Achievement goal orientation and the critical thinking disposition of college students across academic programmes

This study links achievement goal theory and models of critical thinking by investigating the relationship between motivational goals and the thinking dispositions of college students enrolled in five different academic programmes in Thailand (N = 1336, males = 32.9% and females = 67.1%). We found significant differences in goal orientations and thinking dispositions across academic programmes. For example, nursing students were significantly more mastery goal-oriented and had a higher level of ‘analytical’ thinking disposition than students in business, engineering, education and vocational programmes. Multiple regression analysis found a positive influence of mastery goals and a negative influence of performance avoidance goals on the levels of critical thinking dispositions. We found that critical thinking dispositions are related to goal orientation response patterns and vary with the curricular context.     

Reciprocal effects between the academic and social integration of college students

The academic and social integration of college students has been the focus of much recent research. The Tinto model of college student withdrawal focused on the constructs as explanation for commitment to goals and persistence. Research results suggested that perhaps reciprocal relationships existed between academic and social integration. Significant influences from academic integration to social integration and vice-versa indicated differing reciprocal effects for males and females.     

大学生思想政治工作的创新思维

知识经济的兴起对大学生提出了新的要求,大学生思想政治工作必须以培养德才兼备的高素质人才为中心,这就要求思想政治工作者要以新的思维方式,新的工作方法,创造性地做好思想政治工作。     

Relatedness between jobs and academic majors: its relationship to academic involvement of college students

The study considered 10,072 third-year college students in Taiwan who had paid jobs while studying and found that students who worked in jobs related to their academic majors scored significantly higher on the academic involvement scale than students working in unrelated jobs. In addition, the effect of relatedness between jobs and majors did not interact significantly with either the effect of working on/off campus or the effect of working part-time/full-time.     

The effects of using ticks and crosses on academic self-concept

Behaviour, including academic performance, can be influenced by implicit primes; and both objective performance and subjective ratings are susceptible to priming effects. Here, we report a new priming effect on academic self-ratings. Participants twice completed a measure of academic self-concept. In the first session, they all used circles to answer questions regarding their own perceived academic ability. In the second session, half of the participants answered with ticks (often used to indicate a correct answer in academic feedback) and the other half with crosses (often used to indicate an incorrect answer in academic feedback). Participants who used crosses had significantly lower academic self-ratings compared to the first session. No such reduction in academic self-rating was observed in participants who used ticks. Moreover, response mode only affected the academic self-concept, and self-ratings regarding physical self-concept were unaffected by response mode. None of the participants reported awareness of the response mode manipulation.     

师范类女大学生的学业自我设限现状及其影响因素研究

为探讨师范类女大学生学业自我设限的现状及影响因素,使用大学生学业自我设限问卷、自尊量表、成就动机量表、成就目标量表、学业成就归因量表对357名师范类女大学生进行测查,结果显示师范类女大学生存在一定的学业自我设限,更多的采用"推卸责任"和"假意自贬"等学业自我设限策略,自尊、情境归因、运气归因及避免失败的成就动机对学业自我设限具有很强的预测作用。     

高职学生思想现状及教育对策

高等职业教育近几年发展迅速,招生渠道广泛,学生个体存在差异性,在思想、学习、心理和综合能力等方面存在的问题比较突出,应根据高职学生的现状,从成才目标、人生价值观、心理健康等方面采取相应对策,加强思想政治教育。     

Competence and affect dimensions of self-concept among higher education students: a factorial validation study of an academic subject-specific self-concept

A hierarchical and multi-dimensional model of self-concept is well-validated. Despite increasing evidence that self-concept comprises two latent factors related to perceptions of ‘competence’ and ‘affect’, many researchers continue to examine the impact of a unitary self-concept on educational outcomes. This study explores evidence for a 2-factor academic subject-specific self-concept factor structure and examines the association between these factors with self-efficacy in a sample of higher education students. Participants from two studies (N?=?314; N?=?475) were enrolled in introductory psychology courses. Exploratory (EFA) and confirmatory (CFA) factor analysis examined and confirmed the factor structure of two oblique self-concept factors, reflecting affect and competence, in both studies. Temporal invariance of the 2-factor model was supported. Despite a substantial literature that discriminates between self-concept and self-efficacy, self-efficacy appears to be itself a facet of competency self-concept.     

Is differential exposure to college linked to the development of critical thinking?

This study investigated the influence on critical thinking of differential exposure to postsecondary education. The sample was 2,076 first-year students attending 13 four-year and 4 two-year institutions from around the country. First-year students attending college full-time developed a higher level of critical thinking skills than those attending part-time. In the presence of controls for precollege critical thinking and academic motivation, the average critical thinking of first-year students at the institution attended, gender, race, age, and kinds of courses taken, the number of semester hours for which the student was enrolled had modest but significant positive effects on end-of-first-year critical thinking for both the two- and four-year college samples. In the two-year, but not the four-year, sample the relationship between semester hours and critical thinking deviated significantly from linearity. Students attending a two-year college full-time still derived the largest critical thinking benefits. However, the lowest levels of critical thinking accrued to those enrolled between 7 and 20 semester hours. Students enrolled for 6 or less hours actually had somewhat higher end-of-first-year critical thinking.     

