Assessing university students' prior knowledge

The aim of this dissertation was to explore how different types of prior knowledge influence student achievement and how different assessment methods influence the observed effect of prior knowledge. The project started by creating a model of prior knowledge which was tested in various science disciplines. Study I explored the contribution of different components of prior knowledge on student achievement in two different mathematics courses. The results showed that the procedural knowledge components which require higher-order cognitive skills predicted the final grades best and were also highly related to previous study success. The same pattern regarding the influence of prior knowledge was also seen in Study III which was a longitudinal study of the accumulation of prior knowledge in the context of pharmacy. The study analysed how prior knowledge from previous courses was related to student achievement in the target course. The results implied that students who possessed higher-level prior knowledge, that is, procedural knowledge, from previous courses also obtained higher grades in the more advanced target course. Study IV explored the impact of different types of prior knowledge on students’ readiness to drop out from the course, on the pace of completing the course and on the final grade. The study was conducted in the context of chemistry. The results revealed again that students who performed well in the procedural prior-knowledge tasks were also likely to complete the course in pre-scheduled time and get higher final grades. On the other hand, students whose performance was weak in the procedural prior-knowledge tasks were more likely to drop out or take a longer time to complete the course. Study II explored the issue of prior knowledge from another perspective. Study II aimed to analyse the interrelations between academic self-beliefs, prior knowledge and student achievement in the context of mathematics. The results revealed that prior knowledge was more predictive of student achievement than were other variables included in the study. Self-beliefs were also strongly related to student achievement, but the predictive power of prior knowledge overruled the influence of self-beliefs when they were included in the same model. There was also a strong correlation between academic self-beliefs and prior-knowledge performance. The results of all the four studies were consistent with each other indicating that the model of prior knowledge may be used as a potential tool for prior knowledge assessment. It is useful to make a distinction between different types of prior knowledge in assessment since the type of prior knowledge students possess appears to make a difference. The results implied that there indeed is variation between students’ prior knowledge and academic self-beliefs which influences student achievement. This should be taken into account in instruction.

