Different Levels Of Academic Achievement Research Articles

Impact of different levels of academic achievement on epistemological beliefs

Impact of different levels of academic achievement on epistemological beliefs

Goal-Setting among Students with Different Levels of Academic Achievement

Introduction. As ever there is a high demand for higher education, the problem of goal setting to increase student academic performance becomes relevant. Russian and foreign authors are addressing this problem and looking for ways to improve the situation, because every year many students fail and leave their colleges/universities. The purpose of this study is to identify and analyze the characteristics of goal setting among students with advanced and average academic performances. Materials and Methods. 98 full-time sophomore students from the Moscow State University of Psychology and Education were surveyed. To determine the characteristics of student’s goal setting, the following diagnostic complex was employed: Methodology for studying the motives of educational activity, Academic Motivation Scale (AMS), Testing “Meaningful Orientationsˮ, Methodology for measuring the parameters of life goals, Questionnaire for identifying the severity of self-control in the emotional sphere, activity and behavior, Questionnaire “Action controlˮ, methodology “Style of self-regulation of educational activity”. The following methods of mathematical statistics were used: Frequency and factor analysis of the IBM program SPSS Statistics 21. Results. The substantiation of goal-setting as an initiative orientation at the motivational-semantic, emotional-volitional and operational levels made it possible to specify the features of goal-setting in students with high and average academic performance. Students with high academic performance are dominated by internal educational, cognitive, professional motives, meaningful life orientations, and the ability to develop and implement goals. Students with average academic performance are characterized by external known motives, they experience problems of planning, thinking through, detailing actions to achieve the intended goals. Discussion and Conclusion. The conclusions drawn by the author contribute to the development of ideas about goal-setting as an integral process at different levels of orientation and its role in improving the academic performance of students. The materials of the article will help researchers and practitioners in solving the problems of developing and implementing programs for providing psychological assistance and support to students who have difficulty setting and achieving goals in the learning process at universities with various educational backgrounds and academic levels.

Low academic achievement as a predictor of test anxiety in secondary school students

ObjectivesThe present study had two objectives: 1) to examine the differences between students with different levels of academic achievement (low, average and high) in Anxiety/Depression and Test Anxiety; and 2) to test the predictive effect of academic achievement on test anxiety. MethodData were collected in two moments. In time 1, the sample was comprised of 305 students. The students were aged between 15 to 18years, attending secondary school. The assessment protocol consisted of a Socio-demographic Data Sheet, the Youth Self-Report and the Cognitive Test Anxiety Scale. ResultsStudents with low academic achievement presented higher test anxiety than students with average and high academic achievement. Low academic achievement on time 1 predicted higher levels of test anxiety on time 2 when186 participants remained in the study. ConclusionResults suggest the importance of early psychological intervention with students with low academic achievement, and the relevance of promoting the development of skills that enable students to manage their test anxiety.

Coping factors underlying academic achievement in senior adolescence

Educational activity is accompanied by dramatic qualitative changes in the structure of human consciousness associated with the search, acquisition and assimilation of new information, its use to increase the productivity of one’s activities in various fields. Such dramatic changes are accompanied by stress and, accordingly, the formation and development of methods for overcoming it, coping, aimed at reducing the negative consequences of difficult life situations, their resolution or avoidance. The subject of the research are common factors underlying coping strategies of a complex object — school performance in older adolescents (158 older adolescents aged 15–17 years with different levels of academic achievement). The study used data of the student’s electronic diary and questionnaire “Methods of coping behavior”. According to the results of the Wilcoxon criterion, the choice of coping behavior strategy in older adolescence is not determined by the gender or age of the subject of activity. A similar situation was obtained with respect to academic performance indicators. The explanation of the lack of influence of gender and age on academic performance can be explained by the cumulative score on this very “school intellectual success”, which levels the differences between individual subgroups in individual subjects. The results of factor analysis indicate groups (styles) of coping strategies based on their “passivity”, and at the same time — “emotionality” and “activity”, coupled with a preference for rationality with elements of meta-analytical abilities, their social/individualistic and problematic oriented focus. Moreover, cognitive abilities are interrelated with problem-oriented coping strategies

Development of pre-service chemistry teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge through mentoring

The purpose of this study was to develop pre-service chemistry teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) regarding atoms and the periodic table via mentoring. Two pre-service chemistry teachers with different levels of academic achievement participated in the study. The development of the participants’ PCK was investigated in terms of the following components: orientations toward science teaching, knowledge of curriculum, knowledge of instructional strategies, knowledge of learners, and knowledge of assessment. The data of this study were collected over four months using multiple data collection tools, including semi-structured interviews, observations, content representations, card-sorting activities, and field notes. The results of this study provided evidence for the relationship between the development of PCK and mentoring. However, as a result of the mentoring, it was determined that the improvements in the PCK components did not occur at the same levels for these participants. One of the participants had an advanced level of improvement in all PCK components through mentoring, while the other participant had varying levels of improvement in PCK components. It was found that the more academically successful participant had more advanced development in all components of PCK as a result of mentoring. For the other participant with lower academic achievement, there was no improvement in some respects of PCK components. According to the results of this study, it can be said that the development of PCK can be fostered through mentoring in pre-service chemistry teacher education. In light of the results of this study, implications are stated for in-service chemistry teacher education, pre-service chemistry teacher education, and chemistry education researchers.

