bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Girls' spatial abilities: Charting the contributions of experiences and attitudes in different academic groups
Authors: Quaiser‐Pohl Claudia , Lehmann Wolfgang 
Published: February 2003

Background: Gender‐related differences in spatial abilities favouring males are well established but have also generated a great deal of controversy. Cross‐cultural research, meta‐analyses and training studies could show the influence of socio‐cultural and experiential factors on spatial‐test performance. However, little is known about how experiences and gender‐role stereotypes mediate performance differences in this area.Aim: The relationship between specific experiences (spatial activities, computer experience), achievement‐related attitudes, and spatial abilities, i.e., mental‐rotation ability was investigated with males and females in different academic subgroups.Sample: The sample comprised 112 female and 71 male undergraduates, majoring in arts, humanities and social sciences, sports, psychology and computational visualistics.Methods: A redrawn version of the Vandenberg and Kuse Mental Rotations Test (MRT) was administered and the participants completed a questionnaire about their spatial activities, computer experience, self‐ratings regarding everyday spatial abilities, and attitudes towards mathematics and physics.Results: Mental Rotations Test performance was mainly affected by academic programme and gender, but the effect size of gender differences varied. It was largest with students majoring in arts, humanities and social sciences and smallest with those majoring in computational visualistics. Data analyses revealed statistically significant correlations with spatial activities and computer experience only for females. The relationship between test performance and scales of achievement‐related self‐concept also depended on gender.Conclusions: Compared to males, females' spatial abilities are extremely vulnerable to and thus modifiable through attitudinal and experiential factors. This has considerable consequences for intervention programmes that could help to overcome the gender gap in spatial abilities.
Choice is good, but relevance is excellent: Autonomy‐enhancing and suppressing teacher behaviours predicting students' engagement in schoolwork
Authors: Assor Avi , Kaplan Haya , Roth Guy 
Published: February 2003

Background and aims: This article examines two questions concerning teacher‐behaviours that are characterised in Self‐Determination Theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000) as autonomy‐supportive or suppressive: (1) Can children differentiate among various types of autonomy‐enhancing and suppressing teacher behaviours? (2) Which of those types of behaviour are particularly important in predicting feelings toward and engagement in schoolwork? It was hypothesised that teacher behaviours that help students to understand the relevance of schoolwork for their personal interests and goals are particularly important predictors of engagement in schoolwork.Samples and methods: Israeli students in grades 3‐5 (N = 498) and in grades 6‐8 (N = 364) completed questionnaires assessing the variables of interest.Results: Smallest Space Analyses indicated that both children and early adolescents can differentiate among three types of autonomy enhancing teacher behaviours — fostering relevance, allowing criticism, and providing choice — and three types of autonomy suppressing teacher behaviours — suppressing criticism, intruding, and forcing unmeaningful acts. Regression analyses supported the hypothesis concerning the importance of teacher behaviours that clarify the personal relevance of schoolwork. Among the autonomy‐suppressing behaviours, ‘Criticism‐suppression’ was the best predictor of feelings and engagement.Conclusions: The findings underscore the active and empathic nature of teachers' role in supporting students' autonomy, and suggest that autonomy‐support is important not only for early adolescents but also for children. Discussion of potential determinants of the relative importance of various autonomy‐affecting teacher actions suggests that provision of choice should not always be viewed as a major indicator of autonomy support.
Understanding abstract expository texts
Authors: Beishuizen Jos , Stoutjesdijk Evelien , Spuijbroek Sandra , Bouwmeester Samantha , Van der Geest Hanneke 
Published: February 2003

