Individual Differences In Achievement Research Articles

Early experiences and school readiness: A within and between exploration of the Opportunity Propensity Model

The Opportunity-Propensity Model (OPM) specifies that antecedents (demographics that predict opportunities and propensities occurring before formal schooling), opportunities (exposure to experiences afforded in the home, community, and school), and propensities (pre-existing skills that help children take advantage of opportunities) work in concert to explain individual differences in achievement. Recent work has also pointed towards transactional relations of academic and domain-general skills (working memory), which shares some overlap with the OPM. However, OPM has not been used to explain these transactions. Additionally, researchers have not used the OPM to predict between- versus within-person differences over time, though this might help provide insights on developmental patterns and educational practice. In this study, we use the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study – 2010-2011 to examine the extent to which the OPM accounts for the transaction between mathematics and working memory. • Using random intercepts cross-lagged panel modeling ( Hamaker et al., 2015 ), we found little evidence of cross-lagged relations between math and working memory in Grades 2-5. • Within-person stability (autoregressive terms) were greater in math than working memory. • Stable individual differences in math and working memory were strongly correlated ( r =.70). • We found that socioeconomic status (SES) directly predicts stable, individual differences in math and working memory from Grades 2-5. • SES also indirectly predicts stable individual differences in math (but not working memory) in Grades 2-5 through reading in Grade 1.

Measuring how to evaluate the impact of doing student’s homework using the distance e-learning process in the computer science course, and access its efficiency in developing academic achievement: قياس أثر كيفية تقييم أعمال الطلبة في تنفيذ الواجبات المنزلية خلال عملية التعلم عن بعد في مادة الحاسوب ومتابعة مدى فعاليتها في تطوير التحصيل الدراسي

This study aimed to investigate the efficiency of teaching students on distance learning platforms and its impact on academic achievement. Specifically, it tried to answer the following question: “How to evaluate the impact of doing student’s homework using the distance e-learning process in the computer science course, and access its efficiency in developing academic achievement?” The study was conducted by using experimental methodology. The study samples consisted of 30 students from the ninth grade, at King Abdullah-II School for Excellence in Ajloun, Jordan. The first half of the samples represents the experimental-group that studied using specific teaching strategies and the homework method used the Internet platform for implementation and follow-up. The second half represents the control-group who studied with the same strategies, but used the traditional homework method within the classroom environment and follow-up traditionally. The efficiency evaluation for teaching the two groups was by preparing an achievement test consisted of 25 multiple-choice items. The study showed the following results: The experimental-group students who studied using homework via the internet platform outperformed the control-group students who studied using traditional homework, with a constant factor of 0.97. In light of the result, the researcher recommended a number recommendations: the necessity of using homework via Internet platform, considering individual differences in achievement by distributing duties in terms of ease and difficulty, using a reasonable duties amount so it doesn’t burden students, coordination between teachers of other subjects when assigning students’ homework, and finally recommendations to study other variables such as parents' academic level and teachers strategies of preparing homework.

Gene-environment interaction in expertise: The importance of childhood environment for musical achievement.

Both genes and the environment are important for individual differences in expertise, but little is known about gene-environment interactions underlying domain-specific achievement. Here we explored this issue in a large Swedish twin cohort (N = 6,610), using moderator modeling with musical expertise as a model domain. Specifically, we tested whether musical enrichment of the childhood environment moderates adult musical achievement, as well as the magnitude of genetic and nongenetic influences on individual differences in achievement. Musical achievement was measured using the Creative Achievement Questionnaire and enrichment of the childhood environment was indexed with a principal component derived from the number of music records in the family home, number of individuals in the family environment playing an instrument, frequency of concert visits, and music education before the age of 12. As expected, we found a positive association between childhood musical enrichment and musical achievement in adulthood. Interestingly, however, the total variance in musical achievement as well as the relative importance of genetic influences increased with a higher level of musical enrichment. Estimates of genetic and environmental influences as well as the magnitude of the environmental moderation differed for men and women. These findings suggest that, in line with recent multifactorial models of expert performance, a musically enriched childhood environment amplifies individual differences, an effect which is largely driven by an increase in the importance of genetic factors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Gender Differences in Achievement Motivation of Employed Adults

