M.Ed. (Education) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.A. (Psychology) / Please refer to full text to view abstrac

M.Ed. (Tertiary Didactics) / The Bureau for University Education at the Rand Afrikaans University spearheaded this empirical study as part of a team research project. The relatively high failure rate of first year students and the negative implications it has for an institute of higher education mnde it essential. The Bureau for University Education makes it its object to establish a better student selection mechanism and therefore this study forms part of a team research project that has attempted to identify cognitive and non cognitive factors that may _~ave an influence on the academic achievements of first year students. This study is purely complimentary to the team research project in that it concentrates on a single non-cognitive factor, namely personality, and its influence on academic achievement. This study tries to determine whether personality tests can be of value as part of the selection process at universities. The test group consisted of first year B.A. (Ed.), B.Bibl. (Ed.), B.Com. (Ed.) and B.Sc. (Ed.) undergraduate students who registered at the Rand Afrikaans University during 1988 and 1989. ·Student's t-test was used as a measuring instrument for the relative extensive B.A. (Ed.) group, while the Mann-Whitney U-test was used for the other three groups. The already available data was processed by means of the BMDP3S computer programme. The findings of this empirical study indicate that personality as a single factor cannot be utilised in the prediction of academic achievement on its own, but combined with other cognitive and non cognitive factors it forms an integral part of the selection mechanism.

The primary purpose of this study is to compare the six models (cross-sectional, two-wave, and multiwave, with and without controls) and determine which of the models most appropriately estimates school effects. For a fair and adequate evaluation of school effects, this study considers the following requirements of an appropriate analytical model. First, a model should have controls for students' background characteristics. Without controlling for the initial differences of students, one may not analyze the between-school differences appropriately, as students are not randomly assigned to schools. Second, a model should explicitly address individual change and growth rather than status, because students' learning and growth is the primary goal of schooling. In other words, studies should be longitudinal rather than cross-sectional. Most researches, however, have employed cross-sectional models because empirical methods of measuring change have been considered inappropriate and invalid. This study argues that the discussions about measuring change have been unjustifiably restricted to the two-wave model. It supports the idea of a more recent longitudinal approach to the measurement of change. That is, one can estimate the individual growth more accurately using multiwave data. Third, a model should accommodate the hierarchical characteristics of school data because schooling is a multilevel process. This study employs an Hierarchical Linear Model (HLM) as a basic methodological tool to analyze the data. The subjects of the study were 648 elementary students in 26 schools. The scores on three subtests of Canadian Tests of Basic Skills (CTBS) were collected for this grade cohort across three years (grades 5, 6 and 7). The between-school differences were analyzed using the six models previously mentioned. Students' general cognitive ability (CCAT) and gender were employed as the controls for background characteristics. Schools differed significantly in their average levels of academic achievement at grade 7 across the three subtests of CTBS. Schools also differed significantly in their average rates of growth in mathematics and reading between grades 5 and 7. One interesting finding was that the bias of the unadjusted model against adjusted model for the multiwave design was not as large as that for the cross-sectional design. Because the multiwave model deals with student growth explicitly and growth can be reliably estimated for some subject areas, even without controls for student intake, this study concluded that the multiwave models are a better design to estimate school effects. This study also discusses some practical implications and makes suggestions for further studies of school effects. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

Sevaral studies present evidence which supports the proposition that we infer our attitudes and internal states from observation of our overt behaviour and that these inferences are related to differential knowledge or attributions about the reasons for the behaviour. This proposition was examined in the teacher-student interaction from the student’s point of view. Sixty subjects participated in a learning experience. Half the subjects ware taught by a so called expert teacher (high-expert) and the remaining half were taught by a fellow student (low-expert). All subjects received success feed-back after the teaching period. It was expected that subjects in the high-expert condition would attribute success to the teacher more than those in the low-expert group. In addition it was predicted that subjects in the high-expert group would expect to do poorer on a second learning task without the help of the teacher, than subjects in the low-expert group. The results indicated that the experimental manipulation was successful in producing differential perception of teacher expertise. The two hypotheses, however, were not confirmed by the data. Several points of methodological and theoretical nature were raised, which suggest possible future avenues of research in the area of attribution in social interaction. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

A study was carried out to assess the effect of parental absence upon a child's subsequent verbal and numerical aptitude. The primary focus was on father-separated children (both male and female), but small samples of students who had been separated from mother or from both parents were included. Age of separation (up to six years old), and length of separation (three months or longer), were the primary independent variables investigated. The necessary information was obtained from questionnaires that were mailed to approximately 1,000 first year University of B.C. students (academic session 1967-68). The age and length of separation was subsequently verified in a separate letter to the parents. Verbal and numerical aptitude was measured by the Cooperative School and College Ability Test (SCAT), and the achievement scores obtained in first year university English and Mathematics courses. The father-separated male students demonstrated greater aptitude in verbal abilities relative to numerical abilities. The length of the separation was insignificant, but a separation after the child was eighteen months old produced a greater increase in verbal skills (relative to numerical ability), than a separation before eighteen months. Father-separated male students attained a higher mean score in the first year English course than students from intact homes. There was no significant difference between mean mathematical scores obtained by the two groups. The presence or absence of brothers in the homes of father-separated males did not significantly affect aptitude development. Father-separated female students demonstrated greater proficiency in verbal abilities relative to numerical abilities. This superiority of verbal aptitude relative to numerical aptitude was significantly higher than that demonstrated by girls who had not been separated from a parent. The results for the two independent variables, age and length of separation, were similar to those observed for males. The samples of students who were separated from mother or both parents during childhood were too small to permit meaningful analyses. Some interesting trends in the data were discussed. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate

The longitudinal relation between perfectionism, depression, and academic achievement in high school students, along with the potential mediating effects of depression symptoms were examined. Specifically, 626 Canadian adolescents from the McMaster Teen Study were followed prospectively from Grade 9 to Grade 12. Using path analysis, results demonstrated a positive relation between academic achievement and both self-oriented perfectionism and socially prescribed perfectionism, in particular, in the earlier high school years. Additionally, socially prescribed perfectionism and depression symptoms were found to be concurrently related at each time. Results suggested that developmental pathways between these variables may only begin to emerge toward the end of high school, potentially as a result of increased stress, as well as the developmental increase that is seen in depressive disorders. Finally, a negative reciprocal relation was found between depression symptoms and academic achievement, which supports the idea that depression could either lead to lower achievement or be elicited by failure. Although symptoms of depression were not found to mediate the relation between self-oriented or socially prescribed perfectionism and academic achievement, the expansion of time points examined might help to clarify the developmental pattern of the relation between perfectionism, depression, and academic achievement. Clinical implications, strengths and limitations, and future directions are discussed.

It was the purpose of this study to investigate the nature of the relationships among anxiety, achievement, and intelligence. It was deduced that anxiety and intelligence work together mainly at the level of average intelligence. At this level, the addition of drive in the form of anxiety increases performance level, while a lack of drive or anxiety decreases that level. The influence of anxiety on academic achievement is insignificant at other levels due to the overriding effects of intelligence.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University

The Seminole County Georgia Board of Education has made a special effort to provide adequate educational opportunities for all the children of the county. An important phase of this effort has been the provision of building facilities to house the children. Three years ago a new consolidated county-wide high school building was completed, along with a new elementary building in Donalsonville, and needed improvements in all the other elementary schools. / Typescript. / "August, 1952." / "Submitted to the Graduate Council of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science."