Showing papers in "Review of Educational Research in 1994"

Restructuring the Classroom: Conditions for Productive Small Groups

Abstract: Moving beyond the general question of effectiveness of small group learning, this conceptual review proposes conditions under which the use of small groups in classrooms can be productive. Included in the review is recent research that manipulates various features of cooperative learning as well as studies of the relationship of interaction in small groups to outcomes. The analysis develops propositions concerning the kinds of discourse that are productive of different types of learning as well as propositions concerning how desirable kinds of interaction may be fostered. Whereas limited exchange of information and explanation are adequate for routine learning in collaborative seatwork, more open exchange and elaborated discussion are necessary for conceptual learning with group tasks and ill-structured problems. Moreover, task instructions, student preparation, and the nature of the teacher role that are eminently suitable for supporting interaction in more routine learning tasks may result in unduly con...

Reinforcement, Reward, and Intrinsic Motivation: A Meta-Analysis

Abstract: This article reviews research on the effects of reinforcement/reward on intrinsic motivation. The main meta-analysis included 96 experimental studies that used between-groups designs to compare rewarded subjects to nonrewarded controls on four measures of intrinsic motivation. Results indicate that, overall, reward does not decrease intrinsic motivation. When interaction effects are examined, findings show that verbal praise produces an increase in intrinsic motivation. The only negative effect appears when expected tangible rewards are given to individuals simply for doing a task. Under this condition, there is a minimal negative effect on intrinsic motivation as measured by time spent on task following the removal of reward. A second analysis was conducted on five studies that used within-subject designs to evaluate the effects of reinforcement on intrinsic motivation; results suggest that reinforcement does not harm an individual’s intrinsic motivation.

Motivation and Schooling in the Middle Grades

Abstract: This review examines recent developments in research on social-cognitive theories of motivation during adolescence and the ways in which such research can be applied to the reform of middle grade schools. While there is ample evidence that the environments in many middle grade schools are antithetical to the needs of early adolescents, few reform efforts have emerged which consider the motivational and developmental needs of youth. This article suggests that effective reform must consider the multiple contexts in which students interact. Recent examples of reform at the classroom and school level using a goal theory perspective are presented.

Reciprocal Teaching: A Review of the Research

Abstract: Reciprocal teaching is an instructional procedure designed to teach students cognitive strategies that might lead to improved reading comprehension. The learning of cognitive strategies such as summarization, question generation, clarification, and prediction is supported through dialogue between teacher and students as they attempt to gain meaning from text. This article is a review of sixteen studies on reciprocal teaching, which include published studies found in journal articles and unpublished studies indexed in Dissertation Abstracts International. All the studies included in this review were quantitative in methodology. When standardized tests were used to assess comprehension, the median effect size, favoring reciprocal teaching, was .32. When experimenter-developed comprehension tests were used, the median effect size was .88. We also discuss the role of cognitive strategies in enhancing comprehension, the strategies that were most helpful, instructional approaches for teaching cognitive strategi...

Interest, Prior Knowledge, and Learning:

Abstract: This article discusses the importance of studying interest and reviews research on the association between interest and prior knowledge. It is concluded that there is a substantial linear relationship between interest and prior knowledge. Previous findings of minimal interest-knowledge relationships were attributed to one, or more, of the following: (a) Knowledge and interest measures reflecting different content, (b) questionable reliability or validity of the measures, (c) ideographic assignment to high/low groups introducing error into group assignments, (d) use of materials not suited to the sample, and (e) possible confounding of interest and knowledge measures. Research suggests that working on interesting, compared to neutral, materials may engage deeper cognitive processing, arouse a wider, more emotional, and more personal associative network, and employ more imagery. A model of the interest-knowledge relationship is updated, and suggestions for further research are made. Finally, the similarity ...

Raising School Effects While Ignoring Culture? Local Conditions and the Influence of Classroom Tools, Rules, and Pedagogy

Abstract: How educators and researchers define and study school effectiveness continues to be shaped by two divided camps. The policy mechanics attempt to identify particular school inputs, including discrete teaching practices, that raise student achievement. They seek universal remedies that can be manipulated by central agencies and assume that the same instructional materials and pedagogical practices hold constant meaning in the eyes of teachers and children across diverse cultural settings. In contrast, the classroom culturalists focus on the implicitly modeled norms exercised in the classroom and how children are socialized to accept particular rules of participation and authority, linguistic norms, orientations toward achievement, and conceptions of merit and status. It is the culturally constructed meanings attached to instructional tools and pedagogy that sustain this socialization process, not the material character of school inputs per se. This article reviews how these two paths of school-effects resea...

