The role of achievement goal orientations in students' perceptions of and preferences for classroom environment

Background . Recent research on achievement motivation has begun to examine the effects of environmental factors affecting students' motivational beliefs and goal tendencies. However, when interpreting and applying the results, individual factors underlying students' different perceptions of their learning environment are often ignored. An implicit assumption seems to be that regardless of their dispositional differences (e.g. motivational basis), students will experience and benefit from instructional practices in the same way. Aims . This paper highlights the importance of students' dispositional motivational factors when examining differences in their perceptions of and preferences for the learning environment. The study builds on a conception of student motivation that emphasizes the interaction of individual and contextual factors. Sample and method . Questionnaires served as self‐report tools and assessed students' achievement goal orientations, self‐esteem, causality beliefs, academic withdrawal and perceptions of and preferences for the learning environment. The sample consisted of 208 sixth grade elementary school students. Results . Based on latent class cluster analysis and one‐way analyses of variance, it was found that students' perceptions of and preferences for the learning environment vary depending on differences in students' motivational tendencies. Conclusions . Students' dispositional motivational characteristics should be taken into account both in theoretical considerations and in instructional interventions.     

Symbolic versus associative learning

Ramscar and colleagues (2010, this volume) describe the "feature-label-order" (FLO) effect on category learning and characterize it as a constraint on symbolic learning. I argue that FLO is neither a constraint on symbolic learning in the sense of "learning elements of a symbol system" (instead, it is an effect on nonsymbolic, association learning) nor is it, more than any other constraint on category learning, a constraint on symbolic learning in the sense of "solving the symbol grounding problem."     

Observation can be as effective as action in problem solving

This study discusses findings that replicate and extend the original work of Burns and Vollmeyer (2002) , which showed that performance in problem-solving tasks was more accurate when people were engaged in a non-specific goal than in a specific goal. The main innovation here was to examine the goal specificity effect under both observation-based and conventional action-based learning conditions. The findings show that goal specificity affects the accuracy of problem solving in the same way when the learning stage of the task is observation-based as when it is action-based. In addition, the findings show that, when instructions do not promote goal specificity, observation-based problem solving is as effective as action-based problem solving.     

Explicit Learning of a Dynamic System with a Non-salient Pattern

We examine the hypothesis that a specific goal leads to implicit learning, whereas a nonspecific goal leads to explicit learning, even though the pattern to be learnt is non-salient. Subjects learned a dynamic control task (Berry & Broadbent, 1984). One group of subjects had a specific control goal, the second group had a non-specific pattern-search goal, and the third group had both goals. On measures of learning (control performance, prediction, and general questions), the non-specific group learnt explicitly, outperforming the other two groups on all learning measures. The specific group performed next best on control performance and prediction questions but performed very poorly on general questions. The dual-goal group performed poorly on all measures. Non-specific subjects predicted well on both familiar and unfamiliar situations. Specific-goal subjects predicted well on familiar situations, regardless of whether their previous response had been correct or incorrect. Dual-goal subjects predicted well only on familiar correct situations. We conclude that the non-specific group learned through explicit hypothesis testing, the specific group learned through a mixture of explicit problem solving and implicit instance learning, and the dual-goal group learned instances. Results are discussed in terms of dual-space models of problem solving and hypothesis testing and in terms of implicit instance learning. We consider how the choice of learning goal affects the cognitive processes used during learning and suggest that having subjects learn the same information implicitly or explicitly is potentially useful for drawing clearer distinctions between implicit and explicit modes of learning.     

Mathematical model building in the solution of mechanics problems: Human protocols and the MECHO trace

This paper describes model building and manipulation in the solution of problems in mechanics. An automatic problem solver, MECHO, solving problems in several areas of mechanics, employs (1) a knowledge base representing the semantic content of the particular problem area, (2) a means-ends search strategy similar to GPS to produce sets of simultaneous equations and (3) a “focusing” technique, based on the data within the knowledge base, to guide the GSP-like search through possible equation instantiations. Sets of predicate logic statements are employed to describe this model building activity. These clauses are used to give information content to the knowledge base and provide both basis and guidance for the goal driven search. It is hypothesized that humon subjects solving mechanics problems employ similar model building techniques. Protocols of several subjects are presented and comparisons are drawn with the traces of the automated problem solver. Adjustments are made to the program to provide a better fit of traces to protocols. Some implications are presented for using a rule based model for describing human problem solving performance in solving mechanics problems.     

