Academic Marks Research Articles

Correlaciones entre la condición física y el logro académico en estudiantes de grado

Introduction: There are a few number of studies that have examined the effect of the level of physical fitness on academic success in university students. Goals: The purpose of the study is to determine the relationship between physical fitness and academic success in university students. Material and methods: The study included 183 university students. To determine physical fitness, Fitnessgram test battery was used. The students were grouped in respect of academic success status according to general academic marks. Results: Academic success was evaluated as low in 16.1% (n:15) of females, moderate in 38.7% (n:36) and high in 45.2%(n:42), and in male students a low level was determined in 18.9% (n:17), moderate in 52.2% (n:47) and high in 28.9% (n:26). Smoking cigarettes was seen to have created a difference in females with low academic success (p<.05). A difference was determined between the low and high academic success groups of both genders in respect of physical fitness (p<.05). In the physical fitness tests, a relationship was seen with the mean general academic points in all students, with exception of body mass index (BMI), a relationship was determined between other parameters and academic success (p<.05). Conclusions: High level of physical fitness provides positive contributions to academic success. No relationship was determined between BMI in females and mean general academic points. In females with a low level of academic success, the rate of cigarette smoking was higher.

Impact of funding on academic performance: An exploration of two South African universities

Empirical evidence on the relationship between student funding and academic performance is unclear. Some studies have found a positive relationship, some have suggested a negative one, while others maintain that there is no relationship between them. Acknowledging that a range of factors, other than funding, impact on student success, in this paper, we aim to contribute to a small, but emerging, body of literature on the relationship between student funding and academic performance, proxied by the average individual academic mark for the year. We applied descriptive and inferential statistics to a dataset of 29,619 students registered at two South African universities for the 2018 academic year. The results highlight that in an examination of the impact of being funded by the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) in a bivariate context, it is possible to find a negative relationship with performance. However, at an aggregate level and controlling for the impact of other variables, a positive (albeit weak) and statistically significant correlation between being NSFAS funded and average academic performance emerges.

Los programas de educación emocional happy 8-12 and happy 12-16. Evaluación de su impacto en las emociones y el bienestar//The emotional education programs happy 8-12 and happy 12-16. Evaluation of their impact in emotions and well-being

RESUMENDurante los últimos años se ha visto confirmada la importancia de las variables emocionales y de bienestar para un correcto desarrollo académico y personal del alumnado. Por este motivo ha existido un auge en las intervenciones y programas que trabajan estas variables. El objetivo de la presente investigación es conocer la diferencia existente entre las variables emocionales y de bienestar en alumnado de primaria y de secundaria después de haber participado en los programas de Educación Emocional Happy 8-12 y Happy 12-16 durante un curso escolar. Para el desarrollo del estudio se contó con la participación de un total de 574 alumnos de educación primaria y otros 903 de educación secundaria. El diseño de la investigación fue cuasiexperimental, pretest, postest con grupo control. Los instrumentos utilizados fueron los siguientes: CDE, CDE-SEC, STAIC, STAI y la media de las notas académicas. En cuanto a los resultados, se realizó un análisis de la varianza (ANOVA) con un factor intersujetos y un factor intrasujetos para cada una de las muestras. Se detectó una mejora en las escalas de competencias emocionales y ansiedad en las dos muestras, especialmente en primaria. También existió una importante mejoría en el rendimiento académico. Así pues, los resultados del presente estudio demuestran que el entrenamiento de las competencias emocionales en educación primaria mejora las competencias emocionales, disminuye la ansiedad y potencia el rendimiento académico, resultados que no se manifiestan de manera tan significativa en educación secundaria, aunque sí que muestran una tendencia muy parecida.ABSTRACTDuring the last years it has been confirmed that emotional and well-being variables are of the uppermost importance for a proper academic and personal development of the students. Thus, there has been an important growth of interventions and programs that train this variables. The aim of the present research is to explore the differences among emotional and well-being variables in primary and secondary education students after undergoing the Happy 8-12 and the Happy 12-16 programs during an academic course. For the development of the study a total of 574 primary education students and 903 of secondary education participated in the study. The investigation followed a pre-post quasi-experimental design with a control group. The instruments that were used for the assessment included: CDE, CDE-SEC, STAIC, STAI and the average of the academic marks. Regarding the results, an analysis of covariance (ANOVA) with an intersubject factor and intrasubject factor was carried out for each one of the samples. An improvement in emotional scales and anxiety was found for the two samples, especially in the primary school sample. There was also an important improvement in the academic achievement. All in all results of the present study showed that the training of the emotional competences in primary education improves the emotional competences, reduces anxiety and enhances academic achievement. These results are not that prominent in secondary education, but they show a similar pattern.

