Third and fourth graders' conceptions of repeated trials and best representatives in science experiments

This study involved 24 third- and fourth-grade students in a suburban school in the Chicago area. These children had been learning science through a reform-based, integrated science and mathematics curriculum for about 2 years. In this study I explore how these children made sense of a scientific procedure that had been introduced to them and they had used before in their own experimental inquiries: performing repeated trials and determining the best representative of the measurements of a continuous dependent variable. Specifically, I explore how children made sense of the variability in the results of repeated trials, how their ideas of repeated trials and best representatives are related to their understandings of the sources of the variability, and how they thought about what would be the best representative of their measurements. The data and analysis reveal the complexity of the understandings involved in this apparently simple procedure, as children attempted to appropriate for themselves the procedure that had been introduced to them. The results support the idea that many of the children had not conceptualized the procedure of repeating trials and finding the best representative of the results in the way adult practitioners do. They also point to the value of introducing children to such experimental procedures. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 34: 853–872, 1997.     

The relation between third graders' after-school care and social, academic, and emotional functioning

Outcome differences associated with types of after-school care were explored among 150 white, predominantly middle-class third graders from a suburban school system. Children returned home to their mothers, attended day-care centers, stayed with sitters, or returned home alone or with siblings. No differences were found between latchkey and mother-care children in terms of their classroom sociometric nominations, academic grades, standardized test scores, conduct grades, self-reports of self-competence, or parent and teacher ratings of the children. Significant differences were found for children who attended day-care centers after school. These children received more negative peer nominations, made lower academic grades, and had lower standardized test scores than either mother-care or latchkey children. The children who stayed with sitters after school received more negative peer nominations than the latchkey and mother-care children but, in other areas, resembled these groups. These outcome differences were apparent in both divorced and intact families. Factors contributing to these differences are examined.     

Legitimizing Black academic failure: deconstructing staff discourses on academic success,appearance and behaviour

The continued lower academic attainment of Black (especially Black Caribbean) pupils is now well established. Yet, to date there has been no single coherent national Government strategy that has successfully closed the gap in educational attainment between either Black and White pupils or between Black pupils and the national average. Academic and policy debates centring on the causes and potential ways of addressing this gap remain marred by controversy and disagreement. This paper is based on qualitative research, which explores how staff and pupils at an inner city secondary school in the south of England construct academic success. Focusing on one aspect of the findings, it reveals that staff subscribe to two forms of success: an inclusive, low D to G grade success and an exclusive, high A? to C grade success, each of which are seen as attainable only by certain types of pupils. The appearance and behaviour of Black pupils, particularly those engaged in what is termed ‘Black street culture’, are seen as directly at odds with the aims of the school and therefore minimize their likelihood of attaining success in exclusive terms.     

Children with language disorders: natural history and academic success.

Children with developmental language disorders pose specific and unique problems for educators. This article addresses the continuing academic vulnerability of these children during the school years. We advance the position that their academic vulnerability results from the lifelong need to acquire language, to learn with language, and to apply language knowledge for academic learning and social development. Issues are addressed that relate to persistence of language deficits and learning in school.     

Promoting academic satisfaction and performance: Building academic resilience through coping strategies

The aim of this article is twofold: (a) to validate the psychometric properties of the Academic Resilience Scale (AR‐S) in a Spanish university context; and (b) to test a model where different coping strategies are antecedents of AR, and where academic satisfaction and performance are its consequences. The studies were conducted with 185 (study 1) and 780 (study 2) students. In study 1, the construct validity, reliability, and convergent and divergent validity of the AR‐S were analyzed. The hypothesized model (study 2) was tested using structural equation modeling. The results confirmed the good psychometric properties of the AR‐S in the Spanish context, providing evidence of its validity. Furthermore, the distinctive role of different coping strategies in resilience was confirmed, as well as the relationship between resilience and academic satisfaction. No direct relationship between resilience and performance was found, highlighting the full mediation of satisfaction.     