Distinct roles of perceived teacher and peer relationships in adolescent students’ academic motivation and outcomes: Father absence as a moderator

In the learning environment, both teachers and peers are influential social agents. In the present study, we differentiated between positive and negative aspects of teacher and peer relationships and examined how they predict adolescent students’ academic interest and self-concept, which in turn lead to different levels of academic achievement and subjective well-being at school. Additionally, we explored whether father absence moderated these predictive relationships. Results based on a group of 4274 Chinese middle school students revealed that positive social relationships were more closely related to interest, self-concept, and well-being than negative ones. The predictive paths from teacher relationships to motivation and achievement were stronger than those from peer relationships. However, peers played a prominent role in helping students with absent fathers build a positive self-concept, which led to improved achievement.

STUDENTS’ CONCEPT ORGANISATION REGARDING CHEMICAL EQUILIBRIUM IN UPPER-SECONDARY EDUCATION: BASED ON REACTION TIME TECHNIQUE

Chemical equilibrium is so important domain knowledge in chemistry that the corresponding organisation of concepts in students has been an interesting but unsolved issue. A deeper understanding of how students organise the relevant concepts in long-term memory is beneficial to develop more targeted teaching practices. This research utilized the reaction time technique as a new approach to exploring upper-secondary school students’ organisation of concepts regarding chemical equilibrium. A category judgment task involving 247 Chinese twelfth-grade students from two upper-secondary schools was conducted. The results showed that a significant difference was between the reaction time of concept dimensions. The mean reaction time of the dimension ‘reversible reaction’ was the shortest, but the dimension ‘representation of state’ had the longest mean reaction time. Next, there was no significant difference in the organisation of concepts between students studying chemistry at different levels of academic achievement. These findings provide a new and essential picture to deeply understand the organisation of concepts regarding chemical equilibrium and help focus on the relations between some relevant concepts. This research represents that the reaction time technique can be utilized in the research on organisation of science concepts. Keywords: category judgment task, chemical equilibrium, organisation of concepts, reaction time

Norwegian students’ experiences of homeschooling during the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT Norwegian teachers and school leaders had to organise and provide homeschooling for their students from March to May 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A survey conducted in May 2020 examined lower secondary school students’ experiences of distance learning. How students at different levels of academic achievement (based on grades) experienced homeschooling was compared to comparable findings from a survey conducted on students from the same schools during the autumn of 2018. The findings indicate that students experienced less support and feedback from their teachers during homeschooling, and that teachers gave more written than oral feedback to the students during homeschooling than they do in regular school. Furthermore, there was a tendency of lower efforts and self-efficacy among low-achieving students, which might be difficult to reverse when schools reopen. The findings raise growing concerns about homeschooling leading to a larger gap between high- and low-achieving students in lower secondary school.

The state of vegetative regulatory systems of pupils with different academic performance

The transition to primary school requires pupils to adapt to new conditions of the educational environment, accompanied by the use of physiological reserves of the body. School stress can hinder the academic success of children and adolescents, creative solutions to complex and new problems, which, in turn, can lead to underestimation of abilities and underestimation of pupils self-esteem. Chronic exposure to academic stress can lead to school burnout and the formation of psychosomatic disorders. The aim of the study was to compare the functional state of autonomic regulatory systems among pupils with different levels of academic achievement. 60 children (10-13 years old) took part in the longitudinal study. The functional state of the autonomic regulatory systems was determined by analyzing 5-minute recordings of the electrocardiogram in a state of quiet wakefulness with eyes closed in a sitting position. Pupils were divided into 3 groups depending on the level of their academic performance, which was determined by the average score of 8 basic subjects. Statistical data processing was performed using the Mann-Whitney, Kraskell-Wallis, Dunnett, Fisher’s φ-test. Significant differences in heart rate variability (HRV) parameters depending on the level of academic achievement were found only in the 5th and 6th years of study, which reflected the different physiological cost of adaptation to primary school. The vegetative profile of pupils with academic performance lower than the average in the 5th year of study indicated overstrain of regulatory systems and fatigue. Among pupils with academic performance higher than the average in the 6th year of study 2.4 times more often than pupils with average academic performance, the optimal state of autonomic regulatory systems was observed (respectively, 46.2% and 19.1%, p≤0,05), and in the 7th year of study – 2.5 times compared to pupils with academic performance below average (respectively, 46.2% and 18.2%, p≤0.05), which may indicate a higher physiological price for adaptation to primary school pupils with academic performance below average. Fatigue and overexertion of the mechanisms of autonomic regulation are characteristic of pupils with academic performance below average, while pupils with academic performance above average had a high level of stress adaptive-compensatory mechanisms in the 6th year of study. The category of pupils with a level of academic performance below average should be assigned to the risk group in terms of the development of autonomic dysfunction and psychosomatic diseases.

