The purpose of the study is to describe the current status of and the relationships between teacher self-efficacy and in-service teachers’ perceptions and/or attitudes of (a) the quantity and quality of feedback from formative evaluation, (b) toward feedback from formative evaluation, and (c) the impact of feedback from formative evaluation on teacher self-efficacy. In addition to calculating correlation coefficients, 6 teachers were interviewed – 2 each from high, medium, and low efficacy schools. The quantitative data reported low, positive correlations between all of the factors. Statistically significant correlations were found between 8 of the 12 factors including teacher attitudes toward feedback from formative evaluation and: overall Teacher Sense of Efficacy Scale (r = .302), student engagement (r = .309), instructional strategies (r = .237) and classroom management (r =.266). Other statistically significant correlations were found between teacher perceptions of the impact of feedback from formative evaluation and its relationship to self-efficacy and: overall Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale (r = .295), Student Engagement (r = .300), Instructional Strategies (r = .209), and Classroom Management (r = .282). The face-to-face interviews and online focus group supported the quantitative findings as the participants reported that they value formative evaluation and feedback and deem it a necessary component of professional growth. Participants felt that they would benefit from an increased number of formative evaluations followed by specific, frequent and positive feedback. The participants indicated that their self-efficacy was not negatively impacted by infrequent observations and/or feedback that lacks detail.

Teacher educators continually strive to find ways to improve the preparation of preservice teacher candidates. In the area of mathematics education, methods courses that follow National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) standards for professional development have been successful. This study supports the notion that a mathematics methods course can improve mathematics teaching efficacy in the constructs of personal mathematics teaching efficacy (PMTE) and mathematics teaching outcome expectancy (MTOE). Findings also suggest that mathematics teaching efficacy is developmental in its nature with PMTE developing before MTOE. Employing a quasiexperimental nonequivalent comparison groups pre- and posttest design, the present study examined the effects of guided imagery as an added component of a mathematics methods course and found no significant advantageous treatment effects on mathematics teaching efficacy. However, there were no detrimental effects on mathematics content knowledge and pedagogical skills either. Participation in a reform-based mathematics methods course did affect mathematics teaching efficacy for both groups in the study. Mathematics teaching efficacy beliefs were measured by the Mathematics Teaching Efficacy Beliefs Instrument (MTEBI), and data were analyzed by ANCOVA and paired-samples t-tests. Recommendations for further research on the developmental nature of general teacher efficacy and mathematics teaching efficacy are included.

En kvalitativ studie genomfördes med intervjuer av 12 respondenter, varav sex nuvarande och sex utexaminerade studenter på en PA-utbildning. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka nuvarande och utexaminerade PA-studenters upplevelse av sin egen förmåga att hantera olika arbetsrelaterade uppgifter. Detta gjordes med hjälp av teorierna Work Selfefficayoch Self-efficacy. Man undersökte också om det har skett någon förändring sedanrespondenterna påbörjade sina studier eller arbeten. Med hjälp av Work self-efficacyinventorys (WS-Ei) förbestämda skalor undersöktes en rad olika upplevelser av temansåsom effektiv inlärning, arbetsuppgifter, problemlösning, stress/tidpress, team/grupp,rolluppfyllning, mål/resultat och regler/företagskultur. Ur empirin växte det sedan fram kategorier såsom arbetslivserfarenhet, utbildning, självkännedom, personlighet ochstöd/feedback. Dessa kategorier ansågs vara avgörande för nuvarande och utexamineradestudenters upplevelser av sin WSE. De var även samma kategorier som ansågs vara orsakentill varför respondenterna upplevde en förändring sedan de börjat studera/arbeta. / Program: Organisations- och personalutvecklare i samhället

The primary purpose of this study was to examine the impact of different types of self-talk (i.e., group-oriented self-talk versus individual-oriented self-talk) upon self-efficacy, collective efficacy, and performance of a dart-throwing task in a group setting. The second object was to examine the interaction individuals' between individualistic or collectivistic orientations and self-talk on their perceptions of self-efficacy and collective efficacy. Participants were 80 university students (age, M = 22.25 years, SD = 4.41). A series of 3 (self-talk intervention levels) X 2 (individualism-collectivism levels) between-groups ANOVAs revealed that both self-efficacy and collective efficacy beliefs were significantly higher in the group-oriented self-talk condition than in the control condition. Consistent with efficacy beliefs, significant differences in performance improvement were found between the group-oriented-self-talk and the control condition. However, no interaction between self-talk and individualism-collectivism was found for self-efficacy or collective efficacy. The results suggest that in interdependent contexts, group-oriented self-talk strategies could be more effective in enhancing participants' confidence in their own abilities, their team's abilities, and performance than individual-oriented self-talk strategies. Limitations and implications for the future study of efficacy beliefs within a group performance setting are discussed.

