摘要:

This paper reports an analysis of children's cognitive strategies on an inductive reasoning task, by means of a new methodological approach. A sample of 72 children aged 6, 8 and 10 were presented with three different versions of a multidimensional discrimination learning task, which was presented in such a way as to ‘optimise’ their performance. Their responses were analysed in terms of 10 Strategy Components, scores on which were analysed by means of cluster analysis. Overall, the children performed at more sophisticated levels than previously found. Five Strategy Clusters representing distinct patterns of strategic behaviour were revealed. A developmental sequence was established between these patterns of strategic behaviour and, significantly, two alternative developmental routes relating to strategic style. While the results support a complex model of strategy construction, as revealed by recent research, the distinct nature of the Strategy Clusters points to a discontinuous model of strategy development. This evidence of children's differing abilities to construct and select appropriate strategies in relation to a novel task strongly supports the educational imperative of encouraging children's early use and awareness of cognitive strateg

ISSN:0007-0998    

DOI:10.1111/j.2044-8279.1996.tb01172.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1996

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Recent theorising about children's reasoning has tended to move towards a ‘contextualist’ view of cognition and away from the idea of an overall, context‐free, mechanism, varying in efficiency, which is the presupposition underlying traditional standardised reasoning tests. An earlier study suggesting improved reasoning performance among children on socio‐cognitively meaningful versions of Raven's Matrices tended to support this shift. The main purpose of the study reported here was to observe whether a similar improvement would be found with contextually‐based analogical reasoning problems as well. Ten analogy items from a standardised test were administered to 11‐year‐olds together with 10 structurally‐equivalent knowledge‐based items. The results reflected improved performance on the latter, overall, and additional analyses led to further suggestions about the nature of the ‘contextual advantage’ and the origi

ISSN:0007-0998    

DOI:10.1111/j.2044-8279.1996.tb01173.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1996

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

This paper reports a study which examined children's understanding of the primary school as a microscopic society, investigating their acquisition of system concepts such as rules, community, self/system interaction and power, and their comprehension of the interrelationships. A sample of 144 children, aged 5–11 years old, from four schools, responded to a questionnaire which probed their understanding in three main areas: (1) the function of school rules; (2) the organisation and power structure of the school: and (3) their own role in school life. The results revealed developmental trends in the children's comprehension of aspects of school life such as rules, roles and power/authority. In addition, the children's responses displayed a developing knowledge of the system of the school, demonstrating an increasing grasp, with age, of the interconnections between the different parts. Overall, the results suggest a possible model for the children's acquisition of an understanding of the school as a system, beginning with an acknowledgment of the highest point of power and subsequently extending downwards through lower levels in the power hierarchy. The children's path to system‐knowledge therefore proceeds from a recognition of the role of the headteacher, through to an understanding of the intermediate power layers of the teachers, until they finally come to comprehend and value their own part in the sch

ISSN:0007-0998    

DOI:10.1111/j.2044-8279.1996.tb01174.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1996

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

It is widely held that behaviourally disordered children have greater difficulty than their peers in recognising a contingent relationship between their actions and subsequent outcomes (i.e., they have a relatively external locus of control) yet studies have not examined intra‐group differences within this population. For this reason, this study explored the relationship between a number of specific behaviours and locus of control in 237 children with emotional and behavioural difficulties. Cluster analysis and nonmetric multidimensional scaling were employed to group locus of control items and behaviours in ways which might assist prediction. The findings indicated very little relationship between locus of control and behaviour. It is suggested that clinicians working with behaviourally disordered children should treat the claims for the construct's therapeutic importance with a degree of cautio

ISSN:0007-0998    

DOI:10.1111/j.2044-8279.1996.tb01175.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1996

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

This paper investigates gender differences in students’ approaches to learning in higher education. Previous studies have found some evidence for gender differences, but interpretation of these findings has been problematic given a range of methodological limitations including poor response rates and the inappropriate use of univariate statistical analyses. The Study Process Questionnaire (Biggs, 1987) and the abbreviated Approaches to Study Inventory (Entwistle, 1981) were both administered to two samples of first year psychology students. Response rates of 98 per cent and 61 per cent were achieved, and results were analysed using multivariate procedures. No gender differences were found on the equivalent deep, surface or achieving scales with either instrument. Significant correlations between the deep, surface and achieving scales of the SPQ and ASI were found, suggesting that both are measuring similar construct

ISSN:0007-0998    

DOI:10.1111/j.2044-8279.1996.tb01176.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1996

