Self-Directed Learning in Problem-Based Learning and its Relationships with Self-Regulated Learning

This study investigated the role of self-directed learning (SDL) in problem-based learning (PBL) and examined how SDL relates to self-regulated learning (SRL). First, it is explained how SDL is implemented in PBL environments. Similarities between SDL and SRL are highlighted. However, both concepts differ on important aspects. SDL includes an additional premise of giving students a broader role in the selection and evaluation of learning materials. SDL can encompass SRL, but the opposite does not hold. Further, a review of empirical studies on SDL and SRL in PBL was conducted. Results suggested that SDL and SRL are developmental processes, that the “self” aspect is crucial, and that PBL can foster SDL. It is concluded that conceptual clarity of what SDL entails and guidance for both teachers and students can help PBL to bring forth self-directed learners.     

Sense of Belonging and Self-Regulated Learning: Testing Achievement Goals as Mediators

We examined two aspects of college students' (N = 385) sense of belonging and its relations with three indicators of self-regulated learning. We also tested the mediating role of achievement goals in these relations. One aspect, sense of belonging to school, functioned as a significant predictor of self-reported metacognitive and academic time management strategies. In comparison, a second aspect, sense of belonging to peer groups, was a significant predictor of self-reported peer learning strategies. Findings from the mediation analyses indicated that sense of belonging to school was related with mastery goals, whereas sense of belonging to peer groups was related with performance goals. Further, mastery goals mediated the relations between sense of belonging to school and metacognitive and academic time management strategies.     

Understanding Interference and Inhibition Processes from a Motivational and Self-Regulated Learning Perspective: Comments on Dempster and Corkill

Interference and inhibition processes as discussed by Dempster and Corkill (1999) are useful on two levels: first, metaphorically in terms of general themes for educational psychology, and, second, in terms of psychological mechanisms for understanding learning. At the same time, there are a number of issues that must be addressed in future theory and research before interference and inhibition processes can be accorded a primary explanatory role in models of learning, including the operation and sequencing of interference and inhibition processes in relation to other cognitive, motivational, and self-regulation processes; the definition and construction of the relevant–irrelevant information dimension; the role of interference and inhibition in the active selection of goals, strategies, and behavior; the stability and trait-like nature of interference and inhibition; the range of generality and applicability of interference and inhibition in relation to all other aspects of learning and behavior; and the utility and power of interference and inhibition as explanatory constructs.     

Measuring emotions in students’ learning and performance: The Achievement Emotions Questionnaire (AEQ)

Aside from test anxiety scales, measurement instruments assessing students’ achievement emotions are largely lacking. This article reports on the construction, reliability, internal validity, and external validity of the Achievement Emotions Questionnaire (AEQ) which is designed to assess various achievement emotions experienced by students in academic settings. The instrument contains 24 scales measuring enjoyment, hope, pride, relief, anger, anxiety, shame, hopelessness, and boredom during class, while studying, and when taking tests and exams. Scale construction used a rational-empirical strategy based on Pekrun’s (2006) control-value theory of achievement emotions and prior exploratory research. The instrument was tested in a study using a sample of university students (N = 389). Findings indicate that the scales are reliable, internally valid as demonstrated by confirmatory factor analysis, and externally valid in terms of relationships with students’ control-value appraisals, learning, and academic performance. The results provide further support for the control-value theory and help to elucidate the structure and role of emotions in educational settings. Directions for future research and implications for educational practice are discussed.     

Comment on Perry & Winne’s “Learning from Learning Kits: gStudy Traces of Students’ Self-Regulated Engagements with Computerized Content”

The comment starts with a review of the authors’ four phase model of SRL as metacognitive, motivated, and strategic where it is suggested to complete the model with aspects of motivation, emotion, and attribution. Furthermore, integrating theories about “online motivation” within the model’s internal regulatory part and framing it with elements of interest theory could increase the explanatory power in view of the dynamics in the regulatory component. The authors’ critics of methodological shortcomings and their preference of “in vivo” indicators about learners’ tactics is acknowledged although their meaning of “validity” needs further elaboration, especially with regard to a precise definition of adequate parameters that depict significant characteristics of traces and of time-related changes. With respect to the Learning Kit Project, a parallel on-line measure of concurrent motivational and emotional states is suggested as well as an emphasis on regulatory aspects having their source in dynamic interactions between cognition, motivation, and emotion. Regarding the accompanying software, considering the difference in perspectives, roles, and needs of teachers and researchers and to integrate project and software into a more explicit instructional concept could help to realize its promising and challenging target even more efficiently.     

