Self-regulated learning skills have been shown to have a positive impact on achievement in the academic setting, enabling graduates to become lifelong learners in professional settings. Although the importance of lifelong learning skills is well articulated in the accounting education literature, this study is the first to address concerns that class time devoted to developing such skills might impair students' acquisition of content knowledge. This study uses a quasi-experimental design within the context of the introductory accounting course. The treatment group received self-regulated learning interventions designed by the researcher and based on Zimmerman's model of the academic learning cycle. Results of this study were obtained using multiple regressions and suggest that students' acquisition of technical knowledge, as measured by conventional exam scores, was not compromised when class time was allocated between self-regulated learning interventions and content instruction. Although benefits of the treatment were not immediate, the treatment group outperformed the control group in terms of scores on exams administered near the end of the course. This study found no evidence of a "ceiling effect" but does provide limited support for the "Matthew effect," whereby higher ability students often reap the greatest benefit from interventions.

Self-regulated learning skills have been shown to have a positive impact on achievement in the academic setting, enabling graduates to become lifelong learners in professional settings. Although the importance of lifelong learning skills is well articulated in the accounting education literature, this study is the first to address concerns that class time devoted to developing such skills might impair students' acquisition of content knowledge. This study uses a quasi-experimental design within the context of the introductory accounting course. The treatment group received self-regulated learning interventions designed by the researcher and based on Zimmerman's model of the academic learning cycle. Results of this study were obtained using multiple regressions and suggest that students' acquisition of technical knowledge, as measured by conventional exam scores, was not compromised when class time was allocated between self-regulated learning interventions and content instruction. Although benefits of the treatment were not immediate, the treatment group outperformed the control group in terms of scores on exams administered near the end of the course. This study found no evidence of a "ceiling effect" but does provide limited support for the "Matthew effect," whereby higher ability students often reap the greatest benefit from interventions.

This dissertation follows a three-article format presentation. The topic addresses improving student success in a large enrollment introductory accounting course. The first article is a literature review of pre-class activities within a flipped classroom setting in higher education. The review of 34 articles identified as relevant to the literature review explored what the literature tells us about pre-class learning activities and synthesized what instructors can do to design pre-class activities that encourage students' preparation for class. The review showed the importance of pre-class learning in a flipped classroom and that more research is needed to better understand students' behaviors and interactions with assigned pre-class content. The second article explores the effectiveness of post-exam feedback in an online environment. While empirical studies have shown that in-person post-exam reviews can significantly and positively impact student performance, little is known about post-exam feedback in a remote learning environment. In a remote environment, instructors may choose not to hold post-exam reviews due to the risk of exposing the contents of an exam. This study explores the effectiveness of an intervention that provides remote students post-exam feedback and support without compromising the integrity of the exam. Data comparing student achievement in two remote consecutive semesters of a large-enrollment introductory accounting course shows that the revised post-exam review had a positive effect on test scores and the overall average GPA. The final article presents the results from a quasi-experimental study examining the benefits of allowing second chance exams. The control group for this study was not offered the opportunity to retake exams. The treatment group was allowed to retake exams with a maximum score of 80% on a retake. This study demonstrates that a second-chance exam policy (SCEP) seemed to reduce students' perceived stress levels in a high-stakes environment by providing an opportunity for students to learn from their mistakes, improve mastery of the topic, and increase exam scores. Additionally, there was a gender interaction: females experienced an increase in course percentage points and GPA in the semester with the SCEP compared to males, thus reducing an existing gender gap.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T18:39:37Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Antonio Moreira Franco Junior.pdf: 5791337 bytes, checksum: 9080f7e41402bf751075bf5ea8a3a7a6 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-12-21 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Introductory Accounting is the backbone of the course on Accounting Sciences. Normally it is by these means that a student will have his/her first contact with Accounting Sciences, and if there is insufficient proficiency in this subject, the entire course will be adversely affected. The teacher of this subject should take care in developing a bookkeeping rationale in the students in order to prepare them for the applied accounting practices that will follow. In the light of these circumstances, this survey s purpose is to examine the status of Introductory Accounting as a subject taught in the Accounting Sciences Courses in the State of São Paulo s Higher Learning Institutions, from the teachers viewpoint. To this end, an empirical study was performed with data gathered by means of a questionnaire that covered 28.2% of the population. The study led to the conclusion that an Introductory Accounting teacher is normally a market professional, a graduate in Accounting Sciences with a title of at least a specialist, retained by the Higher Learning Institutions on a part-time basis; the traditional approach which considers students passive agents in the learning process is the most commonly employed by teachers of Introductory Accounting, and under these circumstances