Special education, academic self-concept and achievement: profile differences between six groups of students

The aims of the study presented in this paper were twofold:

• to analyse if and how pupils who received some kind of special education differed from students who received no such support with respect to different self-concept and ability factors; and

• to investigate substantive consequences of different theoretical bases for statistical modelling.

     

对当前高校贫困生管理工作的探究与思考

高校贫困生问题日益突出,国家、社会、学校在物质方面给予了贫困生极大的帮助,但是在管理制度、思想、心理教育等方面还存在着盲点。本文从管理学、心理学的角度探讨高校贫困生管理问题,并在制度完善、观念创新、思想教育和心理辅导等方面探讨解决的方法,从而使贫困生在物质、心理上双脱贫,使贫困生的管理真正做到规范化和人性化。     

Self-concept a game changer for academic success for high-achieving Australian Indigenous and non-Indigenous students: Reciprocal effects between self-concept and achievement

Indigenous Australians are highly disadvantaged educationally and on all socioeconomic indicators, but graduating from university largely closes this gap. However, despite clear examples of Indigenous success, little research has focused on the drivers of success of high-achieving Indigenous students to emulate their success. Thus, the explicit purpose of our study is to identify psychological drivers of Indigenous academic success for high-achieving students and compare these to those of high-achieving nonIndigenous students. To accomplish this purpose, we test the reciprocal effects model (REM) of self-concept and achievement for high-achieving Indigenous students (N = 493) and matched nonIndigenous students (N = 586) in primary and secondary schools. Academic achievement and self-concept were reciprocally related over three annual time waves, supporting the REM for high-achieving Indigenous and nonIndigenous students. Furthermore, results were invariant over two within-person facets (time and content-domain—math vs. English) and two between-person facets (Indigenous vs. nonIndigenous, and primary vs. secondary students). The results have important policy/practice implications for the drivers of success for high-achieving Indigenous students, education of high-achieving students more generally, and self-concept theory and research.     

Examining interactive whiteboard-based instruction on the academic self-efficacy,academic press and achievement of college students*

Abstract

The study reported here examined college students’ academic self-efficacy, ‘academic press’ and learning achievement, as well as the association between these three variables within learning contexts using interactive whiteboard-based instruction. A quasi-experimental study was conducted using a sample (n = 103) of first-year college students in China. Participants were taught English by either an interactive whiteboard-based or traditional lecture-based instructional approach for three months. The results showed that the interactive whiteboard-based instructional intervention cultivated higher levels of academic press and academic self-efficacy among students and a significant, positive correlation was identified between these two variables. Students’ learning achievement was not affected by the instructional intervention. These results indicate that interactive whiteboard-based instruction offers some distinct benefits. In future work, additional research is needed to clarify how the instructional model relates to understanding learning achievement.     

在读者服务中引导高职学生追求梦想的思考与实践

针对高职院校学生学习积极性不高、主动性不强、自觉性不足、文化基础薄弱的特点,图书馆应该充分利用自身资源创造条件帮助学生敢于有梦、勇于追梦、善于圆梦。其中,较强的自主学习能力是高职学生敢于有梦的基本条件,创新的读书活动是引导高职学生勇于追梦的重要载体,优质的读者服务是高职学生善于圆梦的有力保障。     

思维定势对大学英语书面表达的影响分析

语言学习是一种思维活动,已有的思维模式会对语言的学习产生定势影响。在外语学习中思维定势的影响主要体现为母语图示的横向迁移和已习得的外语语言结构图示的纵向迁移,对大学生英语书面表达有积极的也有消极的影响。在课堂教学中,教师可以设计有效的活动帮助学生突破消极定势,形成积极定势,最终达到英语语言运用的自动化。     

An update on NCAA college freshman academic requirements: the impact on students with LD

A recent landmark settlement between the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the U.S. Department of Justice addressed many crucial issues relating to the eligibility of high school students with learning disabilities (LD) and their participation in college freshman athletics. Although the changes agreed upon in the consent decree should have wide-ranging ramifications generally in favor of students with LD, the more subjective nature of these changes opens the door for inevitable inconsistencies, biases, and possible abuses. In addition, larger issues remain unresolved, including (a) the NCAA's denial that is covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act, (b) the inconclusive status of whether college athletics is a major life activity, (c) the NCAA acting as a de facto national school board without rigorous research for setting policy on an informed basis, and (d) the lack of serious initiative on the part of the NCAA to take on a more supportive role in educational reform.     

Psychological need satisfaction and academic stress in college students: mediator role of grit and academic self-efficacy

European Journal of Psychology of Education - Students, who are trying to complete academic activities in an educational environment, are objected to academic stress. Research results indicated...