Similar Academic Achievement Research Articles

Cultivating not Weeding: STEM First Year Learning Community Fosters Student Persistence and Engagement

Regional comprehensive universities with access-oriented missions provide critical pathways for increasing the number and diversity of STEM graduates. The BOND program at California State University, Fresno supports the transition to college for first-time, full-time freshmen in selected STEM majors. BOND incorporates a learning community, active learning, and early course-based research experiences. Compared to comparison groups, students that participate in BOND are 1.93 times more likely to persist in STEM into their fourth year despite similar academic achievement in introductory STEM courses. A higher proportion of BOND students also engage with campus resources that support their first and second year on campus, which suggests that appropriate support builds persistence through the challenges of a STEM degree. This study highlights the importance of providing support strategies and resources in the first year for STEM retention, counter to the traditional narrative of “weeding out” students in their first year on campus.

Australian university students’ access to web-based lecture recordings and the relationship with lecture attendance and academic performance

Web-based lecture technology (WBLT) allows students access to recorded lectures delivered live to the classroom any time and to any device with internet. This technology has become standard across universities. This study of Australian undergraduate psychology students explored many important questions related to WBLT. About 75% of students surveyed utilised recorded lectures. Qualitative responses allowed students to explain many reasons for using WBLT, including to study for exams, regular study throughout the semester, to catch up on lectures they missed attending, and to clarify specific parts of the lecture. Four types of students were identified. Those who: (1) attended lectures regularly and did not access recordings; (2) attended most or all lectures and also accessed recordings to reinforce learning and for exams; (3) attended lectures but when they missed class accessed recordings; also accessed to reinforcing learning and for exams; and (4) did not attend lectures (by choice or due to personal circumstances) and only accessed lecture recordings. No differences in final grades were found based on higher/lower lecture attendance or higher/lower access of lecture recordings. It is concluded that WBLT is flexible, allowing students to apply it in different ways and the different patterns are related to similar academic achievement.

Are there differences in ethnic majority and minority adolescents\u2019 friendships preferences and social influence with regard to their academic achievement?

Research has established that adolescents both befriend peers based on their academic achievement and adjust their own achievement to that of their friends’ over time. However, these processes may be different for ethnic minority students, because some of them may adhere to an oppositional culture that rejects striving for academic success. We examine respective differences between self-identified ethnic minority and majority students using longitudinal social network analysis (stochastic actor-oriented models) in a sample of 1175 students (aged 13) from 12 grade-level networks in Germany secondary schools. Among the students, we find that academically successful students in particular prefer friends with high grades, but that students with poor grades exert more social influence on their friends to adjust their performance. Moreover, while minority students are indeed less inclined to select friends with higher grades, both ethnic majority and minority youth prefer friends with similar academic achievement and are similarly influenced by their friends’ achievement. However, social influence is stronger from same-ethnic than from inter-ethnic friends. In sum, there is mixed evidence for an oppositional culture among ethnic minority students in our sample.

Effectively Maintained Inequality in U.S. Postsecondary Progress

In this analysis, I evaluate how socioeconomic status (SES) directly shapes the probability that students with similar academic achievements complete key transitions in the U.S. postsecondary system. I develop the concept of institutional reach to illuminate the maintenance of socioeconomic differences across successive forward transitions via institutions of varying selectivity in this postsecondary system. Both low- and high-SES students with high academic achievements display a greater probability of moving forward through the system. However, high-SES students are more likely to do so by attending more selective institutions at entry and, consequently, are more likely to complete a bachelor’s degree at such institutions. In other words, high-SES students have greater institutional reach given similar academic achievements. Greater protection from low achievements and greater boosts from high achievements are both important for maintaining high-SES students’ advantage.

The Analysis on the Learning Outcomes of Elementary Students in Smart Education

Objectives: This study aims to verify learning outcomes of elementary students in the smart education. We expect that this study will be useful for educators in the field of the smart education. Methods/Statistical Analysis: We selected an elementary school with the smart education, and another elementary school as a control, which both have demonstrated the similar academic achievement, had a comparable local environment and socio-economic status. In this study, the learning outcomes were studied in terms of 5 variables including problem solving, learning attitude, self-directed learning ability, character, and information literacy. Analysis between two group data was carried out using the independent sample T-test. Findings: Results of this study are as follows: First, we were not able to verify a significant difference in learning outcomes of the smart education on elementary students in a comprehensive manner. Second, with regard to the difference of learning outcomes by grades, while the 4 th graders and 5 th graders have insignificant difference in learning outcomes, the 6 th graders have a significant difference. Third, by investigating sub-factors in learning outcomes between the smart school and the control school, we verified that the 5 th graders have a significant difference in their learning attitude and selfdirected learning abilities, and the 6 th graders have a significant difference in their characters and information literacy. As a result, we conclude that the smart education benefits 5 th graders and 6 th graders in elementary school with regard to their learning outcomes. Improvements/Applications: The smart education is to be used for 5 th graders or older. This study result will be used as a basis to enable the successful establishment of Korean smart education.

