In this research, the authors examined the construct validity of scores of the Academic Motivation Scale using exploratory structural equation modeling. Study 1 and Study 2 involved 1,416 college students and 4,498 high school students, respectively. First, results of both studies indicated that the factor structure tested with exploratory…

Statistics learners often bypass the critical step of understanding a problem before executing solutions. Worked-out examples that identify problem information (e.g., data type, number of groups, purpose of analysis) key to determining a solution (e.g., "t" test, chi-square, correlation) can address this concern. The authors examined the…

This study investigated the effects of argument scaffolding and source credibility on science text comprehension. Eighty-seven college students were randomly assigned to an argument scaffolding activity, or no scaffolding, and read 2 science texts, attributed to a high- or a low-credibility source. The argument-scaffolding group recalled less…

Worked examples, commonly used in technical domains, are rarely used in language areas such as English literature. In 3 experiments, Korean university students for whom English was a foreign language received worked examples intended to facilitate problem solving in the ill-structured domain of English literature. During the learning phase, half…

Academic entitlement has been theoretically linked with uncivil student behavior; however, this relationship has not been tested. To address this gap in the literature, the authors used latent means modeling to estimate the relationship between the Academic Entitlement Questionnaire and uncivil student behavior. The authors gathered scores on the…

College students ("N" = 215) completed a self-report instrument designed to assess different regulation of motivation strategies as well as aspects of their motivational beliefs, use of cognitive and metacognitive learning strategies, and procrastination. The study serves to extend the research on the self-regulation of motivation…

Tutors often have difficulty with accurately assessing a tutee's understanding. However, little is known about whether the professional expertise of tutors influences their assessment accuracy. In this study, the authors examined the accuracy with which 21 teacher tutors and 25 student tutors assessed a tutee's understanding of the human…

The purpose of this study was to examine the college mathematics achievement and course-taking of students at a large public research university who completed a commercially developed or standards-based (Core-Plus) high school mathematics curriculum, and who subsequently completed at least 2 college mathematics courses of difficulty level at or…

In this study the authors examined the differential effects of stereotype threat and lift between genders on math test performance. They asked 3 questions: (a) What is the effect of gender on math test performance?, (b) What is the effect of stereotyping condition (threat, lift, or neither) on math test performance?, and (c) What is the effect of…

The purpose of this study was to develop an instrument to assess college students' efficacy beliefs for conceptual change and to examine the psychometric properties of the instrument. Participants were 692 students. Results of the confirmatory factor analysis supported the hypothesized single factor structure of Efficacy Beliefs for Conceptual…

The present studies aimed to reexamine college students' achievement goal orientations by situating their motivation in a cooperative learning context. The authors proposed and validated a scale of 3 levels of trichotomous achievement goal orientations. In Study 1, confirmatory factor analyses supported that, in laboratory cooperative learning…

The focus of this study is on the role of achievement goals in students' persistence. The authors administered 5 puzzles to 96 college students: 4 unsolvable and 1 relatively easy (acting as a hope probe). They examined whether and how persistence may deteriorate as a function of failing the puzzles, as well as whether and how persistence may…

In this study, the authors examined the effect of taking a learning strategies course on grade point average, retention, and graduation rate of 351 first-year students over their first 4 terms in comparison with 351 matched non-course takers. The course taught 4 learning strategies and 8 substrategies to help students overcome procrastination,…

The present study is one of the first examining whether peer group members hold similar levels of self-regulated learning. The study specifically addresses the potential homophily among group members' regulative abilities (metacognition, environment regulation, effort regulation, peer learning, and help seeking) and whether group members'…

Evaluating the structural quality of arguments is a skill that is important to students' ability to comprehend the arguments of others and produce their own. The authors examined college and high school students' ability to evaluate the quality of 2-clause (claim-reason) arguments and tested a tutorial to improve this ability. These experiments…