An examination of male-female performance in a programmed achievement learning center

College students operated under different classroom contingencies. The Programmed Achievement (PA) condition required students to evidence criterion performance (100% mastery) on weekly quizzes. Failure to show mastery performance on any of the weekly quizzes resulted in course failure. The Standard Control (S-C) condition involved a more traditional college classroom structure where students took weekly quizzes with no requirement to evidence mastery. Male and female performances were analyzed to determine if different course structures interacted with sex of student. The results indicated that PA students demonstrated higher performance than controls on weekly quizzes and a major exam. It was also shown that PA females increased at a more rapid rate than PA males, while S-C males and females were not significantly different. Theoretical implications of the results are discussed.     

Programmed achievement using a within-class control

College students operated under different contingencies in the same classroom. The Programmed Achievement (PA) condition required students to evidence criterion performance (100% mastery) on 12 Chapter quizzes. Failure to evidence mastery performance on any of the quizzes resulted in the loss of a letter grade off the final course grade. The control condition involved a more traditional college classroom structure where students took chapter quizzes with no requirement to evidence mastery. A third group of low achievement students, identified at midterm, operated under control conditions the first half of the semester and were subsequently shifted to the PA contingency the second half of the semester. The results revealed only a slight superiority for PA students over controls and both PA and Control students demonstrated significantly better performance when compared to that of low achievement students prior to midterm. However, following the PA shift these subjects evidenced performance equivalent to that of the other two groups. Procedural and theoretical implications of these data were discussed.     

The effects of various mastery criteria on student performance and attitude in a mastery-oriented course

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of various mastery criteria on student performance and attitude in a course in which mastery learning strategies were employed. Undergraduates in an introductory course in educational psychology were randomly assigned to one of three treatments—one in which mastery criteria gradually increased from 70% to 90%, a second in which mastery criteria gradually decreased from 90% to 70%, or a third in which mastery criteria remained constant at 80%. Results indicated that although the high mastery criterion (90%) had a positive effect on some aspects of quiz performance, it did not have an effect on final examination performance. Results also indicated that students preferred that mastery criteria remain constant during a semester. These findings, when examined in light of previous research, call into question some prior notions regarding the levels at which mastery criteria should be set.     

How student and parent goal orientations and classroom goal structures influence the math achievement of African Americans during the high school transition

This study examined the effects of student and parent goal orientations and perceived classroom goal structures on grades and self-efficacy in mathematics during the high school transition. From a sample of 50 African American families living in a low-income school district, student survey data and open-ended parent interviews were examined. There were three significant findings. First, students who espoused more mastery goals in high school mathematics experienced more positive changes in self-efficacy and grades in mathematics during the high school transition than did their peers. Second, students who perceived more mastery and less performance goal structures in their high school math classrooms experienced more positive changes in mathematics self-efficacy during the transition than did their peers. Third, adolescents whose parents espoused mastery goals had higher grades than did their peers whose parents did not espouse mastery goals. Results indicate that mastery goals may be more influential in determining achievement and motivation in mathematics for African American students than are performance goals during the high school transition.     

Predicting Singapore students' achievement goals in their English study: Self-construal and classroom goal structure

This study examined the role of self-construal and classroom goal structure in predicting Singapore secondary students' achievement goals in their English study. Students from 104 classes were administered surveys of achievement goals, classroom goal structure, English self-concept, and self-construal. The results of two-level hierarchical linear modeling showed that after controlling for gender, previous English achievement, and English self-concept, interdependent self-construal significantly predicted mastery approach and avoidance goals, while independent self-construal was associated with performance approach, performance avoidance, and mastery approach goals. Mastery classroom goal structure predicted mastery approach and avoidance goals, whereas performance classroom goal structure predicted performance approach and avoidance goals as well as mastery avoidance goals. In addition, students with interdependent self-construal in classrooms with a performance focus were more likely to endorse mastery approach, mastery avoidance, and performance avoidance goals, while students with independent self-construal in classrooms with a performance focus tended to have performance approach goals. This study provides validation for the 2 × 2 framework of achievement goals, and advances our knowledge of how students adopt multiple goals. The findings are related to the educational achievement context of Singapore.     

Category learning judgments in the classroom: Can students judge how well they know course topics?

