Evaluation of College Level Coursework for the Gifted Adolescents: An Investigation of Epistemological Stance, Knowledge Gain and Generalization

1988 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole M. Petersen ◽  
Paul J. Brounstein ◽  
Gregory A. Kimble
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Gain ◽  
College Level ◽  
Psychological Issues ◽  
Course Retention ◽  
Career Plans ◽  
Summer Session ◽  
Duke University ◽  
Level Of Understanding ◽  
Psychology Course ◽  
Over Time

The investigation evaluated the proximal and distal effects of an innovative course of study, a college level Introductory Psychology course which was offered to precocious adolescents in a three-week summer session at the Talent Identification Program at Duke University. More specific purposes of the study were to assess level of mastery of the content of the course, retention over time, ability to generalize this content and use it to interpret psychological issues, noncognitive impacts of the course on students' orientation toward psychology and its influence on the students' future plans. The design of the study involved immediate post-course assessments and follow-up assessments at points at six months and 1.5 years remote in time. The same measures were obtained from similar students who did not take the course. Results demonstrated that knowledge gain from course participation was substantial and long-lived. There was a dramatic effect on the quality of the students' understanding and their ability to generalize and apply psychological concepts to real world situations. Although there was loss of factual content over time, level of understanding and ability to generalize and apply material remained relatively constant. There was a slight shift in the students' outlook on psychology as a discipline. Students just completing the course were quite “humanistic” in their outlook. After a six month period their orientation had moved toward the “scientific” pole. In addition, large proportions of students reported that the course had affected their educational plans (50.0%) and career plans (36.7%). This study suggests a model of evaluation for educational programs. By focusing on several factors potentially affected by education we can better understand the full effects of tailored interventions on participants. Such information can serve as a guide to developing more focused and effective educational efforts.

A Triarchic Analysis of an Aptitude-Treatment Interaction

1999 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert J. Sternberg ◽  
Elena L. Grigorenko ◽  
Michel Ferrari ◽  
Pamela Clinkenbeard
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
High School Students ◽  
Introductory Psychology ◽  
College Level ◽  
School Students ◽  
Treatment Interaction ◽  
Aptitude Treatment Interaction ◽  
Psychology Course

Summary: This article describes a triarchic analysis of an aptitude-treatment interaction in a college-level introductory-psychology course given to selected high-school students. Of the 326 total participants, 199 were selected to be high in analytical, creative, or practical abilities, or in all three abilities, or in none of the three abilities. The selected students were placed in a course that either well matched or did not match their pattern of analytical, creative, and practical abilities. All students were assessed for memory, analytical, creative, and practical achievement. The data showed an aptitude-treatment interaction between students' varied ability patterns and the match or mismatch of these abilities to the different instructional groups.

Intended and Actual Changes in Study Behaviors in an Introductory and Upper-Level Psychology Course

2020 ◽  
pp. 009862832097989
Author(s):  
Shaina F. Rowell ◽  
Regina F. Frey ◽  
Elise M. Walck-Shannon
Keyword(s):  
Retrieval Practice ◽  
Study Time ◽  
Study Behaviors ◽  
Exam Scores ◽  
Upper Level ◽  
Psychology Course ◽  
Over Time

We examined self-directed studying of students in an introductory (Study 1) and upper-level (Study 2) psychology course. Students reported their study behaviors for Exam 1 and 2, and wrote Exam 2 study plans. In both studies, students planned to and ultimately did use more active strategies for Exam 2 than Exam 1. However, they struggled to follow through on plans to space studying over time. In Study 1, we also found that greater use of active strategies (e.g., retrieval practice) was associated with higher exam scores when controlling for factors such as study time. Our findings highlight that students across course levels are interested in changing their study behaviors and we note implications for instructors.

State Formation and Democracy in Latin America, 1810–1900. By Fernando López-Alves. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2000. 295p. $49.95 cloth, $17.95 paper.

