Matching Items (9)
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- Creators: School of Life Sciences
- Creators: Atkinson, Robert K
Description
This study empirically evaluated the effectiveness of the instructional design, learning tools, and role of the teacher in three versions of a semester-long, high-school remedial Algebra I course to determine what impact self-regulated learning skills and learning pattern training have on students' self-regulation, math achievement, and motivation. The 1st version was a business-as-usual traditional classroom teaching mathematics with direct instruction. The 2rd version of the course provided students with self-paced, individualized Algebra instruction with a web-based, intelligent tutor. The 3rd version of the course coupled self-paced, individualized instruction on the web-based, intelligent Algebra tutor coupled with a series of e-learning modules on self-regulated learning knowledge and skills that were distributed throughout the semester. A quasi-experimental, mixed methods evaluation design was used by assigning pre-registered, high-school remedial Algebra I class periods made up of an approximately equal number of students to one of the three study conditions or course versions: (a) the control course design, (b) web-based, intelligent tutor only course design, and (c) web-based, intelligent tutor + SRL e-learning modules course design. While no statistically significant differences on SRL skills, math achievement or motivation were found between the three conditions, effect-size estimates provide suggestive evidence that using the SRL e-learning modules based on ARCS motivation model (Keller, 2010) and Let Me Learn learning pattern instruction (Dawkins, Kottkamp, & Johnston, 2010) may help students regulate their learning and improve their study skills while using a web-based, intelligent Algebra tutor as evidenced by positive impacts on math achievement, motivation, and self-regulated learning skills. The study also explored predictive analyses using multiple regression and found that predictive models based on independent variables aligned to student demographics, learning mastery skills, and ARCS motivational factors are helpful in defining how to further refine course design and design learning evaluations that measure achievement, motivation, and self-regulated learning in web-based learning environments, including intelligent tutoring systems.
ContributorsBarrus, Angela (Author) / Atkinson, Robert K (Thesis advisor) / Van de Sande, Carla (Committee member) / Savenye, Wilhelmina (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Researchers have postulated that math academic achievement increases student success in college (Lee, 2012; Silverman & Seidman, 2011; Vigdor, 2013), yet 80% of universities and 98% of community colleges require many of their first-year students to be placed in remedial courses (Bettinger & Long, 2009). Many high school graduates are entering college ill prepared for the rigors of higher education, lacking understanding of basic and important principles (ACT, 2012). The desire to increase academic achievement is a wide held aspiration in education and the idea of adapting instruction to individuals is one approach to accomplish this goal (Lalley & Gentile, 2009a). Frequently, adaptive learning environments rely on a mastery learning approach, it is thought that when students are afforded the opportunity to master the material, deeper and more meaningful learning is likely to occur. Researchers generally agree that the learning environment, the teaching approach, and the students' attributes are all important to understanding the conditions that promote academic achievement (Bandura, 1977; Bloom, 1968; Guskey, 2010; Cassen, Feinstein & Graham, 2008; Changeiywo, Wambugu & Wachanga, 2011; Lee, 2012; Schunk, 1991; Van Dinther, Dochy & Segers, 2011). The present study investigated the role of college students' affective attributes and skills, such as academic competence and academic resilience, in an adaptive mastery-based learning environment on their academic performance, while enrolled in a remedial mathematics course. The results showed that the combined influence of students' affective attributes and academic resilience had a statistically significant effect on students' academic performance. Further, the mastery-based learning environment also had a significant effect on their academic competence and academic performance.
