This study examined the neurocognitive skills, incidence of mild head injury, incidence of learning disabilities, and study habits among college students with grade point average of 2.00 or below (N = 25) as contrasted with college students with grade point average above 2.00 (N = 70). The intent of this research was to extend the work of Segalowitz and Brown (1991) and Segalowitz and Lawson (1993) who found significant associations between reported history of mild head injury and developmental disabilities among high school and college samples. MANOVAs conducted on measures of academic achievement, global cognitive skills, verbal and nonverbal memory, motor and tactile functioning, and study habits did not discriminate between probationary and non-probationary students. Probationary and non-probationary students also did not differ with regard to incidence of reported head injury, frequency of diagnosed learning disabilities, and study habits. Measures of neurocognitive functioning and study habits did not contribute to the prediction of grade point average over and above that predicted by Scholastic Aptitude Test composite score. Several exploratory analyses were performed examining the relationship between study habits and neurocognitive skills. Gender differences, implications for future research and development of study skills courses, and limitations of this study were discussed.

Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006.

The aim of this investigation was to determine the effect of the psychological variables on the academic performance of first year students at the University of Potchefstroom. The reason that research in this field is important is that it can address the negative influence that the high failure rate of the first year students have on the community, the economy, and the severe financial and personal strain. Academic performance is the product of various inter-related factors. It is however difficult to get a representative model of all these factors. This is because academic performance, especially at university level, is an extremely complex and multi-facetted system. These factors need to be examined in conjunction with one another. A clear definition of the criteria used for academic performance evaluation is essential. A distinction is made between first year students that are successful in their studies as opposed to those that are not. A successful first year student is defined as a student who is credited with a pass mark in all the subjects required for that year of study, for the course taken. An unsuccessful first year student is a student that fails 50% or more of the subjects required for his I her course in that year, thus forcing the student to prolong the duration of the total study period by at least one year. A literature survey was done, in an attempt to identify and discuss some of the factors that influence academic performance. Various researchers' opinion on these factors were highlighted. The variables were grouped under the following headings: biographic, socio-economic, cognitive, personality, and academic factors. The following empirical tests were used: Senior Aptitude Test (SAT), the Ninteen Field Interest Inventory (19-FII), the Personal, Home, Social and Formal Relations Questionnaire (PHSF) and the Survey of Study Habits and Attitudes (SSHA). The study population consisted of academically successful and unsuccessful first year students that started their studies in 1998 at the University of Potchefstroom. The population included diversity in terms of faculty, race and gender. Detailed statistics were used to correlate the variables by means of graphs for each assessment technique. Statistical variance is shown in tabular form. Psychological differences between men and women are highlighted, as well as differences between race groups and faculties. The empirical study shows that there definitely are psychological factors that play a role in academic performance. A correlation between intelligence, personality, career interests, study habits and attitude, and the academic performance of the student is shown. From the literature, and on grounds of the empirical study done, it can be shown that psychological variables do influence the academic performance of the student, and that there is a correlation between the variables and academic performance. / Thesis (M.A.)--Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education, 2000

The aim of this investigation was to determine the effect of the psychological variables on the academic performance of first year students at the University of Potchefstroom. The reason that research in this field is important is that it can address the negative influence that the high failure rate of the first year students have on the community, the economy, and the severe financial and personal strain. Academic performance is the product of various inter-related factors. It is however difficult to get a representative model of all these factors. This is because academic performance, especially at university level, is an extremely complex and multi-facetted system. These factors need to be examined in conjunction with one another. A clear definition of the criteria used for academic performance evaluation is essential. A distinction is made between first year students that are successful in their studies as opposed to those that are not. A successful first year student is defined as a student who is credited with a pass mark in all the subjects required for that year of study, for the course taken. An unsuccessful first year student is a student that fails 50% or more of the subjects required for his I her course in that year, thus forcing the student to prolong the duration of the total study period by at least one year. A literature survey was done, in an attempt to identify and discuss some of the factors that influence academic performance. Various researchers' opinion on these factors were highlighted. The variables were grouped under the following headings: biographic, socio-economic, cognitive, personality, and academic factors. The following empirical tests were used: Senior Aptitude Test (SAT), the Ninteen Field Interest Inventory (19-FII), the Personal, Home, Social and Formal Relations Questionnaire (PHSF) and the Survey of Study Habits and Attitudes (SSHA). The study population consisted of academically successful and unsuccessful first year students that started their studies in 1998 at the University of Potchefstroom. The population included diversity in terms of faculty, race and gender. Detailed statistics were used to correlate the variables by means of graphs for each assessment technique. Statistical variance is shown in tabular form. Psychological differences between men and women are highlighted, as well as differences between race groups and faculties. The empirical study shows that there definitely are psychological factors that play a role in academic performance. A correlation between intelligence, personality, career interests, study habits and attitude, and the academic performance of the student is shown. From the literature, and on grounds of the empirical study done, it can be shown that psychological variables do influence the academic performance of the student, and that there is a correlation between the variables and academic performance. / Thesis (M.A.)--Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education, 2000