Oppimispäiväkirja kliinisen laboratoriotyön opiskelijan ohjauksessa

Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli selvittää, voidaanko oppimispäiväkirjaa käyttää kliinisen laboratoriotyönkäytännön opiskelijaohjaustoiminnassa oppimisen apuvälineenä. Tutkimuksessa lähdetään liikkeelle teoreettisten tietojen ja käytännön taitojen yhdistämisen tärkeydestä. Tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan oppimista kokemuksellisen oppimisen näkökulmasta ja kuinka se auttaa laboratoriohoitajaopiskelijaa laatimaan mieleensä käytännön opiskelun skeemoja ja kuinka ne toteutuvat heidän käytännön taitojen karttuessa. Tutkimukseen osallistui vuoden 1997 aikana HYKS:n laboratoriossa käytännön opiskelujaksolla olleita laboratoriohoitajaopiskelijoita. Heitä pyydettiin laatimaan käytännön opiskeluohjauksestaan oppimispäiväkirja. Laatiminen oli vapaaehtoista. Oppimispäiväkirjamerkinnöissä kiinnitettiin huomiota, kuinka he oppivatkäytännön taitoja ja kuinka heidän oppimisprosessinsa kehittyy heidän itsearvioimana. Jotkut laboratoriohoitajaopiskelijat halusivat laatia useammalta käytännön opiskelujaksoltaan oppimispäiväkirjan, joten oppimispäiväkirjoja (n=9) on enemmän kuin tutkimukseen osallistuneita laboratoriohoitajaopiskelijoita (n=6). Tutkimuksen keskeisenä menetelmenä on kvalitatiivinen analyysimenetelmä. Sisällönanalyysiä ja luokittelumenetelmää käyttäen pyrittiin löytämään käsityksiä ja niistä edelleen käsitysluokkia. Käsitysluokat tukivat sitä käsitystä, että oppimispäiväkirjaa voidaan käyttää apuvälineenä laboratoriohoitajaopiskelijoiden oppimisen tukena kliinisen laboratoriotyön käytännön opiskelussa. Tutkimustulokset osoittavat, että oppimispäiväkirjat toimivat laboratoriohoitajaopiskelijoiden tiedon jäsentäjinä käytännön opiskelujakson aikana. Oppimispäiväkirjan avulla laboratoriohoitajaopiskelija selventää itselleen kokonaiskuvaa kliinisen laboratoriotyön prosessista. Oppimispäiväkirjan avulla voidaan kerrata jo opittuja asioita ja voidaan suorittaa itsearviointia ja reflektoida oppimiskokemuksien antamia hyötyjä ja haittoja. Oppimispäiväkirjoissa tuli esille se, että laboratoriohoitajaopiskelijat selkiyttivät oppimiaan asioita ja omiaajatuksiaan suhteessa työelämään silloin, kun he kirjoittivat oppimispäiväkirjojaan. Oppimispäiväkirjojen kirjoittaminen koko käytännön opiskelujakson aikana tuki myös muiden käytännön opiskelujaksojen tavoitteiden asettamista. Oppimispäiväkirja on ammatillisen kehittymisen kannalta hyvä kertauksen, kriittisen ajattelun ja reflektoinnin väline. Oppimispäiväkirjoissa tuli kuvauksia itsearvioinnista, laboratoriohoitajaopiskelijat asettivat itsensä alttiiksi omalle arvioinnilleen hyvinkin helposti ja esittivät kriittisiä kannanottoja työskentelytapojen kehittämiseksi, huolellisuuden, tarkkuuden ja vastuuntunnon vahvistamiseksi. Tärkeimmät lähteet taustateorian kannalta olivat Engeströmin, Hätösen, Lonka & al, Leino-Kilven, Rauste-von Wrightin ja Silven & Kinnunen & Keskisen teokset. Tutkimusmenetelmän kannalta tärkeimmät lähteet olivat Hirsjärvi & Remes & Sajavaara, Lincoln & Cubanja Varton teokset. Avainsanat: Oppimispäiväkirja, reflektio, itsearviointi, kliininen laboratoriotyö, sisällönanalyysi

Albert and Elsa Einstein at the Shanghai home of Chinese painter and calligrapher Wang Yiting; with Shanghai University President Yu Youren, former Beijing University professor Zhang Junmai, the Einstein's Japanese hosts Mr. and Mrs. Inagaki, and Einstein's colleague Mr. Pfister and his wife (and daughter?) Portraits Groups

Dedication: Freundlichste Erinnerung an Herrn Prof. Einstein und seine Frau Gemahlin. I-Jing Wang, Shanghai, China

Kartel Convent (KC) Jewish fraternity at the University of Heidelberg; Heidelberg, Germany.

Thomas Krakauer's father, Hans Krakauer is second from left in the rear row.

Albert and Elsa Einstein at the Shanghai home of Chinese painter and calligrapher Wang Yiting; with Shanghai University President Yu Youren, former Beijing University professor Zhang Junmai, the Einstein's Japanese hosts Mr. and Mrs. Inagaki, and Einstein's colleague Mr. Pfister and his wife (and daughter?) Portraits Groups

Dedication: Freundlichste Erinnerung an Herrn Prof. Einstein und seine Frau Gemahlin. I-Jing Wang, Shanghai, China

Kartel Convent (KC) Jewish fraternity at the University of Heidelberg; Heidelberg, Germany.

Thomas Krakauer's father, Hans Krakauer is second from left in the rear row.

Hebrew University

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Heb. U. (Hebrew University) - Opening Ceremony

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Heb. (Hebrew) University Library

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Heb. U. (Hebrew University) - Grad. (Graduation) '32 - High Commissioner

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Heb. U. (Hebrew University) - Einstein Math.