Factors influencing dropout and academic performance: an Australian higher education equity perspective

ABSTRACT There has been increasing access to higher education enrolment for disadvantaged individuals following the Bradley Review of Australian higher education. While progress has been made, students from equity groups are still found to lag behind their privileged counterparts in completing higher education. This study examines higher education academic outcomes for equity groups in Australia, specifically, students considering dropout, actual dropout, and marks. The influence of student satisfaction on those academic outcomes are also examined. Students from equity groups tend to have poorer academic marks and are more likely to consider dropout, with health and financial reasons found to be important determinants. These findings support the need for multi-faceted initiatives to support higher education students from equity backgrounds.

Turgenev and the Russian liberal idea. Proceedings of the Russian Academic and Practical Conference marking Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev’s 200th birth anniversary

The review of the book Turgenev and the Russian Liberal Idea... [Turgenev i liberalnaya ideya v Rossii…] focuses on the interpretation of liberalism in Turgenev’s works by Russian scholars of various schools and branches of the humanities. Treatment of liberal ideology always remained at the heart of many scholarly interpretations of Turgenev, yet the researchers were often influenced by political environment. The review emphasizes that the compilers did not care for uniformity of opinion, but were trying instead to present contemporary polemics about Turgenev’s political, philosophical and literary principles. These, the reviewer concludes, make the collection particularly valuable. The book also contains numerous new discoveries about the writer’s life and work.

Academic Outcomes in Bilingual Children With Developmental Language Disorder: A Longitudinal Study.

Previous studies have shown that most English-speaking children with language difficulties show academic difficulties during their schooling. The present study aimed to describe the academic achievement of children speaking Spanish and Catalan with developmental language disorder (DLD) during their primary education and to predict their academic outcomes using several processing skills assessed at the beginning of their schooling. To this end, we followed 28 children during their schooling (6–12 years of age). Participants were divided into two groups, one with DLD (n = 14) and a control group (n = 14) paired by age, gender, socio-economic status (SES), family language (L1), and classroom. All participants were assessed through different processing skills with the Spanish version of the NEPSY at the beginning of their schooling (age 6): attention (visual attention, auditory attention, and response set), phonological awareness, verbal short-term memory (sentence repetition, and narrative memory), access to language (semantic verbal fluency and rapid naming), and language comprehension (comprehension of verbal commands). At the end of primary education, schools reported the official academic marks at the 1st cycle (6–8 years), 2nd cycle (8–10 years) and 3rd cycle (10–12 years). Direct scores of the processing skills and academic results were used for statistical analyses. Results showed that children with DLD had more frequent grade retention, and their academic marks were significantly lower than those of their peers in all the cycles and for all academic subjects with a high language dependency (all except physical education and mathematics). Those subjects with lower language dependence did not show significant differences (physical education and mathematics). Rapid naming accounted for most of the variance of academic outcomes, followed by phonological awareness, and language comprehension when both groups were taken together. Only rapid naming accounted for academic results in the DLD group and phonological awareness did so for the control group. In sum, children with DLD experienced more academic difficulties during their primary education. Those children (with and without DLD) who experienced difficulties not only with rapid naming but also with phonological awareness and oral language comprehension at the beginning of their schooling showed a higher probability of academic failure.

Category Learning in Schoolchildren. Its Relation to Age, Academic Marks and Resolution Patterns.

The aim of this research was to study the learning process using an objective and computerized task. The performance of 466 schoolchildren aged between 6 and 11 in a category learning task, the Category Learning Test (CLT), was examined. The results showed evidence of category learning throughout the trials for the whole sample, F(7, 469) = 29.979, p <.001. In addition, categorization performance improved with age, H(2) = 48.475, p <.001. However, there were old children that struggled with the task and young children that performed very well. The ability to learn the categories was related to the children's behavior when trying to solve the task: the response speed (r = -.217, p <.01) and the organization index (r = .247, p <.01). Nevertheless, performance in the task and academic marks were not related. We discuss the impact of these findings on the promotion and improvement of learning in schools: an intervention to promote slowness and organization might help some children to learn.

Mark Lawrence. The Spanish Civil Wars: A Comparative History of the First Carlist War and the Conflict of the 1930s.