the combination of explanatory lessons , problem solving , and white board are the most employed methods / means; the American School s methodology in terms of didactical teaching is most commonly used by teachers, and in order to assess students the prevailing practice is the traditional tests and exams, normally held on conclusion of the teaching-learning procedure (a summative assessment), which is not employed as an auxiliary instrument on learning but will serve as a means of classifying students / A Contabilidade Introdutória representa a espinha dorsal do curso de Ciências Contábeis. Normalmente, é por meio dela que o estudante tem o primeiro contato com a Ciência Contábil, e se não houver um bom nível de aprendizado nesta disciplina, o curso todo ficará comprometido. O professor que ministra tal disciplina deve ter o cuidado de desenvolver o raciocínio contábil nos estudantes, de modo a prepará-los para as contabilidades aplicadas que a sucedem. Diante deste contexto, esta pesquisa tem o objetivo de analisar a situação do ensino da disciplina de Contabilidade Introdutória ministrada nos cursos de Ciências Contábeis das Instituições de Ensino Superior do Estado de São Paulo, do ponto de vista dos professores. Para atingir este objetivo foi realizado um estudo empírico, cuja coleta de dados ocorreu com a utilização de questionário que abrangeu 28,2% da população. O estudo conduziu à conclusão de que o docente de Contabilidade Introdutória é, normalmente, um profissional de mercado, graduado em Ciências Contábeis, com titulação mínima de especialista, contratado pela Instituição de Ensino em regime parcial; a abordagem tradicional, que considera o aluno como agente passivo no processo de aprendizagem, é a mais utilizada pelos docentes no ensino da Contabilidade Introdutória e neste contexto, a combinação da aula expositiva , resolução de exercícios e quadro branco são os métodos/meios mais utilizados; a metodologia da Escola Americana, em termos de didática de ensino, é a mais utilizada pelos professores e no processo de avaliação dos estudantes predomina a prática de provas e exames tradicionais, que ocorre normalmente ao final do processo de ensino-aprendizagem (avaliação somativa), deixando de ser utilizada como instrumento auxiliar da aprendizagem para servir de meio de classificação dos alunos

Conceitos e técnicas são ensinados em ambientes educacionais e deveriam ser aprendidos; porém, os exames nacionais de larga escala têm mostrado resultados indesejados, evidenciando uma lacuna na aprendizagem dos nossos alunos. Segundo Sanchez (2013), nos cursos de graduação em Ciências Contábeis, os principais erros conceituais cometidos pelos estudantes são: uso equivocado dos conceitos de caixa e competência e erros matemáticos. A definição de erro conceitual é referida na literatura sobre misconceptions (Chi, 1992) em que existe uma apresentação padrão na forma em que o erro desponta e um relacionamento incompatível entre os conceitos novos, a serem aprendidos pelos alunos, e os conceitos prévios, já existentes. Os erros conceituais têm seis características: são robustos, consistentes, persistentes, homogêneos, recapitulados e sistemáticos. Por isso, são difíceis de serem corrigidos. Chi et al (1994) utilizam da teoria da estruturação do conhecimento, em que definem que os conceitos são classificados em categorias ao serem aprendidos. Porém, conceitos que são classificados erroneamente transformam-se em erros conceituais robustos: são difíceis de serem aprendidos, pela dificuldade em transpor o conceito para a categoria adequada. Com base na definição de misconception e da estruturação dos conceitos em categorias, buscou-se entender como os estudantes formam os erros conceituais e, com base nestes tipos de erro encontrados e nas seis características dos padrões de erros, coletamos evidências da formação e superação dos erros por parte dos alunos. Estas evidências nos auxiliaram na criação de uma estratégia de ensino, construída com base na estruturação do conhecimento e, que seja diferente da estratégia \"comum\" de aula de Contabilidade Introdutória, que é o primeiro contato dos estudantes da área de negócios com contabilidade, com intuito de responder a nossa questão de pesquisa: \"Qual o impacto (proporção e sentido) da adoção desta estratégia de ensino baseada em erros conceituais no aprendizado dos estudantes?\" O impacto da estratégia foi motivacional, pois fez os alunos refletirem sobre os erros conceituais, mas insuficiente para aumentar a proporção de acertos nas avaliações realizadas. / Concepts and techniques are taught in educational settings and should be learned; however, large-scale national exams have shown undesirable results, evidencing a learning gap in our students. According to Sanchez (2013), in the undergraduate courses in Accounting, the main misconception made by students are: misuse of concepts of cash and accrual and mathematical errors. The definition of misconception is referred to in the literature (Chi, 1992) in which there is a standard presentation in the form in which the error emerges and an incompatible relationship between the new concepts to be learned by the students and the prior knowledge already existing. Misconception have six characteristics: they are robust, consistent, persistent, homogeneous, recapitulated and systematic. Therefore, they are difficult to correct. Chi et al. (1994) use the theory of knowledge structuring, where they define that concepts are classified into categories when they are learned. However, concepts that are misclassified become robust conceptual errors: they are difficult to learn because of the difficulty in transposing the concept into the appropriate category. Based on the definition of misconception and the structuring of concepts into categories, we sought to understand how students form misconception and, based on these types of errors found and on the six characteristics, we collect evidence of the formation and overcoming of errors on the part of the students. These evidences helped us in creating a teaching strategy, based on the structuring of knowledge and that is different from the \"common\" strategy of First Accounting Class, which is the first contact of the students of the business area with accounting, with In order to answer our research question: \"What is the impact (proportion and signal) of adopting this teaching strategy based on conceptual errors in learning?\" The impact of the strategy was motivational, as it made the students reflect on the conceptual errors, but insufficient to increase the proportion of correctness in the realized evaluations.

