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Although much has been discovered about relations between self-efficacy and academic achievement, questions remain about links between achievement, the structure of learning tasks, and changes in students' self-efficacy as students engage with a single, complex authentic task. Students' self-efficacy for learning (SEL) and for performance (SEP) was tracked as they worked on well- and ill-structured tasks during their regular class. Students reported higher SEL and SEP for a well-structured task. Moderate achievers reported significantly more difficulty with the ill-structured task. SEP was higher and more stable than SEL, especially in early phases of both tasks. After accounting for overall academic achievement, self-efficacy was a negligible predictor of achievement. Students may perceive various features of each task's structure as difficult, Implications concerning relations among self-efficacy, task structure, and achievement are discussed. Keywords: self-efficacy, self-efficacy for learning, self-efficacy for performance, task structure, secondary students

Modern theories of cognitive and constructive learning portray students as agents who set and pursue goals. More effective students select among cognitive tactics they use to approach goals and learn from false starts and setbacks. These students self-regulate not merely performance but also how they learn. How do students develop forms for self-regulating learning? The author suggests they experiment thereby bootstrapping newer forms of self-regulated learning from prior forms. Experimenting is an arduous way to build knowledge and it is subject to at least 3 obstacles that may be especially troublesome for young students: obtaining sufficient practice with appropriate feedback, remembering how learning was enacted, and reasoning about factors that affect learning. The author examines these issues and suggests needs for future research that investigates how students develop forms of complex goal-directed cognition that guide learning.

Introduction Study skills instruction in higher education has become increasingly popular in the past decade. Many universities and colleges have developed short courses to teach study skills, established learning resource [...]

Self-regulated learning is the turning point of the students' academic development. Feedback in learning is most important for the determination of the inherent processes of self-regulated learning. A structural model of the self-regulated learning process based on existing literature on education and psychology can help analyze the cognitive processes of self-regulated learning and can be used to interpret the findings of the research. A detailed model for self-regulated learning is proposed which focuses on the cognitive monitoring operation.

We explored forms of cognitive engagement at 2 levels - component cognitive processes and sets of these components, labeled acquisition and transformation - that L. Corno and E. B. Mandinach (1983) described in their model of self-regulated learning (SRL). We collected data on students' cognition using 3 different measures of SRL processes - a global self-report scale, a self-report scale administered immediately after each of 6 academic tasks, and traces of cognition obtained while working on tasks. Also, we examined correlations between these measures of SRL and aptitude variables. Multitrait-multimethod analyses revealed that measures of SRL are not coherent. A significant issue for future research is whether SRL should be characterized in terms of individual cognitive components or in terms of coordinated sets of cognitive components and, if so, how these levels should articulate to form a coherent picture of SRL.

In 2 experiments children in Grades 4-8 learned facts under different instructional conditions. Control Ss were given base sentences containing facts and were permitted to study them as they wished. In some conditions fact sentences were accompanied by elaborations (e.g., an explanation of why a stated animal lived in a stated locale). Ss in the elaborative interrogation conditions attempted to construct their own reasons for why the facts held true. Ss in the imagery conditions constructed internal imaginal representations for each fact (e.g., an image of a stated animal living in the stated locale). Elaborative interrogation was the only condition that significantly facilitated acquisition of facts in both experiments.

Playing the role of constructive critic, the term self-reliance to refer to work habits, work styles, volition, and self-regulated learning are discussed. The belief that developing self-reliance is an important goal of education is described.

Models of self-regulated learning hypothesize that learners selectively match study tactics to varying tasks and diverse goals. In this study, relative to each of 3 contexts--reading for learning, completing a brief essay, and studying for an exam--students rated the frequency with which they applied 26 study tactics, used 20 textbook features and other resources, and adopted 30 goals for studying. Analyses revealed substantial context effects in these self-reports. Nine separate principal component analyses of ratings corresponding to cells in a 3 X 3 matrix of (a) tactics, resources, and goals by (b) contexts, identified considerable discrepancies in items' assignment to components, and heterogeneous loadings across contexts. These findings bolster the premise that students' reports of self-regulating studying behaviors are context specific. They also raise questions about using self-reports of self-regulated learning that do not reflect context effects.

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Background. A program of research is needed that assesses the psychometric properties of instruments designed to quantify students' achievement goal orientations to clarify inconsistencies across previous studies and to provide a stronger basis for future research. Aim. We conducted traditional psychometric and modern Rasch-model analyses of the Achievement Goals Questionnaire (AGQ, Elliot & McGregor, 2001) and the Patterns of Adaptive Learning Scale (PALS, Midgley et al., 2000) to provide an in-depth analysis of the two most popular instruments in educational psychology. Samples and methods. For Study I, 217 undergraduate students enrolled in educational psychology courses participated. Thirty-four were male and 181 were female (two did not respond). Participants completed the AGQ in the context of their educational psychology class. For Study 2, 126 undergraduate students enrolled in educational psychology courses participated. Thirty were male and 95 were female (one did not respond). Participants completed the PALS in the context of their educational psychology class. Results. Traditional psychometric assessments of the AGQ and PALS replicated previous studies. For both, reliability estimates ranged from good to very good for raw subscale scores and fit for the models of goal orientations were good. Based on traditional psychometrics, the AGO and PALS are valid and reliable indicators of achievement goals. Rasch analyses revealed that estimates of reliability for items were very good but respondent ability estimates varied from poor to good for both the AGQ and PALS. These findings indicate that items validly and reliably reflect a group's aggregate goal orientation, but using either instrument to characterize an individual's goal orientation is hazardous. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Links between students' achievement goal orientations and learning tactics were investigated using software (gStudy) that supports a variety of learning tactics and strategies. An achievement goal questionnaire was administered to 307 students enrolled in an introductory educational psychology course. Data tracing study tactics were logged for 80 of these students who prepared for a test by studying a textbook chapter presented as a multimedia document. Using correlations and canonical correlations, we found relationships between goal orientations and activity traces indicating different forms of cognitive engagement. Notably, mastery goal orientation (approach or avoidance) was negatively related to amount of highlighting, a study tactic that is theorized to be less effective than summarizing and other forms of elaborative annotation for assembling and integrating knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses several measures to promote cognitive achievement of public school students. Models for instruction, such as cognitive mediational approach, task model to pursue learning from teaching and the model involving content, evaluation data, delivery of cues about tasks, acquisition tasks, retrieval tasks and setting factors; Steps to realizing instructional intentions.

Focuses on the views of students and teachers of the thinking processes for classroom learning. Perceptions of cognitive processes as mediators between teacher behaviors and student learning; Congruency of students' cognitive processes to the intended responses to instructional stimuli of teachers; Kinds of intended cognitive responses, such as consolidating and use of metacognition.

Aptitude-treatment interactions (ATI) are relatively unexamined in research on teacher effectiveness but may be important in describing the teaching-learning process. In an experiment on teacher effectiveness, 399 sixth-grade students were taught ecology for nine lessons. Trained teachers used one of eight factorially defined teaching treatments which varied teacher behaviors of structuring, soliciting, and reacting. Generalized regression analyses on dependent variables (multiple choice, attitude, and perception (teaching showed aptitudes to be major predictors relative to teacher, treatment, and ATI effects. ATI effects were more frequent and stronger predictors than treatment effects in almost till cases, though ATI terms usually absorbed only one to two percent of variation in the criterion variables. The methodology and findings of this study suggest changes for research on teacher effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]