The effects of achievement goals and self-regulated learning behaviors on reading comprehension in technology-enhanced learning environments

Studies examining students’ achievement goals, cognitive engagement strategies and performance have found that achievement goals tend to predict classes of cognitive strategy use which predict performance on measures of learning. These studies have led to deeper theoretical understanding, but their reliance on self-report data limit the conclusions that can be drawn. We employed a behavioral approach instead and assessed learning processes by logging learners’ behaviors as they used educational technology. We examined the relationship between achievement goals, strategy use, and comprehension scores of 160 undergraduates who studied a hypertext passage in a technology-enhanced learning environment (TELE) equipped with tools that support learning behaviors including highlighting, taking notes, review of annotations, seeking additional information and monitoring understanding. Results of a path analysis indicated that higher mastery goals predicted more information-seeking and note-taking and marginally more monitoring of learning. Performance avoidance goals negatively predicted note-taking and information-seeking. Performance approach goals did not predict the behaviors we traced. Of the behaviors we traced, highlighting and monitoring predicted increases in comprehension scores. A behavioral approach to assessing learning processes confirmed only a subset of paths from achievement goals to learning processes to learning outcomes originally discovered with self-report data.     

Examining the interplay of affect and self regulation in the context of clinical reasoning

There is an active strand of research on how affect and self-regulatory activities influence performance and learning outcomes, but the mechanisms through which they interact during learning remain poorly understood. Additionally, these constructs have been under-researched in medical education. Using multimodal data in the context of a clinical reasoning task for medical students learning case diagnosis, we explored the temporal nature of cognition, affect, motivation, and self-regulation. With a sample of n = 10 medical students, we collected data on self-regulated learning (SRL) processes through think-aloud analyses; emotion data through facial expressions; and achievement goal orientations and habitual emotion regulation strategies through self-report questionnaires. Results from our sequential data mining techniques and quantitative analyses suggested that high-performing medical students (who arrived at an accurate diagnosis) differed from low-performing students (who did not arrive at correct diagnosis): Low performers reported higher performance goal orientation, and expressed more emotions overall, than high performers. High performers exhibited marginally more monitoring SRL behaviours, while low performers tended to orient and reorient throughout the task. High and low performers also differed on the co-occurrences of, and sequential transitions between, emotions and SRL behaviours. The implications of these findings with respect to research and medical education are discussed.     

Connecting with Learning: Motivation, Affect and Cognition in Interest Processes

In this paper we draw on our research on interest to explore the questions posed for this special issue. Interest is conceptualized as an affective state that represents students’ subjective experience of learning; the state that arises from either situational triggers or a well-developed individual interest. Drawing on the broad research literature on interest, and using our own findings in relation to the state of interest, we consider how interest represents an integration of affect, motivation and cognition. In particular, how the state of interest brings together motivation in the form of prior goals and interests and focuses them into on-task behavior. We illustrate ways that our research monitoring on-task sequences of affect and behavior, is confronting some of the methodological concerns posed in relation to measurement of affective states. Finally, we examine some of the paths by which triggered states of interest can contribute to productive student engagement with learning.     

Development and validation of the Self-Regulated Translation Learning Strategy Scale (SRTLSS)

Self-regulated learning (SRL) has been highlighted as a critical aspect of translation learning. However, past work in translation learning has rarely sought to synthesize translation learning strategies under a self-regulated learning paradigm. Further research would be confined by the paucity of a psychometrically sound instrument to measure learners' self-regulated translation learning strategies. This study aimed to develop a reliable and valid self-regulated translation learning strategy scale (SRTLSS). Based on relevant literature, we hypothesized a hierarchical model and generated items for the SRTLSS. Drawing on the response from 873 Chinese English majors, the validated SRTLSS had 25 items addressing five dimensions: self-control, meaning fulfillment, value and interest, text processing, and retrieving strategies. Results demonstrated the SRTLSS has good measurement validity and reliability with strong invariance across undergraduate and graduate students. The SRTLSS can be used as a complementary tool to diagnose learners' weaknesses and strengths in translation teaching and learning.     