Syftet med föreliggande studie var att kartlägga källor till self-efficacy hos individuella idrottare med hjälp av self-efficacy teorin och pyramid för prestation. Följande frågeställningar har besvarats: (A) vilka källor använder individuella idrottare vid hög self-efficacy (B) Vilka källor använder individuella idrottare vid låg self-efficacy? och (C) Vilken är relationen mellan self-efficacy och prestation? Tio semistrukturerande intervjuer genomfördes på tio individuella idrottare (5 manliga och 5 kvinnliga) i ålder 18-27 år. Resultaten visade att tidigare erfarenheter var den största källan till ökat self-efficacy. Uttryck som "tränat bra innan" och "bra förberedelse" använder intervjupersonerna för att beskriva denna källa. "Prestationsångest" och "press på mig själv" utryckdes bland intervjupersonerna i det känslomässiga tillståndet som var den största källan vid lågt self-efficacy. I sambandet mellan self-efficacy och prestation kan ett mönster presenteras, högt self-efficacy ger framgångsrik prestation och lågt self-efficacy ger misslyckad prestation. / The purpose of this study was to examine the sources to self-efficacy among individual sportathletes based on self-efficacy theory and the high performance pyramid.  The objectives were to examine: (A) sources individual sportathletes uses in high self-efficacy (B) sources of individual athletes in low self-efficacy (C)  the relationship between self-efficacy and performance. Ten semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten individual athletes (five men and five women) in age 18 - 27. The results showed that past experience was the major source of high self-efficacy with expressions such as "trained well before" and "good preparation" used the most by the participants. "Performance anxiety" and "external pressure” were the largest source of low self-efficacy. Examining the relationship between self-efficacy and performance revealed two pattern, high self-efficacy in 90 % cases is associated with successful performance and low self-efficacy in 80% cases is associated with poor performance.

Minorities are underrepresented in the science workforce yet adequately represented as players of computer games. Findings in career development research suggest that a decision to pursue a science career is directly impacted by a person’s investigative self-efficacy. Because minority students choose to spend a significant amount of time playing computer games this study examines the effects of computer games on investigative self-efficacy. The dissertation is composed of a systematic literature review, the development of a theoretical framework, and an application of the theoretical framework in a quasiexperimental study. In the systematic literature review, the small-to-moderate effect sizes of the 6 systematically identified studies suggest that elements in computer games can potentially affect self-efficacy. Unfortunately, the similarities across the small number of studies makes it difficult to generalize the results to other settings and content areas while variability across the studies makes it difficult to pinpoint which computer game elements or type of computer games affect self-efficacy. An exploration of theories and empirical research in cognitive psychology, career development, and performance in complex environments led to a theoretical framework. The theoretical framework integrates attention, flow, and self-efficacy theories as well as the results of Berry and Broadbent’s (1988) study that compared the effects of implicit and explicit instructions on performance. Using the theoretical framework developed in this dissertation, stealth educational games are proposed as an option for building the investigative self-efficacy of unmotivated or academically struggling learners. The effect of stealth educational games on minority students’ investigative selfefficacy was explored. Based on the statistical results in this study and the differences across each of the schools, the potential value of stealth educational games is still unknown. Future research should employ theory to systematically document and define the context in which the game is delivered, incorporate assessments built into the game instead of using surveys, include incentives for student participation and obedience, and compare the effects of a stealth educational game to an explicitly educational game.

Recent research examining collective efficacy beliefs has generated a plethora of promising findings about their impact on group functioning. However, questions regarding the nature of collective efficacy beliefs across diverse educational organizations and theoretical constructs are understudied in this area of research. Therefore, the current study examines the relationship between collective efficacy beliefs and building group capacity. Self-reported data were collected from participants involved in a 10-month collaborative effort to enhance their proficiency in giving more effective presentations in order to strengthen their divisions’ capacity to improve educational achievement in schools. This top-down approach to building capacity is common, yet challenging to develop and evaluate, especially for organizations consisting of multiple infrastructures. Research findings using separate simple linear regression analyses suggest that perceived collective efficacy highly predicts group capacity, as it accounted for nearly 76% of the variance in self-reported group capacity. In addition, vicarious experience was shown to highly predict collective efficacy beliefs and group capacity. Likewise, perceived autonomy support strongly predicted group capacity, however did not significantly predict collective efficacy beliefs, which has been implied in the recent literature (Goddard, Hoy & Woolfolk Hoy, 2004; Brinson & Steiner, 2007). These findings provide a foundation for future collective efficacy belief research and capacity building efforts in the nonprofit education sector. / text