Achievement motivation is a concept that can be used for the explanation of individual differences in achievement and success in various contexts as well as an explanation of motivated behaviour. Despite the fact that a generally accepted definition of achievement motivation is still lacking because of disagreement over the traits it encompasses, numerous studies have been conducted on this subject. Researchers agree that achievement motivation is an important factor in professional life, particularly in achieving high professional success when external demands for focusing activity on achieving goals are minimal. It is of particular importance for those activities that have low structure levels and high autonomy. The study included 267 employed adults (124 males and 143 females) older than 18 years. Participants completed the Achievement Motivation Inventory (AMI) which consists of 17 achievement motivation scales. Individual scales form three clusters of motivational facets relating to self-assurance, ambition and self-control. The aim of the study was to determine the existence of gender differences in individual achievement motivation dimensions in employed adults in the Republic of Croatia. The results show the existence of significant gender differences in achievement motivation facets related to self-assurance and ambition in favour of males (e.g. confidence in success, dominance, and fearlessness) and self-control in favour of females. These results are in agreement with previous research and contribute to the usefulness of multifaceted measures of achievement motivation. Keywords: achievement motivation, gender differences, AMI

An example of analysis of arithmetic and early algebraic thinking

This text is our contribution to conceptualization of the domain early algebra and the term early algebraic thinking in our primary school education. The paper describes arithmetic - early algebraic thinking about early numeric operations of graduated students from the faculties of education. According to this curriculum, students are expected to deal with algebraic ideas referring to many concepts of natural numbers, and we can form the hypothesis that students can connect what they have learnt at the course Teaching Methodology of Mathematics with their knowledge about arithmetic concepts within the semi circle of natural numbers. We justified this hypothesis by interviews with candidates at teachers' exams, and we dealt with algebraic contents incorporated into same arithmetic concepts. This text about involving algebraic ideas into algebraic concept of 'subtracting the number from the sum' is a partial review about these interviews. Based on our knowledge about the mentioned talks with candidates, and on this occasion they were given the possibility of realization of this teaching unit accepting the concept of early algebra, so we can estimate that candidates are capable of making a certain connection, but that there are individual differences in achievement in these connections.

A Two-Minute Paper-and-Pencil Test of Symbolic and Nonsymbolic Numerical Magnitude Processing Explains Variability in Primary School Children's Arithmetic Competence

Recently, there has been a growing emphasis on basic number processing competencies (such as the ability to judge which of two numbers is larger) and their role in predicting individual differences in school-relevant math achievement. Children’s ability to compare both symbolic (e.g. Arabic numerals) and nonsymbolic (e.g. dot arrays) magnitudes has been found to correlate with their math achievement. The available evidence, however, has focused on computerized paradigms, which may not always be suitable for universal, quick application in the classroom. Furthermore, it is currently unclear whether both symbolic and nonsymbolic magnitude comparison are related to children’s performance on tests of arithmetic competence and whether either of these factors relate to arithmetic achievement over and above other factors such as working memory and reading ability. In order to address these outstanding issues, we designed a quick (2 minute) paper-and-pencil tool to assess children’s ability to compare symbolic and nonsymbolic numerical magnitudes and assessed the degree to which performance on this measure explains individual differences in achievement. Children were required to cross out the larger of two, single-digit numerical magnitudes under time constraints. Results from a group of 160 children from grades 1–3 revealed that both symbolic and nonsymbolic number comparison accuracy were related to individual differences in arithmetic achievement. However, only symbolic number comparison performance accounted for unique variance in arithmetic achievement. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed which include the use of this measure as a possible tool for identifying students at risk for future difficulties in mathematics.

Enhancing Language Learning in Study Abroad

Research demonstrates that study abroad can have a positive impact on every domain of language competence, and that it is particularly helpful for the development of abilities related to social interaction. However, some results suggest that study abroad intensifies individual differences in achievement: Certain students thrive while others founder. Qualitative studies provide insight into the sources of these differences both in the stances that students adopt toward their host communities and in the ways in which they are received. Overall, the research points to a need for language learners’ broader engagement in local communicative practices, for mindfulness of their situation as peripheral participants, and for more nuanced awareness of language itself. This article offers a rationale, based on the current state of the art in research, for including the expertise of language educators in the choice and design of study abroad programs. Students will benefit from programs specifically designed to foster language learning through observation, participation, and reflection.