Motivation in African Americans

Abstract: Close to 140 studies comprising an African-American empirical literature on motivation were reviewed. The review was organized around five topics subsumed under three broader assumptions about the relationship between ethnic minority status and motivation. First, research on the achievement motive was reviewed to examine the belief that African Americans lack certain personality traits deemed necessary for achievement strivings. Second, the empirical literatures on locus of control and causal attributions were summarized to investigate the assumption that African Americans are less likely to believe in internal or personal control of outcomes, the belief system that theoretically should accompany high achievement-related behavior. And third, research on expectancy of success and self-concept of ability was reviewed to examine the hypothesis that African Americans have negative self-views about their competence. None of these assumptions was supported in the review. In fact, African Americans appear to mai...

Perpetuation Theory and the Long-Term Effects of School Desegregation:

Abstract: For the last 30 years, the bulk of research on school desegregation has focused on the short-term effects of this policy on the achievement, self-esteem, and intergroup relations of students in racially mixed versus segregated schools. These research foci reflect a more psychological approach to understanding the goals and purposes of school desegregation, viewing it as a policy designed to save the hearts and minds” of African-American students and teach children of all races to get along. This article brings together, for the first time, a smaller body of literature on the long-term effects of school desegregation on the life chances of African-American students. In this article, we argue from a sociological perspective that the goal of desegregation policy is to break the cycle of segregation and allow nonwhite students access to high-status institutions and the powerful social networks within them. We analyze 21 studies drawing on perpetuation theory, a macro-micro theory of racial segregation.

The Role of Subject-Matter Knowledge and Interest in the Processing of Linear and Nonlinear Texts

Abstract: Sixty-six studies were reviewed that met several a priori criteria. Specifically, the studies had to be empirical investigations that related to a particular academic domain and that involved connected discourse presented either in traditional written form or on computer. In addition, the studies had to incorporate some measure of both knowledge and interest. The resulting body of literature was first summarized and analyzed in terms of the domains chosen, the subjects selected, the nature of the texts used, the manner in which knowledge and interest were assessed, and the principal outcomes reported. Next, from this analysis, six premises were proposed as guides for future research and practice. Finally, concluding remarks were advanced that address the overall significance of text-processing research that interactively considers the domain of knowledge and the interest of the reader.

Validating the Performance Standards Associated With Passing Scores

Abstract: The validity of test-based decisions about readiness for a course or a profession depends on the appropriateness of the passing scores used to make the decisions. The interpretation of passing scores, based on judgments about items or examinees, in terms of some standard of performance depends on two assumptions: (a) that the passing score corresponds to the specified performance standard, in the sense that examinees with scores above the passing score are likely to meet the standard and examinees with scores below the passing score are not likely to meet the standard, and (b) that the specified performance standard is reasonable given the purpose of the decision. These two assumptions can be evaluated in terms of the match between the procedures used to set the passing scores and the purpose of the decision, the internal consistency of the results, and comparisons to external criteria. The sources of error in the passing score can be identified by examining these two assumptions.

Integrating Social and Personal Theories of Achievement Striving

Abstract: Empirical research clearly documents that attributions of failure to lack of ability result in less punishment from others than do ascriptions to lack of effort. In addition, personal attributions of failure to lack of ability result in worse subsequent performance than do ascriptions to an absence of effort. This paper provides a conceptual analysis of these empirical findings. The interpretation is guided by a taxonomy of causal thinking and by presuming that emotions mediate between causal thinking and action. In addition, a distinction is drawn between a process versus a functional understanding of achievement strivings.

Knowledge Taught in School: What Is Remembered?

Abstract: Popular belief holds that much of what is taught in classrooms is forgotten shortly thereafter. However, there is evidence from numerous studies that long-term retention for knowledge taught in school is substantial. These studies are reviewed, and several variables that affect the ability to remember are discussed. The article concludes that (a) students retain much of the knowledge taught in the classroom; (b) retention decreases over time as a function of the length of the retention interval but the forgetting curves for knowledge taught in school do not decline as rapidly or asymptote as low as the curves observed in traditional laboratory studies; (c) increasing the level of original learning differentially affects retention performance; (d) both instructional content and assessment tasks affect learning and retention, with one of the most consistent effects being that recognition tasks are retained at higher levels than recall tasks; (e) most instructional strategies that promote higher levels of or...

