The Journal of Experimental Education

Evaluating the structural quality of arguments is a skill 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 indicated that college and high school students had difficulty evaluating arguments on the basis of their quality. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that a tutorial explaining skills important to overall argument evaluation increased performance but that immediate feedback during training was necessary for teaching students to evaluate the claim-reason connection. Using a Web-based version of the tutorial, Experiment 3 extended this finding to the performance of high-school students. The study suggests that teaching the structure of an argument and teaching students to pay attention to the precise message of the claim can improve argument evaluation.

Because the power properties of traditional repeated measures and hierarchical multivariate linear models have not been clearly determined in the balanced design for longitudinal studies in the literature, the authors present a power comparison study of traditional repeated measures and hierarchical multivariate linear models under 3 variance-covariance structures. The results from a full-crossed simulation design suggest that traditional repeated measures have significantly higher power than do hierarchical multivariate linear models for main effects, but they have significantly lower power for interaction effects in most situations. Significant power differences are also exhibited when power is compared across different covariance structures.

Obtained measures of needs for achievement and variety seeking from 35 students who chose an honors program of independent research during their junior and senior college years and 33 students with equivalent high grades who chose not to be in honors. The measures of need for achievement from the cpi and the epps both correlated significantly with choice of an honors curriculum. Scores on the zukerman sensation-seeking scale and gpa did not correlate with choice of an honors curriculum. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

Randomly assigned graduate and senior undergraduate research students to an experimental (n = 10) or a control (n = 9) group. One group received a list of precise instructional objectives, while the other discussed an unrelated topic. The 2 groups were reunited, exposed to the same lecture, and then administered a 12-item quiz covering the day's lesson. Results of an analysis of covariance reveal that behavioral objectives had a desirable effect on student achievement (p < .05). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

This study reports information on the role of the urban American father in the family as revealed by the attitudes and opinions of 85 fathers during a "flexible interview" period. The many descriptive findings of this exploratory study show that what fathers do with and for their children has some correspondence to what they think a father should do. Some evidence was obtained that there may be a trend toward a more equalitarian mother-father relationship with their children, but that fathers are not "abdicating" their positions as important figures in the family unit. The author raises several questions about so-called sex-typing activities, Oedipus complexes in democratic families, and the like which she believes merits extensive study. 69-item bibliography. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

The use of cards from the Q-technique in soliciting responses relative to curricula content is a feasible and workable method. The forced sort concept from Q-technique does not need to be applied rigorously since having something other than a forced normal distribution still permits analysis and measure of individual and group agreements. Further, the use of group values on the sort for subsequent analysis is much simpler than assigning rank orders to each individual's response in a distribution that differs from a normal distribution. Rank-ordering responses has not been programed for computer analysis as yet and requires hand computation, whereas the summation of values by individuals to get a group response minimizes the amount of hand calculation in that only the group values need to be rank ordered in order to make comparisons between the kinds of recommendations made by respondents from differing establishments or with different personal, educational, or social characteristics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

Thesis (Ph. D.)--New York University, 1940.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Minnesota, 1945. Reprinted from The journal of experimental education, March 1946. Vita.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Minnesota. Bibliography: p. 107-114.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Nebraska (Lincoln campus)--1935. Includes bibliographical references.

Previous research indicates that academic emotions are largely organized along domain-specific lines. In the present study (N = 1,687; Grades 8/11), the domain specificity of academic emotions was further explored in terms of the moderating influence of having the same vs. a different course instructor across domains. Discrete emotions consisting of enjoyment, pride, anxiety, anger, and boredom were evaluated as experienced in the academic domains of mathematics and physics. Consistent with previous findings, between-domain relations for these emotions were relatively weak. These relations were, however, significantly stronger in classes having the same instructor in mathematics and physics as compared to classes having different instructors for each subject.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Minnesota. Bibliography: p. 77-80.

RESPONSES OF PARENTS TO AN OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONNAIRE COMPLETED AT THE TIME OF THEIR SONS' ADMISSION TO LEICESTER JUNIOR COLLEGE WERE EVALUATED IN TERMS OF FIVE HYPOTHESES CONCERNING THE RELATIONSHIP OF PARENTAL PERCEPTIONS TO COLLEGE ACHIEVEMENT. PARENTS OF THE GROUP OF ACHIEVERS DIFFERED SIGNIFICANTLY FROM THE PARENTS OF UNDERACHIEVERS IN DESCRIPTIONS OF THEIR SONS' VOCATIONAL GOALS AND INTERESTS AS WELL AS OF THEIR LIABILITIES AND ASSETS FOR ACADEMIC WORK IN COLLEGE. PARENTS OF ACHIEVERS SAW THEIR CHILDREN AS HAVING SPECIFIC GOALS WHICH REQUIRED ACADEMIC TRAINING, WHILE PARENTS OF UNDERACHIEVERS SAW THEIR SONS AS UNDECIDED OR AS SEEKING GOALS REQUIRING LITTLE ACADEMIC TRAINING. PARENTS OF ACHIEVERS CONSIDERED THEIR SONS' LIABILITIES AND ASSETS IN TERMS OF ACADEMIC QUALITIES, RATHER THAN OF PERSONALITY TRAITS AND SOCIAL ABILITIES. IN INTELLIGENCE AND ACHIEVEMENT TEST SCORES, NO DIFFERENCES WERE FOUND BETWEEN THE TWO GROUPS OF STUDENTS. THE AUTHORS CONCLUDE THAT FACTORS OTHER THAN ABILITY CAUSE DIFFERENCES IN PRODUCTION OR ACHIEVEMENT IN THE SCHOOL SITUATION, AND THAT PARENT-SON RELATIONSHIPS MAY BE ONE FACTOR WHICH IS CLOSELY RELATED TO MOTIVATION FOR HIGH PERFORMANCE. (AUTHOR/WO)