ContributorsFoshee, Cecile Mary (Author) / Atkinson, Robert K (Thesis advisor) / Elliott, Stephen N. (Committee member) / Horan, John (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Writing instruction poses both cognitive and affective challenges, particularly for adolescents. American teens not only fall short of national writing standards, but also tend to lack motivation for school writing, claiming it is too challenging and that they have nothing interesting to write about. Yet, teens enthusiastically immerse themselves in informal writing via text messaging, email, and social media, regularly sharing their thoughts and experiences with a real audience. While these activities are, in fact, writing, research indicates that teens instead view them as simply "communication" or "being social." Accordingly, the aim of this work was to infuse formal classroom writing with naturally engaging elements of informal social media writing to positively impact writing quality and the motivation to write, resulting in the development and implementation of Sparkfolio, an online prewriting tool that: a) addresses affective challenges by allowing students to choose personally relevant topics using their own social media data; and b) provides cognitive support with a planner that helps develop and organize ideas in preparation for writing a first draft. This tool was evaluated in a study involving 46 eleventh-grade English students writing three personal narratives each, and including three experimental conditions: a) using self-authored social media post data while planning with Sparkfolio; b) using only data from posts authored by one's friends while planning with Sparkfolio; and c) a control group that did not use Sparkfolio. The dependent variables were the change in writing motivation and the change in writing quality that occurred before and after the intervention. A scaled pre/posttest measured writing motivation, and the first and third narratives were used as writing quality pre/posttests. A usability scale, logged Sparkfolio data, and qualitative measures were also analyzed. Results indicated that participants who used Sparkfolio had statistically significantly higher gains in writing quality than the control group, validating Sparkfolio as effective. Additionally, while nonsignificant, results suggested that planning with self-authored data provided more writing quality and motivational benefits than data authored by others. This work provides initial empirical evidence that leveraging students' own social media data (securely) holds potential in fostering meaningful personalized learning.
ContributorsSadauskas, John (Author) / Atkinson, Robert K (Thesis advisor) / Savenye, Wilhelmina (Committee member) / Liu, Huan (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
Understanding the relationships between chemistry students' motivation, performance, and gender can help identify and inform ways in which chemistry education might be improved. Students from four CHM 101 classes with two different instructors were surveyed using an adapted Science Motivation Questionnaire II, and motivation data was analyzed with respect to final course performance. Gender data was available for two of these classes, and motivation results analyzed by gender for these classes. Exam scores and gender data was obtained from one of the instructors for CHM 101 courses taught over the past five years and were also analyzed. The motivational study involved small sample sizes, especially in the motivation by gender study. Career motivation, grade motivation, self-efficacy, and total motivation declined over the course of the semester in the four classes combined. Self-efficacy and career motivation were found to predict final course performance only at the end of the semester. Self-efficacy strongly predicted performance, and career motivation was negatively correlated with performance. Female students had higher grade motivation at the end of the semester and lost more self-efficacy over the course of the semester than male students. Gender-performance analysis showed that male students scored slightly higher on exams on average, but that female students received a higher percentage of "A"s and a lower percentage of "D"s, "E"s, and "W"s in the majority of the semesters.
ContributorsJohnson, Walter Gregory (Author) / Gould, Ian (Thesis director) / Wolf, George (Committee member) / Austin, Ara (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
The present study examined how systemic low doses of nicotine affect the microstructure of food-reinforced behavior in rats. Rats were given an acute saline or nicotine treatment (0.1-0.6 mg/kg, resting at least 48 h between injections), and a chronic saline or nicotine treatment (0.3 mg/kg for 10 consecutive days). Immediately after treatment, rats were required to press a lever to obtain food, whose availability was unpredictable, but programmed at a constant rate (on average every 80 s). Acute nicotine dose-dependently suppressed behavior prior to the delivery of the first reinforcer, but enhanced food-reinforced behavior afterwards. This effect was primarily observed in the time it took rats to initiate food-seeking behavior, and not in the food-seeking behavior itself. A pre-feeding control procedure suggests that these effects cannot be explained only by changes in appetite. Over the course of chronic nicotine exposure, tolerance developed to the suppressive, but not to the enhancing effects of nicotine on food-seeking behavior. These results suggest that ostensive sensitization effects of nicotine on behavior may instead reflect a tolerance for its suppressive effects on behavior.
