Development and Evaluation of the Nebraska Assessment of Computing Knowledge

One way to increase the quality of computing education research is to increase the quality of the measurement tools that are available to researchers, especially measures of students’ knowledge and skills. This paper represents a step toward increasing the number of available thoroughly-evaluated tests that can be used in computing education research by evaluating the psychometric properties of a multiple-choice test designed to differentiate undergraduate students in terms of their mastery of foundational computing concepts. Classical test theory and item response theory analyses are reported and indicate that the test is a reliable, psychometrically-sound instrument suitable for research with undergraduate students. Limitations and the importance of using standardized measures of learning in education research are discussed

Temperament in the Classroom

Variance in academic performance that persists when situational variables are held constant suggests that whether students fail or thrive depends not only on circumstance, but also on relatively stable individual differences in how children respond to circumstance. More academically talented children generally outperform their less able peers, but much less is known about how traits unrelated to general intelligence influence academic outcomes. This paper addresses several related questions: What insights can be gleaned from historical interest in the role of temperament in the classroom? What does recent empirical research say about the specific dimensions of temperament most important to successful academic performance? In particular, which aspects of temperament most strongly influence school readiness, academic achievement, and educational attainment? What factors mediate and moderate associations between temperament and academic outcomes? What progress has been made in deliberately cultivating aspects of temperament that matter most to success in school? And, finally, for researchers keenly interested in better understanding how and why temperament influences academic success, in which direction does future progress lie?

Predictors of Secondary School Students’ Future Technological Academic and Professional Readiness: A Study of Teachers and Students’ Factors in Learning Online

This research endeavors to investigate the factors that influence satisfaction with online learning among secondary students in hybrid or blended environments in the United States. With a focus on social-emotional learning and digital citizenship, the study begins the exploration and the impact of teacher interactions, teaching presence, self-management of learning, and academic self-efficacy on students’ satisfaction with learning online and how this satisfaction can impact their future readiness to use technology effectively. The study involved a sample of 320 secondary students and a supplemental survey of 32 teachers who completed online surveys that took no longer than 10 minutes to complete over a 4-week period. Results indicate that academic self-efficacy, self-management of learning, interactions between students and instructors, and teaching presence are positively associated with students’ satisfaction with online learning. Additionally, satisfaction with online learning was found to predict both students’ intention to continue using to use technology and their future readiness. These findings have significant implications for educators as they provide insight into effective strategies to enhance student satisfaction while learning online and contribute to the understanding of the complex relationship between satisfaction and intention to use online learning activities among secondary students in hybrid or blended environments, particularly in the context of social-emotional learning and digital citizenship

Explaining Math Achievement;Personality, Motivation, and Trust

This study investigated the statistical significance of student trust next to the well-tested constructs of personality and motivation to determine whether trust is a significant predictor of course achievement in college math courses. Participants were 175 students who were taking undergraduate math courses in an urban public university. The Mini-Markers (Saucier, 1994), an adapted Student Trust Survey (Barnes, Adams & Forsyth, 2004, April), and the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (Pintrich, Smith, Garcia & McKeachie, 1991) were used to measure students\u27 Big-Five personality factors, trust in their math instructor, and motivational beliefs and strategies for their learning and performance in one of the math courses they were taking during Spring 2009. Students reported their semester in college, gender and ethnicity their final math grades and math class size information were collected from the university at the end of the semester and their math course group was determined based on the categorization made by the university\u27s math department. The data were analyzed using bivariate correlations, independent samples t-tests, and hierarchical multiple regression models. The Conscientiousness factor correlated significantly with students\u27 final math grades, explaining 6 unique variance in students\u27 grades. Students\u27 trust in their math instructor also correlated significantly with their final math grades, contributing another 6 unique variance to the prediction of students\u27 grades. Students\u27 task value, self-efficacy beliefs, test anxiety, and effort regulation were all significantly correlated with their final math grades, and when these were added in the final prediction model, the significant effects of the Conscientiousness factor and student trust on students\u27 grades became non-significant. This showed that students\u27 motivated strategies for learning completely mediated the relationship between students\u27 Conscientiousness factor, trust, and their final math grades. The final prediction mod

Explaining Math Achievement;Personality, Motivation, and Trust

This study investigated the statistical significance of student trust next to the well-tested constructs of personality and motivation to determine whether trust is a significant predictor of course achievement in college math courses. Participants were 175 students who were taking undergraduate math courses in an urban public university. The Mini-Markers (Saucier, 1994), an adapted Student Trust Survey (Barnes, Adams & Forsyth, 2004, April), and the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (Pintrich, Smith, Garcia & McKeachie, 1991) were used to measure students\u27 Big-Five personality factors, trust in their math instructor, and motivational beliefs and strategies for their learning and performance in one of the math courses they were taking during Spring 2009. Students reported their semester in college, gender and ethnicity their final math grades and math class size information were collected from the university at the end of the semester and their math course group was determined based on the categorization made by the university\u27s math department. The data were analyzed using bivariate correlations, independent samples t-tests, and hierarchical multiple regression models. The Conscientiousness factor correlated significantly with students\u27 final math grades, explaining 6 unique variance in students\u27 grades. Students\u27 trust in their math instructor also correlated significantly with their final math grades, contributing another 6 unique variance to the prediction of students\u27 grades. Students\u27 task value, self-efficacy beliefs, test anxiety, and effort regulation were all significantly correlated with their final math grades, and when these were added in the final prediction model, the significant effects of the Conscientiousness factor and student trust on students\u27 grades became non-significant. This showed that students\u27 motivated strategies for learning completely mediated the relationship between students\u27 Conscientiousness factor, trust, and their final math grades. The final prediction mod

Using a Pearl Harvested Synonym Ring for the Creation of a Digital Index on Giftedness

This thesis examined the use of a pearl harvested synonym ring in the creation of a digital index on the subject of giftedness, with the goal of better defining the available information in the field and facilitating information retrieval. The pearl harvested synonym ring was used in the retrieval of citations relating to giftedness in the ERIC database. A content analysis of these citations provided the list of topics that would form the basis of a digital index. When the topics retrieved using the pearl harvested synonym ring were compared to the indices of two textbooks on gifted education, they were found to be more comprehensive and better representative of the field. The results of this study have potential implications in the improvement of digital indexing techniques, better understanding of academic fields of study, and creating a standard procedure for scoping reviews