When can we introspect accurately about mental processes?

Some theorists have suggested that the cognitive processes determining a person’s perforance in a given task are unconscious, making introspection a poor research tool for studying these processes. Others have argued that the relevant processes usually are consciously conrolled and can be detailed by asking the person to introspect. Here, a synthesis of these two positions, a dual-factor approach, is proposed. Some of the processes involved in achieving a cognitive goal, such as learning a new concept, are viewed as unconscious and automatic; howver, other processes are intentionally allocated conscious attention, in certain tasks, to accomlish othe goal. To illustrate this dual-factor position, evidence is presented in support of the view that when concept learning occurs solely by automatic frequency processing, introspective reports are inaccurate, but when the nature of the task prompts intentional hypothesis testing, introspective reports are accurate, revealing clues that subjects engage in a conscious hypothesisesting strategy.     

学习策略与程序性知识迁移关系的研究

本研究以学习者拥有领域知识的水平差异为基点 ,结合元认知监控手段 ,考察学习策略与程序性知识迁移之间的关系。结果表明 :(1 )以揭发意义或价值、建立新旧知识信息间实质性联结的解释策略对拥有高、低领域知识组的被试具有明显促进问题解决的作用 ;而以相似性为基础的练习策略往往在学生头脑中建立的是新旧知识间表面特征的联结 ,因而程序化技能的迁移范围不如前者。 (2 )在运用获得的认知技能碰到阻碍时 ,解释策略不仅使高知组被试能够突破无关变量的影响 ,而且也在一定程度上弥补低知组被试掌握的规则缺陷。     

Evidence for model-based action planning in a sequential finger movement task

In this article, the authors examine whether and how humans use model-free, reflexive strategies and model-based, deliberative strategies in motor sequence learning. They asked subjects to perform the grid-sailing task, which required moving a cursor to different goal positions in a 5 × 5 grid using different key-mapping (KM) rules between 3 finger keys and 3 cursor movement directions. The task was performed under 3 conditions: Condition 1, new KM; Condition 2, new goal position with learned KM; and Condition 3, learned goal position with learned KM; with or without prestart delay time. The performance improvement with prestart delay was significantly larger under Condition 2. This result provides evidence that humans implement a model-based strategy for sequential action selection and learning by using previously learned internal model of state transition by actions.     

Fairness Perceptions of Selection Instruments Used in Turkey

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between the goal orientation of individuals and their reactions to three different selection instruments used in Turkey. A sample of 154 engineering students from a university rated the favorability and fairness perceptions of these instruments, namely, interview, personality and science achievement tests. The goal orientations of the participants were determined according to median values of the respected scales. A 2 × 3 mixed design ANOVA pointed out that among the rated selection techniques in the order of interview, science achievement tests, and personality tests were perceived to be favorable and fair. Although there was no main effect of goal orientation, the interaction between goal orientation and different selection instruments was significant regarding the question of invasion of privacy. Specifically, it was found that learning goal‐oriented subjects value science tests more than the performance proof‐oriented subjects in terms of the question of ‘this selection instrument invades privacy.’ Learning goal‐oriented subjects think more than the performance proof‐oriented subjects that the personality tests are an invasion of privacy. The results were discussed and the direction for future research specified.     

Cue selection in verbal discrimination learning of retarded subjects.

A series of experiments was conducted to examine cue function in trigram verbal discrimination learning by retarded subjects. The issue was to determine the factors that control attention in this type of learning situation. The two variables of chief interest were trigram meaningfulness and reinforcement history. The major general conclusion was that retarded subjects employ complex cue selection strategies in solving a verbal discrimination involving compound verbal stimuli. Major findings were as follows: (a) Retarded subjects exhibit a response bias in favor of words over nonsense trigrams; (b) relatively little active cue selection based on meaningfulness was observed; (c) a compound stimulus discrimination was more difficult to learn than a discrimination involving single verbal stimuli; (d) compound and single stimuli may be processed differently in original discrimination learning; (e) cue position probably controls attention in compound discrimination learning; and (f) a frequency theory of verbal discrimination learning is supported by these data.     

