The influence of flow on learning outcomes: An empirical study on the use of clickers

Flow is a state of total absorption and concentration in an activity that is desirable for students, as it enhances the learning experience. Due to the importance of flow for learning, this research investigates the influence of three flow preconditions—namely balance of skill and challenge, feedback and goal clarity—on students' flow, operationalized as heightened concentration, sense of control and autotelic experience, while using clickers—a type of polling device. The study also explores the impact of concentration, sense of control and autotelic experience on students' perceived learning and satisfaction. Based on a survey of 204 undergraduate students who use clickers in the classroom, the findings show that balance of skill and challenge has a positive influence on students' concentration, sense of control and autotelic experience. Both feedback provided by clickers and goal clarity have a positive influence on concentration and sense of control, but do not influence the autotelic experience. Findings also corroborate the positive impact of concentration and sense of control experienced by students on perceived learning. Finally, autotelic experience predicts both perceived learning and satisfaction.     

Perceiving school performance as instrumental to future goal attainment: Effects on graded performance

Three studies examined the perception among college students that school performance is instrumental to future goal attainment. Study 1, an exploratory study involving free report goal assessments, indicated that perceived instrumentality (PI) is a subjectively salient aspect of college students’ achievement motivation. Study 2 provided evidence for the structural distinctiveness of PI from self-efficacy, task value, and the achievement goals, and also demonstrated that PI prospectively predicts unique variance in graded performance beyond that accounted for by these motivational variables. Study 3 demonstrated that PI prospectively predicts unique variance in graded performance independently of future time orientation. We argue that a comprehensive understanding of the purposes underlying classroom achievement behavior requires consideration of how school performance may be perceived as instrumental to the attainment of valued life goals.     

成就动机与大学生考研心理的调查与思考

成就动机是个人追求成就的内在动力。本研究以问卷调查法为主,调查结果表明:文科、理科学生成就动机水平存在差异;不同性别学生成就动机差异不显著;考研学生成就动机高于非考研学生;成就动机与大学生自觉性、坚持性人格品质呈正相关。     

Educational Psychology: Using Insights from Implicit Attitude Measures

Teachers’ and preservice teachers’ attitudes toward students are mental states that may contribute to teachers’ judgments and students’ achievement. However, in the past, educational research has mainly focused on explicit attitudes and has hardly considered the pivotal role of implicit attitudes in predicting behavior. Drawing on the MODE model of how attitudes guide behavior (Fazio 1990; Fazio and Towles-Schwen 1999), this article gives a brief overview of the most common implicit attitude measures. Focusing on two different student groups who experience disadvantages in educational attainment shows that explicit attitudes are mainly positive, while implicit attitudes are negative and more predictive of teacher’ and preservice teachers’ behavior. This article highlights the need for implicit measures in educational research and identifies questions to be addressed by future research.     

Revisiting free school meal eligibility as a proxy for pupil socio‐economic deprivation

Whether someone has ever had free school meal (FSM) eligibility over a six‐year period is the measure of socio‐economic disadvantage currently used in the English school system. It is used to monitor the socio‐economic gap in achievement in the education system, to identify particular children at risk of low achievement and to direct funding to particular children and schools. In this paper we assess how well this measure predicts pupil attainment in secondary school in comparison to other measures of socio‐economic background known to influence pupil attainment, such as parental education or income. We ask whether the FSM measure is an adequate proxy for a pupil's socio‐economic disadvantage in an educational context. To do this we draw on the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England and matched administrative data. We find that the FSM eligibility measure correlates highly with other measures of socio‐economic disadvantage, however it does not identify all children living in what would be deemed deprived households. We then compare the extent to which the FSM eligibility measure predicts educational achievement relative to other measures of deprivation and find that its predictive power is only marginally lower than many richer survey measures. This provides some reassurance on its use in policy.     

Research on perfectionism and achievement motivation: implications for gifted students

Perfectionism has been associated with a rigid adherence to impossibly high standards, an irrational importance on the attainment of these standards, and a tendency to overgeneralize failures. Researchers have primarily focused on how perfectionism predicts psychological adjustment; yet, recent research also indicates that perfectionism impacts students' achievement motivation. In this article, research on the relationship between perfectionism and achievement motivation in non‐gifted students is reviewed. Conclusions about perfectionism and achievement motivation in non‐gifted students will highlight directions for future research and implications for enhancing the achievement motivation of gifted students with perfectionism. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The Achievement Motives Scale (AMS): theoretical basis and results from a first try‐out of a Czech form

The achievement motive concept refers to a relatively stable personality characteristic in terms of a capacity to anticipate affects in achievement situations. The motive to achieve success (M _s ) refers to the individual's capacity to anticipate positive affects, and the motive to avoid failure (M _f ) refers to a capacity to anticipate negative affects in achievement situations. Based, among other things, on the conceptualizations of motives, a measurement was constructed to tap the two aspects (M _s and M _f ) of motivation. Over the years the scale has been translated to several languages and used in a number of studies. The Czech version of the scale is an adapted translation of the English one, and was administered to 179 pupils in the sixth grade in 1989. Further, the subjects were retested after an interval of 12 weeks. The analyses indicate that the psychometric properties of the Czech version of AMS are promising.     