ContributorsRomero, Korinna Estela (Author) / Sanabria, Federico (Thesis director) / Gipson-Reichardt, Cassandra (Committee member) / Bevins, Rick (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
The goal of this investigation was to perform a correlational analysis of the intelligence mindsets, motivational background, and significance of gender identity as factors driving student success. 42 students enrolled in Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) 110: Principles of Programming with Java completed a modified Scientific Measurement Questionnaire (SMQ), a survey instrument designed to study the previously mentioned factors. This survey was modeled on a similar survey administered by Dr. Ian Gould to students enrolled in his Organic Chemistry course at Arizona State University. Following the development of a scoring system to generate quantifiable data, it was determined that students in this course displayed a greater inclination towards beliefs in malleable intelligence and in an intrinsic locus of control as opposed to a belief in static intelligence and an external locus of control. Students exhibited a multi-faceted approach in responding to the questions in the motivational background section, indicating that there were no distinctively dominating factors driving student motivation. Instead, it was observed that students generally derived motivation from these factors in a synergistic fashion. Responses to questions regarding gender indicated that while students believed that the way they were perceived by others was significantly influenced by their gender, the notion of gender identity played little to no role in their overall personal identity and self-schema. As the study was designed to offer insight into the role of gender identity and the population discrepancies within the course, it is important to note that the findings suggest gender identity is not a primary factor of concern with regard to student performance. While the data acquired suggested potential trends in student mindsets, a notable limitation of the scope of the project was the undersized sample population.
ContributorsLevinthal, Ryan (Co-author) / Santos, Cedric (Co-author) / Gould, Ian (Thesis director) / Redding, Kevin (Committee member) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
Hybrid schedules have become a popular mode of learning during the last decade as new classroom technologies have emerged. Universities have utilized online learning as a format to include more accessibility, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. College students are often given the option of choosing different learning modalities when scheduling courses. The objective of this study is to determine how multi-modal schedules impact preference, motivation, and learning. Fifty undergraduate students at Arizona State University were asked several questions pertaining to their academics. These included the types of courses they have taken in the past year, their motivation to learn in these modalities, and how they think they retained the information from their courses. Participants showed much higher motivation and learning within in-person classes, but an overall higher satisfaction for multi-modal schedules. These results show that Arizona State University should make an effort to increase student motivation for online and asynchronous classes, in addition to adding a variety of learning modes that best accommodate undergraduate students and their needs.
ContributorsUnderwood, Brooke (Author) / Greer, Ashley (Co-author) / Kappes, Janelle (Thesis director) / Lewis, Stephen (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor)
Created2024-05
Description
Due to the elimination of the established instructional methods from the impact of COVID-19, the implementation of mass synchronous learning created a new strain of educational experiences for students that took a toll on social interaction. In the Spring 2022 semester, a survey was conducted of students that were previously or currently enrolled in the principal undergraduate biological sciences course, BIO 340: General Genetics, to assess both the prevalence of social interaction in the lives of the students and the potential ways this information could be molded to improve student’s educational and motivational experience. The results of this survey indicated that there was a considerable lack of social interaction and motivation among students that have taken or are taking BIO 340. Through a process of collecting qualitative data of students by 1-on-1 interviews, the majority of students requested that professors communicate with each other to learn more about ways they can incorporate social interaction as external technological applications and tools have been developed. Students brought up many external tools that professors in other biological sciences courses have been utilizing to engage student-to-student interaction and found these resources to increase their level of understanding and motivation. The driving interest behind this creative project is to understand the importance of peer-to-peer learning that may help guide professors that are new to synchronous teaching so that they may increase their level of understanding and comfortability of accessing resources that students themselves have shown to increase their educational experiences. The mixed-method design served as a means to understand what types of social interaction enhance students’ education and motivation.
ContributorsMisra, Radhika (Author) / Hartwell, Leland (Thesis director) / Pate, Amy (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor)
Created2022-05
Description
In today's society, success is often associated with conventional norms and expectations. The pressure to conform to these norms can be daunting, especially for those who are aiming to succeed in highly competitive fields such as entrepreneurship or the healthcare field. However, to truly achieve success, it is important to think outside the box and push past one's comfort zone. Success in any career requires a combination of learning from others, embracing a growth mindset, developing discipline, harnessing the power of manifestation and visualization, and effectively handling negative criticism. This thesis and two podcast episodes linked at the end of the document will explore these topics in-depth, drawing upon personal experiences and anecdotes to illustrate the significance of these concepts. The thesis will also discuss the Dunning-Kruger effect and the Law of Attraction to provide a comprehensive understanding of the challenges and opportunities on the path to success.
ContributorsGalande, Aditi (Author) / Bonfiglio, Thomas (Thesis director) / Carradini, Stephen (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution & Social Change (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor)
Created2023-05