Positive Learning Behaviors Research Articles

An Analysis of Videoconferencing Learning in Primary Schools

This study investigated how teaching English through an interactive videoconferencing tool develops learners’ language performance and also supports their psychological efficacy in primary English language settings. Videoconferencing in the English class involved 201 primary school students for eight weeks in Jeonnam Province. The results indicated that students showed positive learning behavior and productive achievement in language learning using the videoconferencing tool. In addition, the study found that interacting online with distant native-speaking teachers enhanced students’ motivation and interest in learning. This seems to indicate that multimedia assisted language learning (MALL) can facilitate learners’ self-directed language learning and other learning strategies. Furthermore, implementing videoconferencing teaching methodology can be a way of providing significant pedagogical benefits to the geographically disadvantaged areas including the large number of islands located in Korea.

Positive Education for Young Children: Effects of a Positive Psychology Intervention for Preschool Children on Subjective Well Being and Learning Behaviors.

Despite the flourishing in recent years in applications of positive psychology in the field of education, there is a paucity of research investigating positive psychology interventions for preschool children. The present study examined the effects of a positive psychology-based intervention conducted in Israel on children’s subjective well-being, mental health and learning behaviors. Twelve preschool classrooms of 3–6.5 year-olds were randomly assigned to a positive psychology intervention condition or a wait-list control condition. In the intervention condition, during one school year, 160 children experienced eight modules of basic concepts in positive psychology that were adapted to the developmental characteristics of young children and were compared to 155 children in demographically similar control classrooms. Children were administered a pre-test and post-test of subjective well-being measures. In addition, children’s mental health and emotional well-being were measured by parental questionnaires. Preschool teachers completed questionnaires concerning children’s learning behaviors. The findings showed significant increases in subjective well-being and positive learning behaviors among the intervention participants, with no significant changes in the control group. The results highlight the potential of positive psychology interventions for increasing subjective well-being and a positive approach to learning at young ages.

Classroom quality and Chinese preschool Children's approaches to learning

Using a large and representative sample of 1882 children from 60 preschools in China, this study examined how classroom quality was associated with preschool children's approaches to learning. Certified observers rated classroom quality using the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS; Pianta, La Paro, & Hamre, 2008) according to three domains: emotional support, classroom organization, and instructional support. Furthermore, the Preschool Learning Behavior Scale (PLBS; McDermott, Rikoon, Waterman, & Fantuzzo, 2012) was used to measure the children's approaches to learning through three dimensions: competence motivation (CM), learning strategy (LS), and attention/persistence (AP). Hierarchical linear modeling results showed that after controlling for the children's gender, sibling status, and family socioeconomic status, emotional support had positive relationship with their LS and AP. Classroom organization had negative relationship with children's LS and AP. No relationship was found between classroom quality and CM. Our findings highlight the importance of enhancing classroom quality to foster children's positive learning behavior in preschool classrooms.

In This Issue

In This Issue

English

The purpose of this research is to investigate the effect of game-based learning activities (GBL) on children’s positive learning and prosocial behaviours. Games in this research are referred to a set of games with rules which are adapted or designed by the researcher based on the National Pre-school Standard Curriculum for preschool mathematics education. The games involved the use of cards, game board, and dice. Children played the games in groups. This research used quasi-experimental with non-equivalent control group pre test/post-test research design. The treatment group consisted of 23 preschool children using GBL while the control group consisted of 24 preschool children who use traditional methods of teaching and learning. An independent-samples t-test was conducted to compare the mean score of children’s learning behaviours between treatment and control group. There was a significant difference in the mean scores for treatment group (M = 38.74, SD = 5.5) and control group (M = 23.00, SD = 14.79) conditions; t (45) = -4.795, p = 0.00. Data collected for prosocial behaviour were based on the frequency of occurrence of behaviours that have been identified and presented in the form of graphs. The results showed that the treatment group gained much higher frequency of occurrence in prosocial behaviours compared to the control group. These results suggest that GBL is effective in nurturing children’s positive learning and prosocial behaviours. The research can serve as a guideline especially to rural preschool teachers in applying GBL in their classroom.