Since it ended on the eve of the Second World War, the historical significance of the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) has been kept alive by an immense outpouring of scholarly and popular literature on the subject. Despite the various and important ways in which they shaped the course of Spanish history from the nineteenth century on, the same cannot be said of the almost forgotten Carlist civil wars that erupted intermittently between 1833 and the end of the century. In recent years, a small but growing number of Spanish and foreign historians, including the British academic Mark Lawrence, have been trying to redress this historiographical imbalance by focusing scholarly attention on the Carlist conflicts. The historical similarities linking the Carlists’ dynastic struggles of the nineteenth century with Spain’s civil war are examined in detail by Lawrence in his innovative comparative study The Spanish Civil Wars. It is the author’s contention that, for all their contextual differences, the First Carlist War (1833–1840) is comparable to the much better known Spanish Civil War because the former established a recurring pattern of geographically and ideologically defined civil and political strife that bridged the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

The Perspectives of Medical Students in China to Undergo Short-Term Training Abroad

Jinan University in Guangdong province has several years experience of sending medical students abroad for short-term training, based on the schools’ agreement with international universities. Currently, we analyze the problems and experience including the medical students’ favorite countries, timing, purposes, academic marks, and expenses etc., which came forth from medical students of Jinan University who had participated in the short-term training in the past several years. Our survey suggests that the choices of Chinese medical students about the host universities vary, although the universities in Western countries are still the most popular. The optimal timing the students prefer for short-term training abroad is during vacation especially after grade 2. Broadening the horizons, learning the different knowledge and increasing their academic experience are the major objectives for most exchange students. Furthermore, the survey shows that students hope to improve exchange students’ status management and credit acknowledgement system among interschool administrations. This study could supply useful information for the upcoming exchange students for Chinese medical universities/schools and meanwhile, for the host universities receiving Chinese medical students in the world. Hence, both universities and medical students will benefit for more efficiently implementing the exchange programs in the future.

School performance of childhood cancer survivors in Korea: A multi-institutional study on behalf of the Korean Society of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology.

To investigate school performance of childhood cancer survivors focusing on the child's functioning, including peer relationships, school attendance, and academic achievement. We studied 241 children from 15 institutions in Korea between 2015 and 2016. The self-reported paper-and-pencil questionnaires were used. Approximately 22% of the survivors suffered from lack of friends. Bullying was reported by 30% of survivors. Survivors who returned to primary school reported a higher incidence of bullying compared with survivors who returned to middle or high school (P=0.03). The percentage of children who missed classes more than 4days in a month was higher in survivors with brain tumors than those with other tumors (P=0.04). Approximately 41% of children reported learning difficulty. After returning to school, 53% of the patients reported that they had lower overall mark averages than they had before. Patients who returned to high school showed the highest rate of repeating a grade and the lowest rate of achieving high academic marks. The school marks in the Korean (P=0.03), English (P=0.04), and physical education (P=0.04) were worse for the children with brain tumors than for the children with other tumors. We found that 20% to 25% of survivors experienced peer-related difficulties upon returning to school. Patients who return to school, especially high school, should be provided more educational support to overcome low academic achievement. Particular concern is needed to the patients with brain tumors, who are at risk for significant academic and social difficulties and therefore may require more intensive support in school.

Evolution of project-based learning in small groups in environmental engineering courses

This work presents the assessment of the development and evolution of an active methodology (Project-Based Learning –PBL-) implemented on the course “Unit Operations in Environmental Engineering”, within the bachelor’s degree in Environmental Engineering, with the purpose of decreasing the dropout rate in this course. After the initial design and implementation of this methodology during the first academic year (12/13), different modifications were adopted in the following ones (13-14, 14-15 &amp; 15-16) in order to optimize the student’s and professor’s work load as well as correct some malfunctions observed in the initial design of the PBL. This active methodology seeks to make students the main architects of their own learning processes. Accordingly, they have to identify their learning needs, which is a highly motivating approach both for their curricular development and for attaining the required learning outcomes in this field of knowledge. The results obtained show that working in small teams (cooperative work) enhances each group member’s self–learning capabilities. Moreover, academic marks improve when compared to traditional learning methodologies. Nevertheless, the implementation of more active methodologies, such as project-based learning, in small groups has certain specific characteristics. In this case it has been implemented simultaneously in two different groups of 10 students each one. Such small groups are more heterogeneoussince the presence of two highly motivated students or not can vary or affect the whole group’s attitude and academic results.

The Relationship between Self-esteem and Academic Achievement in the Scientific Concepts and Methods of Teaching Course among Female Students of the Class- Teacher at the University of Jordan

The study aimed to discover the relationship between self-esteem and academic achievement in the scientific concepts and methods of teaching course among the female students of the class teacher at the University of Jordan. The study included a sample of (68) female students. Academic marks has been recorded in the course of scientific concepts at the end of the first semester of the academic year 2016/2017, and the appropriate statistical analysis has been conducted for the purposes of the study. The results showed that the level of self-esteem for the students of the class teacher was high and there is a significant correlation between academic achievement and self-esteem. The study recommended conducting further studies on other variables. Such as the relationship of the level of self-esteem to the degree of understanding of science processes and the degree of understanding of the nature of science.