Subjective evaluations of intelligence and academic self-concept predict academic achievement: Evidence from a selective student population

The study examined the relationship between implicit theories, goal orientations, subjective and test estimates of intelligence, academic self-concept, and achievement in a selective student population (N = 300). There was no direct impact of implicit theories of intelligence and goal orientations on achievement. However, subjective evaluations of intelligence and academic self-concept had incremental predictive value over conventional intelligence when predicting achievement accounting for more than 50% of its variance. The obtained pattern of results is presented via structural equation models and interpreted within a dynamic regulative systems framework suggesting the importance of further studying complex sets of achievement predictors that include ability, personality and mediating constructs.     

学生成就动机的形成及其训练

动机是非智力因素的核心成分，而成就动机又是动机的一个重要形式．当今成就动机研究几乎成了动机研究的同义语，关心学生成就动机的教育心理学家占据了动机研究的中心舞台．本文着重分析成就动机的涵义、影响成就动机形成与发展的因素以及培养成就动机的训练方法．     

Wait for it: Delay-discounting and academic performance among an Irish adolescent sample

Beyond cognitive ability and family background, are there other significant determinants of educational attainment? From research in psychology, economics, education and criminology, one powerful influence is the ability to delay gratification, operationalised in this paper as ‘delay-discounting’. It is intuitively plausible that the ability to subordinate short-term appetites in order to obtain long-term goals could have positive consequences for academic achievement. A representative sample of 1131 students preparing for a state examination were offered a series of hypothetical options in which prize winnings, and the interval before the winnings could be collected, were varied. Greater willingness to wait was rewarded with increments in winnings. Participants were also given a short test of cognitive ability, asked about their academic achievement, and family and community status. A multivariate analysis indicated that, while controlling for cognitive ability and economic deprivation, delay-discounting made a significant prediction of attainment. Policy implications for children's learning are discussed.     

Expectancy value interactions and academic achievement: Differential relationships with achievement measures

Motivation predicts academic achievement beyond cognitive ability. Expectancy value theory (Eccles et al., 1983) is a widely accepted and powerful approach explaining academic achievement as well as educational choices and attainment. Recently, attention to the multiplicative term of expectancy and value beliefs has increased. Trautwein et al. (2012) reported a detrimental effect of high task value when expectancy beliefs were low. We aimed to replicate and extend their study by using a large, representative sample of students attending upper secondary school in the German federal state Schleswig-Holstein (N = 3367). Following Trautwein et al. (2012), we applied latent interaction modelling to test whether the predictive value of expectancy value interactions differs for grades, final examinations, and standardized test scores as measures of achievement in two domains. We took the multi-dimensional structure of task value into consideration, analyzing the four components (attainment, intrinsic value, utility and cost) separately. Both a verbal and a non-verbal domain (English as a foreign language and mathematics) were investigated. Overall, the results supported those of Trautwein et al. (2012). However, our findings suggested measure- and domain-specific differences when using expectancy value beliefs and their interactions to predict academic achievement. Interaction terms predicted final examination results in both English and mathematics. Further, interaction effects were significant for grades in English but not mathematics. In general, effect sizes of multiplicative terms were small, especially in contrast to expectancy beliefs. Findings are discussed regarding the practical and conceptual importance of the multiplicative term in expectancy value theory applied in an educational setting.     

Achievement Motive of Four-Year-Olds and Maternal Achievement Expectancies

The relationship between achievement motive, as measured by tendency to resume a challenging task, and maternal expectancies regarding achievement was tested in a sample of 80 four-year-olds. Results indicated that the number, magnitude, and direction of relationship differed according to sex and social class variables. Boys and girls in the lower class tended to exhibit higher achievement motive when the mother indicated moderate, rather than extreme, expectancies. In the upper class, girls had higher achievement motive when mothers believed in early training for achievement and expressed controlling attitudes, while higher achievement motives in boys were associated with late ages for achievement-inducing. Reasons for differential conditioning effect of sex and social class are discussed.     

Becoming a physician: The influence of the undergraduate experience

This study employed a national sample of college students who initially aspired to be, or later became, physicians to determine the influence of precollege characteristics, college origins, and the academic and social experience of college on the likelihood of becoming a physician. Estimates of a 14-variable causal model indicated that the major direct effects on attainment were attributable to college characteristics and the academic experience of college. Net of other causes, the selectivity/prestige of the undergraduate institution attended, collegiate academic achievement, and majoring in the physical or life sciences each had significant direct effects on becoming a physician. The direct positive influence of college quality, however, was partially counterbalanced by its negative indirect effect. Moreover, the greatest advantage in attending an elite institution accrued to those students with relatively high levels of academic performance. As academic performance declined, so did the positive effect of college quality. The effects of precollege characteristics on becoming a physician were largely indirect, mediated by the student's college experience. Net of other factors, women were no less likely than men to become physicians, but being female had a significant negative indirect effect. Conversely, secondary school achievement did not directly influence attainment but did have a large positive indirect influence.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the annual meeting of the Association for the Study of Higher Education, San Diego, February, 1987.     

