Understanding the truth about subjectivity

Results of two experiments show children’s understanding of diversity in personal preference is incomplete. Despite acknowledging diversity, in Experiment 1(N=108), 6- and 8-year-old children were less likely than adults to see preference as a legitimate basis for personal tastes and more likely to say a single truth could be found about a matter of taste. In Experiment 2 (N=96), 7- and 9-year-olds were less likely than 11- and 13-yearolds to say a dispute about a matter of preference might not be resolved. These data suggest that acceptance of the possibility of diversity does not indicate an adult-like understanding of subjectivity. An understanding of the relative emphasis placed on objective and subjective factors in different contexts continues to develop into adolescence

Intraindividual Differences in Motivation and Cognition in Students With and Without Learning Disabilities

The present study examines several cognitive and motivational variables that distinguish children with learning disabilities (n = 19) from children without learning disabilities (n = 20). The total sample included 30 males and 9 females and was composed of white, fifth-grade students from a middle-class community in the Midwest. Results showed that although the students with learning disabilities displayed lower levels of metacognitive knowledge and reading comprehension, they did not differ from the students without learning disabilities on self-efficacy, intrinsic orientation, or anxiety. In addition, they did not show any signs of learned helplessness, although they did tend to attribute success and failure to external causes more often than the students without learning disabilities. Using a cluster analysis that grouped individuals, we found that differences in the motivational and cognitive variables cut across a priori categories of children with and without learning disabilities. Three clusters were formed: one with high comprehension, motivation, and metacognition (mostly children without learning disabilities); one with low levels of comprehension and metacognition but high intrinsic motivation (all children with learning disabilities); and one with low intrinsic motivation but average comprehension, metacognition, and attributional style (approximately equal numbers of children with and without learning disabilities). Implications for diagnosis and intervention for students with learning disabilities are discussed.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/68859/2/10.1177_002221949402700603.pd

Academic achievement : the role of praise in motivating students

The motivation of students is an important issue in higher education, particularly in the context of the increasing diversity of student populations. A social-cognitive perspective assumes motivation to be dynamic, context-sensitive and changeable, thereby rendering it to be a much more differentiated construct than previously understood. This complexity may be perplexing to tutors who are keen to develop applications to improve academic achievement. One application that is within the control of the tutor, at least to some extent, is the use of praise. Using psychological literature the article argues that in motivating students, the tutor is not well served by relying on simplistic and common sense understandings of the construct of praise and that effective applications of praise are mediated by students' goal orientations, which of themselves may be either additive or interactive composites of different objectives and different contexts

Experimental Feedback on Prog&Play: A Serious Game for Programming Practice

International audienceThis paper presents an experimental feedback on a serious game dedicated to strengthening programming skills. This serious game, called Prog&Play, is built on an open source real-time strategy game. Its goal is to be compatible with different students, teachers and institutions. We based its evaluation on an iterative process that allows to implement the game and carry out experimentations in several contexts. Through this assessment, we define a framework which has been tested by third parties and we analyse both positive and negative points in order to improve the project. Evaluation is indeed beneficial and enables you to establish communication about the implemented practices

The significance of motivation in student-centred learning : a reflective case study

The theoretical underpinnings of student-centred learning suggest motivation to be an integral component. However, lack of clarification of what is involved in motivation in education often results in unchallenged assumptions that fail to recognise that what motivates some students may alienate others. This case study, using socio-cognitive motivational theory to analyse previously collected data, derives three fuzzy propositions which, collectively, suggest that motivation interacts with the whole cycle of episodes in the teachinglearning process. It argues that the development of the higherlevel cognitive competencies that are implied by the term, student-centred learning, must integrate motivational constructs such as goal orientation, volition, interest and attributions into pedagogical practices

Satisfaction with Self and External Regulation of Learning in Higher Education Students in Brazil

The satisfaction of university students with the variables that regulate their learning provides very valuable information to improve the quality of teaching processes. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the learning of Brazilian university students, exploring both selfregulation variables, such as study techniques; and more external regulation variables, namely, satisfaction with the teaching–learning process and with the infrastructure, based on three variables: gender, the institution of higher education and the academic year of the students. To achieve this, 560 students of the Pedagogy degree were evaluated with two questionnaires: a questionnaire of satisfaction with the educational infrastructure and the teaching–learning process and a questionnaire on study techniques. Statistically significant differences were obtained, especially depending on the type of institution and the academic year. The students of private schools and earlier academic years were the ones who obtained the most satisfaction with the study techniques and with the infrastructure. Those from private centers also expressed more satisfaction with the teaching–learning processes. These results provide greater knowledge about the processes of self-regulation and external regulation of university learning and of their satisfaction with them, which can contribute to improving educational policies in Brazil.Research Group Development, Education, Diversity, and Culture: Interdisciplinary Analysis (HUM-742)Federal University of Maranhão and the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa e ao Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico do Maranhão (Foundation for Research Support and Scientific and Technological Development of Maranhão

Empleo de las estrategias de aprendizaje en la universidad. Un estudio de caso

The objective of this study was the characterization of the learning strategies of higher education students of a university in Lima. To achieve this purpose, the focus is qualitative, which allows us to interpret the same practice of the students. The methodology of this research, included direct observation and in-depth interviewing, and was aimed at understanding the reasons for practice in certain strategies. The conclusion of the research is that the metacognitive strategies, the processing of information and the control of the context become the fundamental principles at the moment of learning by students.El objetivo de este estudio fue caracterizar las estrategias de aprendizaje utilizadas por los estudiantes de educación superior de una universidad de Lima. Para lograr este propósito, el enfoque es cualitativo, el cual nos permite interpretar la praxis misma de los alumnos. La metodología de esta investigación incluyó la observación directa y la entrevista a profundidad, cuyo propósito fue comprender las razones de la puesta en práctica de determinadas estrategias. La conclusión de la investigación es que las estrategias metacognitivas, el procesamiento de la información y el control del contexto se convierten en las aristas fundamentales al momento de aprender por parte de los estudiantes

A Conceptual Framework for Assessing Motivation and Self-Regulated Learning in College Students

A conceptual framework for assessing student motivation and self-regulated learning in the college classroom is presented. The framework is based on a self-regulatory (SRL) perspective on student motivation and learning in contrast to a student approaches to learning (SAL) perspective. The differences between SRL and SAL approaches are discussed, as are the implications of the SRL conceptual framework for developing instruments to assess college student motivation and learning. The conceptual framework may be useful in guiding future research on college student motivation and learning.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/44454/1/10648_2004_Article_NY00000604.pd

Understanding Interference and Inhibition Processes from a Motivational and Self-Regulated Learning Perspective: Comments on Dempster and Corkill

Interference and inhibition processes as discussed by Dempster and Corkill (1999) are useful on two levels: first, metaphorically in terms of general themes for educational psychology, and, second, in terms of psychological mechanisms for understanding learning. At the same time, there are a number of issues that must be addressed in future theory and research before interference and inhibition processes can be accorded a primary explanatory role in models of learning, including the operation and sequencing of interference and inhibition processes in relation to other cognitive, motivational, and self-regulation processes; the definition and construction of the relevant–irrelevant information dimension; the role of interference and inhibition in the active selection of goals, strategies, and behavior; the stability and trait-like nature of interference and inhibition; the range of generality and applicability of interference and inhibition in relation to all other aspects of learning and behavior; and the utility and power of interference and inhibition as explanatory constructs.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/44448/1/10648_2004_Article_413633.pd