Thesis (M.S.)--Ball State University, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 47-50).

Thesis (M.S.)--Ball State University, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 46-49). Also available online (PDF file) by a subscription to the set or by purchasing the individual file.

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Call number: LD2668 .T4 1986 C38 / Master of Science / Psychological Sciences

Spatial ability has been studied primarily through two perspectives: the developmental and the information processing orientations. This research combines these approaches. Mental rotation (the ability to mentally rotate objects) was examined by focusing on the developmentalists' concern for age of acquisition of this ability and the information theorists' attention to stimulus factors influencing this competency. Sixty students, twenty each in kindergarten, third, and fifth grade, participated in the study; there were equal numbers of males and females for every grade. Each student was shown 240 slides featuring two line drawings, a standard stimulus on the left, a trial stimulus on the right. For each slide, the subject indicated whether the stimuli were alike or different by pressing an appropriate button. The standard stimulus was always upright; the trial stimulus was upright or was rotated to 45, 90, 135, or 180 degrees. The four standard stimuli used each consisted of a circle. They differed, however, by possessing or lacking a cone atop the circle and by having an orthogonal or oblique internal axis. Each standard stimulus was paired with a trial stimulus which was a: (1) match, (2) reflection, or (3) internal mismatch (orthogonal axis paired with an oblique axis and vice-versa) of the standard stimulus. When the subjects indicated their judgment, their choice and their response time were recorded, providing both competency and process data. A series of analyses were performed, the outcome of one directing the course of the next. Two analyses of variance were made on competency data (for zero and for the rotated positions) and one on process data. The research yielded several significant findings, the most important of which was an interaction between the nature of the to-be-rotated stimulus and the degree of the rotation. This interaction indicated that short reaction times occurred when the internal axis of the test item was orthogonal; long reaction times occurred when the axis was oblique. These results were discussed with regard to developmental and information processing views of mental rotation.

This dissertation presents findings from a study investigating of the effects of a middle-school intervention, using the "Skill-Builders" curriculum, on participating students' attitudes, self-efficacy, achievement, self-regulated learning, and classroom learning behaviors in mathematics. The main research questions were 1) will a nine week school-counselor-led intervention using the "Skill-Builders" curriculum have a significant effect on the outcome variables of interest, and 2) will the effects be different for females than for males. A repeated measures ANOVA was used to test for differences between conditions and between sexes on all outcome measures. Results from the study demonstrated statistically significant post-intervention differences between students in the experimental and control conditions on their attitudes toward math learning, self-efficacy, achievement, and self-regulated learning behaviors, and the gains made by students in the experimental condition were maintained at follow-up. Students in the control condition showed no changes or declined on measures of attitudes, achievement, self-efficacy, and self-regulated learning behaviors at post-test and follow-up. Results also indicated a significant interaction for sex and condition, which suggests that the intervention had different effects for the participating females than the males. Implications of the findings, within the theoretical framework of the study and within the context of school counseling outcome research, are discussed.

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Despite the existence of nineteen universities in Lebanon, student motivation and achievement have not received attention in relation to attribution theory by Lebanese researchers. In the present study, attribution theory is used as a conceptual framework for investigating the motivation of undergraduate business computing students at a Mediterranean university based on their academic achievement in an introductory computer programming course. While numerous studies have used attribution theory as a framework to study student motivation based on hypothetical scenarios or laboratory tasks, this study investigated forty-five male and female business computing students who completed a computer programming course that lasted for a thirteen-week semester. Instead of focusing on either success or failure, the study explored five strata of achievement outcomes. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to obtain students' perceptions. The participants made 11 causal attributions for their achievement outcomes. Only two of those 11 causes appeared in the original attribution theory model (Weiner et al. 1971, p.96), but they were amongst those least cited in this study. This study also shows that of the 11 causes, 'lack of study' and 'appropriate learning strategy' were the leading ones. The latter was cited by all high achievers. While there was total agreement on some of the underlying causal properties of some causal attributions, other causal attributions were perceived differently in the causal space. In addition, there was strong evidence that globality is a fourth dimension in this achievement context. Furthermore, the two dimensions of the Expectancy-Value motivation model (Amone 2005, p.4) do not seem to relate to attribution theory dimensions in this study, especially for low achievers. Finally, it was possible to identify some attribution styles that lead to either success or failure, thus supporting the predictive power of attribution theory.

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

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