Conceitos e técnicas são ensinados em ambientes educacionais e deveriam ser aprendidos; porém, os exames nacionais de larga escala têm mostrado resultados indesejados, evidenciando uma lacuna na aprendizagem dos nossos alunos. Segundo Sanchez (2013), nos cursos de graduação em Ciências Contábeis, os principais erros conceituais cometidos pelos estudantes são: uso equivocado dos conceitos de caixa e competência e erros matemáticos. A definição de erro conceitual é referida na literatura sobre misconceptions (Chi, 1992) em que existe uma apresentação padrão na forma em que o erro desponta e um relacionamento incompatível entre os conceitos novos, a serem aprendidos pelos alunos, e os conceitos prévios, já existentes. Os erros conceituais têm seis características: são robustos, consistentes, persistentes, homogêneos, recapitulados e sistemáticos. Por isso, são difíceis de serem corrigidos. Chi et al (1994) utilizam da teoria da estruturação do conhecimento, em que definem que os conceitos são classificados em categorias ao serem aprendidos. Porém, conceitos que são classificados erroneamente transformam-se em erros conceituais robustos: são difíceis de serem aprendidos, pela dificuldade em transpor o conceito para a categoria adequada. Com base na definição de misconception e da estruturação dos conceitos em categorias, buscou-se entender como os estudantes formam os erros conceituais e, com base nestes tipos de erro encontrados e nas seis características dos padrões de erros, coletamos evidências da formação e superação dos erros por parte dos alunos. Estas evidências nos auxiliaram na criação de uma estratégia de ensino, construída com base na estruturação do conhecimento e, que seja diferente da estratégia \"comum\" de aula de Contabilidade Introdutória, que é o primeiro contato dos estudantes da área de negócios com contabilidade, com intuito de responder a nossa questão de pesquisa: \"Qual o impacto (proporção e sentido) da adoção desta estratégia de ensino baseada em erros conceituais no aprendizado dos estudantes?\" O impacto da estratégia foi motivacional, pois fez os alunos refletirem sobre os erros conceituais, mas insuficiente para aumentar a proporção de acertos nas avaliações realizadas. / Concepts and techniques are taught in educational settings and should be learned; however, large-scale national exams have shown undesirable results, evidencing a learning gap in our students. According to Sanchez (2013), in the undergraduate courses in Accounting, the main misconception made by students are: misuse of concepts of cash and accrual and mathematical errors. The definition of misconception is referred to in the literature (Chi, 1992) in which there is a standard presentation in the form in which the error emerges and an incompatible relationship between the new concepts to be learned by the students and the prior knowledge already existing. Misconception have six characteristics: they are robust, consistent, persistent, homogeneous, recapitulated and systematic. Therefore, they are difficult to correct. Chi et al. (1994) use the theory of knowledge structuring, where they define that concepts are classified into categories when they are learned. However, concepts that are misclassified become robust conceptual errors: they are difficult to learn because of the difficulty in transposing the concept into the appropriate category. Based on the definition of misconception and the structuring of concepts into categories, we sought to understand how students form misconception and, based on these types of errors found and on the six characteristics, we collect evidence of the formation and overcoming of errors on the part of the students. These evidences helped us in creating a teaching strategy, based on the structuring of knowledge and that is different from the \"common\" strategy of First Accounting Class, which is the first contact of the students of the business area with accounting, with In order to answer our research question: \"What is the impact (proportion and signal) of adopting this teaching strategy based on conceptual errors in learning?\" The impact of the strategy was motivational, as it made the students reflect on the conceptual errors, but insufficient to increase the proportion of correctness in the realized evaluations.