Significant Difference In Academic Performance Research Articles

INFLUENCE OF FAMILY SIZE AND AFTER SCHOOL ACTIVITIES ON STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN SURULERE AND KOSOFE LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF LAGOS STATE

The paper researched into the influence of family size and after school activities on students’ academic performance in selected secondary schools in Surulere and Kosofe Local Government area of Lagos State. Four hypothesis were postulated in testing them, a questionnaire tagged Family Size on Academic Performance (FSAP) was designed and administered on 480 students in four public and four private schools through simple random sampling technique the collected data were analysed and interpreted using simple percentage, T-test and ANOVA Statistics. The result of the analysis revealed that there is significant difference in academic performance of students in public and private schools; differences in academic performance of large family and small family. Therefore it is recommended that Government among others should organize public lectures on family planning and public schools should endeavour to do their work conscientiously.

The Effects of Family Structure and Parenthood on the Academic Performance of Nigerian University Students

This paper examines the effects of family structure and parenthood on the academic performance of Nigerian university students. The sample for the study consisted of 240 students drawn from the six randomly selected faculties in Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Edo State. The adapted form of Guidance and Counseling Achievement Grade Form was used for data collection and the data collected were subjected to statistical analysis using the t-test statistical method. The three null hypotheses formulated were tested at .05 level of significance. The results showed that significant differences existed between the academic performance of students from single- parent family and those from two-parent family structures. The results also indicated significant differences in academic performance of male and female students compared on two types of family structures. On the basis of these findings, it was recommended that school counsellors should be employed in all schools and that they should provide necessary assistance to students especially those from single-parent family to enable them overcome their emotional concerns.

Comparing academic performance of medical students in distributed learning sites: the McMaster experience

Background: In 2004, the Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, developed the McMaster Community and Rural Education program (Mac-CARE), to coordinate core rotations for undergraduate and post-graduate medical learners in communities in Southern Ontario.Aims: The purpose of this study is to compare the academic performance of medical clerks learning at distributed sites to students who remained in Hamilton using four measures of academic performance.Methods: Progress test, OSCE, clerkship scores, and pre-clerkship tutorial-based evaluations were collected and Mac-CARE students were compared to non-Mac-CARE students on each performance measure using ANOVA.Results: Outcomes are based on the first cohort to engage in Mac-CARE rotations. There were no statistically significant differences in academic performance between the 2 groups before the intervention rotation (pre-clerkship and clerkship evaluations, progress tests, or an inaugural OSCE). Mac-CARE students, however, scored higher on their post-clerkship OSCE than did non-Mac-CARE students.Conclusion: This study has shown that academic performance among students was at least comparable across all learning sites. To our knowledge, this is the first such study to be published within a Canadian context.

Comparative academic performance of medical students in rural and urban clinical settings

To determine whether the academic performance of medical students learning in rural settings differs from those learning in urban settings. Comparison of results of assessment for 2 full cohorts and 1 part cohort of medical students learning in rural and urban settings in 2002 (209 students), 2003 (226 students) and 2004 (220 students), including results for each specialist rotation in the 3rd year and end-of-year examinations in the 2nd and 4th years. University of Queensland School of Medicine, Brisbane. Students spent the whole 3rd year (of a 4-year graduate entry programme) conducting 5 specialist 8-week rotations in either the rural clinical division (rural students) or in Brisbane (urban students), all following the same curriculum and taking the same examinations. For the 2002 cohort there were no statistically significant differences in academic performance between rural and urban students. For the 2003 cohort the only significant difference was a higher score for rural students in the end of the 4th-year clinical skills examination (65.7 versus 62.3%, P = 0.025). For the 2004 cohort, rural students scored higher in the 3rd-year mental health rotation (79.3 versus 76.2%, P = 0.038) and lower in the medicine rotation (65.5 versus 68.6%, P = 0.037). Academic performance among students studying in rural and urban settings is comparable.

Constructed gender, approach to learning and academic performance

This paper examines the relationship between constructed gender, approach to learning and academic performance for 121 final year students at the Robert Gordon University in Scotland. Data was collected from two cohorts of students, namely Accounting and Finance students and Business students. Constructed gender (gender identity) was measured using the Bem Sex Role Inventory (Bem, 1974, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 42(2), pp. 155–162) and approach to learning was measured using the Revised Approaches to Studying Inventory (Entwistle and Tait, 1995, The Revised Approaches to Studying Inventory, Centre for Research on Learning and Instruction, Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh). The results found that neither biological gender nor constructed gender was related to academic performance. In respect of approaches to learning, the findings were similar for biological gender and constructed gender. Female students scored highly on the surface approach and this was the case for students with a feminine constructed gender. Statistically significant differences in academic performance were found for students who scored higher on the deep approach, strategic approach, academic self confidence dimension and metacognitive awareness dimension, although there was no significant negative correlation identified between adopting a surface approach and academic performance. Thus, approaches to learning would appear to explain more in terms of differences in academic performance than either constructed or biological gender.

