Flow experience and positive affect during hypermedia learning

In this study positive affective states, experienced by users of a one-hour learning program, in a hypermedia learning environment were assessed. It was expected that a positive mood would occur during learning that would be correlated with high training/learning success. Furthermore, the experience of flow was used to indicate whether the challenges and skills were balanced. The results showed that the users of the training program were put into a positive mood. About a quarter of the users experienced flow. Positive moods were associated with higher training success and positive affect was correlated with total knowledge and content knowledge. An association between flow and training success was not observed. The perceived probability of success did not influence learning but a high perceived probability of success was considered as comparably more pleasant than a low perceived probability of success. The results are discussed in the context of self-directed learning.     

The assessment of quantitative problem-solving skills with “none of the above”-items (NOTA items)

In this contribution we concentrate on the features of a particular item format: items having as the last option “none of the above” (NOTA items). There is considerable dispute on the advisability of the usage of NOTA items in testing. Some authors come to the conclusion that NOTA items should be avoided, some come to neutral conclusions while others argue that NOTA items are optimal test items. In this article, we provide evidence to this discussion by conducting protocol analysis on written statements of examinees while answering NOTA items. In our investigation, a test containing 30 multiple-choice items was administered from 169 university students. The results show that NOTA options appear to be more attractive than options with specified solutions in those cases where a problemsolver fails. Also, a relationship is found between the quality of (incorrect) problemsolving and the choice of NOTA items: the more qualitative the incorrect problemsolving process is, the more likely the student is to choose for NOTA items. Overall, our research supports the statement that ‘the more confidence an examinee has in his worked solution, which is inconsistent with one of the specified solutions, the more eager he seems to choose “none of the above”.     

Individual differences in working memory capacity and attention,and their relationship with students’ approaches to learning

Past research has shown that working memory capacity, attention and students’ approaches to learning are all important predictors for educational achievement. In this study the interrelations between these three variables are investigated. Participants were 128 university students. Results show a negative relationship between attention and deep approaches to learning: students with a lower level of attention seem to use more deep approaches to learning than students with higher levels of attention. It was also found that students with a high working memory capacity score lower on both the surface and deep approaches to learning than students with a low working memory capacity. A possible explanation is that these high capacity students might not need a consistent profound strategy to be successful because they are very good at acquiring, processing and integrating all types of new information before moving it to storage.     

Why do they want to teach? The multiple reasons of different groups of students for undertaking teacher education

In times of teacher shortage, well-considered, goal-oriented teacher recruitment is important. An understanding of the reasons why different groups of students undertake teacher training would be useful in developing targeted campaigns. Against this background, the research question is as follows: what are the motivations prompting students to enter primary teacher training and do these motivations vary according to student characteristics? A questionnaire based on the reasons and expectations included in the Learning and Studying Questionnaire was administered during a compulsory course. Participants were 1,805 pre-service primary education teachers starting their first year of study at 14 different schools in Flanders (Belgium). Results show that students mainly undertake teacher training for intrinsic and altruistic reasons such as developing skills and knowledge that will be useful in their future teaching career, attending interesting and well-taught courses, gaining an understanding of the subject and helping children and making a difference in the world. In addition, students also take into account extrinsic factors such as good working conditions, long holidays and the ability to balance work and family responsibilities. Significant differences in motivation were found to be related to student characteristics such as gender, age, educational background and self-reported academic achievement, suggesting that teacher recruitment could benefit from population-specific approaches aimed at increasing the attractiveness of teaching and teacher training.     

Educational tracking and sense of futility: a matter of stigma consciousness?

During the past decade, both qualitative and quantitative research have documented strong feelings of fatalism amongst pupils enrolled in technical and vocational tracks in secondary education. Whereas those feelings have been shown to predict decreased school involvement and school misconduct, relatively little is known about their exact origins. In this paper, we explore to what extent they should be considered a stigma consciousness caused by the demeaning impact of perceived contempt to which pupils from technical and vocational tracks are exposed. Data from the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study from Flanders (the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium, N: 1967) were used to explore the distribution and consequences of perceived contempt with regard to one’s choice of study. About 20% of the pupils enrolled in technical and vocational education reported that some people looked down on them due to their studies. Moreover, even after taking into account different ability measures and social background characteristics, a strong direct relationship remained between perceived contempt and feelings of futility. In the conclusion, we elaborate on the implications of our findings.     