2002 ◽  
Vol 96 (4) ◽  
pp. 856-857
Author(s):  
Lawrence Boudon
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Latin America ◽  
State Formation ◽  
Comparative Politics ◽  
Social Origins ◽  
Commercial Agriculture ◽  
Historical Process ◽  
Seminal Work ◽  
Duke University ◽  
Over Time

One of the most vexing questions posed over time by political scientists is: Why do democratic polities develop in some countries, but not in others? In his seminal work Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy (1986), still read today by most students of comparative politics, Barrington Moore strove to answer that question by examining the historical process in which commercial agriculture emerged in Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and China. In his book, Fernando López-Alves takes the framework that Moore provided and applies it to three countries in Latin America whose trajectories in the nineteenth century led to different polities and experiences with democracy—Argentina, Colombia, and Uruguay (he also makes brief reference to Paraguay and Venezuela as so-called control cases). While conceding the need for “further testing” (p. 220), he arrives at conclusions that differ significantly from Moore's, even though he does not attempt to dismiss that earlier work.

scholarly journals Beyond Turk and Hindu

2002 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 136-139
Author(s):  
Nazeer Ahmed
Keyword(s):  
Identity Formation ◽  
South Asia ◽  
South Asian ◽  
General Audience ◽  
Interfaith Relations ◽  
Duke University ◽  
Asian Context ◽  
Broad Subject ◽  
Negative Connotation ◽  
Over Time

Beyond Turk and Hindu grew out of a collection of papers presented at a conferenceon "Islam in South Asia," held at Duke University in April 1995. Ithas 3 sections, 13 chapters, 8 photographs, 3 maps, 2 tables, a glossary, andan index. The book deals with the broad subject of civilizational interfaces inthe South Asian context. It belongs to the category of interfaith relations andis addressed to a general audience interested in the Hindu-Muslim dialectic.The authors do not accept the premise that interreligious differences inSouth Asia are set and irreconcilable. To quote the editor: "We vigorouslycontend that there is a larger point to make, namely, that the constant interplayand overlap between Islamic and Indic worldviews may be at least aspervasive as the Muslim-Hindu conflict ... " This position is a challenge tothose scholars who view India and Pakistan as embodiments of two separatereligious identities.Section One contains three essays on textual analysis to assess the samenessand otherness of identity formation. The authors do not avoid the controversiesthat are bound to emerge from the sometimes disparaging tennsused by Hindus and Muslims to refer to each other, or the animosities thathave emerged from the desecration of mosques and temples:Arabic and Persian use of the term Hindu had a range of meanings thatchanged over time, sometimes denoting an ethnic or geographic referentwithout religious content. Similarly, Indic texts referring to the invadersfrom the northwest used a variety of terms in different contexts, includingyavanas, m/ecchas,farangis, musafmans, and Turks. These terms sometimescarried a strong negative connotation, but they rarely denoted a distinctreligious community conceived in opposition to Hindus. In and ofthemselves, however, such terms tell us little. To understand the usage ofthese terms, one must move beyond the terminology itself- beyond Turkand Hindu - to analyze the framing categories and generic contexts withinwhich these terms are used.The authors illustrate the power of bidirectional cultural forces by offeringthe example of the Punjab's Bulle Shah and Bengal's mystical Satya Pir.Bulle Shah, a contemporary of Shah Waliullah of Delhi, lived in the late ...

scholarly journals Individual developmental trajectories in the L2 acquisition of Spanish spirantization

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 218-241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles L. Nagle
Keyword(s):  
Developmental Trajectories ◽  
Language Instruction ◽  
Task Type ◽  
College Level ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Content Type ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
Over Time

In Spanish, voiced stops weaken to approximants and display variables degrees of lenition according to the context in which the stop occurs, making them a complex pronunciation feature. Accumulated findings from cross-sectional research on second language (L2) speakers suggests that many L2 learners struggle to produce the approximants even at the most advanced levels of study. The present study offers a new perspective on the approximants by studying individual learners’ production of Spanish [β] over time and across phonetic contexts. Twenty-six English-speaking learners of L2 Spanish recorded two speaking tasks five times over a yearlong period corresponding to their second and third semesters of college-level language instruction. Mixed-effects models were fit to learners’ C:V intensity ratio data to examine development, and stress and task type were included as substantive predictors. Although the group trajectory was flat, many learners displayed substantial change over time, including positive and negative trajectories.