A category learning judgment (CLJ) involves judging one’s learning or performance for a given topic or category. The present study was the first to investigate CLJs in a classroom, where students’ judgments of how well they have learned topics may be particularly relevant for guiding their study decisions. In an undergraduate statistics class, students predicted their performance on six different exam topics, as well as predicting their global exam performance, for each exam during the semester. Regarding the absolute accuracy of CLJs, we observed slight overestimation (bias), substantial deviation from accuracy (absolute bias), and little improvement across exams. Students’ CLJs varied among topics, but they were less variable than actual topic performance and were poor at discriminating well-learned from poorly-learned topics (i.e., low relative accuracy). We examined two factors predictive of CLJ accuracy: topic difficulty and student mastery of the topics. Regarding topic difficulty, a hard-easy effect was observed, such that more difficult topics produced greater overestimation and easier topics produced more underestimation. A hard-easy effect also extended to absolute bias: difficult topics produced larger deviations from accuracy than easy topics did. Regarding student mastery of topics, we found that lower mastery predicted CLJ overestimation and higher mastery predicted CLJ underestimation. Lower mastery was also associated with larger absolute bias. Compared to global judgments, CLJs were less accurate, although students were more confident in their CLJs. In sum, developing methods to improve the accuracy of CLJs in classrooms is an important direction for future research.     

Some effects of the iscs program: A meta analysis

Many studies have been conducted to assess the effects of the ISCS program on student performance. On the basis of the conflicting findings, the task of arriving at a general conclusion about the effects of ISCS has been difficult indeed. This study was designed to integrate quantitatively the collective research dealing with the effects of ISCS on student performance and attitude. The weighted mean effect size was found to be 0.09, indicating that the performance of the ISCS students was 0.09 standard deviations above the performance of students in traditional science courses. The design of the study accounted for a significant proportion of variation in the effect size, whereas the type of instrumentation and reliability of the instrument did not.     

Effects of active learning classrooms on student learning: a two-year empirical investigation on student perceptions and academic performance

Recent studies on active learning classrooms (ACLs) have demonstrated their positive influence on student learning. However, most of the research evidence is derived from a few subject-specific courses or limited student enrolment. Empirical studies on this topic involving large student populations are rare. The present work involved a large-scale two-year study that examined the effects of ACL on student perceptions of their learning experience and the relationship with academic performance in a General Education programme. An institutional survey was used to gather more than 35,000 units of student perception data from all 306 courses in the programme. Our empirical findings show that students thought courses that adopted an ACL as the key learning environment were significantly better designed and more encouraging of student creativity and innovation than courses which used regular classrooms; thus, student perceptions were improved. We are also the first to report that this positive effect on creativity and innovation is statistically unaffected by academic performance, with high, middle and low achievers all benefiting from the use of the facility. The results suggest that ACLs are better environments for nurturing innovation for all students, regardless of their academic ability.     

Testing the effectiveness of classroom formative assessment in Dutch primary mathematics education

Classroom formative assessment (CFA) is considered to be a fundamental part of effective teaching, as it is presumed to enhance student performance. However, there is only limited empirical evidence to support this notion. In this effect study, a quasi-experiment was conducted to compare 2 conditions. In the treatment condition, 17 teachers implemented a CFA model containing both daily and weekly goal-directed instruction, assessment, and immediate instructional feedback for students who needed additional support. In the control condition, 17 teachers implemented a modification to their usual practice. They assessed their students’ mastery of learning goals on the basis of half-yearly mathematics tests, and prepared weekly pre-teaching sessions for groups of low-achieving students. The posttests showed no significant differences in student performance between the 2 conditions after controlling for student and teacher characteristics. The degree of implementation of the CFA model, however, appeared to be positively related to the 5th-grade students’ performance.     

Different underlying motivations and abilities predict student versus teacher persistence in an online course

Free online courses, including Massively Open Online Courses, have great potential to increase the inclusiveness of education, but suffer from very high course dropout rates. A study of 172 K-12 students and 114 K-12 teachers taking the same free, online, summertime programming course finds that student and teacher populations have different underlying motivational models that predict rates of persistence in the course despite having generally similar motivational levels. Student persistence is predicted by prior programming knowledge, intrinsic interest in the subject matter, and mastery approach goals. By contrast, teacher persistence is similarly predicted by intrinsic interest, but then also by self-identity as a programmer, performance approach goals, and negatively by performance avoidance goals. This sub-population discrepancy in predictive factors is novel, and may be reflective of differing environmental conditions or internal mechanisms between students and teachers. Future design of free choice learning environments can take these factors into account to increase rates of user persistence for different target user populations.     

Attributions in a mastery instructional system: Is an emphasis on effort harmful?