Individual differences in non-verbal number acuity correlate with maths achievement

Human mathematical competence emerges from two representational systems. Competence in some domains of mathematics, such as calculus, relies on symbolic representations that are unique to humans who have undergone explicit teaching. More basic numerical intuitions are supported by an evolutionarily ancient approximate number system that is shared by adults, infants and non-human animals-these groups can all represent the approximate number of items in visual or auditory arrays without verbally counting, and use this capacity to guide everyday behaviour such as foraging. Despite the widespread nature of the approximate number system both across species and across development, it is not known whether some individuals have a more precise non-verbal 'number sense' than others. Furthermore, the extent to which this system interfaces with the formal, symbolic maths abilities that humans acquire by explicit instruction remains unknown. Here we show that there are large individual differences in the non-verbal approximation abilities of 14-year-old children, and that these individual differences in the present correlate with children's past scores on standardized maths achievement tests, extending all the way back to kindergarten. Moreover, this correlation remains significant when controlling for individual differences in other cognitive and performance factors. Our results show that individual differences in achievement in school mathematics are related to individual differences in the acuity of an evolutionarily ancient, unlearned approximate number sense. Further research will determine whether early differences in number sense acuity affect later maths learning, whether maths education enhances number sense acuity, and the extent to which tertiary factors can affect both.

The Concept of Aptitude and Multidimensional Validity Revisited

Richard E. Snow, reasoning from his new conception of aptitude, advocated a multidimensional approach to validating the construct of academic achievement. We briefly overview Snow's approach and then summarize evidence from this special issue in 3 themes: (a) the multidimensional structure of science achievement, (b) the incremental predictive validity provided when both cognitive and motivational (affective and conative) constructs are used to model individual differences in achievement, and (c) the co-contributions of ability, motivational orientations, and characteristics of achievement test situations to performance differences. Overall, our studies confirmed or established (a) a multidimensional structure of science achievement scores, (b) the validity of several key motivational constructs for predicting science achievement among high school students, (c) systematic variation in relations between motivational and general-ability constructs and science reasoning dimensions, assessment type, and achievement behavior (performance and anticipated choice), and (d) how alternative assessment methods (constructed response and performance assessment) shed light on the notion of multidimensional validity.

Recall of farm hazards in Australian primary school age children using a 3-d visual cue test.

This paper evaluates the effectiveness of the 'Spot the Hazard' farm safety resource which employs 3-D visual stimuli to develop rudimentary risk assessment skills in children. Primary school children from three local schools in north-west New South Wales were presented with the resource and talked about the farm hazards present. Children's recall of the hazards and the extent to which they compared the resource to their own farm was assessed after an initial presentation at post-tests of 1, 14 and 28 days, across three experimental groups. Individual differences in achievement were controlled for using the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test-Screener (WIAT). Analysis revealed that children exposed to the resource recalled significantly more hazards and made more comparisons to their own farm experiences than controls. However, differences on individual achievement were observed between groups due to a lack of randomisation. Farm safety educational resources for children are more effective when verbal and nonverbal strategies are used and when children are exposed to such cues repeatedly. The development of farm safety educational resources for children which employ spatial cues is encouraged. Further clarification of results would entail a more rigorous randomised control trial.

Might we adopt the learning-related account instead of the talent account?

Although Howe et al.'s survey shows little evidence for the talent account, it is premature to conclude that individual differences in achievement can be attributed largely to training and early experience. Moreover, such an empiricist account has problematic social implications, especially in cultures in which effort is emphasized. The aptitude account is thus proposed as a third alternative.

Achieved eminence in minority and majority cultures: Convergence versus divergence in the assessments of 294 African Americans.