The influence of context‐specific and dispositional achievement goals on children's paired collaborative interaction

Background . Research has demonstrated that working collaboratively can have positive effects on children's learning. While key factors have been identified which influence the quality of these interactions, little research has addressed the influence of children's achievement goals on collaborative behaviour. Aims . This paper investigates the influence of mastery and performance goals on the nature of children's collaborative participation while playing a problem‐solving computer game with a peer. Sample . Forty‐eight primary schoolchildren aged 8–10 years were divided into two groups: those displaying strong personal goal preferences (dispositional group: N = 14) and those whose goal preferences were context‐dependent, displaying no consistent bias for either mastery or performance goals (context‐dependent: N = 34). Children were paired on the basis of same gender, year group, and goal orientation. Method . Context‐dependent pairs were assigned to either a mastery or a performance condition in which they received goal‐focused instructions. Dispositional pairs received only the instructions to collaborate given to all groups. Collaborative sessions were videotaped and interactions coded. Results . Children who were assigned mastery goals engaged in significantly more elaborated problem‐solving discussion whilst children who were assigned performance goals engaged in more executive help seeking and displayed lower levels of metacognitive control. Dispositional pairs shared some similar patterns, according to goal orientation, as context‐dependent pairs. Conclusions . Goal‐focused instructions can be used to influence the nature and quality of children's paired interactions. Instructing children towards mastery goals appears to promote a more collaborative style of interaction.     

How do people solve the "weather prediction" task?: individual variability in strategies for probabilistic category learning

Probabilistic category learning is often assumed to be an incrementally learned cognitive skill, dependent on nondeclarative memory systems. One paradigm in particular, the weather prediction task, has been used in over half a dozen neuropsychological and neuroimaging studies to date. Because of the growing interest in using this task and others like it as behavioral tools for studying the cognitive neuroscience of cognitive skill learning, it becomes especially important to understand how subjects solve this kind of task and whether all subjects learn it in the same way. We present here new experimental and theoretical analyses of the weather prediction task that indicate that there are at least three different strategies that describe how subjects learn this task. (1) An optimal multi-cue strategy, in which they respond to each pattern on the basis of associations of all four cues with each outcome; (2) a one-cue strategy, in which they respond on the basis of presence or absence of a single cue, disregarding all other cues; or (3) a singleton strategy, in which they learn only about the four patterns that have only one cue present and all others absent. This variability in how subjects approach this task may have important implications for interpreting how different brain regions are involved in probabilistic category learning.     

Microgenetic patterns of children's multiplication learning: confirming the overlapping waves model by latent growth modeling

Variability in strategy selection is an important characteristic of learning new skills such as mathematical skills. Strategies gradually come and go during this development. In 1996, Siegler described this phenomenon as "overlapping waves." In the current microgenetic study, we attempted to model these overlapping waves statistically. In addition, we investigated whether development in strategy selection is related to development in accuracy and to what degree working memory is related to both. We expected that children with poor working memory are limited in their possibilities to make the associations that are necessary to progress to more mature strategies. This limitation would explain the often-found relationship between working memory and mathematical abilities. To this aim, the strategy selection and accuracy of 98 children who were learning single-digit multiplication was assessed eight times on a weekly basis. Using latent growth modeling for categorical data, we confirmed Siegler's hypothesis of overlapping waves. Moreover, both the intercepts and the slopes of strategy selection and accuracy were strongly interrelated. Finally, working memory predicted both strategy selection and accuracy, confirming that working memory is related to mathematical problem solving in two ways because it influences both the maturity of strategy choice and the probability of making procedural mistakes.     

Enabling spontaneous analogy through heuristic change

Despite analogy playing a central role in theories of problem solving, learning and education, demonstrations of spontaneous analogical transfer are rare. Here, we present a theory of heuristic change for spontaneous analogical transfer, tested in four experiments that manipulated the experience of failure to solve a source problem prior to attempting a target problem. In Experiment 1, participants solved more source problems that contained an additional financial constraint designed to signal the inappropriateness of moves that maximized progress towards the goal. This constraint also led to higher rates of spontaneous analogical transfer to a superficially similar problem. Experiments 2 and 3 showed that the effects of this constraint extend to superficially and structurally different analogs. Experiment 4 generalized the finding to a non-analogous target problem that also benefitted from inhibiting maximizing moves. The results indicate that spontaneous transfer can arise through experience during the solution of a source problem that alters the heuristic chosen for solving both analogical and non-analogical target problems.     