Placement and adding value to the academic performance of undergraduates: reconfiguring the architecture - an empirical investigation‘1’

There is broad consensus on the range of benefits accruing to the undergraduate from work placement, but to date there has been little published on its impact on academic achievement. This article describes changes that were introduced into the architecture of a placement programme for business undergraduates. A statistical investigation examines the academic performance of students under the different architectures. Prior to the reconfiguration of the placement, there was no significant difference in academic performance between students who had undertaken placement and their non-placement peers. Undergraduates who took placement under the new architecture performed significantly better than their non-placement peers. Under both architectures there were indications of self-selection. The results are discussed in the context of learning transfer, and policy implications are considered

The Achievement of Medical Students Admitted after Baccalaureate Level

PURPOSE: Kyungpook National University School of Medicine initiated a pilot project to admit small number of qualified students who received BS degree or above in the field of sciences in 1996. This study was conducted to evaluate effectiveness of thepilot project. METHODS: Students’ academic grades, outcome of their opinion surveys on adaptability to the school life, difficulties and problems from the classes of 1996 to 2001 were analyzed. RESULTS: A total of 57 students were admitted to thisprogram over the past 7-year period, 54.8% of them from natural science major and 36.8% from engineering. Students admitted with BS degree were performing above average in the class by % rank. There was no significant difference in academic performance between the natural science and the engineering major. Of 20 graduated, only one took career in basic medical science (physiology). The students thought undergraduate education was helpful in maturing personal characters than in knowledge or skill attainment. CONCLUSION: The achievement of medical students admitted after baccalaureate level was comparable to that of students with two years of premedical education.

Effect of Low and High Advisor Involvement on the Academic Performances of Probation Students

While advisors can find support in theory and practice for assisting students who are performing poorly in academics, the optimal involvement level for improving academic performance is undetermined. We conducted three experimental trials to compare low- and high-involvement of advisors assisting probation students. The involvement levels for the low-involvement groups were identical, while involvement varied among those groups receiving the high-involvement treatment. We found a significant difference in academic performance only between the group that experienced the greatest advisor involvement and the simultaneously assessed low-involvement group. The results suggest that full institutional intervention is needed to effectively help probation students.

Distance education: relationship between academic performance and technology-adept adult students

Advances in technology assisted education are revolutionizing the educational process as most know it today. What impact, if any, does technology-assisted education have on the future of higher education? In this study, we examine data from an ongoing evaluation of the distance education program for graduate level business students in a private university. The study addresses the impact of technology-assisted learning on academic performance among distance learners and their on-campus counterparts. The study further explores the relationship between academic performance and students' technological adeptability. The findings indicate, when adjusted for gender (females out-performed males), there were no significant differences in academic performance between distance learners and their on-campus counterparts. Analysis also shows no significant differences in overall academic performance between technology-adept students and those without technological skills. These findings may remove at least some perceived barriers in the decision to initiate distance education programs.

Direct Entry Midwifery Education: Evaluation of Program Innovations

During the 1996–1997 academic year, the State University of New York Health Science Center at Brooklyn, in partnership with North Central Bronx Hospital, implemented the first direct entry (DE) midwifery education program to be preaccredited by the American College of Nurse-Midwives. Five DE midwifery students were admitted and graduated. During their one-year course of studies, these students were provided supplementary didactic and clinical instruction in the medical sciences and basic health skills in addition to the identical course of midwifery studies offered to their registered nurse-student peers. The experience of students and faculty during this first year was that there was no significant difference in academic performance between the DE and nurse-midwifery students. Moreover, once oriented to the clinical environment, DE students progressed through the clinical practicums, and acquired entry-level midwifery skills, at a pace equivalent to that of their nurse peers and consonant with all expectations of safe practice. In addition, the Basic Health Skills and Integrated Medical Science course offerings served as effective instructional supplements to the curriculum by providing DE students with an opportunity to equalize their knowledge base with that previously acquired by registered nurse–prepared students; an unanticipated discovery was that some nurse-midwifery students could equally benefit from enrollment in these courses.