Although psychologists have often used eminence measures as individual-difference variables, no researcher has investigated the differential eminence of individuals belonging to disadvantaged minority groups. Here a sample of 294 illustrious African Americans is scrutinized from the standpoint of the majority (White) culture and the minority (Black) subculture. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of 7 Black and 10 White eminence measures indicate that (a) these measures can be explained by two latent variables but that (b) the two dimensions correlate very highly. Multiple regression analyses then showed that the Black and White composite assessments, although concurring on the impact of most predictor variables (e.g., gender, famous firsts, and Spingarn Award), could nonetheless disagree on the consequences of achievements in certain domains (e.g., athletes, blues and jazz musicians, and civil rights activists). The results have implications for the development of causal models that explain individual differences in achievement within minority- and majority-culture populations.

Cognitive style, personality, and computer programming

Within the field of computer programming there is evidence of tremendous variation among individuals achievement in programming. Cognitive styles and personality traits have been investigated as factors that may help explain some of that variability; however, they have failed to consistently explain individual differences in achievement. In the majority of these studies, computer programming has been measured as a single activity. Computer programming has been described as an activity having separate and distinct phases: problem representation, program design, coding, and debugging. It may be that certain cognitive styles and personality dimensions affect some phases but not others. The purpose of this review is twofold. First, the empirical studies on the relation between cognitive style, personality traits and computer programming are reviewed. Second, the paper provides an agenda for future research by providing a conceptual framework that organizes and relates the variety of constructs to the specific phases of writing computer programs and identifies a number of distinct gaps in this particular body of research.

Predictors of Study Management and Performance on a First-Year Computer Course: The Significance of Students' Study Goals and Perceptions

This study investigated the significance of adult students' goals and perceptions in a first-year computer course, in relation to their study management and final performance. The relationship of goals to students' stable characteristics such as age, gender, levels of previous experience of computing and programs of study were examined. The results support the importance of personal goals with respect to achievement and the dynamic interactions between students' study goals and their subjective appraisals of their study. The best predictors of goals were students' perceptions of their interest in the course in the first half of the semester and of their competence in the second half. Background knowledge in computing was related to performance, but students' perceptions and goals were better predictors of performance. It is argued that students' cognitive and affective appraisals of their study and their individual goals are crucial factors in understanding individual differences in achievement in a first-year computer course.

Specialized cognitive function and school achievement

Individual differences in performance on academic achievement tests were studied in relation to tasks of specialized cognitive function associated with processing in the right and left cerebral hemispheres. In 1,042 elementary‐school (fourth‐ and fifth‐grade) children, it was found that those who performed better on visuospatial skills than on “verbosequential” skills performed more poorly on reading and language achievement but not on arithmetic—in comparison with children who had the reverse profile (performing better on verbosequential skills than on visuospatial skills). These results held true after measures of overall performance were partialed out, suggesting that the cognitive profile accounted for some of the group differences. It was also demonstrated that the reading scores for the visuospatial profile group tended to be distributed bimodally, whereas the scores for the verbosequential profile group were not. These data suggest that individual differences in achievement are related, in part, to...

Children who do Exceptionally Well in First Grade

Children's progress in the early years of school is thought to be important for understanding their later achievement, but most sociological research carried out at the primary level skirts a broadly inclusive accounting of the social and personal processes that underlie early achievement. The study reported in this article aimed to fill part of that gap. It used a modified school process model to examine factors that contribute to unexpectedly large gains in verbal competence (outlier status) among a diverse and representative sample of urban first graders. A set of logistic regression analyses indicated that exceptionally high growth over the first grade is associated prominently with the characteristics of teachers (especially their job conditions) and two characteristics of students (personality/maturity and academic self-image). Background/family variables had a negligible impact, as did the students' first-quarter marks. For policy purposes, these findings are encouraging because it is more feasible to make changes in classrooms and in the climate of a school than in a family's educational status or parents' attitudes. Patterns of advantage and disadvantage across generations seem to be perpetuated mainly by socioeconomic differences in achievement in school; that is, children of the well situated tend to go further in school than do those of the less well off and, as a consequence, fare better in the labor market. These fundamental insights from the early status-attainment literature (Blau and Duncan 1967; Duncan and Hodge 1963) caused scholars who were curious about the transmission of inequality across generations to become interested in schools and how they work. And it was by this path that students' performance in school and their parents, teachers, and peers as agents of academic socialization entered the mainstream of the discourse on stratification. The first, and still most elegant, integration of these themes is the school-process model that was developed by Sewell and his colleagues (see Sewell and Hauser, 1980, for an overview). This framework gives primacy to the individual as a goal-oriented actor and examines the interpersonal and situational processes through which individual differences in achievement in secondary school arise. The advantages of middleclass youngsters in the competition for high levels of schooling stem, in large measure, from