成就目标、自我效能、学习策略和学业成就的关系研究

对545名中学生进行测量，以探讨成就目标、自我效能、学习策略与学业成绩的关系。结果表明：掌握目标、成绩目标与自我效能、学习策略有显著的正相关，回避目标与自我效能、学习策略存在显著的负相关，自我效能与学习策略有显著的正相关；掌握目标、自我效能和学习策略与学业成绩有显著的正相关，而回避目标与学业成绩则有显著的负相关；学习策略直接影响学业成绩，成就目标和自我效能对学业成绩的影响是间接的。     

在线学习中的交互设计——以交互结构为核心的交互设计方法

信息技术的发展使得在线教学过程中的交互活动越来越丰富,各类同步、异步交互工具在各种形式的在线学习的教学实践中都得到了广泛的应用。新技术条件下的交互活动也逐渐成为远程教学中的一个重要教学手段和实现远程教育中教与学再度整合的关键。但是由于在线教学中,影响学习者实现高水平交互活动的因素较为复杂,我们有必要对在线学习中的交互系统进行深入的研究和系统的分析和设计。本文结合在线教学的实践,以在线学习中交互活动的组织结构模型为核心,在系统研究在线学习交互效果的各类影响因素以及交互媒体和交互工具特点的基础上,提出了在线学习中的交互设计概念,并且建立了一套以交互结构为核心的、在线学习的交互设计方法的四阶段模型。研究者希望该模式能够对在线学习中的交互活动的组织和实施提供一定的指导和参考。     

Teacher-as-Researcher Reform: Student Achievement and Perceptions of Learning Environment

This study reports the results of a research project conducted as part of high school teachers' efforts to bring about reform of science education in their school. Two classes of Grade 8 students (N = 43) taught by the same teacher were monitored in terms of students' perceptions of their learning environment, achievement levels, and conceptual understanding of research. Quantitative methods (questionnaire, tests and examinations, GPA) and qualitative methods (interviews, videotaped lessons, artifacts) were combined while the learning environment was changed to a student-centered open inquiry format. Not unexpectedly, relationships between the Autonomy and Student-Centeredness scales of the Constructivist Learning Environment Survey (CLES) and immediate (unit test) and delays post-tests (examination subsection) were detected. On the other hand, although student-student interactions in small-groups and whole-class sessions were a significant part of the learning environment, the Negotiation scale was not related to achievement. Three case studies of representative students (in terms of achievement and perceptions of the learning environment) are featured, further underscoring the importance of monitoring reform of teaching at the classroom level.     

如何让教师在合作学习活动中掌握合作学习方法

合作学习的效果取决于教师对于合作学习理念的理解与方法的掌握。在教师培训过程中,通过合作学习活动让教师掌握合作学习方法,是一种十分有效的途径。这一活动通过对合作学习五个基本问题的个体学习、同桌学习、小组学习、全班共享学习的不断推进,不仅让学员形成关于合作学习的理性认识并转变其观念,而且让教师参与式体验了合作学习的过程与方法。此项活动所形成的学习模式,不仅可以运用到教师培训的其他方面,而且可以通过教师的迁移运用到其课堂教学活动中学生的合作学习过程之中。     

中学生考试焦虑与成就目标、学习策略及学业成绩的关系

问卷调查与研究显示:中学生的考试焦虑在性别、年级和学校类型上均无显著性差异,且普遍存在中度以上焦虑;重度考试焦虑对学业成绩有显著削弱作用;学生的成就目标定向和自我调节学习策略对其考试焦虑的干预具有重要意义。     

“教师口语”课教学中学习结果的测量与评价

从“教师口语”课的性质出发,论述教师口语课的教学目标:终极目标和教学任务目标;知识性目标、理解性目标和技能性目标。阐述紧扣教学目标及其分类,对学生学习结果的测量与评价应遵循终结测量与阶段测量相结合、口试与笔试相结合、定量与定性相结合的原则和方法。     

