feedback condition (n = 41) received feedback without improvement strategies. Within each feedback condition, half of the students received a reflection assignment on feedback use and the revision (experimental reflection condition), while the other half received a reflection assignment on feedback perception (control reflection condition). Results indicated that in the experimental feedback condition writing performance gained from the control reflection assignment, while in the control feedback condition it gained from the experimental reflection assignment. Improvement strategies negatively predicted self-efficacy beliefs, especially when initial self-efficacy beliefs were low, and positively predicted planning/revising. Reflections on feedback use and the revision positively predicted mastery goal when mastery goal initially was low or moderate.     

Can learning of basketball be enhanced through a web-based multimedia course? An experimental study

This study’s aim is the creation of a web-based multimedia course for Physical Education (PE) students’ familiarization with the teaching of basketball, and the evaluation of its use as a complementary tool to conventional instruction, in terms of learning effectiveness and student acceptance. The course includes multimedia learning material as well as interactive learning activities and quizzes on the cognitive components of basic basketball skills and on other basketball-related topics (history of the sport, referee’s signals, training aids, basketball court). The study involved 88 undergraduate students during one semester. They were randomly assigned to two groups: a group that used the web-based multimedia course and also attended a conventional face-to-face course on the teaching of basketball (N?=?45), and another group that only attended the conventional face-to-face course (N?=?43). A pretest/posttest research design was followed. For both groups basketball knowledge was measured at the beginning and at the end of the semester through written questionnaires. The responses of the students of the first group towards the web-based course were also assessed, at the end of the semester, through a written feedback questionnaire. Within both groups, significant increases in students’ basketball knowledge were found. However, the web-based multimedia course in combination with conventional face-to-face instruction was significantly more effective than conventional face-to-face instruction alone in increasing students’ cognitive learning regarding the sport of basketball, at the same time being well-accepted by the students. These findings support the effectiveness of blended learning for PE at higher education level as well as the acceptance of this mode of learning by PE students.     

Confused,now what? A Cognitive-Emotional Strategy Training (CEST) intervention for elementary students during mathematics problem solving

We developed a cognitive-emotional strategy training (CEST) intervention to teach fifth-grade students (N = 57) self-regulated learning strategies that can be used when confusion is experienced during mathematics problem solving in addition to strategies they can implement during learning to help solve them. Fifth-grade students were randomly assigned to the intervention condition or the control condition. A think-emote-aloud protocol was administered to capture self-regulatory processes and emotions as students solved a complex mathematics problem. Using an explanatory mixed methods design, results revealed that, compared to students in the control condition, students who received the intervention scored significantly higher on the mathematics problem, implemented more cognitive and metacognitive learning strategies across the four phases of self-regulated learning, expressed more positive emotions and fewer negative emotions, and were better able to regulate and resolve their confusion when it occurred. These results extend previous findings from the strategy instruction literature by incorporating consideration of the role of emotions during learning.     

Anonymity in classroom voting and debating

The advent of networked environments into the classroom is changing classroom debates in many ways. This article addresses one key attribute of these environments, namely anonymity, to explore its consequences for co-present adolescents anonymous, by virtue of the computer system, to peers not to teachers. Three studies with 16-17 year-olds used a vote-debate-vote scenario to explore in Study 1 (N = 59) anonymous, public or private voting with public oral debate; Study 2 (N = 79) anonymous, public or private voting with public written debate; and Study 3 (N = 84) anonymous or public voting and debating. Students were more likely to change their views after debate and show less convergence to group norms if voting anonymously. However, anonymous debate created an increased amount of off-task behaviour, but only at the beginning of the lesson. In general, anonymity was found to bring positive benefits to classroom argumentation.     

Effects of remedial numeracy instruction throughout kindergarten starting at different ages: Evidence from a large-scale longitudinal study

The aims of this study are to investigate the effects of remedial numeracy support throughout kindergarten, and to compare the effects of interventions from different lengths. Support occurred two times per week for either 1.5 (90 sessions: complete condition) or 0.5 school years (28 sessions: short condition). Below-average students were randomly assigned to complete intervention (N = 155), short intervention (N = 105), or control (systematically offered education-as-usual; N = 150). Accounting for achievements at pretest, children who received one of the interventions outperformed the control children in early numeracy at post-test and follow-up, suggesting that children internalized the learned knowledge. Transfer effects on simple arithmetic were only found in the complete support group, whereas both interventions were effective for complex mathematics.     

Learning strategies and learning-related emotions among teacher trainees

Teacher trainees are questioned about their strategic and emotional relationships with a key area of their future activity, learning. Characteristics of German teacher trainees are identified through comparisons with German students on a related course of study (educational science), and through comparisons with Swedish teacher trainees. N = 875 people took part in the study, of whom n = 135 German teacher trainees participated again after two years.There are national differences both in the numbers of students allocated to the identified learning strategy clusters, and in the balance of learning-related emotions. In both areas, the Swedish students show more favourable configurations.     