Political and Mathematical Perspectives on Educational Equity

A selective review of the literature on equal educational opportunity supports an argument for explicit use of normative models in research. The argument has two parts. First, we show that confusion over the Coleman Report (1966) was due to a mismatch between the implied reform objective and the statistical approach. The objective was to reduce black/white differences in educational achievement, but the statistics explained individual differences in achievement. Second, we partly develop and apply a normative dynamic model of the objectives of school integration over time. Normative dynamic models could be used in conjunction with behavioral data to operationalize theoretical concepts such as accountability, symbolic politics and non-decisions.

Articulate statistics and educational equity

Policy research on educational equity from 1965 to 1975 challenged the ‘conventional wisdom’ about schools. Apparently families, not schools, produce education, and the black-white achievement gap is not explained by school differences. But these counter-intuitive conclusions are drawn from studies of individual differences in achievement, and the radical political perspective articulated by that mode of analysis belittles and distorts relationships that moderates find significant. A moderate-style statistical articulation, that focuses primarily on between-race and between-status differences, is available. It produces findings that are largely consistent with the “conventional wisdom” when applied to data from Coleman's (1966) study of schools. Despite measurement problems, schools and other environmental variables statistically explain the bulk of the black-white achievement gap.

Motives of Negro Americans Who Aspire to Traditionally Open and Closed Occupations

The aspirations of Negro American college students to occupations which traditionally have been open or closed to them were examined as functions of (a) the predominantly middle or working class status of the college attended and (b) individual differences in achievement, affiliation, and power motivation. Among Negro students in a middle class Negro college aspiration to traditionally open occupations was associated with weak affiliation motivation and aspiration to traditionally closed occupations with strong affiliation motivation. Among students attending a predominantly working class Negro college strong achievement motivation and strong power motivation were related to aspiration to traditionally closed occupations. It was inferred that the personality basis for occupational integration may differ as a function of the social class milieu in which the Negro student is functioning at the time he makes occupational decisions. Replication on minorities in other nations is suggested.

Continuous Reaction as a Measure of Attention

BOUT six years ago, the present writer conducted a simple word learning experiment with a small group of children ranging in age from two and a half to four years. The task, in this instance, was to learn to recognize a number of printed words by associating them with toy objects which they represented. At the close of the investigation we found marked individual differences in achievement. We also discovered that these individual differences did not correlate highly with intelligence as measured by the Stanford Binet I.Q. Some relatively dull youngsters with a certain placidity of temperament accomplished more, under the given learning conditions, than other, brighter, children who seemed unable to focus upon the problem for longer than a few seconds at a time. This tendency to distractibility was more marked with the younger subjects but appeared at all chronological age levels. We further noted that wherever this inattentive behavior appeared it had certain fairly well defined characteristics. Movements were mercurial,-particularly eye movements. There was marked diffuseness of energy output, with little evidence of control. Response to the test situation seemed to be, not integrated effort under the direction of a persistent idea, but rather, a series of fairly discrete reactions to an environmental kaleidoscope of stimulus patterns. These observations raised a number of interesting questions in regard to the nature of attention. With this group of children, physical, intellectual and emotional factors seemed to be nicely integrated in the attentive states. What interfered with the coordinating of processes in the inattentive states? Is inability to control attention an organic, an emotional, or an intellectual defect? Does the power to attend develop gradually in small children with measurable increments between chronological age levels? Can attention be measured at all? The following study is an attempt to explore a small corner of this very large and interesting field. It aims to deal with three aspects of the problem: