Academic Remediation: Educational Applications of Research on Assignment Preference and Choice

SUMMARY

Within educational settings students can choose to engage in assigned academic activities or other, sometimes disruptive behaviors. In the current paper recent research on assignment preference, choice, and choosing is reviewed. Results of these studies show how educators can enhance students' academic behaviors (e.g., on-task behavior), decrease disruptive behaviors, and improve academic performance by (a) allowing students to choose assignments, (b) assigning higher preference academic activities, (c) strengthening reinforcement for engaging in academic activities, and (d) altering assignments to make them more acceptable to students.     

Choice vs. Preference: The Effects of Choice and No Choice of Preferred and Non Preferred Spelling Tasks on the Academic Behavior of Students with Disabilities

The effects of choice and no choice of preferred and non preferred instructional activities on the academic behavior of 3 students with disabilities were investigated. Participant preferences for spelling tasks were assessed and an ABCDEF design was used to examine choice and preference within 6 experimental conditions: a) choice of preferred tasks, b) choice of non preferred tasks, c) no choice of preferred tasks, d) no choice of non preferred tasks, e) no choice of preferred tasks (yoked-control), and f) no choice of non preferred tasks (yoked-control). Results indicate that all 3 participants had higher levels of task engagement when working with preferred tasks, regardless of a choice or no choice format. The findings from this investigation contribute to the growing body of research that focuses on developing interventions that are responsive to individual student preferences.     

儿童学业自我概念在父母教养风格与学业成就间的中介效应

运用问卷法,对612名北京市中小学生及其父母分别进行了自我概念和教养风格的测试。结果表明,父母民主型教养风格通过儿童学业自我概念这一中介变量,对儿童学业成就产生明显的正向促进作用,而父母专制型教养风格,则以直接的途径对儿童的学业成就产生负面效应。     

Influence of Maternal Depressive Symptoms on Ratings of Childhood Behavior

This study uses information collected on two occasions from a probability sample of families with 5- to 12-year-old children (N = 1151) participating in a general population study in 1983 and follow-up in 1987. It evaluated the importance of maternal bias in the assessment of child behavior by comparing the relative strengths of association between maternal depression and childhood behavior and between maternal depression and mother reporting errors. Conduct problems and hyperactivity were measured as latent criterion variables constructed from mother, teacher, and youth (aged 12 to 16 years) ratings and their associations with maternal depression were modeled using covariance structure analysis. The analyses revealed that maternal depression was associated significantly with conduct problems ( = .35) and hyperactivity ( = .38) among 5- to 7-years-olds in 1983 but not 4 years later in 1987. None of the associations between maternal depression and mother reporting errors were significant. Among 8- to 12-year-olds in 1983, maternal depression was associated significantly not only with conduct problems ( = .17) and hyperactivity ( = .15) but also with mother rating errors of these behaviors ( = .13 and .17, respectively). Four years later in 1987 when this cohort was 12 to 16 years old, the only significant association was between maternal depression and conduct disorder ( = .25). Although evidence exists for associations between maternal depressed mood and mother rating errors, there also appears to be a substantive association between maternal depression and childhood behavior.     

Varying Problem Effort and Choice: Using the Interspersal Technique to Influence Choice Towards More Effortful Assignments

College students were exposed to two pairs of mathematics assignments. Assignment Pair A included a high-effort assignment containing 18 long three-digit × two-digit (3×2) multiplication problems with all numerals in each problem being equal to or greater than four and a moderate-effort assignment that contained nine long problems and nine interspersed moderate 3×2 problems with numerals less than four. Assignment Pair B contained similar assignment sheets, the exception being that the high-effort assignment contained six additional one-digit × one-digit (1×1) problems interspersed following every third 3×2 problem. After working on each assignment pair, students ranked assignments and chose a new assignment for homework. Analysis of Assignment Pair A revealed that students overwhelmingly preferred the moderate-effort assignment. Analysis of interaction effects showed that when additional brief problems were added to the high-effort assignments, the proportion of students who chose the high-effort assignment for homework and ranked it as being less difficult, time consuming, and effortful increased significantly. Results support previous research on effort and choice and the hypothesis that a completed discrete problem may serve a reinforcing stimulus.     

Helping Mom Fail: A Case of a Stalemated Divorcing Process

This article describes a systems approach to the problem of a child who had become symptomatic as a result of her parents' separation. Elements of the divorcing process that can create a symptomatic child are highlighted. Family members cope with separation and divorce by devising strategies for navigating the divorcing process. These strategies can mesh to create dysfunctional sequences in which family members get “stuck.” Case material illustrates the development of a stalemated divorcing process, in which a dysfunctional sequence keeps the child uncontrollable and mother incompetent. Family therapy breaks the stalemate and allows family members to proceed with appropriate developmental tasks.     

太虚对“东密”的理性抉择：从密教对武昌佛学院的冲击说起

太虚本佛教近代化改革的立场,对回传中国汉地的日本东密作出理性化的抉择。他从教、理、行、果诸方面批判王弘愿所传东密的“非法密风”,尤重捍卫中国僧制的禁欲主义伦理及佛法理性原则。     

How you Perceive Time Matters for how you Feel in School: Investigating the Link Between Time Perspectives and Academic Emotions

Research on time perspectives and academic emotions have proceeded in parallel with little cross-fertilization of ideas. The aim of this study was to explore the synergies between these two lines of inquiry by looking at how time perspectives are related to different academic emotions. Filipino university students answered relevant questionnaires. Regression analyses were conducted to examine how time perspectives predicted different academic emotions. Results indicated that future time perspective was positively associated with positive academic emotions such as enjoyment, hope, and pride. Present-fatalistic time perspective was positively associated with negative academic emotions such as anger, anxiety, shame, hopelessness, and boredom. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Influence of Attachment Style on Major Psychological Capacities to Lead

Addressing psychological literature's deficiency in research on the early development of leaders in everyday life (e.g., leaders in the workplace, leaders in social settings, leaders in organizational settings), this study assumed that central psychological capacities required for such leaders can be predicted and explained by J. Bowlby's (1969) Bowlby, J. 1969. Attachment and loss: Vol. 1. Attachment New York : Basic Books. [Google Scholar] attachment theory concerning developmental processes in infancy. The authors administered a series of questionnaires to 402 participants. The authors analyzed data by using structural equation modeling. Findings indicate a potential-to-lead construct that forms in infancy. The results fully supported the authors’ main arguments: that secure attachment style influences the potential to lead and that this capacity is essential for leadership as measured by leadership ranking.     

The Associations between Perceived Maternal Psychological Control and Academic Performance and Academic Self-Concept in Chinese Adolescents: The Mediating Role of Basic Psychological Needs

This study examined the associations between perceived maternal psychological control and adolescent academic functioning in terms of academic performance and academic self-concept. The study also tested the possible mediating role of basic psychological needs to investigate how parental psychological control is related to child academic functioning. A sample of Chinese adolescents (N?=?338) completed a self-administered questionnaire on maternal psychological control, academic self-concept, academic performance and basic psychological needs satisfaction. Structural equation modeling was used for data analyses. Findings of this study revealed that Chinese adolescents’ perceptions of maternal psychological control were associated with their academic self-concept, and furthermore this association was mediated by adolescents’ basic psychological needs satisfaction on autonomy, relatedness and competence. Theoretical and practical implications, as well as future research directions were discussed.     

Effects of Gender,Socioeconomic Status,and Early Academic Performance on Postsecondary Educational Choice

National data were used to study the effects of gender, socioeconomic status (SES), and 4 types of eighth‐grade academic performance on postsecondary educational choices at late adolescence. Educational choices were classified by predominant Holland type (R, I, A, S, E, C). Gender had strongest independent influences on educational choice. Gender also interacted with SES and academic performance. Relationships between SES and educational choice were stronger for women than for men. For women, eighth‐grade reading scores were the strongest predictor of educational choice, whereas for men, mathematics scores were the strongest predictor. Implications for theory and counseling practice are discussed.     