An evaluation of an intervention to change first–year psychology students’ theory of intelligence

Some people hold an entity theory of intelligence: they think of intelligence as innate. In contrast, others hold an incremental theory, believing that intelligence can be changed. Previous research has shown that an incremental theory is associated with positive outcomes. The aim of this paper was to evaluate an intervention which promoted an incremental view of intelligence in first–year university students. Thirty–five students were shown a presentation which discussed research promoting an incremental view of intelligence (intervention group). Forty–four students were shown a presentation which discussed research on memory (control group). Participants completed measures of theory of intelligence, goa s and behavioural intentions before and after the presentation. Results suggested that the intervention had been successful in promoting an incremental view of intelligence and thus positive learning behaviours. Interventions such as this may therefore have a positive impact on student success at university.

Plays Well With Others: A Study of EFL Learner Reciprocity in Action

Classroom observation studies suggest that the teacher‐calculus is complex and sensitive to learner behaviors. In language education, this becomes particularly important due to strong emphasis on productive interpersonal interaction. This study set out to understand what constitutes positive learning behaviors in an EFL context. The construct of learner reciprocity (Feuerstein, Feuerstein, Falik, & Rand, 2002; Lidz, 1991; Poehner, 2008; van der Aalsvoort & Lidz, 2002) was employed in analyzing classroom, interview, focus group, and research journal data amassed over a 2.5‐month period. Two focal students, one more reciprocal case and one less reciprocal case, provided contrasting data sets that exemplify the presence and absence of learner reciprocity. Contrasting illustrations of learner reciprocity in action as a component of understanding language teaching and learning are presented and discussed.

Mastery-approach goals and knowledge transfer: An investigation into the effects of task structure and framing instructions

Although prior work has shown that mastery-approach achievement goals are related to positive learning behaviors (e.g., more interest, perseverance, and self-regulation), less is known about how these goals interact with instruction to influence knowledge transfer. To address these issues we conducted a laboratory experiment investigating how two aspects of the instructional environment, the task structure (tell-and-practice direct instruction vs. minimally-guided open-ended invention activities) and the task framing (mastery vs. performance), affected students' task-based mastery goal adoption and transfer when learning statistics. The results showed that structure was more effective than framing in manipulating students' mastery-approach goal adoption. In addition, students' existing mastery-approach orientations for mathematics strongly predicted knowledge transfer for all of the instructional conditions except for students given invention activities with a performance framing. For these students, the relationship between mastery-approach orientation and transfer was not observed, indicating that this condition makes transfer more likely for those lower in mastery-approach orientation. The results are discussed in terms of the implications for theories of achievement goal motivation, knowledge transfer, and instruction.

A Computational System Approach To Develop Students�� Emotion Oriented System as Feedback Tool for Lecturers to Enhance Teaching and Learning

The quality of learning depends on aspects that integrate positive environment in the classroom. Previous works have shown that positive environment do create positive emotion and positive emotion do affect positive learning behavior. When students experience positive emotion, the learning process can be enhanced and when students experience negative emotion, learning process can be disabled. Therefore managing students learning in the classroom means managing emotions. This paper presents the efforts in recognizing student’s emotion to promote interactive teaching learning atmosphere in a Higher Education environment that is served as an alternative feedback tool for lecturer to enhance students learning experiences. This system suggests lecturers to identify whether their teaching style has positive impact on students learning behavior by recognizing student’s emotion in the classroom. This system proposes the composition of positive class emotion as result of positive student’s emotion to encourage lecturers to retain their teaching style or to improve it. In this paper we explore the possibilities of capturing emotions by various techniques. We compare some of the existing works and identify how emotions can be modeled in order to enhance its services and response and able to suggest meaningful information to users. We also define and discuss the appropriate capacity of meaningful information to generate analysis and recommendations according to theory of teaching and learning. We do our experiments in INTI International University, Nilai Malaysia observing approximately 200 students from various faculties.