The Impact of Scaffolding and Student Achievement Levels in a Problem-based Learning Environment

This study examined how scaffolds and student achievement levels influence inquiry and performance in a problem-based learning environment. The scaffolds were embedded within a hypermedia program that placed students at the center of a problem in which they were trying to become the youngest person to fly around the world in a balloon. One-hundred and eleven seventh grade students enrolled in a science and technology course worked in collaborative groups for a duration of 3 weeks to complete a project that included designing a balloon and a travel plan. Student groups used one of three problem-based, hypermedia programs: (1) a no scaffolding condition that did not provide access to scaffolds, (2) a scaffolding optional condition that provided access to scaffolds, but gave students the choice of whether or not to use them, and (3) a scaffolding required condition required students to complete all available scaffolds. Results revealed that students in the scaffolding optional and scaffolding required conditions performed significantly better than students in the no scaffolding condition on one of the two components of the group project. Results also showed that student achievement levels were significantly related to individual posttest scores; higher-achieving students scored better on the posttest than lower-achieving students. In addition, analyses of group notebooks confirmed qualitative differences between students in the various conditions. Specifically, those in the scaffolding required condition produced more highly organized project notebooks containing a higher percentage of entries directly relevant to the problem. These findings suggest that scaffolds may enhance inquiry and performance, especially when students are required to access and use them.     

Student engagement with science in early adolescence: The contribution of enjoyment to students’ continuing interest in learning about science

Recent research has expanded understanding of the contribution of emotions to student engagement and achievement. Achievement emotions can be conceptualized as general ways of responding to achievement settings or specific emotional states aroused during a specific learning activity. Emotion processes can be distinguished as positive or negative, activating or deactivating. Using data from an international survey of science achievement (PISA 2006; N > 400,000 15-year-old students from 57 countries), relations between the positive, activating achievement emotion of enjoyment and a number of variables that combine with enjoyment to define students’ engagement with learning science are examined. Previously, we reported that enjoyment is central to relations between interest in science, value and knowledge, and students’ reported current and future engagement. The embedded attitudinal items from PISA 2006 allow testing of how enjoyment contributes to a more direct measure of engagement with science by assessing students’ interest in finding out more about the specific topics used to measure their science achievement. In this investigation, structural equation modeling is used to test predictions based on Hidi and Renninger’s (2006) four-phase model of interest development, and Pekrun’s (2006) control-value theory of achievement emotions.     

Collaborating With a Skilled Peer: The Influence of Achievement Goals and Perceptions of Partners' Competence on the Participation and Learning of Low-Achieving Students

The authors examined whether motivational goals influenced the participation and performance of low-achieving students during collaborative problem solving with a high-achieving partner. Thirty-five pairs of 4th- and 5th-grade students were randomly assigned a set of instructions designed to induce students to adopt a learning goal or a performance goal. The following day, the students were individually given a posttest on problems similar to those worked on collaboratively. The low-achieving students given learning-goal instructions performed better on the posttest problems and perceived their partner's competence as more similar to their own than did the low-achieving students given performance-goal instructions. No differences in overall amount or level of low achievers' participation during collaborative problem solving were observed. Implications of the findings for the use of peer learning in heterogeneous classrooms are discussed.     

The Conditional and Interaction Effects of Epistemological Beliefs on the Self-Regulated Learning of College Students: Motivational Strategies

This study examines the conditional and interaction effects of each of four dimensions of the epistemological beliefs of college students regarding the ability to learn, the speed of learning, the structure of knowledge, and the stability of knowledge on six measures of the motivational components of self-regulated learning strategies (intrinsic goal orientations, extrinisic goal orientation, task value, self-efficacy, control of learning and test anxiety). Students with more sophisticated beliefs about the nature of knowledge and learning were more likely than their peers to use educationally productive motivational strategies in their learning. Beliefs about one’s ability to learn and the structure of knowledge had the most significant and substantial effects on students’ use of self-regulated motivational strategies. Although a student’s belief about the stability of knowledge by itself had a statistically significant effect on only one motivational strategy, this belief did have four statistically significant interaction effects with beliefs about ability to learn and the structure of knowledge. Implications of these findings for theory, research, policy and practice are examined.