Learning styles and academic outcome among nursing Students-Systematic review

Background: Leaming is a dynamic process and changes from person to person. Present day learners, in healthcare sector need to be competent to gain the quick access to the knowledge and skills in the technologically advancing world. Method: The purpose of this systematic review was to find the leaming styles adapted by nursing students and its relationship with academic outgome.'A comprehensive literature search was done between November and December 2016, using the MeSH waerds and key words such as learning, learning styles, laming approaches, academic success, academic results, academic achievements, students, Jearner, nursing students and Boolean operators from four online data bases such as PubMed, Ovid Medline, Proquest and CINAHL for the articles published between 2005 and 2016. A narrative synthesis approach of analysis was adopted for summarizing the findings. Results: Total of 1,840 articles were identified. After quality appraisal and based on the inclusion criteria, six research articles were found relevant for data extraction for the review. Out of these, three studies were exclusively conducted among nursing stedents, and five different types of learning style assessment tools were used among these six studies. Academic achievement was mainly assessed through academic marks and academic grade points. Conclusion: Learning siyle¢ is unique for each leamer. Teachers should understand learning style of stadert o encourage the new ways of leaming to improve the learming outcome.

Comparison of student marks obtained by an assessment panel reveals generic problem-solving skills and academic ability as distinct skill sets

Generic problem-solving skills have been identified as one of the key competencies valued by professional programmes, university students and their future employers. A lack of widely available and simple testing tools prevents assessment of the development of student problem-solving skills. As part of a research study, a generic problem-solving test was administered to 130 third-year science students during three consecutive years. A comparison between the scores students achieved in this test with their six academic marks obtained in this course showed no significant correlation. Lack of correlation between the problem-solving skill test scores and academic marks of students was confirmed in a larger population of students participating in a campus-wide study of generic problem-solving skills (n = 830). Problem solving and academic performance may represent two independent skill sets of students; testing problem-solving skills of students could be introduced to achieve a more comprehensive evaluation of undergraduate student progress and achievement.

Just a game? Gamifying a general science class at university: Collaborative and competitive work implications

Gamification is a modern technique in science education that involves the participation of the student as a gamer in a playful structure. As a result of this activity, the student should be motivated for learning the specific academic content, becoming a player rather than a spectator in an increasing creativity environment. This work presents a gamification experience within prospective primary teachers in a General Science Classroom. A scoring game-based methodology was used for teaching Matter and Energy contents. In an effort for promoting collaborative dynamics rather than competitive ones in the entire group, a new variable was introduced once the game was started. It was called Game-Index and took into account the scoring of the whole class, similarly to H-Index. The results evidenced the need for these correcting measures in the gamifications processes, since a positive correlation amongst scoring and academic marks was confirmed, but also some kind of competitive-by segreggation inside the class group.

The Relationship among University Students’ Interest in Horticulture, Psychological Well-Being and Social Development and the Influence of Measured Variables

The study was conducted to understand the relationship among university students’ interest in horticulture, psychological well-being and social development and the influence of measured variables. In order to collect data, the surveys were executed by convenience sampling on university students attending four-year universities in Daegu and Gyeongbuk regions of South Korea during the period from July 3 to July 17, 2016. A total of 307 survey results which measured the university students’ interest in horticulture, psychological well-being and social development were analyzed. The results showed that there are differences in the interest in horticulture, psychological well-being, and social development depending on the students’ general characteristics. According to the results analyzed by t-test and one-way ANOVA, the interest in horticulture depending on gender, religion, academic marks, family life satisfaction and school life satisfaction had significant differences showing high interest for the students with religion, good academic marks, high family life satisfaction and school life satisfaction as well as female students. Psychological well-being showed significant differences in academic marks, family life satisfaction and school life satisfaction, while social development displayed significant differences in gender, grade, academic marks, family life satisfaction and school life satisfaction. According to the results analyzed by correlation analysis, there was a significant correlation among university students’ interest in horticulture, psychological well-being and sociality development. Furthermore, regression analysis verified that university students’ interest in horticulture has a positive influence on psychological well-being and social development. The results of this study implies that university students with a higher interest in horticulture have higher levels of psychological well-being and social development.

