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ABSTRACT THE CONTRIBUTION OF COGNITIVE AND METACOGNITIVE STRATEGY USE TO SEVENTH GRADE STUDENTS&rsquo / SCIENCE ACHIEVEMENT AKYOL, G&uuml / ls&uuml / m M.S., Department of Elementary Science and Mathematics Education Supervisor : Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ceren TEKKAYA Co-Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Semra SUNGUR January 2009, 97 pages The purposes of the study were to examine the differences in the level of students&rsquo / cognitive and metacognitive strategy use and to investigate the contribution of cognitive and metacognitive strategy use (rehearsal, elaboration, organization, critical thinking, and metacognitive self-regulation) to 7th grade students&rsquo / science achievement. This study also interested in exploring the relationships between students&rsquo / background characteristics (gender, prior knowledge, socioeconomic status) and the variables including students&rsquo / cognitive and metacognitive strategy use and science achievement. The study was carried out during 2007-2008 spring semester at 15 public elementary schools in Ke&ccedil / i&ouml / ren, district of Ankara. A total of 1517 seventh grade students who were volunteers and had permission from their parents involved in the study. Data were collected through Background Characteristics Survey, Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire and Science Achievement Test and analyzed by using a One-Way Repeated ANOVA, Multiple Linear Regression Analyses and a Canonical Correlation Analysis. The analyses revealed that there were significant differences in the level of students&rsquo / cognitive and metacognitive strategy use scores. Besides, elaboration and metacognitive self-regulation strategy use made a statistically significant contribution to the prediction of students&rsquo / achievement in science (p&lt / .05). Metacognitive self-regulation strategy use was found to be the main predictor of science achievement (beta=.11). The first canonical variate indicated that prior knowledge, mother&rsquo / s educational level, father&rsquo / s educational level, number of reading materials at home, frequency of buying a daily newspaper, presence of a separate study room, presence of a computer with internet connection at home are associated with cognitive and metacognitive strategy use and science achievement.

Higher education administrators recognize the importance of examining persistence as a means of understanding why students and have significant variability in enrollment patterns and depart from college prematurely (Braxton, 2000). One of the most common methods of evaluating student persistence is through academic achievement, measured by grade point average (McGrath & Braunstein, 1997; Tross, Harper, Osher, & Kneidinger, 2000). Previous researchers indicate academic achievement of college students can be influenced by a number of factors including academic major (Turner & Bowen, 1999). One group that has not received significant attention by researchers is the undecided population, those students who matriculate to colleges and universities without declaring an academic major. Undecided students warrant additional research as they make up one of the fastest growing populations in higher education. Anywhere from 20% to 50% of entering college students are undecided majors (Lewallen, 1995). These students are often described as a vulnerable group with a decreased probability of persisting. The purpose of the current study was to explore differences between two sub-groups of undecided students. In addition, an investigation was conducted into which factors could predict the academic achievement of first year, undecided students. Undecided students were classified as either Non-Specific Majors (NSMs, students who indicated they were not able or did not want to make a commitment to one particular major at the time they applied for admission to the university) or Specific Majors (SMs, students who indicated a particular degree granting program as their first choice of major but were not accepted to that major). Background characteristics, self-perception of abilities, degree aspirations, and academic achievement were examined using secondary analysis of institutional Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) data. Findings revealed significant differences between NSMs and SMs. In terms of their background characteristics, four significant differences were identified including sex, high school grade point average, race, and parental education. Only one measure of self-perception of abilities revealed a significant difference between the two groups: artistic abilities. No significant differences were found in terms of degree aspirations. Regarding academic achievement, NSMs tended to experience higher levels of academic success than SMs. Finally, for both the NSM and SM group, background characteristics, self-perceptions of abilities, and degree aspirations were able to explain a significant amount in variance in academic achievement, though to a greater degree within the NSM group. / Ph. D.

Text in English / Although the participation of students at institutions of higher learning in South Africa is increasing, student dropout remains a challenge. Student dropout is influenced by a variety of factors, some of which are psychological. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of adjustment and sense of belonging on students’ intention to dropout of university. The study comprised of three distinctive objectives. The first objective of the study was to examine the relationship between sense of belonging, adjustment and students’ intention to drop out of university. Second, the study sought to test whether sense of belonging and adjustment would predict students’ intention to dropout of university. Finally, the study sought to test whether students’ socioeconomic status would moderate the relationship between sense of belonging and intention to dropout of university. The sample for the study consisted of 955 students enrolled for undergraduate programmes for the 2018 academic year. Pearson correlation, multiple linear regression and moderation analysis were used to test hypotheses stated in the study. The findings revealed a statistically significant relationship between sense of belonging, adjustment and the intention to dropout. The findings also confirmed that sense of belonging and adjustment predict the intention to dropout. However, the study could not prove the hypothesis that socioeconomic status moderates the relationship between sense of belonging and the intention to dropout. Nevertheless, the findings of this study highlighted the importance of psychological factors on undergraduate students’ academic success. Thus, universities should consider initiating programmes that will address students’ psychological challenges throughout their enrolment at university to improve student retention and rates of graduation. / Psychology / M.A.(Psychology with Specialization in Research Consultation)

Even though the United States (U.S.) spends, on average, more money per student than most Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, it continues to lag behind its international peers in mathematics achievement. This study, which responded to the call for educational reforms that improve the mathematics achievement of U.S. students, aimed to examine the issue of student help-seeking behaviors and teacher instructional practices as they interact to affect student mathematics achievement. The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) defines student help-seeking behaviors as the ways in which students have a propensity to depend on the knowledge and intellect of others, including both their peers and teachers, when attempting to solve problems. Because mathematics is perhaps the most difficult school subject, student help-seeking behaviors should be a critical component of mathematics learning and teaching. Unfortunately, the research literature is barren concerning this important educational issue. This study attempted to produce the first wave of empirical evidence and open up an avenue for future research in this less-charted academic field, with the ultimate goal being to use students’ help-seeking behaviors to improve their mathematics achievement. Using the U.S. sample of 15-year-old students from PISA 2012 (the most recent PISA assessment in which the main area of focus was mathematical literacy), this study intended to determine whether students’ help-seeking behaviors play a significant role in their mathematics achievement, whether this relationship varies from school to school, and whether teacher instructional practices contribute to the school-level variation. Due to the multilevel structure of the data, with students being nested within schools, a two-level hierarchical linear model (HLM) was employed in the analysis of the data. Multiple measures of mathematics achievement were used as the dependent variables for separate analyses. Student help-seeking behavior was used as the key student-level independent variable, while three teacher instructional practices were used as the key school-level independent variables. In addition, several student and school background characteristics were used as control variables. The findings from this study indicate that student help-seeking behavior has a statistically significant effect on all measures of student mathematics achievement, even after controlling for various student background characteristics. On the other hand, the study did not find statistically significant evidence that the effects of student help-seeking behavior on any measure of student mathematics achievement vary from school to school. Overall, the issue of student help-seeking behaviors should be considered a worthy topic to pursue in future educational research. From a practical standpoint, since students’ mathematics achievement is positively associated with their help-seeking behaviors, efforts should be made to educate mathematics teachers on how to encourage their students to be more proactive in seeking help in the learning of mathematics.

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