A Framework for Developing Cognitively Diagnostic Assessments

Abstract: Over the past decade or so, a growing number of writers have argued that cognitive science and psychometrics could be combined in the service of instruction. Researchers have progressed beyond statements of intent to the hands-on business of researching and developing diagnostic assessments combining cognitive science and psychometrics, what I call cognitively diagnostic assessment (CDA). In this article, I attempt to organize the many loosely connected efforts to develop cognitively diagnostic assessments. I consider the development of assessments to guide specific instructional decisions, sometimes referred to as diagnostic assessments. Many of my arguments apply to program evaluation as well—assessments that reveal the mechanisms test takers use in responding to items or tasks provide important information on whether instruction is achieving its goals. My goal in this article is to characterize CDA in terms of the intended use of assessment and the methods of developing and evaluating assessments. Towa...

Paradigms of Knowledge and Instruction

Abstract: The theme of this essay is that there are only three core instructional paradigms and that within the framework of these paradigms, only five types of knowledge can be acquired. The instructional paradigms (behavior, development, and apprenticeship) are defined by how novices are distinguished from experts and by the nature of the mechanism of transformation (from novice to expert). The knowledge typology is derived from contemporary cognitive science and from the precognitive experimental paradigms of learning. The types of knowledge are: declarative (verbal learning), procedural (skill learning), conceptual (concept attainment), analogical (one-trial learning), and logical (problem solving.) A number of examples are provided, including the contents of a journal issue. This classification system clarifies the theoretical history of research projects, reveals commonalities that underlie different terminologies, helps resolve controversies, and provides guidelines for educational research that will advance...

Mapping Out Geography: An Example of Epistemology and Education:

Abstract: Geography has recently emerged as a topic of considerable interest among educators, but there is little consensus about either content or pedagogy in the precollegiate geography curriculum. However, geography education is essential if students are to develop a sense of “geographic literacy” and an ability to reason spatially. A major problem is that many teachers who never studied geography are now being asked to teach it. This literature review discusses the epistemology of geography and the rationale for including it in the curriculum. Research about geography learning and teaching is then reviewed. Finally, a previous, unsuccessful attempt to reinstate geography into the high school curriculum is examined in the light of today’s geography education reform efforts. Without an understanding of both the core epistemological themes and concepts of geography and the problems that students face as learners, the five themes currently being proposed for use in the K–12 curriculum are of limited use.

On Examinee Choice in Educational Testing

Abstract: Throughout our society, individuals are compared on summaries of diverse measures. Often the measures are neither the same for all competitors nor selected randomly from a universe of measures. In fact, comparisons often are based on a mixture of measures in which the competitors choose some or all of the elements of the mixture; applicants to colleges choose some of the courses they take in high school, which extracurricular activities they participate in, and (to some extent) which entrance exams they take. What are the consequences of any selection procedure, if such choices are allowed? How can the adverse consequences be minimized? This article summarizes results from tests that have allowed examinee choice heretofore and provides a basis for a fuller discussion of these issues.

Call for Manuscripts: Review of Educational Research, 1994–1996

Abstract: Simple arithmetic will show that it is beyond the capacity of any person to read the growing number of scholarly publications in education and its cognate fields. With the amount of information in the world estimated to be doubling each 12-14 months, it is essential that some scholars in each field devote their energies to \"chunking\" large portions of the research literature into coherent packages for others to use. The review journal is designed to encourage these scholars and to forestall the inevitable collapse of the overburdened journal system as a means for advancing research. More than 17,000 researchers subscribe to the Review of Educational Research (RER). After the Educational Researcher (ER), articles in RER are cited by researchers more often than articles in any other AERA journal or any other educational journal monitored by the Social Science Citation Index. RER articles are regularly cited in about 50 research journals. As its title indicates, RER publishes primarily articles that are based on other published works. The scholarly literature in education and other academic fields is like a wall that is built one stone at a time, each stone filling a hole previously unfilled, each one mortared and connected to those that came before and after it, each one providing a support for the subsequent ones, and each one being supported by those that came before. The review article attempts to describe the wall itself and to discover its mortar, its architecture and design; the wall's place in the architecture of the larger structure; its relation to the other elements in the structure; its significance, purpose, and meaning in the larger structure. Any and all of these things are the proper subjects of the review article. In addition to review articles of existing literature, the editors of RER are particularly interested in review articles of the following sorts: Theoretical reviews. These articles should advance a theory or clarify a theory. To the extent that literature is cited and interpreted, it is in the service of the specification and explication of a theory. Theoretical review articles and regular review articles have many similarities, but the former are primarily about a theory (an unbuilt wall or a blueprint for a wall, so to speak) and refer to the literature only as it relates to the theory. The review article, by contrast, portrays and makes sense of a domain of research literature independently of its connec­ tion to any of the prevailing theories. Methodological reviews. Methodological reviews address the means of making stones and walls. They are descriptions of quantitative anďor qualitative methods and research designs that can be employed in literature reviews or