A hybrid model of categorization

Category learning is often modeled as either an exemplar-based or a rule-based process. This paper shows that both strategies can be combined in a cognitive architecture that was developed to model other task domains. Variations on the exemplar-based random walk (EBRW) model of Nosofsky and Palmeri (1997b) and the rule-plus-exception (RULEX) rule-based model of Nosofsky, Palmeri, and McKinley (1994) were implemented in the ACT-R cognitive architecture. The architecture allows the two strategies to be mixed to produce classification behavior. The combined system reproduces latency, learning, and generalization data from three category-learning experiments--Nosofsky and Palmeri (1997b), Nosofsky et al., and Erickson and Kruschke (1998). It is concluded that EBRW and ACT-R have different but equivalent means of incorporating similarity and practice. In addition, ACT-R brings a theory of strategy selection that enables the exemplar and the rule-based strategies to be mixed.     

STRATEGY MODIFICATION IN CONCEPT LEARNING AS A FUNCTION OF INTRADIMENSIONAL VARIABILITY

LINDAHL, M.-B. Strategy modification in concept learning as a function of intradimensional variability. Scand. J. Psychol. , 1971, 12, 90–98.–60 subjects took part in a concept-learning-like task, where the independent variable was the intradimensional variability of the instances and the dependent variable was the type of strategy adopted by the subjects. Two main types of strategy were used by the subjects: one based on subtle cues and in principle requiring only one instance to lead to solution (conceptual-deductive strategy) and one based on salient cues and requiring a number of instances for solution (perceptual-inductive strategy). Adoptions of a conceptual-deductive type of strategy were shown to be significantly more frequent, when the variability was large than when it was small. It was concluded that the intradimensional variability of the instances influenced the subjects' choice of strategy in a seemingly rational way. This type of strategy modification was considered to be in line with theories describing concept learning as a sequence of, in principle, rational decisions.     

L'avenir de l'approche par élaboration de règles

The goal of this study is the elaboration of a computerized diagnostic instrument based on Siegler's rule-assessment approach for assessing the acquisition of the probability quantification scheme in subjects aged 6–18 years. Three versions of the test were used. Version 1 was Siegler's original version (four types of problems and four rules). In version 2 five new rules were added; version 3 contained the five new rules plus eleven types of problems. Results show that version 1 allows the classification of only 50% of subjects; version 2, 60%; and version 3, 70%. Despite improved versions, some weaknesses remain, the most important one being that it is still impossible to evaluate intra-individual variability. Aware of these limits, Siegler has reassigned his model to a local model of problem solving, and suggests a developmental model of information processing inspired by a Darwinian model of variation and strategy selection. The authors hypothesize that computer engineering could not only reaffirm the general status of the rule-assessment approach, but could also allow consideration of intra-individual variability.     

认知策略选择的元认知因素

元认知指个体对自我认知过程的认知。元认知与策略选择的研究自上世纪80年代兴起, 并在随后的30年里取得了丰硕成果, 近年来, 涌现出了不少新的相关研究。基于近10年的国内外研究, 从学习与记忆、问题解决、策略干预三个方面就当今元认知与策略选择的研究新进展进行了分析。基于梳理, 认为元认知在高水平调节、基本记忆策略与策略干预、深层次运作机制及创新研究技术手段方面尚需突破。     

Mediating Roles of Self-Set Goals,Goal Commitment,Self-Efficacy,and Attractiveness in the Incentive-Performance Relation

The effects of monetary incentives on performance were examined in 2 studies. These effects were hypothesized to be through the intermediary motivational processes of self-efficacy, attractiveness ratings, goal level, and goal commitment. In Study 1, 80 subjects worked solving anagrams on 8 trials under 1 of 4 monetary incentive conditions (piece rate, hourly rate, competitive bonus, and goal attainment bonus). In Study 2, 146 subjects worked solving anagrams on 4 trials under 1 of 4 monetary incentive conditions (piece rate, informed bonus, uninformed bonus, and assigned bonus). In both studies, subjects self-set goal levels both before and after the incen- tive manipulation. Results from both studies indicated that tying rewards to goal attainment resulted in subjects having lower goal levels and lower self-efficacy, whereas piece-rate systems resulted in higher goal levels and higher self-efficacy. In addition, goal levels and self-efficacy partially mediated the relation between incentives and performance.