The generality of academic self-efficacy judgments was compared between groups of students with different personal characteristics, using the sample drawn from a previous study (M. Bong, 1997) (n=383). Confirmatory factor analyses showed that boys demonstrated more comparable strengths of self-efficacy across the academic domains compared to girls, who distinguished between their verbal and math efficacy more clearly. Hispanic students made a clearer distinction between their Spanish efficacy and their self-efficacy in other verbal subjects compared to their non-Hispanic peers. In addition, students who belonged to advanced placement classes demonstrated more conservative generality of their academic self-efficacy judgments than those from regular classes. It appears that students make more context-specific judgments of their academic self-efficacy as they gain increased expertise in the academic domain. (Contains two figures and nine references.) (Author/SLD)

Cover title. Thesis (Ph. D.)--Temple University,1936. Thesis note on p. 91. "Reprint from September, 1936, the Journal of experimental education." Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Iowa State College, 1958. Bibliography: leaves 216-218. Microfilm. n

The basic assumption which nurtures the controversial practice of homogeneous ability grouping is that grouping students by some measure of ability reduces the range of learning differences, when compared with heterogeneous (random) grouping, and this narrowing of range aids the teaching and learning process. To test this assumption two cooperating high schools, one homogenously grouped and the other heterogeneously grouped, provided 120 matched pairs of Ss. The basic assumption was not upheld; heterogeneous students showed significantly greater achievement gain in 11th grade American history (q > .05), at all four levels of ability.

Typescript. Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of Southern Mississippi, 1962.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Minnesota. Bibliography: leaves 359-366. Photocopy.

In this article, the authors investigated the teacher practices that middle school students attend to when appraising their classroom's mastery goal structure. After students rated each item on the mastery goal structure scale, they wrote what their teacher did or said that led them to make that choice. Students' responses to the open-ended questions were coded thematically. The categories mentioned most often involved the pedagogical and affective nature of teachers' interactions with students. Recognition and evaluation practices and teachers' use of time were also salient to students. There were no differences in the practices that students attended to in classrooms with high, compared with low, mastery goal structure. (Contains 3 tables.)

Thesis (Ph D.)--Iowa, 1944.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas, 1936. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 243-245). Microfilm.

The study was undertaken to compare the achievement of a group of fifth grade students studying anthropology from a programed text, designed by the investigator, with a group of fifth grade students being taught by means of traditional classroom material prepared by the Anthropology Curriculum Project of the University of Georgia. Post-treatment achievement and learning time were the principal dependent variables of interest. Subjects were 320 students in 14 classes; 6 classes were assigned to the control group (traditional) and 8 to the experimental group. All were initially tested with the California Reading Test Elementary Form W, and a specially prepared subject matter pretest. Analysis of variance revealed no significant difference between the two groups on either pretest. In addition, all classes were given a specially prepared subject matter posttest after completion of the unit. The variables of interest in the analysis of variance of the posttest scores were: treatment, sex, race, reading level, treatment by sex, treatment by race, and treatment by reading level. These conclusions were indicated: 1) no significant differences in performance between the control and experimental groups; 2) race and reading level were significant predictors of performance on the posttest; and, 3) students using a programed text completed their study of the anthropology unit in 50% less time. (Author/SBE)

THIS RESEARCH INVESTIGATED THE EFFECT OF ITEM ORDER ON THE PERFORMANCE OF A MATHEMATICS TEST, ON THE AMOUNT OF STRESS GENERATED DURING A TEST, AND ON THE PERFORMANCE OF HIGH AND LOW TEST ANXIOUS SUBJECTS. SOME 106 HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS COMPLETED THE ACHIEVEMENT ANXIETY TEST. THEY WERE RANDOMLY ASSIGNED TO ONE OF TWO TREATMENT GROUPS TWO WEEKS LATER. SUBJECTS IN ONE GROUP WERE ADMINISTERED A STANDARDIZED MATHEMATICS ACHIEVEMENT TEST WITH THE ITEMS ORDERED FROM EASY TO DIFFICULT. SUBJECTS IN THE SECOND GROUP TOOK THE SAME WITH THE ORDER OF ITEMS REVERSED. A PHYSIOLOGICAL INDICANT OF STRESS, HEART-RATE, WAS MEASURED THREE TIMES DURING THE TEST USING A PULSEMETER. RESULTS CONFIRMED THE FINDING OF OTHER RESEARCHERS THAT THE MEAN NUMBER OF CORRECT ANSWERS FOR TEST QUESTIONS ARRANGED IN THE DIFFICULT-TO-EASY ORDER WERE SIGNIFICANTLY LOWER THAN THE MEAN NUMBER OF TEST QUESTIONS ARRANGED IN THE REVERSE ORDER. THIS STUDY GENERALIZES THE RESULT TO THE CONTENT DOMAIN OF MATHEMATICS. THIS STUDY PROVIDES TENTATIVE SUPPORT FOR THE HYPOTHESIS THAT ITEM ORDER HAS AN EFFECT ON THE STRESS GENERATED DURING A TEST. THIS POINT DESERVES TO BE RESEARCHED ADDITIONALLY TO ACHIEVE MORE CONCLUSIVE EVIDENCE THAN WAS OBTAINED IN THIS STUDY. LASTLY, THE DATA REVEALED NO INTERACTION BETWEEN ITEM ORDER AND LEVEL OF TEST ANXIETY. THIS PAPER WAS PRESENTED AT THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE AMERICAN EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATION (CHICAGO, FEBRUARY 8-10, 1968). (AUTHOR)

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Cornell Univ., Sept. 1939.