维吾尔族大学生成就动机的特点及与中国汉语水平考试的关系

目的:探讨维吾尔族大学生成就动机的特点及与中国汉语水平考试的关系。方法:使用成就动机量表(AMS)对244名维吾尔族大学生进行调查。结果:维吾尔族大学生的成就动机水平在年级和城乡维度上存在显著差异,维吾尔族大学生的成就动机与其中国汉语水平考试相关不显著。结论:低年级维吾尔族大学生的成就动机高于高年级维吾尔族大学生的成就动机;来自农村维吾尔族大学生的成就动机高于来自城市的维吾尔族大学生;维吾尔族大学生的成就动机与中国汉语水平考试关系不大。     

Individual differences in an English learning achievement system: gaming flow experience,gender differences and learning motivation

Despite the growing interest in digital game-based learning (DGBL), there has been a lack of attention paid to the effects of individual differences, such as gaming flow experience and gender differences, in a reward-based achievement system. To this end, this study developed an achievement system with a reward mechanism to facilitate English learning. This study investigated how individuals’ gaming flow experience levels affected their levels of learning motivation, and whether any gender differences existed in gaming flow experience and learning motivation while engaging in the achievement system. The results showed that gaming flow experience significantly predicted learning motivation, whereby the students with high gaming flow experience were six times more likely to have high learning motivation than those with low gaming flow experience. Subsequent analysis showed that the female students had significantly higher gaming flow than the male students, but the male and female students showed similar learning motivation. Furthermore, the results indicated that the male students achieved more interactive rewards than the female students, but no significant differences were found in the male and female students’ achievement of other types of rewards. Based on these findings, the authors contribute to the literature by developing a framework which can be applied to support designers to accommodate individual differences in DGBL.     

Individual heterogeneity and reverse causality in the relationship between migraine headache and educational attainment

A recent study by Rees and Sabia (2011) found migraine headache was negatively related to educational attainment even after accounting for the influence of family-level unobservables. The current study explores whether this relationship is attributable to unmeasured individual heterogeneity in the form of personality by using non-migraine headache as a placebo. In addition, it explores the degree to which the negative relationship between migraine headache and educational attainment can be explained by reverse causality using mother's migraine status as an instrument. We conclude that the estimates reported by Rees and Sabia (2011) likely reflect the causal effect of migraine headache on educational attainment.     

高职生成就动机与心理健康的关系研究

采用症状自评量表（SCL-90）和成就动机量表（AMS）对245名高职生进行了问卷调查。首先针对人口学特征在成就动机上的得分进行比较,得出结论为：成就动机的某些维度在年级和是否独生子女上存在差异。然后,对成就动机与心理健康之间进行了相关和回归分析,得出的结论为：成就动机某些维度与心理健康的人际关系、抑郁等因子存在相关。人际关系与敌对因子对高职生成就动机的影响是具有预测性的。     

家庭环境对学业成绩的影响研究

采用自编的家庭环境调查问卷,对安徽省凤阳县1295名初三学生家庭环境状况与中考成绩进行调查,以考察家庭环境因素与学业成绩之间的关系,结果发现:家庭环境因素中家庭教育背景、家庭结构、家庭学习资源对学业成绩显著正相关;家庭教育态度中其父母参与度、支持度、亲子互动对学业成绩显著正相关,监管度对学业成绩显著负相关.家庭经济水平、家庭教育背景、家庭职业背景、家庭结构均可透过家庭学习资源间接影响学业成绩;而家庭经济水平、家庭教育背景、家庭结构又可透过家庭教育态度间接影响学业成绩,家庭学习资源和家庭教育态度是影响学业成绩的重要因素     

女硕士研究生成就动机特点探析

该文采用问卷法,考察了381名女硕士研究生的成就动机状况。研究结果表明：1.女硕士研究生避免失败的动机高于追求成功的动机,成就动机水平较低。2.女硕士研究生的成就动机存在显著的专业差异。在追求成功动机方面,文科女硕士研究生高于理科女硕士研究生。     

Instrumental Music Performance: One Approach toward Evaluation

Abstract

This study sought to determine if an objective measurement of instrumental music achievement could be obtained on sight-reading rhythms and if it could differentiate degrees of attainment. Through the utilization of concepts introduced by Joseph Schillinger, mathematical constructs were used to develop equivalent forms of an individual instrumental music performance test. Complete test protocols for 771 subjects at the 5th grade level or above revealed a high degree of consistency for the two forms of the test. Randomly selected tape recordings of testing sessions reflected a high degree of scorer reliability. Multiple and partial correlations revealed the importance of experience to performance, and t-test results indicated differences between any two levels of experience when experience was defined in years.