Background: This study dealt with the question whether abstract concepts and rules can be directly taught or can only be explained by using examples. The issue, known as Meno's Paradox, was addressed in the context of understanding expository texts.Aims: We set out to show the indispensability of examples in the process of acquiring knowledge of concepts and rules. By blocking any possibility of linking concepts to examples we hoped to show the understanding of abstract concepts is impossible without a concrete context of interpretation.Samples: In two experiments, secondary school students (17 years of age) and undergraduate university students were asked to study expository texts with no examples or with many examples.Methods: In Experiment 1, two existing texts were manipulated by either adding examples or replacing specific concepts by more ambiguous concepts. In Experiment 2, two expository texts (one with rules, one with examples) on the law of large numbers were developed. Apart from that, a questionnaire to assess students' habit of concrete elaboration whilst studying expository texts was administered.Results: Experiment 1 revealed that an expository text with ambiguous terms is difficult to understand. This evidence supported our claim that a concrete context of interpretation is indispensable. However, there was no difference in understanding of texts with many or few examples. An explanation might be that students were able to think of relevant examples themselves. Evidence for this active way of text comprehension was found in Experiment 2. An interaction between content (abstract, concrete) and learning style (high or low on concrete elaboration) showed up. Students high on concrete elaboration understood the abstract text better than students low on concrete elaboration. The reverse held for the concrete text.Conclusion: So, support was found for the indispensability of concrete examples, which should be available in the reader's memory or provided in the text.
Goal orientations, perceived self‐efficacy and study results amongst beginners and advanced students
Authors: Vrugt Anneke , Oort Frans J. , Zeeberg Caroline 
Published: February 2003

Background: On the basis of previous research, it was expected that perceived self‐efficacy and social comparison would contribute to pursued goals and that these goals would influence course grades. It was further expected that a task orientation would contribute to perceived self‐efficacy, and that an ego orientation would contribute to social comparison.Aims: The central question in the present study is whether the relationships between the above‐mentioned motivational variables are as strongly developed in a particular area amongst beginners as they are amongst more advanced students. In view of the fact that beginners' knowledge concerning task requirements is restricted, we predicted that whilst relationships between these variables would be weak or absent in the case of beginners, they would be relatively strong amongst more advanced students.Samples: The sample consisted of 150 students from a secondary school.Methods: The participants answered questions about goal orientations, appraisals of self‐efficacy, social comparison and about their personal goals. Course grades were used as a measure of study results.Results and conclusion: It was found that amongst the beginners and the advanced students perceived self‐efficacy contributed to pursued goals and these goals in turn contributed to course grades. The relations between these variables were clearly less strong for the beginners than for the advanced students. Furthermore, it was ascertained that a task orientation contributed only to perceived self‐efficacy amongst the advanced students, suggesting that for these students motivational variables were operative whereas they were still undeveloped amongst the beginners.
Goal orientation, perceived task outcome and task demands in mathematics tasks: Effects on students' attitude in actual task settings
Authors: Seegers Gerard , Van Putten Cornelis M. , de Brabander Cornelis J. 
Published: February 2003

Background: In earlier studies, it has been found that students' domain‐specific cognitions and personal learning goals (goal orientation) influence task‐specific appraisals of actual learning tasks. The relations between domain‐specific and task‐specific variables have been specified in the model of adaptive learning. In this study, additional influences, i.e., perceived task outcome on a former occasion and variations in task demands, were investigated.Aim: The purpose of this study was to identify personality and situational variables that mediate students' attitude when confronted with a mathematics task. Students worked on a mathematics task in two subsequent sessions. Effects of perceived task outcome at the first session on students' attitude at the second session were investigated. In addition, we investigated how differences in task demands influenced students' attitude. Variations in task demands were provoked by different conditions in task‐instruction. In one condition, students were told that the result on the test would add to their mark on mathematics. This outcome orienting condition was contrasted with a task‐orienting condition where students were told that the results on the test would not be used to give individual grades.Sample: Participants were sixth grade students (N = 345; aged 11‐12 years) from 14 primary schools.Method: Multivariate and univariate analyses of (co)variance were applied to the data. Independent variables were goal orientation, task demands, and perceived task outcome, with task‐specific variables (estimated competence for the task, task attraction, task relevance, and willingness to invest effort) as the dependent variables.Results: The results showed that previous perceived task outcome had a substantial impact on students' attitude. Additional but smaller effects were found for variation in task demands. Furthermore, effects of previous perceived task outcome and task demands were related to goal orientation.Conclusion: The resulting pattern confirmed that, in general, performance‐oriented learning goals emphasised the negative impact of failure experiences, whereas task‐oriented learning goals had a strengthening effect on how success experiences influenced students' attitude.
Achievement goal profiles in school physical education: Differences in self‐determination, sport ability beliefs, and physical activity
Authors: Wang C.K. John , Chatzisarantis Nikos L.D. , Spray Christopher M. , Biddle Stuart J.H. 
Published: February 2003