Trauma‐related symptomatology among American Indian adolescents

AbstractThe Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children (DISC‐2.1C), including the posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) module, was administered to 109 American Indian adolescents from a Northern Plains reservation. In response to the DISC's open‐ended probes, 61% of respondents reported at least one traumatic event. Despite high rates of trauma and substantial numbers of subsyndromal PTSD symptoms, the prevalence rate of diagnosable PTSD was found to be only 3%. The reporting of traumatic events was associated with increased prevalence of behavioral disorders and substance abuse or dependence diagnoses. There was, however, no significant difference in academic performance (grade point average or scholastic aptitude test scores) between those who reported traumatic events, or PTSD symptoms, and those who did not.

Trauma-related symptomatology among American Indian adolescents.

The Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children (DISC-2.1C), including the postraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) module, was administered to 109 American Indian adolescents from a Northern Plains reservation. In response to the DISC's open-ended probes, 61% of respondents reported at least one traumatic event. Despite high rates of trauma and substantial numbers of subsyndromal PTSD symptoms, the prevalence rate of diagnosable PTSD was found to be only 3%. The reporting of traumatic events was associated with increased prevalence of behavioral disorders and substance abuse or dependence diagnoses. There was, however, no significant difference in academic performance (grade point average or scholastic aptitude test scores) between those who reported traumatic events, or PTSD symptoms, and those who did not.

The impact of student learning styles on interviewing skills and academic performance

Background: Many U.S. medical schools struggle to identify how to teach students the content and skills needed to communicate effectively with patients. Some schools have developed predoctoral curricula emphasizing both biomedical and psychosocial dimensions of patient care. It is important to identify whether this approach has a measurable impact on doctor‐patient communication. Purpose: This study examined the impact of learning styles on 200 Ist‐year medical students’ academic performance and interviewing skills. Methods: Analysis of variance were conducted comparing academic performance and interviewing skills across 4 learning styles in Kolb ‘s Learning Style Inventory. Results: Findings revealed statistically significant differences in academic performance (p < .05) and interviewing skills (p < .05) by students’ learning styles. Conclusions: Students possess different learning styles that influence their success in medical school. Educators can vary their teaching methods to ensure that students, regardless of learning style, perform optimally in every aspect of patient care.

South African Graduate Students' Locus of Control, Gender Differences, and Academic Performance

To explore whether locus of control scores of South African university students show sex differences and differences in academic achievement, 73 subjects (46 women and 27 men) whose mean ages were 36.5 yr. for women and 35.0 yr. for men were given Rotter's Locus of Control scale. Scores students obtained on a final examination in an educational psychology course were recorded. A gender difference was statistically significant, with men scoring internally oriented and women scoring externally oriented. There was no significant difference in academic performance between internally and externally controlled subjects.

Cognitive functioning in children from alcoholic and non-alcoholic families.

SummaryCognitive, academic, and behavioral problems have been reported to occur among school‐aged children of alcoholics. Many of these reports have obtained data from very mixed samples of high risk subjects. The present study focused instead on a homogeneous non‐disadvantaged sample of 50 male and female children of recovering alcoholics and compared them to 48 male and female children of non‐alcoholics using a test battery assessing cognitive functioning. Included were measures of intelligence and academic performance as well as parental ratings and self ratings of perceived cognitive competence. Statistically significant differences between these two groups on Verbal, Performance, and Pull Scale IQ were not found. Similarly, there were no significant differences in academic performance. However, there were significant differences in mother's perceptions and self‐perceptions of cognitive competence. The pattern of results suggest evidence that cognitive functioning problems in non‐disadvantaged children of alcoholics are subtle and perhaps less influential with regard to academic problems than maternal performance expectations and self perceptions of cognitive competence.

Academic Performance in the Classroom as a Function of a Parent Applied Home Management Program with Severely Emotionally Disturbed Children

An analysis of specific individual measures of classroom academic performance as a function of a parent applied procedure for reducing self-stimulatory responses was conducted with three autistic and autistic-like male children. The results indicated that although there were a number of statistically significant differences in academic performance among and across the various experimental conditions, none of the differences could be directly associated with the home intervention procedures applied by the parents. It was concluded that generalization effects of treatment across settings, time and dependent variables must be specifically programmed with severely emotionally disturbed children.

Parental Involvement and Academic Performance of Children with Special Education Needs

Evidence shows that the influence of parental involvement (PI) in a student’s academic success can not be underestimated. This descriptive-correlational study focused on PI and the academic performance of children with special education needs and the relationship between these variables. Data were drawn from a modified Parent and School Survey (PASS), integrating the six categories of Epstein's model of PI and General Point Average (GPA) of the children. Using mean, Kruskal Wallis, Mann Whitney, and Spearman rho, results revealed a high level of parental involvement in all areas except in volunteering and beginning level academic performance according to age and sex. There was a significant difference in the parents’ decision making according to age but no significant difference in other categories. Also, there was no significant difference in academic performance in terms of age and sex, and there was no significant relationship between parental involvement and academic performance.