The use of virtual reality for creating unusual environmental stimulation to motivate students to explore creative ideas

This paper discusses the roles of simulation in creativity education and how to apply immersive virtual environments to enhance students’ learning experiences in university, through the provision of interactive simulations. An empirical study of a simulated virtual reality was carried out in order to investigate the effectiveness of providing virtual simulation to enrich students’ learning experiences. The researchers found that virtual reality can possibly enhance students’ learning experiences by providing them with a heuristic and highly interactive simulated virtual environment. Being explorative and fun are essential parts of students’ learning experiences in virtual reality. This paper suggests that educators create stimulated virtual learning environments, for example game-like environments, to help students develop positive learning behaviors in the learning process.

Problem Based Learning in physiotherapy education: a practice perspective

BackgroundProblem Based Learning (PBL) has been integrated into a range of health education curricula; however there is limited research evaluating the application of skills developed through PBL in clinical practice. AimThis study aimed to provide evidence of how skills gained through PBL are applied in practice by student physiotherapists, from the perspective of their placement supervisors. MethodA qualitative one-to-one semi-structured interview methodology was used, purposively recruiting a sample of 10 qualified physiotherapists with experience of placement supervision of students studying on a PBL physiotherapy undergraduate degree. ResultsThe supervisors felt that PBL offered positive benefits for both student education and clinical practice. There was evidence of the application of skills and attributes associated with PBL, including positive learning behaviours and a high level of motivation and self-direction. Supervisors felt that proactive students were able to apply transferable skills inherent in the PBL approach to clinical practice, including a holistic, problem-solving approach and effective team-working but that there was considerable variation between students. ConclusionsThere is evidence of variable application of skills associated with PBL in clinical practice in this study group. Further research would be useful to explore the factors that enable students to successfully apply the attributes developed using a PBL approach into practice.

A new outcome‐based curriculum: its impact on student core competence

Despite vast research on outcome‐based education (OBE), there is little consensus among academics regarding its impact, with both positive and negative comments emerging from the literature. The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) has taken the view that OBE is conducive to the enhancement of student core competencies such as global outlook, critical and creative thinking, social and national responsibility, lifelong learning, entrepreneurship and leadership. The aim of this study was to investigate how a newly developed curriculum, based on the OBE philosophy, impacted on students’ core competencies in an engineering/surveying discipline of PolyU. Qualitative interviews were conducted to establish that OBE was being properly implemented prior to a quantitative examination of its impact on students. Only specific positive learning behaviours were identified among students experiencing OBE. Their core competencies, however, were not statistically proven to be greater than those of students with little or no exposure to OBE. Nevertheless, this did not offer unequivocal evidence to either prove or disprove the effectiveness of OBE, and numerous factors other than the OBE philosophy itself were considered possible causes. It also appeared that some teaching staff lacked faith and knowledge in the implementation of OBE which implicates a need for rectification of the situation.

Construct validity of the learning behavior scale with an independent sample of students

AbstractIn this study, the factor structure of the Learning Behavior Scale (LBS; McDermott, Green, Francis, & Stott, 1999) was examined in an independent sample of 257 elementary school students. The LBS is a 29‐item, four‐factor scale on which teachers rate students' positive and negative learning behaviors. The results indicated that the internal consistency of the total LBS scores and the scores on two subscales (Competence Motivation and Attitude Toward Learning) were high enough for individual decision making, whereas the reliability estimates of scores on the Attention/Persistence and Strategy/Flexibility subscales were appropriate only for research or screening purposes. Factor analyses extracted factors similar to three of the factors on the LBS (Competence Motivation, Attitude Toward Learning, and Strategy/Flexibility), and suggested that the fourth factor (Attention/Persistence) may benefit from additional study. In general, the results indicate that the LBS may be a useful tool for examining students' learning behaviors. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.