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Seventy‐six grade five students completed a questionnaire on two occasions separated by a five months interval. Responses were subjected to a factor analysis which was followed by a series of pairwiset‐tests and Pearson correlations between time 1 and time 2 scores on measures of ability perceptions, self‐worth, self‐efficacy, success and failure attributions, positive and negative emotions, and preference for challenge. Time 1 mastery and performance orientation scores were also subjected to a cluster analysis followed by a series of repeated measures ANOVAs with time 1 and time 2 scores as the repeated measure and cluster membership as the independent variable. Factor analytic‐correlational methodology was compared to cluster analysis with between‐groups contrasts to determine the agreement between the two methods. Results indicated that while there was considerable stability in motivational constructs over time, the two methodologies yielded slightly different interpretations

ISSN:0007-0998    

DOI:10.1111/j.2044-8279.1996.tb01177.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1996

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Four studies, two in a boys’ and two in a girls’ school, were conducted to test the hypothesis that bilingual pupils have a cognitive advantage over comparable monolingual children. Age (14 or 16 years old) and language proficiency (one or two languages) were systematically varied for a total ofNof 496. SES, first and second language proficiency, intelligence, scholastic achievement, educational opportunity and teaching environment were all controlled. The dependent variable was the students’ learning style. The learning strategies of the bilingual boys and the older girls were found to be superior relative to their monolingual cohorts. The results are consistent with predictions that bilingualism has a positive effect on gifted, intellectually stimulated chi

ISSN:0007-0998    

DOI:10.1111/j.2044-8279.1996.tb01178.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1996

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

This study measures perceptions of competence in the scholastic and athletic domains and also examines gender differences in these areas. It explores the relative contributions of significant others (namely, parents, teachers, classmates and close friends) for an Australian cohort of early adolescents. A total of 264 children (average age, 11.7 years; 40% female) in Grade 6, their parents and their classroom teachers were surveyed using six modified Harter scales. Analyses supported the notion that the sources related to early adolescents’ perceptions were different and that the relative predictive utility of the five sources varied as a function of gender and the domain type. Scholastic competence for males is related to external (father and teacher) perceptions as well as internal (child's) perceptions whereas for females, scholastic competence is related entirely to internal (child's) perceptions. In contrast, athletic competence for males is related only to external (teacher) perceptions, whereas for females athletic competence is related to external (mother) perceptions as well as internal (child's) perceptions. The findings are discussed in terms of their theoretical and practical implications in educational practic

ISSN:0007-0998    

DOI:10.1111/j.2044-8279.1996.tb01179.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1996

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

How to assist young people to achieve to their potential is a universal concern of educators. The relationship between achievement above that expected on the basis of IQ alone (often referred to as overachievement) in school assessment and preferred coping style, as assessed by the Adolescent Coping Scale (ACS, Frydenberg&Lewis, 1993a), was investigated in a group of 374 boys in Grades 9, 10 and 11 at an independent boys’ school in metropolitan Melbourne. Separate partial correlation analyses for each of the three year levels showed that three of the coping strategies, Work and Achieve, Solve the Problem, and Social Support positively correlated with overachievement at all three levels. Other subscales also correlated significantly at one or other of the grade levels.It was concluded that overachievement may be better regarded as approaching one's full potential by the use of optimal coping strategies and avoidance of alternative responses to stress which appear to be non‐product

ISSN:0007-0998    

DOI:10.1111/j.2044-8279.1996.tb01180.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1996

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

This paper reports data on high school and college students’ coping strategies and compares and contrasts their respective responses. Specifically, we examine the relationship between personal variables, coping, and affective outcomes in 100 high school and 241 college students preparing for an important exam. Test anxiety, coping resources and situational coping strategies served as predictor variables whereas resultant state anxiety during the exam period served as the criterion measure in the analyses. The data show that both high school and college students used combinations of most of the available forms of problem‐focused and palliative coping, although problem‐focused coping was observed to be more prominent than palliative coping. Compared to high school students, college students reported more frequent use of problem‐focused coping whereas high school students reported more frequent avoidance coping than their collegiate counterparts. Overall, highly similar patterns of relations were observed between anxiety and predictor variables in high school and college students. Students with richer coping resources and low trait text anxiety evidenced lower state anxiety in an evaluative encounter. Whereas problem‐focused coping was not predictive of anxiety in either group, palliative strategies (i.e., emotion‐focused coping and avoidance) were significantly related to affective outcomes. At both high school and college levels dispositional test anxiety was significantly predictive of palliative coping strategies, which were, in turn, related to affective outcomes. Coping strategies were not meaningful moderators of the relationship between personal resources and state anxiety in either group. Overall, this study suggests that personality variables influence the coping strategies students select and these strategies, in turn, influence subsequent affective outcomes. The results are discussed in light of coping theory and pri

ISSN:0007-0998    

DOI:10.1111/j.2044-8279.1996.tb01181.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1996

数据来源: WILEY