Self-worth theorists have claimed that students of lower ability may reduce effort in likely failure situations to avoid the attribution of poor performance to their own incompetence. The likely success of mastery learning, an instructional technique stressing student persistence, has been questioned because of this phenomenon. Several studies which examined the hypothesized relationship between achievement, effort, and perceived ability within a mastery context were conducted. In none of the studies did it appear that students reduced effort because of the threat of failure or that expending effort led to lower estimates of ability. In fact, students expending effort rated their ability as having a more positive influence on performance than less persistent students. It is argued that mastery learning, like some achievement change programs, encourages students to attribute their performance to their level of effort.     

PASS,an alternative method of teaching introductory psychology

A new teaching method based on positively reinforcing attempts at mastery was introduced and empirically tested to determine its validity. The program, labeled Programmed Achievement Study System (PASS), makes use of traditional learning principles by providing rewards (bonus points) contingent upon reaching specified mastery criteria. Specifically, college students enrolled in introductory psychology were awarded additional points if they demonstrated mastery of concept areas on retake quizzes administered during a given week. PASS students, as compared to a control condition, demonstrated higher performance on a final examination given at the end of the semester. These results suggest that the PASS contingencies are preferable to those contingencies operating in more traditional classrooms. A theoretical rationale based on the principles of operant conditioning is discussed.     

High School Students' Goal Orientations and Their Relationship to Perceived Parenting Styles

The purpose of this study was to examine relationships among Baumrind's three parenting styles, parent involvement (both parenting variables as perceived by student), and mastery and performance goal orientations of high school students. The sample consisted of 196 students enrolled in two Florida high schools. Many expected relationships appeared in line with the parenting and goal theory literature. Maternal authoritativeness was related to a mastery orientation. Maternal authoritarianism and permissiveness were related to a performance orientation. Differential findings were evident with regard to student ethnicity. Appearance of stronger relationships among maternal parenting styles and student goal orientation may be due to the nontraditional living arrangements reported; a number of students reported not living with their fathers. Parent involvement was positively related to a mastery orientation for all students. Student gender and parental education were not significant factors in this study. Conclusions are tempered by limitations of a relatively small sample.     

PROCRASTINATION AND THE 2 × 2 ACHIEVEMENT GOAL FRAMEWORK IN MALAYSIAN UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS

The present study investigated academic procrastination in the context of the 2 × 2 goal achievement theoretical framework within a population of 450 Malaysian undergraduate students, aged 18 to 25 years. Participants completed the Achievement Goal Questionnaire and the Tuckman Procrastination Test. Approach dimensions of both the mastery and performance goal orientations were found to be positively correlated with procrastination, but the avoidance dimensions of the mastery and performance goal orientations were not associated with procrastination. In regression analyses, mastery approach was the strongest predictor of procrastination, suppressing the effect of performance approach. The results suggest that the Western values underlying the achievement goals portrayed by the goal achievement model may not accurately reflect the motivations that are intrinsic to non‐Western individuals. Further research is required to either validate such a tool in non‐Western cultures or, alternatively, investigate alternative factors that may potentially influence procrastination within this demographic.     

Sources of self-efficacy of community college students enrolled in developmental mathematics

The need to improve student success in community colleges has resulted in a growing interest in developmental mathematics. Yet there remains a need to understand the motivations and beliefs of developmental mathematics students in order to cultivate their success. Self-efficacy has been identified to be a predictor of student success. Little is known about the antecedents or sources of self-efficacy of students enrolled in remedial courses at community colleges and how their self-efficacy can be bolstered through such courses. An instrument was developed to measure sources of mathematics self-efficacy and was originally tested with middle school students. Using a sample of 439 students, it was found that a scale which measures sources of self-efficacy is psychometrically acceptable for adults completing mathematics remediation. Our results indicated that the four theorised sources of self-efficacy explained a large percentage of the variance in mathematics skill self-efficacy for our sample. As hypothesised by others, mastery experiences was the best predictor of self-efficacy but all sources influenced mathematics skills self-efficacy.     

Do performance goals promote learning? A pattern analysis of Singapore students’ achievement goals

This study investigated how achievement goals are combined to affect students’ learning. We used a multiple goals perspective, based on mastery (i.e., mastery approach) and performance (including both approach and avoidance components) goals, to examine the achievement goal patterns of 1697 Singapore Secondary 3 students in their math study. Four types of goal clusters emerged from latent class cluster analyses: Diffuse (moderate multiple), Moderate Mastery (moderate mastery/low performance approach and avoidance), Success Oriented (moderate mastery/high performance approach and avoidance), and Approach (high mastery and performance approach/low performance avoidance). Analyses of covariance were conducted to compare these four clusters on eleven cognitive, behavioral, and affective learning outcomes. In general, students in the Success Oriented and Approach groups were higher on self-efficacy, subjective task values, class engagement, homework engagement, time management, and meta-cognitive self-regulation than those in the other two groups. In addition, students in the Approach and Moderate Mastery groups were more likely to make effort when encountering difficulties in learning math, showed lower test anxiety, lower negative affect, and achieved higher scores in math than students in the other two groups. These findings suggest that the goal profile with high mastery and performance approach goals combined with low performance avoidance goals is most beneficial for learning, whereas high performance approach goals, when associated with performance avoidance goals, have some negative effects on affective outcomes. The patterns help to refine distinctions in performance goals, and are discussed in the context of academic achievement in Singapore.     