The utility of article and preposition error correction systems for English language learners: Feedback and assessment

2010 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 419-436 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Chodorow ◽  
Michael Gamon ◽  
Joel Tetreault
Keyword(s):  
English Language Learners ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
English Language ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Machine Learning Techniques ◽  
College Level ◽  
Educational Testing Service ◽  
Psychology Course ◽  
English Articles ◽  
Effective Use

In this paper, we describe and evaluate two state-of-the-art systems for identifying and correcting writing errors involving English articles and prepositions. Criterion SM, developed by Educational Testing Service, and ESL Assistant , developed by Microsoft Research, both use machine learning techniques to build models of article and preposition usage which enable them to identify errors and suggest corrections to the writer. We evaluated the effects of these systems on users in two studies. In one, Criterion provided feedback about article errors to native and non-native speakers who were writing an essay for a college-level psychology course. The results showed a significant reduction in the number of article errors in the final essays of the non-native speakers. In the second study, ESL Assistant was used by non-native speakers who were composing email messages. The results indicated that users were selective in their choices among the system’s suggested corrections and that, as a result, they were able to increase the proportion of valid corrections by making effective use of feedback.

A Role-Playing Exercise for the History of Psychology Course

1985 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 84-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles I. Brooks
Keyword(s):  
Role Playing ◽  
History Of Psychology ◽  
Pedagogical Tool ◽  
Psychological Issues ◽  
Basic Procedure ◽  
Historical Figures ◽  
History Of ◽  
Personal Appreciation ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Psychology Course

A procedure is described in which college students portray individuals studied in the History of Psychology course. The students work in teams, and develop a presentation allowing figures from different time periods (e.g., Locke, Wundt, Thorndike, and Rogers) to discuss and debate psychological issues. Additionally, each student prepares a bibliography and position summary of the individual portrayed. Variations of this basic procedure, some more successful than others, have been tried in three different classes and are also described. It is concluded that the exercise can be a valuable pedagogical tool that gives students personal appreciation of historical figures, plus a better understanding of continuity in the evolution of psychological issues.

Teaching Self-Regulated Learning through a “Learning to Learn” Course

2003 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara K. Hofer ◽  
Shirley L. Yu
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Cognitive Strategy ◽  
College Level ◽  
Learning To Learn ◽  
Self Regulated Learning ◽  
Mean Differences ◽  
Long Course ◽  
Psychology Course ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Is Value

This study addressed the impact of a semester-long course called Learning to Learn, an undergraduate psychology course designed to teach college students to be self-regulated learners. Results of pretesting and posttesting of 78 students with the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (Pintrich, Smith, Garcia, & McKeachie, 1993) provided support for the intervention. Mean differences and correlational results suggest that students increased in their mastery orientation to learning and their self-efficacy for learning, increased in their valuing of the course and in cognitive strategy use, and declined in test anxiety over the term. These findings suggest that an intervention that targets a range of cognitive and motivational components can have utility for college students and that there is value to a stand-alone course in learning to learn at the college level.

scholarly journals My life as a writing professor and research librarian: The ideas that bridge the gap

2020 ◽  
Vol 81 (1) ◽  
pp. 38
Author(s):  
George Koors
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Information Literacy ◽  
First Year ◽  
College Level ◽  
First Year Writing ◽  
American University ◽  
Writing Courses ◽  
Large Group ◽  
Time To Learn ◽  
Over Time

When I got into libraries, I looked forward to more one-on-one time with students. I had been a teacher at the college level for some time, and when I got a job as reference coordinator at American University, I saw an opportunity to have both large-group and one-on-one time with students.I staff a public-facing research desk, am embedded in first-year writing courses as their librarian, and teach first-year writing as a professor in the literature department. It is a wonderful balance, but it has taken time to learn how these identities interact. Over time, they have merged. This essay looks at that, and at some of the language I have used to understand that bridge between these roles. I hope to lightly tie this language to aspects of the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document