Relationships between learning approach, procrastination and academic achievement amongst first-year university students

Individual differences in student learning influence academic performance, and two aspects influencing the learning process are the particular learning approach the students use and procrastination behaviour. We examined the relationships between learning approaches, procrastination and academic achievement (measured 1 year later as the grade point average (GPA)) amongst 428 first-year university students. Deep and strategic learning approaches positively predicted GPA, and a mediation analysis showed that the strategic learning approach also partly mediated the effect between deep learning approach and GPA. Less procrastination was associated with a strategic learning approach, but procrastination tendencies did not predict GPA. Recommendations are made for educating new students in cognitive and meta-cognitive strategies, helping reduce their procrastination and facilitating the use of deep and strategic learning approaches

Intervention to reduce procrastination in first-year students: Preliminary results from a Norwegian study

This paper reports preliminary results from a brief intervention designed to reduce academic procrastination. Students enrolled in an introductory psychology course received lectures and seminar sessions about procrastination and its causes and consequences. Students who were enrolled in an introductory psychology course received lectures and seminar sessions about procrastination and its causes and consequences, as well as information about techniques that are helpful in reducing and preventing the problem. Changes in procrastination and techniques helpful in reducing procrastination were monitored in pre and post probes. Results indicated that students reduced their procrastination, with the most positive changes observed in students who were high in procrastination tendencies at the outset of the intervention

Metacognition in psychology

How has the concept of metacognition been used within basic and applied psychological research? We begin our answer by presenting a broad definition of metacognition, a historical overview of its development and its presence in research databases. To assess which function and facets are most frequently addressed within each of the sub-disciplines, we present results from separate literature searches. We then review how metacognition has been defined and empirically explored within selected sub-disciplines in terms of typical research questions, conceptual definitions, how the concept has been measured, and examples of interesting findings and implications. We identify similarities, inconsistencies, and disagreements across fields and point out areas for future research. Our overall conclusion is that it is useful to consider metacognition as a broad umbrella concept across different domains and across basic and applied research. Nonetheless, we recommend that researchers be more specific and explicit about their approach and assumptions whenever using metacognition in their research

Skiing and thinking about it: Moment-to-moment and retrospective analysis of emotions in an extreme sport

Happiness is typically reported as an important reason for participating in challenging activities like extreme sport. While in the middle of the activity, however, participants do not seem particularly happy. So where does the happiness come from? The article proposes some answers from a study of facially expressed emotions measured moment-by-moment during a backcountry skiing event. Self-reported emotions were also assessed immediately after the skiing. Participants expressed lower levels of happiness while skiing, compared to when stopping for a break. Moment-to-moment and self-reported measures of emotions were largely unrelated. These findings are explained with reference to the Functional Wellbeing Approach (Vittersø, 2013), which argues that some moment-to-moment feelings are non-evaluative in the sense of being generated directly by the difficulty of an activity. By contrast, retrospective emotional feelings are more complex as they include an evaluation of the overall goals and values associated with the activity as a whole

Feminism and the flat law theory

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