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Past-day recall of sedentary time: Validity of a self-reported measure of sedentary time in a university population

Background Sedentary behaviour is associated with several deleterious health consequences. Although device-based measures of sedentary time are available, they are costly and do not provide a measure of domain specific sedentary time. High quality self-report measures are necessary to accurately capture domain specific sedentary time, and to provide an alternative to devices when cost is an issue. In this study, the Past-day Adults’ Sedentary Time (PAST) questionnaire, previously shown to have acceptable validity and reliability in a sample of breast cancer survivors, was modified for a university sample and validity of the modified questionnaire was examined compared with activPAL. Methods Participants (n = 58, age = 18–55 years, 48% female, 66% students) were recruited from the University of Queensland (students and staff). They answered the PAST questionnaire, which asked about time spent sitting or lying down for work, study, travel, television viewing, leisure-time computer use, reading, eating, socialising and other purposes, during the previous day. Time reported for these questions was summed to provide a measure of total sedentary time. Participants also wore an activPAL device for the full day prior to completing the questionnaire and recorded their wake and sleep times in an activity log. Total waking sedentary time derived from the activPAL was used as the criterion measure. Correlation (Pearson's r) and agreement (Bland–Altman plots) between PAST and activPAL sedentary time were examined. Results Participants were sedentary (activPAL-determined) for approximately 66% of waking hours. The correlation between PAST and activPAL sedentary time for the whole sample was r = 0.50 [95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.28–0.67]; and higher for non-students (r = 0.63, 95% CI = 0.26–0.84) than students (r = 0.46, 95% CI = 0.16–0.68). Bland–Altman plots revealed that the mean difference between the two measures was 19 min although limits of agreement were wide (95% limits of agreement −4.1 to 4.7 h). Discussion The PAST questionnaire provides an acceptable measure of sedentary time in this population, which included students and adults with high workplace sitting. These findings support earlier research that questionnaires employing past-day recall of sedentary time provide a viable alternative to existing sedentary behaviour questionnaires.

Should I stay or should I go?: Rural and remote students in first year university stem courses

Research on the achievement of rural and remote students in science and mathematics is located within a context of falling levels of participation in physical science and mathematics courses in Australian schools, and underrepresentation of rural students in higher education. International studies such as the Programme of International Student Assessment (PISA), have reported lower levels of mathematical and scientific literacy in Australian students from rural and remote schools (Thomson et al, 2011). The SiMERR national survey of science, mathematics and ICT education in rural and regional Australia (Lyons et al, 2006) identified factors affecting student achievement in rural and remote schools. Many of the issues faced by rural and remote students in their schools are likely to have implications on their university enrolments in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) courses. For example, rural and remote students are less likely to attend university in general than their city counterparts and higher university attrition rates have been reported for remote students nationally. This paper examines the responses of a sample of rural/remote Australian first year STEM students at Australian universities to two questions. These related to their intentions to complete the course; and whether -and if so, why- they had ever considered withdrawing from their course. Results indicated that rural students who were still in their course by the end of first year were no more or less likely to consider withdrawing than were their peers from more populous centres. However, almost 20% of the rural cohort had considered withdrawing at some stage in their course, and their explanations provide insights into the reasoning of those who may not persist with their courses at university. These results, in the context of the greater attrition rate of remote students from university, point to the need to identify factors that positively impact on rural and remote students’ interest and achievement in science and mathematics. It also highlights a need for future research into the particular issues remote students may face in deciding whether or not to do science at the two key transition points of senior school and university/TAFE studies, and whether or not to persist in their tertiary studies. This paper is positioned at the intersection of two problems in Australian education. The first is a context of falling levels of participation in physical science and mathematics courses in Australian universities. The second is persistent inequitable access to, and retention in, tertiary education for students from rural and remote areas. Despite considerable research attention to both of these areas over recent years these problems have thus far proved to be intractable. This paper therefore aims to briefly review the relevant Australian literature pertaining to these issues; that is, declining STEM enrolments, and the underrepresentation and retention of rural/remote students in higher education. Given the related problems in these two overlapping domains, we then explore the views of first year rural students enrolled in courses, in relation to their intentions of withdrawing (or not) and the associated reasons for their views.