Within-year changes in children’s intrinsic and extrinsic motivational orientations: Contextual predictors and academic outcomes

The present study was designed to investigate the nature, timing, and correlates of motivational change among a large sample (N = 1051) of third- through eighth-grade students. Analyses of within-year changes in students’ motivational orientations revealed that both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations decreased from fall to spring, with declines in intrinsic motivation especially pronounced for the adolescents and declines in extrinsic motivation especially pronounced for the elementary students. These changes in motivation were explained, in part, by shifts in students’ perceptions of the school goal context. Findings suggested that typical age-related declines in intrinsic motivation may be minimized by a school-wide focus on mastery goals. Finally, the potential academic consequences of students’ motivational orientations were examined with a series of hierarchical multiple regressions. Intrinsic motivation and classroom achievement appeared to influence one another in a positive and reciprocal fashion. Poor classroom performance minimally predicted higher levels of extrinsic motivation, but extrinsic motivation was not a source of low classroom grades.     

Regulating life in residential care: the unassuming authority of the timetable

This paper highlights the various roles and influences of a particular text form: the timetable pasted unassumingly on the wall of a residential home for children. It provides examples of literacy events that take place around the ubiquitous timetable and how through these events, the social dynamics of its residents and those around them are constructed and enforced. An important aspect of institutional life, the timetable “regulates the home's residents' daily patterns by structuring their time so that they move from one set of skills to another throughout the day”. In addition, it becomes the ‘invisible monitor’ in the absence of the home's supervisor, as though ‘empowered’ with authority to dictate the children's actions. In other words, the timetable proves to have dominant control over the daily practices of those living in residential care.     

Teacher and child talk in active learning and whole‐class contexts: some implications for children from economically less advantaged home backgrounds

This paper reports the experiences of 150 children and six primary teachers when active learning pedagogies were introduced into the first year of primary schools. Although active learning increased the amount of talk between children, those from socio‐economically advantaged homes talked more than those from less advantaged homes. Also, individual children experienced very little time engaged in high‐quality talk with the teacher, despite the teachers spending over one‐third of their time responding to children's needs and interests. Contextual differences, such as the different staffing ratios in schools and pre‐schools, may affect how well the benefits of active learning transfer from pre‐school contexts into primary schools. Policy‐makers and teachers should pay particular attention to the implications of this for the education of children from economically less advantaged home backgrounds.     

Different but Equal? How Nonmajors and Majors Approach and Learn Genetics

Introductory biology courses are frequently offered separately to biology majors and nonbiology majors, with the assumption that the two groups of students are different enough to merit different courses. To assess the evidence behind this assumption, we compared students in two different genetics classes at the University of Colorado–Boulder, one class for nonscience majors (nonmajors) and the other class for biology majors and students planning a biology-related career (majors), to see whether these two groups of students were fundamentally different in performance and attitudes. To measure content knowledge, we administered identical assessments to both groups of students during the semester: a validated pre- and postcontent assessment (Genetics Concept Assessment), ungraded quizzes after problem-solving sessions, and questions on each exam. We measured attitudes, study time, and study techniques through online surveys. Majors outperformed nonmajors on content assessments, finishing with significantly higher learning gains. Nonmajors and majors also differed in their motivation, interest, study time, and expert-level of beliefs. We suggest that focusing on the process of science and its connection to students'' lives will better engage and motivate nonmajors while still helping them learn the fundamental concepts of genetics.     

1, 2, 3, 4: Infusing Quantitative Literacy into Introductory Biology

Biology of the twenty-first century is an increasingly quantitative science. Undergraduate biology education therefore needs to provide opportunities for students to develop fluency in the tools and language of quantitative disciplines. Quantitative literacy (QL) is important for future scientists as well as for citizens, who need to interpret numeric information and data-based claims regarding nearly every aspect of daily life. To address the need for QL in biology education, we incorporated quantitative concepts throughout a semester-long introductory biology course at a large research university. Early in the course, we assessed the quantitative skills that students bring to the introductory biology classroom and found that students had difficulties in performing simple calculations, representing data graphically, and articulating data-driven arguments. In response to students'' learning needs, we infused the course with quantitative concepts aligned with the existing course content and learning objectives. The effectiveness of this approach is demonstrated by significant improvement in the quality of students'' graphical representations of biological data. Infusing QL in introductory biology presents challenges. Our study, however, supports the conclusion that it is feasible in the context of an existing course, consistent with the goals of college biology education, and promotes students'' development of important quantitative skills.     

A diagnostic assessment for introductory molecular and cell biology

We have developed and validated a tool for assessing understanding of a selection of fundamental concepts and basic knowledge in undergraduate introductory molecular and cell biology, focusing on areas in which students often have misconceptions. This multiple-choice Introductory Molecular and Cell Biology Assessment (IMCA) instrument is designed for use as a pre- and posttest to measure student learning gains. To develop the assessment, we first worked with faculty to create a set of learning goals that targeted important concepts in the field and seemed likely to be emphasized by most instructors teaching these subjects. We interviewed students using open-ended questions to identify commonly held misconceptions, formulated multiple-choice questions that included these ideas as distracters, and reinterviewed students to establish validity of the instrument. The assessment was then evaluated by 25 biology experts and modified based on their suggestions. The complete revised assessment was administered to more than 1300 students at three institutions. Analysis of statistical parameters including item difficulty, item discrimination, and reliability provides evidence that the IMCA is a valid and reliable instrument with several potential uses in gauging student learning of key concepts in molecular and cell biology.     

Data gathering and analysis for needs assessment: A case study

Various data‐gathering and analysis methods available in our profession's literature, current and past, provide rich options for conducting quality needs assessments. These methods assisted with a thorough needs assessment for a billable hours issue in the parts and service department of a large, power tool and equipment retailer based in the Midwestern United States.     

Taking active learning into the primary school: a matter of new practices?

This paper examines the extension of active learning pedagogical practices familiar in preschool settings to the first class of primary school. Policy and practice guidance in the UK is advocating the benefits of experiential learning as a way of engaging young children as they move into primary school but for teachers this means a move to new practices which can be in tension with other expectations. In this paper, the rationale for active learning is considered along with an account of the classroom activities of teachers and children in five primary schools that were implementing the policy shift to active learning. The children in these classes spent varying amounts of time in whole class activities led by the teacher or in small groups directed to engage with specific activities. They had opportunities to engage and respond verbally, through manipulating objects and with physical actions but the emphasis was on planned, teacher-directed learning activities. The characteristics of active learning as introduced in these innovative classes are compared with the expectations of practice guidance and theorising about early learning.