The effects of an interactive instructional strategy for enhancing reading comprehension and content area learning for students with learning disabilities

This study investigated the effectiveness of an interactive vocabulary instructional strategy, semantic-feature analysis (SFA), on the content area text comprehension of adolescents with learning disabilities. Prior to reading a social studies text, students in resource classes either completed a relationship chart as part of the SFA condition or used the dictionary to write definitions and sentences as part of the contrast condition. Passage comprehension was measured on a multiple-choice test consisting of two types of items, vocabulary and conceptual. Comprehension was measured immediately following teaching and again 6 months after teaching. Prior knowledge for the content of the passage served as a covariate. Results indicated that students in the SFA instructional condition had significantly greater measured comprehension immediately following and 6 months after initial teaching. These results are discussed in relation to concept-driven, interactive strategies for teaching content and facilitating text comprehension.     

Bewegung und Sport in Ganztagsschulen

Results of the PISA survey in 2000 led to a rethinking of the German educational system. One of the consequences of this was, for example, the initiation of the investment program Zukunft, Bildung und Erziehung (IZBB; 2003–2009) by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, which aims to accelerate the expansion of all-day schools nationwide. In the German educational system, this reform mainly affects the time that students spend at school. Thus it can also have an impact on their level of activity. However, at present, research has no unambiguous answer as to whether this is accompanied by an increase or decrease of students’ activity level. Against this background, the objective of this review is to analyze, as well as evaluate, the state of German-language research regarding offers and impact of physical activity (PA) in all-day schools. By means of a systematic literature review, 37 relevant publications out of 2,847 results were found. On one hand, the results of the quantitative analysis illustrate a lack of nationwide investigations. One of the most noticeable results is that, except for one study, there are only cross-sectional studies, hence meaningful longitudinal investigations are absent. On the other hand, analysis and presentation of current research content points out that there are, for instance, insufficient spatial structures for PA in all-day schools. Furthermore, ambivalent results can be found in PA providers’ composition as the proportion of external PA providers varies between 19 and 80?%. Overall, there are similarities in scattered research fields, but it becomes apparent that the current state of research is rather heterogeneous. Therefore further studies are urgently needed for an improved evaluation of PA opportunities for children and adolescents in all-day schools.     

Students’ Perceptions of a Problem-Based Learning Environment

During the last decades, traditional learning environments have been criticised for not developing the prerequisites for professional expertise (H. Mandl, H. Gruber &; A. Renkl, Interactive minds: Life-span perspectives on the social foundation of cognition, pp. 394–412, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1996; P. Tynjälä, International Journal of Educational Research, 31, 357–442, 1999). To meet this criticism, educational approaches such as problem-based learning, project-based learning and case-based learning are being implemented to an increasing extent. Research also concentrates on the efficiency of these approaches in terms of students’ learning outcomes. At the same time, classroom-based theories of learning (J. B. Biggs, British Journal of Educational Psychology, 63, 3–19, 1993; M. Prosser &; K. Trigwell, Understanding learning and teaching. Buckingham, UK: SRHE and Open University Press, 1999) stress the importance of the investigation of subjective learning environments in order to understand the nature of these students’ learning outcomes, for learning results are not a mere function of the learning setting because each student operates as a filter for the possible influence of the environment. However, most research on students’ perception of the learning environment is conducted in predominantly traditional learning environments.The goal of our research was to investigate students’ perceptions of the key design variables of a problem-based learning environment and if students perceive that they enhance learning. There are four research questions. First, to what extent do students’ perceptions of a PBL environment match the theoretical assumptions of PBL? Second, do their perceptions differ as a function of the institutional context? Third, is there a difference in the perceptions of students between groups of first year and experienced students and between disciplines? Fourth, are there interaction effects between study phase and discipline?The results show that, in general, students value the key variables of the learning environment as powerful (i.e. enhancing learning). Also, the results indicate that students’ perceptions of the learning environment in various institutional contexts differ significantly. In general, no distinctions were found related to students in different study phases. However, in terms of specific design variables, students studying in diverse disciplines showed significantly divergent perceptions. Finally, significant interaction effects were found between study phase and discipline.