Walking for active transportation (AT) has been associated with individuals meeting the recommended physical activity levels. Global and local (i.e., Saskatoon) reported walking rates are low. Barriers perceived as a challenge (i.e., frequent and limiting) may influence walking. Individual differences, such as self-regulatory efficacy (SRE), may help people persist in overcoming challenging barriers, with those being more efficacious having greater persistence than their lower efficacy counterparts. The overall purpose of the present self-efficacy theory-based study was to examine whether individuals with higher and lower SRE differed in their persistence to overcome barriers to walking to/from a university campus under two experimental conditions (i.e., higher versus lower challenge). The experimental study design was a two (between: higher versus lower SRE to overcome barriers) by two (within: higher versus lower challenge vignette) mixed factorial, with three measures of persistence as the dependent variables (i.e., number of written solutions to overcoming barriers, time taken to record the solutions, and anticipatory perseverance to overcome barriers to walking in the near future). Based on self-efficacy theory and past research, individuals who had higher SRE were expected to have significantly higher persistence than their lower SRE counterparts after reading the higher challenge vignette. Participants were young adults who walked to/from a university campus. Higher and lower SRE groups were identified via a median split (nhigher = 22; nlower = 23). Each participant read a higher and lower challenge vignette (i.e., order counterbalanced across participants) in a lab-based setting, followed by completion of persistence measures after each vignette reading. Findings from a series of two by two ANOVAS provided partial support of the study hypothesis. A significant interaction between SRE groups and challenge vignettes was found with the persistence measure of time spent reporting coping solutions, F(1,43) = 4.64, p = .037. As expected, results from simple main effects showed the higher SRE group significantly differed from the lower SRE group under the higher challenge vignette condition, F (1,43) = 5.27, p = .027, by spending significantly more time reporting solutions. No other significant interactions were found between SRE groups x vignettes with the remaining measures of persistence: (1) number of reported solutions F (1,43) = 3.15, p = .083, and (2) anticipatory perseverance F (1,43) = 0.05, p = .82. The present study contributed new information on challenging barriers to walking for AT. Findings from the experiment partially supported contentions from self-efficacy theory about the importance of SRE beliefs to persistence when individuals are challenged. Future research should continue to examine the potential role that SRE beliefs play in whether individuals walk for AT.

Background: Health Canada recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months postpartum with continued breastfeeding up to 2 years and beyond. While 88% of Canadian mothers initiate breastfeeding, only 70% of mothers continue to do so at 4 weeks postpartum and only 14% are exclusively breastfeeding at 6 months. Breastfeeding self-efficacy is a potentially modifiable variable that has been associated with mothers’ breastfeeding practices. The Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Scale (Short-Form) is an instrument that could potentially identify women with low breastfeeding self-efficacy during the in hospital period. Purpose: To describe the breastfeeding practices of new mothers in the Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington area and to assess the association between in-hospital scores on the Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Scale (Short-Form) and duration of breastfeeding. Methods: This study was a secondary analysis of a dataset from the 2008 Infant Feeding Survey, a prospective study of 463 mothers with 12-month longitudinal follow-up. Data were weighted according to the maternal age distribution of the general population of new mothers. Breastfeeding practices were described using Kaplan-Meier survival distributions. Four outcomes were described: ‘exclusive breastfeeding from birth’, ‘exclusive breastfeeding from discharge’, ‘high breastfeeding’, and ‘any breastfeeding’. Using logistic regression, scores from the Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Scale (Short-Form) were assessed for association with duration of ‘exclusive breastfeeding from birth’ and duration of ‘any breastfeeding’ (dichotomized as ‘less than 6 weeks’ and ‘6 weeks or beyond’). Results: The sample was highly educated (75% had post-secondary education) and reported high levels of household income (37% reported >$80,000/year). Six percent of mothers exclusively breastfed to 6 months. Close to one quarter (24%) of women sustained some extent of breastfeeding for 12 months. The relationship between scores on the Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Scale (Short-Form) and duration of ‘exclusive breastfeeding from birth’ and the relationship between self-efficacy scores and duration of ‘any breastfeeding’ were identical (OR = 1.05) and non-significant (95% CI 1.0-1.1). Conclusion: This study did not show a significant relationship between in-hospital scores on the Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Scale (Short-Form) and duration of breastfeeding. Given the high socioeconomic status of women in this study, further studies are warranted to confirm these results. / Thesis (Master, Community Health & Epidemiology) -- Queen's University, 2011-12-06 14:46:41.103

Ability grouping has been prevalent in American schools for over a century (Burris & Welner, 2005; Museus, Palmer, Davis & Maramba, 2011; Slavin, 1990). Although ability grouping has been studied in terms of student performance, little research has examined the relationship between this practice and student motivation. The purpose of this study was to examine middle school students’ (N = 2,279) mathematics self-efficacy and its sources in ability grouped mathematics courses in the Southeastern U.S. The study also examined whether students in each ability group were represented proportionately by gender, ethnicity, and SES when compared to the full sample. Students responded to Likert scaled items assessing self-efficacy and its four sources (Bandura, 1997). Tests of mean differences in self-efficacy and its sources revealed that students in above-level courses reported significantly higher levels of self-efficacy than students in on- and below-level courses. Regression analysis revealed that mastery experiences, social persuasions, and negative physiological state predicted self-efficacy for above- and on-level students. Only mastery experiences and vicarious experiences predicted mathematics self-efficacy for below-level students. Results imply that teachers who work with students who are struggling in mathematics may find it beneficial to provide ample opportunity to expose students to models in mathematics.