2,829 research outputs found
Motivation as a predictor of dental students’ affective and behavioral outcomes: Does the quality of motivation matter?
Since the motivation to study and engage in academic activities plays a key role in students’ learning experience and well-being, gaining a better understanding of dental students’ motivations can help educators implement interventions to support students’ optimal motivations. The aim of this study, grounded in self-determination theory, was to determine the predictive role of different types of motivation (autonomous motivation, controlled motivation, and amotivation) in the affective and behavioral outcomes of dental students. Amotivation is the absence of drive to pursue an activity due to a failure to establish relationships between activity and behavior; controlled motivation involves behaving under external pressure or demands; and autonomous motivation is an internalized behavior with a full sense of volition, interest, choice, and self-determination. A cross-sectional correlational study was conducted in 2016, in which 924 students (90.2% response rate) from years one to six agreed to participate, granting permission to access their current GPAs and completing four self-reported questionnaires on academic motivation, study strategies, vitality, and self-esteem. The results showed that self-determined motivation (i.e., autonomous over controlled motivation) was positively associated with vitality, self-esteem, and deep study strategies and negatively associated with surface study strategies. The contrary results were found for amotivation. In the motivational model, deep study strategies showed a positive association with students’ academic performance. Contrary results were found for surface study strategies. This study extends understanding of the differentiation of motivation based on its quality types and suggests that being motivated does not necessarily lead to positive educational outcomes. Autonomous motivation, in contrast to controlled motivation and amotivation, should be supported to benefit students with regard to their approaches to learning and well-being since it can promote students’ vitality, self-esteem, deep over surface study strategies, and enhanced academic performance
Trans-Neptunian Objects with Hubble Space Telescope ACS/WFC
We introduce a novel search technique that can identify trans-neptunian
objects in three to five exposures of a pointing within a single Hubble Space
Telescope orbit. The process is fast enough to allow the discovery of
candidates soon after the data are available. This allows sufficient time to
schedule follow up observations with HST within a month. We report the
discovery of 14 slow-moving objects found within 5\circ of the ecliptic in
archival data taken with the Wide Field Channel of the Advanced Camera for
Surveys. The luminosity function of these objects is consistent with previous
ground-based and space-based results. We show evidence that the size
distribution of both high and low inclination populations is similar for
objects smaller than 100 km, as expected from collisional evolution models,
while their size distribution differ for brighter objects. We suggest the two
populations formed in different parts of the protoplanetary disk and after
being dynamically mixed have collisionally evolved together. Among the objects
discovered there is an equal mass binary with an angular separation ~ 0."53.Comment: 16 page, 10 figures, accepted by Ap
Determinants and outcomes of motivation in health professions education: a systematic review based on self-determination theory
Purpose: This study aimed at conducting a systematic review in health professions education of determinants, mediators and outcomes of students’ motivation to engage in academic activities based on the self-determination theory’s perspective. Methods: A search was conducted across databases (MEDLINE, CINHAL, EMBASE, PsycINFO, and ERIC databases), hand-search of relevant journals, grey literature, and published research profile of key authors. Quantitative and qualitative studies were included if they reported research in health professions education focused on determinants, mediators, and/or outcomes of motivation from the self-determination and if meeting the quality criteria. Results: A total of 17 studies met the inclusion and quality criteria. Articles retrieved came from diverse locations and mainly from medical education and to a lesser extent from psychology and dental education. Intrapersonal (gender and personality traits) and interpersonal determinants (academic conditions and lifestyle, qualitative method of selection, feedback, and an autonomy supportive learning climate) have been reported to have a positive influence on students’ motivation to engage in academic activities. No studies were found that tested mediation effects between determinants and students’ motivation. In turn, students’ self-determined motivation has been found to be positively associated with different cognitive, affective, and behavioural outcomes. Conclusion: This study has found that generally, motivation could be enhanced by changes in the educational environment and by an early detection of students’ characteristics. Doing so may support future health practitioners’ self-determined motivation and positively influence how they process information and their emotions and how they approach their learning activities
Motivational profiles and their relationships with basic psychological needs, academic performance, study strategies, self-esteem, and vitality in dental students in Chile
Purpose To determine dental students’ motivational profiles through a person-centred approach and to analyse the associations with the satisfaction of their basic psychological needs, study strategies, academic performance, self-esteem, and vitality. Methods A total of 924 students from the University of San Sebastian (Chile) participated in this cross-sectional cor¬relational study in spring 2016. Data were collected through 5 self-reported instruments, in addition to students’ academic performance. The Cronbach alpha, descriptive statistics, and correla¬tion scores were computed. A k-means cluster analysis with intrinsic and controlled motivation was conducted to identify different mo-tivational profiles. Subsequently, multivariate analysis of covariance controlling for the effects of gender and year of study was carried out to assess differences among the retained motivational profiles and learning variables. Results All instruments showed acceptable Cronbach alpha scores. A 4-cluster solution was retained for the motivational profile over a 3- or 5-cluster solution. Students’ motiva-tional profiles were characterized by different degrees of intrinsic and controlled motivation. The high intrinsic motivation groups showed higher perceptions of their basic psychological, a greater propensity for a deep rather than surface study strategy, better academic performance, and higher scores for self-esteem and vitality than the low intrinsic motivation groups, regardless of the degree of controlled motivation. Conclusion Students with a high intrinsic motivation profile, regardless of their controlled motivation scores, reported better learning characteristics. Therefore, special attention should be paid to students’ motivational profiles, as the quality of motivation might serve as a basis for interventions to support their academic success and well-being
The dependence of the viscosity-parameter on the disk scale height profile
It is shown that the height scale for accretion disks is a constant whenever
hydrostatic equilibrium and sub-sonic turbulence regime hold in the disk. In
order to have a variable height scale, processes that do contribute with an
extra term to the continuity equation are needed. This makes the viscosity
parameter much greater in the outer region and much smaller in the inner
region. Under these circumstances, turbulence is a presumable source of
viscosity in the disk.Comment: 8 pages, submitted to Apj
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