The role of human actors in legitimising informal networked learning of academic digital practice

Ideas from phenomenography inform this study to investigate variation in staff experiences of a decision to introduce digitally shared academic supervision record keeping in a university-based School of Healthcare Sciences in the United Kingdom. At the time, the school's assessment and feedback strategy entitled students to individual formative supervision feedback on all draft essays before submitting them for summative assessment. Prior to the move to a shared digital record, records of supervisory events were stored in individual email inboxes or networked file-store, as well as on paper that was sometimes held in more than one location for the same student. A blogging platform within the university's virtual learning environment was used because, while it allowed students to only view their own records, the whole academic marking team could access any of the students' records.Lave and Wenger's ‘Legitimate Peripheral Participation' provides a theoretical lens for analysis of data collected in interviews with four staff who were selected to represent variations between and within the 'old-timers' and 'new-comers'. The phenomenographic 'outcome space' table is eschewed in favour of a narrative presentation of data that seeks to provide a 'direct encounter' with the phenomena of interest. As such, it represents a case study of informal networked learning, by those on the journey of 'newcomers' from the periphery to full participation and those who guide them. This analysis is challenged by the data, given the varied ways in which staff approached the change to digitally shared supervision record keeping and how the shared records were or were not taken up as a resource to help new staff learn the practice of academic supervision. Staff who had recently moved into academic roles from senior positions in clinical practice experienced dissonance when adjusting to a more permissive information security regime. The study offers insights into the cultural conceptual 'baggage' that can inhibit productive networked learning and the importance of human actors to encourage it and overcome these barriers. The role of students in challenging recalcitrant 'old-timers' into adopting the new digital practice is noted. These actors are held to speak back to theories within networked learning, actor-network theory and Lave and Wenger's communities of practice.The work was undertaken in part fulfilment of a doctorate in e-Research and Technology-Enhanced Learning at Lancaster University.

Measuring the effect of ARS on academic performance: A global meta-analysis

An increasing number of studies have addressed the impact of Audience Response Systems (ARS) on academic performance at all stages of education, although the evidence does not seem conclusive. With the aim of shedding light on the extent and diversity of the research outcomes, we conduct a meta-analysis of studies worldwide on this topic to assess whether the exam scores of students included in ARS experiments achieve better results than others taught using more conventional teaching tools. From an initial sample of 254 studies, data from 51 papers published between 2008 and 2012 (involving 14,963 participants) that set academic quality criteria, were extracted and analyzed following technical protocols for meta-analyses. Their high degree of heterogeneity shows that the effect of ARS on exam scores seems to be moderated by specific features. So, through a random-effects model, our results provide a positive, although moderated pooled effect of ARS on examination scores that is much greater in experiments performed in non-university contexts (Hedges' g = 0.48; S.E. = .2665) than at the university level (Hedge's g = 0.22, S.E. = .0434). Specifically, the categories of university disciplines in which ARS interventions are implemented seem to influence their usefulness for achieving better academic marks, being more effective when either Pure Soft Sciences or Applied Hard Sciences are considered. These findings might provide guidance for governments, researchers and educators into the effectiveness of learning based on the new interactive technologies.

Do Nondomestic Undergraduates Choose a Major Field In Order to Maximize Grade Point Averages?

The authors investigated whether undergraduates attending an American West Coast public university who were not U.S. citizens (nondomestic) maximized their grade point averages (GPA) through their choice of major field. Multiple regression hierarchical linear modeling analyses showed that major field’s effect size was small for these undergraduates’ academic marks in mandatory English writing classes and their term GPAs in the five most recent academic years. Engineering and economics, but not science, were significant predictors of writing marks. Economics, but not engineering or science, was a significant predictor of GPAs.

The relationship between motor proficiency and academic performance of adolescent learners in Potchefstroom, South Africa : the PAHL Study

The effect of movement on academic performance has lately become a topic of interest in literature, as it is widely accepted that there is a strong relationship between motor and cognitive development. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between motor proficiency and academic performance of Senior Phase learners in Potchefstroom, an urban region in South Africa. A total of 236 children between the ages of 13 and 14 years were randomly selected out of eight schools. The Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency 2 was used to assess motor competency. The learners' academic performance was measured by making use of their average end-of-year academic marks and the marks of English and Mathematics. Significant correlations were found between fine motor control and the end-of-year average marks and English and Mathematics marks in some of the groups. Similarly,correlations were found between the scores of the manipulation coordination items and the English marks of most of the groups, while the end-of-year marks, English and Mathematics marks correlated with body coordination scores in most of the groups. The strength and agility items showed the strongest correlations with the end-of-year marks in all the groups, and the total motor proficiency score showed significant correlations with the end-of-year marks in all the groups. The results of this study imply that motor skill development and maintenance should be incorporated in the Physical Education curriculum for learners of this age group.