published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Psychology / Master / Master of Philosophy

It is the purpose of this study to determine if ego-involvement influences the performance of an individual in a learning situation.

Thesis. 1975. Ph.D.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Alfred P. Sloan School of Management. / Vita. / Bibliography: leaves 141-145. / by Mark S. Plovnick. / Ph.D.

Thesis ( M.A. (English Studies) --University of Limpopo, 2014 / Research shows that successful readers make use of prior knowledge. This is supported by schemata theory (Herczog & Porter, 2012; Xigo-hui, Jun & Wei-hua, 2007; Zhang 1993). In this study, the researcher intended to increase the schema of the selected sample and test the theorem. Two groups were selected as samples comprising an experimental group and a control group. The experimental group had the advantage of being exposed to a topic over a month and on the day of the test the two groups were combined and the results from the test were analysed. The outcomes showed that the experimental group out-performed the control group proving that prior knowledge increases chances of comprehension. In the initial test both groups had performed poorly. Many learners in the experimental group would have performed better if they could comprehend the English language. The students who used their schema on the experimental group did better than those who did not. / the National Research Foundation

The purpose of the study was to develop a greater understanding of the experiences of school life for students who consistently found learning difficult, their perceptions of the difficulties they faced with their learning and how this had influenced their lives, socially and academically. It was hoped that their perspectives would highlight those structures and strategies that were of the most value in supporting them, as well as those that had a negative impact on their achievement and adjustment. Eight people with learning difficulties each participated in a series of three individual, in-depth interviews about their experiences of school. The participants, five male and three female, ranged in age from ten to twenty five years. Four were primary school students, in Years Four, Five and Six. Two students were in Year Nine at high school, while a further two participants had completed their schooling. One was currently unemployed, while the other had completed a university degree and had been teaching for three years. Participants were chosen from randomly selected government schools in the ACT, nominated by the school as fitting the selection criteria. Learning difficulties were defined in tenns of their meeting criteria that were indicative of teacher and parent concern for academic underachievement over a period of at least two years. The selection process was also guided by criteria to locate key informants, i.e. individuals who may have been able to highlight specific issues related to the relationships between learning difficulties and socioeconomic status, social competence and employment opportunities. Interviews with each participant .took place over three separate sessions of approximately fifty minutes' duration. Data was analysed using Hycner's guidelines for phenoinenological analysis. Interviews were transcribed and coded, with an independent researcher validating identified themes. An agreement rate of 88% was achieved. Interviews were then summarised and returned to the participants to confirm whether the interpretation of their perspectives was accurate. Themes that were common across the interviews were discussed in relation to current research. The results of this research study confirmed the central role played by quality teachers and best teaching practices in being able to enhance learning and to meet the needs of individual students. These factors were an integral part of engaging students in the learning process and promoting successful learning experiences. The study also emphasised the importance of parents, particularly mothers, in the adjustment of the participants to the everyday demands, academic and social, of school life. The necessity of establishing and sustaining effective early intervention programs was also highlighted, as was the value of listening to the voices of individuals with learning difficulties when making decisions on their behalf.

<p>This study explored the learning experiences of black working class women in the context of the National Skills Development Strategy. The research focused firstly, on how the National Skills Development Strategy facilitated women's learning and secondly, what has helped and hindered their learning and how their learning experiences related to the literature on women's learning.</p>

Denna experimentella studie undersökte om maskerande brusljud på ovidkommande tal påverkar inlärning av visuell information. Experimentet genomfördes i ett laboratorium med 32 försöksdeltagare. Visuella ord presenterades för försöksdeltagarna samtidigt som auditivt tal från samma semantiska kategori, med eller utan maskerande brusljud, presenterades. De visuella orden skulle återges i valfri ordning. Resultatet av studien visar att ett maskerande brusljud på ovidkommande tal har positiv effekt på inlärningsförmågan. Detta visades av att försökspersonerna mindes fler visuellt presenterade ord samt att de lyckades ignorera det ovidkommande talet bättre då talet maskerades av ett brusljud jämfört med om talet inte maskerades av ett brusljud. Resultaten av studien kan med fördel tillämpas i öppna kontorslandskap. Detta då medarbetare i öppna kontorslandskap ofta utför kognitivt krävande uppgifter i en bullrig miljö innehållande bland annat bakgrundstal. Ett maskerande brusljud kan minska störningen av ovidkommande kontorsljud och ovidkommande tal och på så sätt positivt påverka arbetsprestationen. / This study examined if a masking white noise on irrelevant speech affects the encoding of visual information. An experiment was carried out in a laboratory with 32 participants. The participants were presented to a series of written words and were prompted to recall these words in any order. While the participants studied the written words, irrelevant speech from the same semantic category was presented with or without a masking noise. The participants were told to ignore the irrelevant speech. The results of this study showed that the number of intrusions from the irrelevant speech decreases and the number of recalled written words increases when the irrelevant speech is masked by a white noise compared to irrelevant speech without a masking noise. The findings of this study could be applied in the acoustic design of open-plan offices where cognitive tasks, such as reading comprehension and proofreading, are performed in a noisy environment. A white noise can reduce the intelligibility of office noise and irrelevant speech, which have positive effect on work performance.

A dearth of research exists to explain the disproportionately high level of academic achievement by Asian-Americans. Little attempt has been made to investigate indepth the relationship of several proposed factors to Asian achievement. The purpose of this study was to explore differences between Asian-Americans and Caucasian-Americans in cognitive ability, language proficiency, and achievement in reading, mathematics, and general knowledge. Forty-six Asian-Americans and forty-six Caucasian-Americans from the norming sample for the Woodcock-Johnson Psychoeducational Battery-Revised (WJ-R) (1989) were matched on the basis of school, gender, and number of years of school attendance. Broad Cognitive Ability scores of the WJ-R as well as scores from the WJ-R Tests of Achievement were then used to compare aptitude and achievement of each member of the two groups. No significant differences in Cognitive Ability were then used to compare aptitude and achievement of each member of the two groups. No significant differences in Cognitive Ability were found between Asian-Americans and Caucasian-Americans. There were also no significant differences found between the two groups in language proficiency or reading achievement. Significant differences did exist in mathematics and knowledge achievement but the superiority of Asian-Americans in those two areas could not be attributed to community socio-economic status (S.E.S.), school curriculum, or aptitude. Implications for future research on achievement indicate the need to refocus, not upon school curriculum and socio-economic status, but rather upon home process variables.

<p>This study explored the learning experiences of black working class women in the context of the National Skills Development Strategy. The research focused firstly, on how the National Skills Development Strategy facilitated women's learning and secondly, what has helped and hindered their learning and how their learning experiences related to the literature on women's learning.</p>

The purpose of the study is to assess whether a psychological test of learning potential can predict supervisory rating of different components of learning potential for the low level worker-This exercise would be done ascertain the relationship between the learning potential by using the TRAM-2 battery Ca learning potential assessment instrument) and supervisory rating of the sample of workers. A sample of 60 employees with levels of education ranging form grade 8 to 12 inclusive was used. It is hoped that the findings would predict or identify employees with potential for development which would then lead to planning how that potential is developed to, empower the employees to improve their performance and self actualise their objectives. This would enhance the realisation of aims and objective of skills development and employment equity plan of the company. The findings and their implications and suggestions would be discussed in this study. / Thesis (M.Com.)-University of Durban-Westville, 2003.