School emphasis on academic success: exploring changes in science performance in Norway between 2007 and 2011 employing two-level SEM

We study whether changes in school emphasis on academic success (SEAS) and safe schools (SAFE) may explain the increased science performance in Norway between TIMSS 2007 and 2011. Two-level structural equation modelling (SEM) of merged TIMSS data was used to investigate whether changes in levels of SEAS and SAFE mediate the changes in science performance. Two mediation models were fitted, one using subdomain scores of science as manifest dependent variables and one in which these scores are indicators of a latent science performance variable. The change in the latent science variable was fully mediated by SEAS, but this model did not explain changes in earth science performance, which increased more than the other subdomains. In the model with subdomain scores as manifest dependent variables, SEAS mediated the increased performance of all 4 subdomains of science. SAFE did not explain increased science performance but did have a positive impact on SEAS.     

Factors influencing academic success and retention following a 1st-year post-secondary success course

Research has found that grades are the most valid instruments for predicting educational success. Why grades have better predictive validity than, for example, standardized tests is not yet fully understood. One possible explanation is that grades reflect not only subject-specific knowledge and skills but also individual differences in other aspects. The purpose was to investigate the relative importance of knowledge and skills and other aspects encapsulated in grades for the predictive validity of compulsory school grades for educational success in upper secondary school. Structural equation modelling was used. Participants were 9th-grade students from 3 birth cohorts, each comprising full populations of approximately 100,000 students. The results showed that the subject-specific factors and an additional common grade factor contributed to the predictive validity. Effects of gender and parents' education were found in the common grade factor, with girls and students with a lower educational background being advantaged.     

Non-traditional students: perceptions of problems which influence academic success

A research project which attempts to ascertain student perceptions of the problems they perceive as influences on their chances of academic success at a South African University is described. A questionnaire was used to measure the nature, strength, generality and persistence of perceived problems, as well as to illuminate the qualitative dimension of student perceptions of reasons for their experiencing such problems. The sample of students came from a group of non-traditional (black African, English second-language speakers) students at a University which has traditionally catered for a largely middle-class, white and English home-language speaking student intake. The results of the research project are described within the broader South African context and within the context of an Academic Support Programme which has been designed to assist non-traditional students in a particular University context. The results of the research project are also compared with the results of a similar study which was conducted at the University of Zambia in 1984.     

Fetal malnutrition and academic success: Evidence from Muslim immigrants in Denmark

This paper examines the impact of potential fetal malnutrition on the academic test scores of Muslim students in Denmark. We account for the endogeneity of fetal malnutrition by using exposure to the month of Ramadan as a natural experiment under the assumption that mothers of some of the Muslim students might have fasted during Ramadan when they were pregnant. We also complement our Muslim sample with a control group comprised of immigrant children from predominantly non-Muslim countries in a difference-in-differences framework. Our outcome measures are the standardized test scores from the national exams on the subjects of Danish, English, Mathematics, and Science administered by the Danish Ministry of Education. Our results indicate that fetal exposure to Ramadan is likely to have a negative impact on the achievement scores of Muslim students, especially among females. Our analysis further reveals that the estimated relationship is stronger among children with a relatively low socio-economic background. Our findings lend support for the importance of interventions designed to assist economically disadvantaged women during pregnancy.     

In practice: Coaching students to academic success and engagement on campus

The University of South Carolina improves struggling students' academic success and engagement on campus using a coaching framework of self‐assessment, reflection, and goal setting.     

English proficiency and academic success in international postgraduate education

In the Netherlands internationalization of higher education may lead to an increasing use of a foreign language-for example English-as the medium of instruction. This may raise the issue whether learning in a foreign language affects academic performance, given the language problems international students are faced with when studying abroad. The present article reviews research in this field and presents a study into the academic achievement of 90 Indonesian engineers. These subjects took a one-year English-medium postgraduate course at the International Institute for Hydraulics and Environmental Engineering in Delft. Language proficiency was measured by TOEFL and academic success was defined as the average score on seven written examinations. A most remarkable finding is the observation of a cut-off point in the relationship between English proficiency and academic success. This has led to the hypothesis that there is a range of TOEFL scores within which a better command of English increases the chance of being academically successful. The lower and upper limits of this range may vary according to academic discipline or may even be institution-specific. Additional findings are presented as well as implications and directions for further research.     