Academic Processing Speed Mediates the Influence of Both Externalizing Behavior and Language Skills on the Academic Skills of Students with Emotional Disturbance

The results from previous research suggest that there is a relatively small (albeit statistically significant) relationship between the externalizing behavior and academic skills of students with emotional disturbance (ED). Researchers have also found that the majority of these students have language deficits that hinder their academic performance. The purposes of this study were to investigate the mediating role of academic processing speed (i.e., academic fluency) on the relationship between: (a) The externalizing behavior and academic skills of K-12 students with ED; and (b) language skills and academic skills of students with ED. Results indicate that academic processing speed mediated the influence of both language skills and externalizing behavior on academic skills of this population. The findings, limitations, and implications were discussed.     

Imitation Is the Sincerest Form of Cheating: The Influence of Direct Knowledge and Attitudes on Academic Dishonesty

What effect does witnessing other students cheat have on one's own cheating behavior? What roles do moral attitudes and neutralizing attitudes (justifications for behavior) play when deciding to cheat? The present research proposes a model of academic dishonesty which takes into account each of these variables. Findings from experimental (vignette) and survey methods determined that seeing others cheat increases cheating behavior by causing students to judge the behavior less morally reprehensible, not by making rationalization easier. Witnessing cheating also has unique effects, controlling for other variables.     

Academic Achievement of African American Preadolescents: The Influence of Teacher Perceptions

The purpose of this study was to identify the factors associated with the academic success of predominantly, middle-class African American preadolescent students. This study proposed an ecological model that considered the interaction of family environment, teacher perceptions of social skills, and student characteristics. The estimated model explained 58% of the variance in grade point average. Path analysis revealed three direct effects on grade point average, (a) grade level (negative), (b) teacher perceptions of social skills, and (c) academic ability. Findings revealed that teacher perceptions of social skills was a stronger predictor of grade point average than academic ability. Two indirect effects on grade point average were found. The first indirect effect was negative: gender predicted academic ability, which predicted teacher perceptions of social skills, which predicted grade point average. The second indirect effect was positive and it was from ability to teacher perceptions to grade point average. Implications for policy and practice are made that suggest a collaborative model of school counseling designed to promote the social and academic competence of African American students. Interventions that enhance teacher practices are also suggested.     

选项框架和认知负载对风险决策的影响

本研究采用实验法探讨了选项框架和认知负载对风险决策的影响。结果发现:(1)不同的认知负载条件下,被试在正向框架下表现出风险回避,负向框架下表现出风险寻求,出现了框架效应现象;(2)相对于认知负载条件下,被试在无认知负载的负向框架下更偏好于风险选项,而正向框架下的风险偏好没有显著变化,即无认知负载条件下框架效应较强。这表明,框架效应不仅仅是启发式系统作用的结果,分析式系统也在其中发挥着重要的作用。     

同伴关系与小学生学业成绩相关研究的新视角

本研究选取二至六年级的小学生为被试,首先进行同伴提名测验,获取小学生的同伴接纳和同伴拒斥程度,并把同伴接纳和同伴拒斥合并为同伴关系总和;两周后再考察学生的语文和数学成绩,将语文和数学成绩标准化后作为学业成绩.研究表明同伴关系(尤其是同伴接纳)对学业成绩有一定的影响作用,并且这种影响作用受制于年龄,低年级时影响小,高年级时影响较大.     

Men's and Women's Beliefs about the Influence of the Menstrual Cycle on Academic Performance: A Preliminary Study1

A preliminary investigation of beliefs about the influence of the menstrual cycle on work performance was conducted. Undergraduate students were asked to make a pass/fail decision about a borderline exam mark based on a wide variety of educational, medical, and personal information about the candidate and to rate the importance of various factors in their decisions. Three versions of the questionnaire were used, varying only in the menstrual cycle status of the examinee. The results showed that students do believe that the premenstrual and, particularly, menstrual phases have a negative impact on performance. However, in this context, they were considered of minor importance compared with educational and personality factors.