Background: Physical activity is a major public health issue as trends show inadequate levels of physical activity for health and rising levels of obesity. Understanding motivation for physical activity in youth by assessing their motivational profiles associated with school physical education could inform future interventions.Aims: To investigate goal orientation and perceived competence profiles in young adolescents and to test the nature of differences between clusters on motivational and physical activity measures.Sample: Boys (N = 427) and girls (N = 391), aged 11‐14 years, from two comprehensive schools in England.Method: Cross‐sectional survey using cluster analysis.Results: Clusters reflecting ‘highly’, ‘moderately’, and ‘lowly’ motivated youth were found. Physical activity, incremental sport ability beliefs, and self‐determined motivation were highest in the highly motivated cluster. Girls were under‐represented in this cluster.Conclusions: High motivation towards physical activity is characterised by high task and high ego orientation, and high perceived competence. With only 38% of this group being girls, interventions are required to boost motivation for girls based on goal and self‐determination approaches.
Three methods for studying developmental change: A case of reading skills and self‐concept
Authors: Aunola Kaisa , Leskinen Esko , Onatsu‐Arvilommi Tiina , Nurmi Jari‐Erik 
Published: February 2003

Aims: First, to introduce and compare three statistical methods for investigating development as a cumulative process: a simplex model, latent growth curve analysis, and clustering by cases. Second, to investigate the developmental dynamics of reading skills, and self‐concept of reading ability, across the first year of primary school.Sample: One hundred and five (61 boys, 44 girls) 6‐to 7‐year‐old children from four first‐grade classes in two primary schools participated in the study.Method: Children were studied three times during their first school year using an identical set of measurements: a Reading Skills Test and the Self‐Concept of Ability scale.Results: A uni‐construct ‘Matthew’ effect was found for the development of self‐concept, but not for the reading skills. However, the results showed that there was a multi‐construct cumulative cycle between children's reading skills and their self‐concept.Conclusions: Simultaneous use of variable‐ and person‐oriented methods in developmental research seems to be a valuable approach, which not only provides a proper way to investigate the cumulative developmental cycles but also an option to examine how large a proportion of the sample follows the positive and negative pattern found in variable‐oriented analyses.
Concomitants of failure to cope: What we should teach adolescents about coping
Authors: Lewis Ramon , Frydenberg Erica 
Published: February 2003

Background: How young people cope with stress is an important component of health and well‐being since failure to deal with stress is very costly in social and emotional terms.Aim: In this study we examine the relationship between young people's declared failure to cope and the many coping styles that are reported concomitantly. The research questions addressed the extent to which positive and negative coping strategies co‐exist in adolescent populations and whether the co‐existence of these strategies confounds interpretation of the impact of coping on outcomes.Sample: A sample of 1219 adolescent school students was drawn from a wide range of 11 government and private coeducational schools situated in the three regions of metropolitan Melbourne, Australia.Methods: All participants completed the General form of the Adolescent Coping Scale in class groupings. Administration was conducted by a teacher who was also a registered psychologist.Results: It was found that young people who were coping less successfully were those utilising more emotion‐focused strategies. Further, students' use of emotion and problem‐focused strategies was intercorrelated.Conclusion: This suggests that failure to cope triggers off increased coping activities of all kinds and that over‐use of non‐productive strategies interferes with the capacity to use productivecoping.
Personal understanding and target understanding: Mapping influences on the outcomes of learning
Authors: Entwistle Noel , Smith Colin 
Published: February 2003

Background: Among the many theories of learning, few have been developed specifically for education. Most have explained learning in terms of either the individual activities of the learner or the design of the learning context; yet both are important in education. Each theory applies strictly only to the context for which it was developed, and yet quite general implications for education are often suggested.Aims: 1. To review qualitative research on learning carried out within the classroom and to identify some of the major influences on the quality of learning outcomes. 2. To develop a conceptual framework based on this research which seeks to explain differences in levels and forms of understanding.Method: Model building based on reviews of research on learning in schools and universities.Analysis: A conceptual framework was developed from the review of the literature which emphasises the activities of both teachers and students and the influences on learning outcomes of both the individual and the social context. The framework introduces a distinction between ‘target’ and ‘personal’ understanding to draw attention to the differing ways in which curriculum designers, teachers and students define knowledge and conceptualise the teaching‐learning process. It also suggests how these conceptualisations influence the level of understanding reached by students. The framework is intended to encourage teachers and curriculum designers to think about the likely effects of the tasks and conditions they are providing for students, and to consider ways of strengthening the emphasis on conceptual understanding. By drawing on research findings from both schools and universities, a way of thinking about teaching and learning is indicated which can, to some extent, be generalised across educational contexts.
The writing approaches of secondary students
Authors: Lavelle Ellen , Smith Jennifer , O'Ryan Leslie 
Published: February 2003