The influence of academic self-efficacy on academic performance: A systematic review

This review integrates 12 years of research on the relationship between academic self-efficacy and university student's academic performance, and known cognitive and motivational variables that explain this relationship. Previous reviews report moderate correlations between these variables, but few discuss mediating and moderating factors that impact this relationship. Systematic searches were conducted in April 2015 of psychological, educational, and relevant online databases for studies investigating academic self-efficacy and performance in university populations published between September 2003 and April 2015. Fifty-nine papers were eligible. Academic self-efficacy moderately correlated with academic performance. Several mediating and moderating factors were identified, including effort regulation, deep processing strategies and goal orientations. Given the paucity of longitudinal studies identified in this review, further research into how these variables relate over time is necessary in order to establish causality and uncover the complex interaction between academic self-efficacy, performance, and motivational and cognitive variables that impact it.     

百年清华 继往开来——清华大学学术研究回顾与展望

清华大学的百年发展史,是一部为祖国兴旺的百年学术奋斗史。本文将清华大学的百年历程分为七个发展时期,梳理每一时期的学术研究发展情况,呈现清华学术研究的整体发展脉络。继而历数了不同时期、各科类的学术精英,展现清华百年人才辈出之画卷。最后指出,清华要着眼于未来新的百年,人文日新,科教兴国,为了人类的光明未来创新不止,奋斗不息。     

Intellectual competence and academic performance: A Spanish study

This study assessed the explanatory power of the intellectual competence (IC) model for understanding the relationship among the main ability and non-ability determinants of academic performance (AP) in a sample of Spanish undergraduates. Thus it attempted to replicate the preliminary evidence for this model provided in a recent UK study and expand on it by including more comprehensive measures of intelligence and AP. Results showed mixed support for individual paths, but good support for the overall model. The expanded IC model showed that some individual difference factors explain AP variance that is common to high school, university entry, and university exam grades, whereas other individual differences explained AP variance specific to university. Inconsistencies, limitations, and implications are discussed.     

Social and emotional learning in the classroom: promoting mental health and academic success

Numerous studies conducted in different countries have focused on empirical research and literature reviews on prevalence, consequences, and strategies relative to cyberbullying; however, there is a lack of research regarding cyberbullying from a cross-cultural perspective. This article reviews recent research on cyberbullying and presents information on prevention and intervention from an international perspective.     

Affective profiles and academic success in a college science course

The current study identified affective profiles and examined their relations to behavioral engagement and disengagement as well as achievement among undergraduate students enrolled in a college anatomy course (N = 278). Cluster analysis was used to identify four affective profiles: Positive, Deactivated, Negative, and Moderate-Low. Students in the Positive and Deactivated profiles were more engaged, less disengaged, and earned higher grades on subsequent exams than those in Moderate-Low and Negative profiles, which did not differ from one another. Subsequent analyses indicated that the relation of affective profiles to achievement was mediated through engagement. Results provide support for the importance of examining students’ mixed affective experiences in terms of both valence and activation dimensions, adding important contributions to largely variable-oriented literature on academic affect and its relation to engagement and achievement.     

Mastery Learning: A model for academic success in urban junior colleges

The Mastery Learning Program was initiated in the City Colleges of Chicago to improve student achievement levels and reduce course attrition rates. During the first year, 37 instructors implemented these new instructional techniques in introductory courses in nine subject areas. Data were gathered from 77 classes involving 2,249 students. Results indicate that in most of the subject areas, students in mastery classes scored higher on final examinations, attained higher course grades, and were less likely to withdraw than students taught by more traditional methods.     

Classroom behaviour and academic achievement: how classroom behaviour categories relate to gender and academic performance

Latent profile analysis was used to identify different categories of students having different ‘profiles’ using self-reported classroom behaviour. Four categories of students with unique classroom behaviour profiles were identified among secondary school students in Oslo, Norway (n = 1570). Analyses examined how classroom behaviour categories are related to gender and school performance and whether a dual understanding of gender in school is helpful when trying to explain achievement differences as supposed to classroom behaviour categories. Analyses showed that gender was a better predictor of school achievement than classroom behaviour categories, even though the behaviour categories did contribute to the explanation of variance in students’ academic marks above and beyond gender.