The poor mathematics achievement of South African learners is a great shock and reason for concern in our country. The question is asked why the learners achieve so poorly and whether something can be done to improve learners’ mathematics achievement. Research has shown that the field of study orientation is a primary factor for learners’ mathematics achievement. A positive study orientation towards Mathematics has a great influence on the positive achievement of learners in Mathematics. The use of metacognition has also been found to improve learners’ mathematics achievement and their ability to solve problems. It has been decided to find the relationship between learners’ study orientation and metacognition and to determine what the influence of the relationship is on learner's mathematics achievement. Learners’ study orientation is identified as six fields that have an influence on learner's mathematics achievement. The fields are learners’ study attitude in Mathematics, Mathematics anxiety, study habits in Mathematics, problem solving behaviour in Mathematics, study milieu (social, physical well-being and classroom atmosphere) in Mathematics and information processing in Mathematics. Metacognition is described as the learners’ thoughts concerning their own thinking and is divided in two separate components: • Metacognitive knowledge: it addresses the questions of what you know, how you think, when and where to use certain strategies. Metacognitive knowledge consists of strategic knowledge, knowledge of cognitive tasks and self-knowledge. • Self-management: self-management is 'metacognition in action' and learners use it to effectively apply the metacognitive knowledge. Self-management consists of prediction, planning, monitoring and evaluation. The study population comprise of Grade 7-learners in the Potchefstroom district. The schools that participated in the study serve learners from different socioeconomic backgrounds (ex-Model C, multicultural, township, farm and learners living in the township but their school is in an affluent environment. The sample was chosen from an expedient sample. The study consists of a quantitative research as well as a qualitative research. The quantitative research was conducted by making use of the study orientation questionnaire in Mathematics, a metacognitive questionnaire and a mathematics achievement questionnaire for Grade 7. The average of the high achievement learners as well the low achievement learners were determine, intercorrelations between the variables and a regression analysis has been done to find out which fields is a good predictor for mathematics achievement. The qualitative research was conducted, using interviews. The Mathematics teachers (involved in the learner's teaching and learning), high achievement learners and low achievement learners where interviewed. The interviews were interpreted and combined with the qualitative research findings. The study found that both a positive study orientation and use of metacognition in Mathematics can enhance learners’ mathematics achievement. High achieving learners are better orientated towards Mathematics and make use of metacognition in a greater extent than learners that achieve poorly in mathematics. In general learners have a positive attitude towards Mathematics and their study milieu is positive. It has been found that learner's orientation toward study habits is weak and their problem solving behaviour is weak also, especially with solving non routine problems. Out of the correlations it was found that learners which experience a high level of mathematics anxiety and a negative study milieu make less use of metacognition than learners that experience less mathematics anxiety and have a positive study milieu. There is a relationship between metacognition and study-orientation and this relationship has an influence on learners’ mathematics achievement. Recommendations were made concerning metacognition and study orientation. In order to enhance learners’ mathematics achievement, it is necessary to improve their use of metacognition and study orientation towards mathematics / Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006

The relationship between learning styles and academic achievement in distance learning college students is analyzed following three steps: The first step identifies the learning style preferences; The second step establishes the relationship between learning styles and academic achievement; The third step analyzes the relationship among learning styles, study habits, and social-academic and technological environment, with academic achievement. Results reveal that theoretic and active learning styles are predominant in undergraduate students while no postgraduate preferences were shown. There is a relationship between undergraduate level and postgraduate level. Recommendations suggesting the continuity of research on this topic are included, in order to consolidate the modality of distance learning at the college level. / Se estudia la relación entre estilos de aprendizaje y rendimiento académico en universitarios de educación a distancia en tres etapas. En la primera se establecen las preferencias de los estilos de aprendizaje; en la segunda etapa se establece la relación entre los estilos de aprendizaje y el rendimiento académico; y en la tercera se analizan las relaciones entre los estilos de aprendizaje, los hábitos de estudio y el ambiente socio académico y tecnológico, con el rendimiento académico. Los resultados indican que en los estudiantes de pregrado predominan los estilos de aprendizaje teórico y activo, mientras que no se encuentran preferencias en los estudiantes de posgrado. Se observa relación entre los estilos de aprendizaje y el rendimiento académico en los niveles de pregrado y posgrado y se incluyen recomendaciones para consolidar la educación a distancia en el espacio de la enseñanza superior.

No description available.

Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:44:14Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 5299.pdf: 1500823 bytes, checksum: 4a06c0a216b48bbab0d9d0b6a1481ca7 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-04-12 / Universidade Federal de Sao Carlos / The engagement of parents, and adults in general, with the academic activities of children is an important factor for establishing adequate study conditions as early as possible, avoiding that this kind of learning happens by chance, through trial and error and coercive control. Based on the behavior analysis theory and the teaching technology denominated educational programming , the current work aims to develop and evaluate an individualized material for training adults for being agents that favor the studying behavior of children. The research was divided in two phases: 1. Elaboration of teaching material, based on teaching programming procedures and knowledge gathering already available. 2. Evaluation of the material regarding its efficiency as a condition for training agents for favoring the studying behavior. At the first step the following activities were done: a. description of the problem in which intervenes through the teaching programming; b. proposal of terminal teaching objectives, which could solve the problem, in a behavior form.; c. decomposition of the terminal objectives proposed in all the necessary actions to achieve them; d. identification of the working parts and intermediary objectives; e. definition of the starting repertoire of the apprentices in a behavior manner; f. teaching objectives sequencing according to complexity levels; g. teaching and evaluation planning; h. instructions, information, texts redacting for six modules of the teaching programming. The first phase results highlights the teaching programming potential, given that, compared to other subjects of the area, the defined teaching objectives seem more complete. During the second phase of the research, five participants used different parts of the individualized teaching material for training adults for being favoring behavioral studying agents; the same participants answered an evaluation form before, during and after the exposition to the teaching programming. The retrieved data allows affirming that the teaching programming material developed in this study is adequate as self-teaching material, with personalizes rhythm and composition, with an specific selection and sequencing of teaching units to be met. The systematic evaluation of the apprentices performance during the program activities shows some aspects of the programming teaching conditions that need to be reviewed. However, the verification of the training effects was impaired by the fact that the material was applied only partially for each participant and in a period near the children school holyday, preventing the conclusion of the practical activities. Finally, it is discussed aspects that should be considerate for future researches in this topic, such as: full teaching application programming; application period for the apprentices; development of all modules foreseen in teaching programming; review of the teaching conditions regarding the applied resources, amongst others. / O envolvimento dos pais, e de adultos em geral, com as atividades acadêmicas de crianças é fator importante para que condições de estudo adequadas sejam estabelecidas o mais cedo possível na vida escolar, evitando que esta aprendizagem ocorra ao acaso, por tentativa e erro e controle coercitivo. Com base na teoria da análise do comportamento e da tecnologia de ensino denominada programação de ensino o presente trabalho teve por objetivo desenvolver e avaliar um material programado individualizado para formação de adultos como agentes favorecedores do comportamento de estudos de crianças. A pesquisa foi dividida em duas etapas: 1. elaboração do material de ensino, a partir dos procedimentos da programação de ensino e levantamento de conhecimento já disponível sobre este tema; e 2. avaliação do material em relação à sua eficácia como condição para formação de agentes favorecedores do comportamento de estudo. Na primeira etapa foram realizadas as seguintes atividades: a. descrição do problema que se deve intervir por meio do programa de ensino; b. proposição dos objetivos terminais de ensino; c. decomposição dos objetivos terminais propostos em todas as ações necessárias para alcançá-los; d. indicação das partes funcionais dos objetivos intermediários; e. definição do repertório de entrada dos aprendizes; f. sequenciação dos objetivos de ensino de acordo com níveis de complexidade; g. planejamento das condições de ensino e avaliação; h. redação das instruções, informações, textos etc. para seis módulos do programa de ensino. Os resultados da primeira etapa evidenciam o potencial da programação de ensino, uma vez que, comparado a demais materiais da área, os objetivos de ensino definidos parecem mais completos. Na segunda etapa da pesquisa, cinco participantes realizaram partes diferentes do material didático instrucional individualizado para formação de agentes favorecedores de comportamento de estudo e responderam a questionários e fichas de avaliação antes, durante e após a exposição a partes do programa de ensino. Os dados coletados permitem afirmar que o material do programa de ensino desenvolvido neste estudo é adequado como um material autoinstrutivo para formação individual, em ritmo e composição personalizadas, com seleção e sequenciamento particular das unidades de ensino a serem cumpridas. A avaliação sistemática do desempenho dos aprendizes nas atividades do programa indicaram alguns aspectos das condições de ensino do programa que precisam ser revistos. A verificação dos efeitos do treinamento foi prejudicada pelo fato do material ter sido aplicado apenas parcialmente para cada participante e em período próximo às férias escolares das crianças, impossibilitando a realização das atividades práticas previstas. Ao final, são discutidos aspectos a serem considerados para futuros estudos no tema, tais como: aplicação total do programa de ensino; período da aplicação do programa para os aprendizes; desenvolvimento de todos os módulos previstos na programação de ensino realizada; revisão das condições de ensino em termos de recursos utilizados, entre outros.