Investigation of Students' Cognitive Learning in Mathematics Lessons Supported with Writing Activities

The aim of the present research was to examine the contribution of expository and journal writing activities to the cognitive development of 7th-grade students with varying levels of academic achievement in mathematics education. The qualitative research approach has been adopted in this research. The lessons were conducted in one 7th grade class of 28 students using a total of 26 expository writing activities and 6 journal writings designed to address the topics of lines, angles and measuring angles, operations with integers, rational numbers, algebraic expressions, equations, ratio and proportion.‖ During the 14 weeks of lessons, three themes were created and various codes were established under these themes by means of content analysis of the written explanations obtained from students' expository writing activities and diaries. In addition, the expository writing activities were analyzed using an analytical scoring rubric (ASR). The findings were coded under three themes: (1) features of the students' explanations (2) use of mathematical language and (3) mathematical algorithms and calculations. According to the data obtained, it has been determined that writing activities contribute to the cognitive development of particularly those students with a moderate level of academic achievement. In addition, it was revealed that the responses provided in writing activities by students with different levels of academic achievement varied. Based on the results of the study, it is recommended that writing activities be implemented over a long and continuous period of time.

A study of factors influencing academic performance of undergraduate medical students

Introduction: An important indicator of quality of medical education is students' academic performance and the study of factors which influence the academic performance of medical students is important as it can provide information to improve educational programs. Material and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study involving medical students who passed their final professional examinations and were about to start their internship training. They were asked to complete an anonymously administered feedback form which contained questions regarding the academic performance of students in all the professional examinations of MBBS along with background characteristics of students. Data entry and statistical analysis was carried out using statistical software SPSS version 12. The primary outcome was the proportion of students in different levels of academic achievement. The secondary outcome was the factors associated with different levels of academic achievement. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the distribution of all variables. For finding out the association, an analysis using Chi-square test was done for qualitative data. Results: The mean age of participants was 22.7 ± 0.67 years (range 21–25). About 43.6% of the students had scored Conclusion: Many factors were found to have a significant association with academic performance of students such as residence, having a doctor parent, spending time on personal hobbies and social networking sites, time spent on study, and duration of sleep a day before examination.

DIFERENCIAS EN LA IMPLICACIÓN EN LOS DEBERES ESCOLARES EN FUNCIÓN DEL RENDIMIENTO ACADÉMICO

RESUMEN El objetivo de este trabajo fue comprobar si hay diferencias en la implicación en los deberes escolares en función de los distintos niveles de rendimiento académico de los estudiantes. Debido al posible efecto que pueden tener el género, curso y la motivación intrínseca, se controlaron sus efectos incorporándolas como covariables en el diseño. La muestra está integrada por 388 estudiantes de Educación Secundaria de centros públicos de A Coruña (España). Los resultados indican que, a medida que los niveles de rendimiento académico de los estudiantes sean más altos, hay un aumento progresivo en la cantidad de deberes realizados y en el aprovechamiento del tiempo. Además, otro resultado destacado es que, según los alumnos van avanzando de curso, realizan una menor cantidad de deberes de los prescritos por el profesor y aprovechan peor el tiempo que dedican a esos deberes. Todo ello debe tenerse en cuenta para la práctica educativa: una mayor motivación intrínseca implicará una mejor gestión del tiempo, una mayor cantidad de deberes realizados y, consecuentemente, un mejor rendimiento.

Relación entre perfil motivacional y rendimiento académico en Educación Secundaria Obligatoria

This study analyzes the differences of academic goals in students of Compulsory Secondary Education depending on the course, and identifies the motivational profiles and their relationship with academic achievement in the subjects of Spanish Language and Mathematics. A sample of 596 students were selected by random sampling clusters, which were in public schools. The results showed the existence of significant differences in average scores of the academic goals depending of the grade. Likewise, it was found that motivation is determined by three types of motivational profiles, which are related to different levels of academic achievement in Spanish Language and Mathematics.