The Diffusion of Academic Achievements: Social Selection and Influence in Student Networks

Peer group effects show the influence of student social environments on their individual achievements. Traditionally, a social environment is considered by researchers of peer effects as exogenously given. However, significant peers that affect performance are often those that are deliberately chosen. Students might choose their friends among peers with similar academic achievements. A dynamic analysis of student social networks and academic achievements is needed to disentangle social selection and social influence processes in network formation. Using data about the friendship and advice networks of first year undergraduate students, we show that friends tend to assimilate each others’ achievements and choose advisers with similar grades. We explain these results by social segregation based on student performance. The article contributes to the dynamic analysis of student social networks and the understanding of the nature of peer group effects in education.

Choice of specialization: do peers matter?

Social influence is an important factor in learning and decision-making. We estimate peer influence on student choice of specialization using data on undergraduate students of a Russian university. Information about individual social ties has been gathered from a questionnaire survey. We show that specialization choice is significantly influenced by friends as well as by study partners. The strongest effect is produced by friends who are study partners and those who have similar academic achievements. Reciprocal friendship ties have a stronger influence on the choice than nonreciprocal ones. Also, the decision is affected by classmates with similar academic achievement. The results allow us to better understand the mechanisms of peer effects in the specialization choice.

Social Networks and the Choice of Specialization

Social influence is an important factor in learning and decision making. We estimate peer influence on student choice of specialization using data on undergraduate students of a Russian university. Information about individual social ties has been gathered from a questionnaire survey. We show that specialization choice is significantly influenced by friends as well as by study partners. The strongest effect is produced by friends who are study partners and those who have similar academic achievements. Mutual friendship ties have a stronger influence on the choice than non-mutual ones. Also, the decision is affected by classmates with similar academic achievement. The results allow us to better understand the mechanisms of peer effects in the specialization choice.

Friendship and Study Assistance Ties of University Students

We analyze the characteristics of the social networks of students studying in the economics department in one Russian university. We focus on student friendship and study assistance ties and demonstrate how these networks are connected with the individual characteristics of students and their peers. We find that the probability of a tie existing is explained by the gender homophily, and initial student assignment to the same exogenously defined study group. Students ask for help and form friendships with students who have similar academic achievements. Academically successful students are more popular in study assistance networks while there is no gender difference in student popularity in both networks. Our findings enhance the understanding of the role of friendship and study assistance ties in the formation of peer group effects.

Relationships between Academic Achievement and Personality Dynamics during Adolescence

The purpose of the present study is to establish whether the psychological personality type, the energetic pattern, the emotional pattern and the motivational structure of personality have any influence on academic achievement among adolescents. In order to achieve this goal, 100 Romanian adolescent subjects were tested, randomly chosen from the same high school. The instruments used were: the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire and the Motivational Structure of Personality Questionnaire. To rate the academic achievements of the subjects, we used their annual average grades obtained in the previous academic year. According to our purpose and objectives, three hypotheses were developed, in order to provide the study with a coherent path. The results indicated that the psychological personality type does not influence academic performance significantly: students, whether they possess these personality traits or not, can have similar academic achievements. The energetic and emotional patterns are not preliminary conditions for the academic performance of adolescents; nevertheless, certain motivational traits appear to be paramount conditions. Understanding the relationships between motivation and personality, distinctive components of academic performance may be applied to guide students towards the disciplines and programs in which they are most likely to succeed. In light of the results of the present study, it is necessary that a further analysis be carried out, based on the present data obtained. The main thesis of our research is that there is a discrepancy between the actual configuration of schools and the potentials and needs of adolescents, with the effect of diminishing the formative value of the educational process. Knowledge of the factors influencing academic achievement enables to predict which students will and which will not perform well in the educational process, thus influencing the configuration of the adolescents' future.

An Innovative Application of the Macintosh Classic II Computer for Distance Education

The present article describes an innovative application of microcomputers to provide instruction simultaneously to graduate students on campus and to a group of doctoral students located 100 miles from campus. Using Macintosh Classic II computers and supporting equipment, both groups were taught a two-course sequence on statistical methods over two ten-week quarters. Evaluative data indicated similar academic achievement in both groups and comparable performance to previous sections of the course. Student attitudes were mixed, with students on-campus being more critical of the approach than students off-campus. The instructional approach appears to provide a viable alternative solution to a difficult problem for distance education. The use of Macintosh Classic II computers to facilitate instruction over long distance provides an acceptable compromise between extensive travel by either students or an instructor.