Clickers in college classrooms: Fostering learning with questioning methods in large lecture classes

What can be done to promote student–instructor interaction in a large lecture class? One approach is to use a personal response system (or “clickers”) in which students press a button on a hand-held remote control device corresponding to their answer to a multiple choice question projected on a screen, then see the class distribution of answers on a screen, and discuss the thinking that leads to the correct answer. Students scored significantly higher on the course exams in a college-level educational psychology class when they used clickers to answer 2 to 4 questions per lecture (clicker group), as compared to an identical class with in-class questions presented without clickers (no-clicker group, d = 0.38) or with no in-class questions (control group, d = 0.40). The clicker treatment produced a gain of approximately 1/3 of a grade point over the no-clicker and control groups, which did not differ significantly from each other. Results are consistent with the generative theory of learning, which predicts students in the clicker group are more cognitively engaged during learning.     

Writing Assignments with a Metacognitive Component Enhance Learning in a Large Introductory Biology Course

Writing assignments, including note taking and written recall, should enhance retention of knowledge, whereas analytical writing tasks with metacognitive aspects should enhance higher-order thinking. In this study, we assessed how certain writing-intensive “interventions,” such as written exam corrections and peer-reviewed writing assignments using Calibrated Peer Review and including a metacognitive component, improve student learning. We designed and tested the possible benefits of these approaches using control and experimental variables across and between our three-section introductory biology course. Based on assessment, students who corrected exam questions showed significant improvement on postexam assessment compared with their nonparticipating peers. Differences were also observed between students participating in written and discussion-based exercises. Students with low ACT scores benefited equally from written and discussion-based exam corrections, whereas students with midrange to high ACT scores benefited more from written than discussion-based exam corrections. Students scored higher on topics learned via peer-reviewed writing assignments relative to learning in an active classroom discussion or traditional lecture. However, students with low ACT scores (17–23) did not show the same benefit from peer-reviewed written essays as the other students. These changes offer significant student learning benefits with minimal additional effort by the instructors.     

A quasi-experimental study of a peer-assisted strategy-based reading intervention in elementary school

Promising methods of reading instruction for elementary school students incorporate peer-assisted learning routines and reading strategies. In addition, models of reading comprehension point to the importance of various determinants of reading competence such as reading fluency and vocabulary knowledge. Multicomponent reading intervention programs need to be evaluated to determine IF and HOW they unfold their effects on the reading competence of elementary school students on the basis of such theoretical and empirical models. Accordingly, the present study was designed as a quasi-experimental study of a 20-lesson peer-assisted and strategy-based multicomponent intervention for whole-class instruction in elementary school. Linear mixed models and latent growth models were used to analyze the longitudinal data (pre-, post- and follow-up test) on the reading competencies (reading fluency, vocabulary knowledge, reading strategy competence, reading comprehension) and intrinsic reading motivation of students in the intervention (N = 187) and control group (N = 177). The results showed an interaction between the groups and the change in reading comprehension, indicating a significantly increased score in the intervention group at the posttest (d = 0.15) but not at the follow-up test (d = 0.12). The results of the latent growth model point to the importance of designing interventions that explicitly integrate reading strategies, reading fluency and vocabulary knowledge and also foster intrinsic reading motivation. In addition, reading fluency was revealed to be the strongest predictor of reading comprehension and the change in fluency over time was closely linked to reading comprehension development.     

Learning grammar through singing? An intervention with EFL primary school learners

Singing has been advocated as an efficient supplementary strategy in language teaching, but little is known about its effect on grammar learning. We conducted an intervention study (five lessons) with primary EFL learners (N = 57, mean age = 8.67, SD = 0.60) who were taught new vocabulary and grammar through either singing or speaking lyrics. The control group had new vocabulary introduced during regular lessons. Language gains were assessed through pre-, post-, and follow-up tests; affect was measured after each lesson. Students in the singing group showed similar vocabulary gains to students in the control group and larger gains than students in the speaking group. Importantly, singing students outperformed both groups on spelling and grammar learning. Positive affect was similar across intervention groups, but only the singing group showed significantly enhanced positive affect compared to the control group. Overall, results indicate a potential benefit of singing for grammar learning.     

Effects of Cooperative Learning on Students’ Understanding of Metallic Bonding

The present study focused on investigating the effectiveness of instruction via newly developed teaching materials based on cooperative learning when compared to a traditional approach, on ninth grade students’ understanding of metallic bonding. Fifty-seven ninth grade science students from two science classes in the same high school participated in this study. The same teacher taught metallic bonding with cooperative learning to an experimental group (N = 28) and with a traditional teacher centred approach to a control group (N = 29). Students’ conceptual understanding of metallic bonding was measured using the Metallic Bonding Concept Test. The results from the Student’s t test indicated that the mean score of the students in the experimental group was significantly higher in the experimental group (78.60, SD = 8.62), than in the control group (54.33, SD = 9.11) after treatment. In the light of the results from the concept test and individual interviews, the misconceptions related to metallic bonding were found less in the experimental group than traditional. Five of these misconceptions were firstly identified in this study. The individual interviews which were done with students from experimental group immediately after the instruction showed that students had positive perceptions about their cooperative work experiences.