Social Intelligence and Emotional Intelligence: Correlational Analysis among Secondary School Students in Different Achievement Levels

The present study aims to explore the relationship between social intelligence and emotional intelligence of secondary school students in different levels of academic achievement. The Social Intelligence Test and the Emotional Intelligence Scale developed by the investigators for the purpose of the study were administered to gather data from a stratified random sample of 628 high school students in the age range 13 to 16. The analysis of the data with SPSS revealed that presence of significant difference among high-, average-, and low achievers in secondary school students with regard to their social intelligence and emotional intelligence. The study exposed the presence of low, but significant positive correlation between social intelligence and emotional intelligence of secondary school students. The high-, average-, and low achievers, however, do not differ significantly with regard to the degree of relationship between their social intelligence and emotional intelligence.

Testing measurement invariance of the Learning Programme Management and Evaluation scale across academic achievement

Orientation: Measurement invariance is one of the most precarious aspects of the scale development process without which the interpretation of research findings on population subgroups may be ambiguous and even invalid. Besides tests for validity and reliability, measurement invariance represents the hallmark for psychometric compliance of a new measuring instrument and provides the basis for inference of research findings across a range of relevant population sub-groups.Research purpose: This study tested the measurement invariance of a Learning Programme Management and Evaluation (LPME) scale across levels of academic achievement.Motivation for the study: It is important for any researcher involved in new scale development to ensure that the measurement instrument and its underlying constructs have proper structural alignment and that they both have the same level of meaning and significance across comparable heterogeneous groups.Research design, approach and method: A quantitative, non-experimental, cross-sectional survey design was used, and data were obtained from 369 participants who were selected from three public sector organisations using a probabilistic simple random sampling technique. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences and Analysis of Moment Structures software (versions 21.0.0) were used to analyse the data.Main findings: The findings show that all the four invariance models tested have achieved acceptable goodness-of-fit indices. Furthermore, the findings show that the factorial structure of the LPME scale and the meaning of its underlying constructs are invariant across different levels of academic achievement for human resource development (HRD) practitioners and learners or apprentices involved in occupational learning programmes.Practical implications: The findings of this study suggest practical implications for HRD scholars as they are enabled to make informed decisional balance comparisons involving educational attainment sub-groups.Contributions and value addition: This study contributes methodologically to the sub-field of HRD by enabling scholars to make comparisons of mean differences or other structural parameters across sub-groups.

Teaching with Interactive Simulations: One Small Contribution Toward Science Education for all

Many of the greatest challenges facing humanity in coming decades have a scientific component: energy needs, disease pandemics, water and food security, climate change, machine intelligence and many not yet imagined. The tendency has been to assume that the solutions to these challenges will be developed by scientists, engineers and technologists, but it is increasingly important that all citizens have sufficient understanding of science to participate in the democratic processes that are necessary to address major issues. Enhancing the science education of all citizens is a huge challenge in itself, and will require a very wide range of strategies and approaches. One small contribution can come from teaching approaches using new technologies, including interactive simulations. This paper briefly describes interactive simulations and an approach to teaching using them, and addresses evidence of the effectiveness of this approach. Outcomes showed significant learning gains, relative to a control group, that were not differentiated by gender, or for students at different levels of academic achievement, suggesting that this approach may be effective as one contribution toward science education for all.

Learning nanotechnology with texts and comics: the impacts on students of different achievement levels

ABSTRACTComics are popular with adolescents because of their features of humor, narrative, and visual imagery. The purposes of this study were to examine the learning outcomes and emotional perceptions of reading a science comic book and a science text booklet for students of different levels of achievement, and to explore the main factors of the two media which attract high-school students to learn science. A mixed-method quasi-experimental design was adopted. The participants were 697 grade ten students from eight schools with different levels of academic achievement. Two similar classes in each of the eight schools were assigned as the comic group or the text group. The results indicated that the science comic book benefited medium achievers more than the science text booklet did, but the contrary result was found for the high achievers. In comparison, the two media benefited the low achievers equally, but both had only a limited effect due to the students’ lack of prior knowledge. We conclude four kinds of evidence, including perceived difficulty of comprehension, reasons for interest/disinterest, emotional perceptions of learning science, and learning time, to support the phenomenon of the learning benefit of media specific to certain achievers’ science learning.

Features of the localization of intra – and interhemispheric coherent relations among boys and girls with different psychological, psychophysiological characteristics and level of achievement

This article describes the analysis of specific spatial-temporal organization of EEG in solving creative problems of various kinds of respondents with different levels of academic achievement and certain individual characteristics.

Editorial: Rating research performance

Editorial: Rating research performance

Alexithymia and academic success: examining the transition from high school to university

The present study used the major life transition of going off to university as the context for examining the relationship between alexithymia and academic achievement. During the first month of post-secondary classes 707 first-year full-time students completed the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20). At the end of the academic year alexithymia data was matched with students’ academic records. Consistent with previous research on personality and achievement, results were dependent on how academic achievement and alexithymia was operationalized. When alexithymia variables were compared in groups who had achieved very different levels of academic achievement, success was moderately associated with alexithymia. Results are discussed in the context of the importance of affect regulation abilities during a stressful life transition.