Background: Research with college students has supported a model of writing approaches that defines the relationship between a writer and writing task along a deep and surface process continuum (Biggs, 1988). Based on that model, Lavelle (1993) developed the Inventory of Processes in College Composition which reflects students' motives and strategies as related to writing outcomes. It is also important to define the approaches of secondary students to better understand writing processes at that level, and development in written composition.Aims: This study was designed to define the writing approaches of secondary students by factor analysing students' responses to items regarding writing beliefs and writing strategies, and to compare the secondary approaches to those of college students. A related goal was to explore the relationships of the secondary writing approaches to perceived self‐regulatory efficacy for writing (Zimmerman & Bandura, 1994), writing preferences, and writing outcomes.Samples: The initial, factor analytic phase involved 398 junior level high school students (11th grade) enrolled in a mandatory language arts class at each of three large Midwestern high schools (USA). Then, 49 junior level students enrolled in two language arts classes participated as subjects in the second phase.Method: Classroom teachers administered the Inventory of Processes in College Composition (Lavelle, 1993), which contained 72 true‐or‐false items regarding writing beliefs and strategies, during regular class periods. Data were factor analysed and the structure compared to that of college students. In the second phase, the new inventory, Inventory of Processes in Secondary Composition, was administered in conjunction with the Perceived Self‐Regulatory Efficacy for Writing Inventory (Zimmerman & Bandura, 1994), and a writing preferences survey. A writing sample and grade in Language Arts classes were obtained and served as outcome variables.Results: The factor structure of secondary writing reflected three process dimensions. The first factor, Elaborative‐Expressive, describes a writing strategy based on personal investment and audience concern. The second factor, Planful‐Procedural, denotes sticking to a plan, following the rules, and ‘preparing’ for writing. Achieving‐Competitive, the third factor, reflects a ‘teacher pleasing’ strategy or doing only what needs to be done to get a good grade. Two factors from the college model, Elaborative and Procedural, were replicated, and two were not, Reflective‐Revision and Low Self‐Efficacy. Regression analyses supported that the processes in writing under a timed condition are different from those used when writing over time, and that students' perceptions of writing self‐regulatory efficacy were predictive of writing success under both conditions.
The dimensionality of speaking and writing: A multilevel factor analysis of situational, task and school effects
Authors: Kuhlemeier Hans , Van den Bergh Huub , Rijlaarsdam Gert 
Published: February 2003

Background: This article addresses the question whether communication apprehension (CA) should be regarded as a unidimensional or alternatively as a multidimensional construct. The answer is not only interesting from a theoretical point of view. There might also be practical implications for the treatment of CA. If CA were to appear to be unidimensional and a student's level of CA were to be the same across situations and tasks, there would be no need to tailor the treatment to particular speaking situations or specific writing problems. If, however, CA appeared to be multi‐dimensional and a student might have a variety of different levels and types of CA, one type of treatment might be more effective for one student than for another one.Aim: To examine the effects of situational, task and school effects on speaking and writing apprehension.Sample: Use was made of the dataset of the 1987‐1988 National Assessment of Language Performance in the Netherlands. The nationally representative sample consisted of 1448 students from 184 secondary schools; 52% of the students were boys and 48% were girls; the mean age of the students was 15 years 6 months.Method: Speaking and writing apprehension were measured by means of self‐report measures in grade 9. Multilevel factor analysis (MLFA) was used to determine the dimensionality of the measurement of speaking and writing apprehension.Results and conclusions: First, all seven speaking situations and three out of four writing problems could be distinguished empirically. Speaking and writing apprehension are clearly multidimensional constructs that depend on the speaking situation and the writing task. Second, correlations between speaking and writing apprehension were rather low. Speaking and writing apprehension seem to represent skill‐specific constructs, which cannot be considered as equivalent forms of communication apprehension. Third, differences between schools in the level of speaking and writing apprehension were very small compared to measurements of speaking and writing performance.