Students' achievement goal orientations and their behavioral and emotional engagement: Co-examining the role of perceived school goal structures and parent goals during adolescence

The role of perceived school goal structures and parent goals in predicting adolescents' goal orientations and their behavioral and emotional engagement in the classroom was examined in the present study. Surveys were given to a sample of 271 seventh- and ninth-grade students. Path analyses showed that (a) perceived school mastery goal structures and parent mastery goals predicted student mastery goal orientation, perceived school and parent performance goals predicted student performance-avoidance goal orientation, whereas performance-approach orientation was only predicted by perceived parent performance goals; (b) perceived school and parent mastery goals predicted behavioral but not emotional engagement directly as well as indirectly through the mediation of student mastery goal orientation; (c) behavioral and emotional engagement were predicted by student mastery goal orientation. Results are discussed in relation to current theory and their implications for promoting adaptive patterns of learning in the school and the family context.     

College students classified with ADHD and the foreign language requirement

The conventional assumption of most disability service providers is that students classified as having attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) will experience difficulties in foreign language (FL) courses. However, the evidence in support of this assumption is anecdotal. In this empirical investigation, the demographic profiles, overall academic performance, college entrance scores, and FL classroom performance of 68 college students classified as having ADHD were examined. All students had graduated from the same university over a 5-year period. The findings showed that all 68 students had completed the university's FL requirement by passing FL courses. The students' college entrance scores were similar to the middle 50% of freshmen at this university, and their graduating grade point average was similar to the typical graduating senior at the university. The students had participated in both lower (100) and upper (200, 300, 400) level FL courses and had achieved mostly average and above-average grades (A, B, C) in these courses. One student had majored and eight students had minored in an FL. Two thirds of the students passed all of their FL courses without the use of instructional accommodations. In this study, the classification of ADHD did not appear to interfere with participants' performance in FL courses. The findings suggest that students classified as having ADHD should enroll in and fulfill the FL requirement by passing FL courses.     

Supplemental Instruction Online: As Effective as the Traditional Face-to-Face Model?

Supplemental Instruction (SI) is a well-recognized model of academic assistance with a history of empirical evidence demonstrating increases in student grades and decreases in failure rates across many higher education institutions. However, as college students become more accustomed to learning in online venues, what is not known is whether an SI program offered online could benefit students similarly to SI sessions that occur in face-to-face settings. The in-person (traditional) SI program at California State University San Marcos has demonstrated increases in grades and lower fail rates for courses being supported in science and math. Students enrolled in four biology courses who participated in online SI received increases in academic performance similar to the students in the courses who attended traditional SI. Both the online and traditional SI participating students had higher course grades and lower fail rates as compared to students who did not participate in either form of SI. Self-selection, as measured by past cumulative college grade point average, did not differ between students who attended either form of SI or who did not attend. Student perceptions of online SI were generally positive and appeared to offer an alternative path to receive this valuable academic assistance for some students. Overall, results are promising that the highly effective traditional model can be translated to an online environment.     

Assessment of the effects of student response systems on student learning and attitudes over a broad range of biology courses

With the advent of wireless technology, new tools are available that are intended to enhance students' learning and attitudes. To assess the effectiveness of wireless student response systems in the biology curriculum at New Mexico State University, a combined study of student attitudes and performance was undertaken. A survey of students in six biology courses showed that strong majorities of students had favorable overall impressions of the use of student response systems and also thought that the technology improved their interest in the course, attendance, and understanding of course content. Students in lower-division courses had more strongly positive overall impressions than did students in upper-division courses. To assess the effects of the response systems on student learning, the number of in-class questions was varied within each course throughout the semester. Students' performance was compared on exam questions derived from lectures with low, medium, or high numbers of in-class questions. Increased use of the response systems in lecture had a positive influence on students' performance on exam questions across all six biology courses. Students not only have favorable opinions about the use of student response systems, increased use of these systems increases student learning.