Influence of instructional structure and locus of control on achievement of preservice elementary science teachers

Horak, Willis J.; Slobodzian, Kurt A.

doi:10.1002/tea.3660170305

Cited by 10 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Previous studies reinforce those reviewed herein with similar patterns (Daniels & Stevens, 1976;Horak & Slobodzian, 1980;Parent, Forward, Cantor, & Mohling, 1975;Yeany, Dost, & Mattews, 1980). The reliability and generalizability of these findings to other content areas and to longer instructional treatments remain to be demonstrated.…”

Section: Personality-by-treatment Interactionssupporting

confidence: 84%

Learning Styles

Pashler

McDaniel

Rohrer

et al. 2008

Psychol Sci Public Interest

1,393

405

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The term "learning styles" refers to the concept that individuals differ in regard to what mode of instruction or study is most effective for them. Proponents of learning-style assessment contend that optimal instruction requires diagnosing individuals' learning style and tailoring instruction accordingly. Assessments of learning style typically ask people to evaluate what sort of information presentation they prefer (e.g., words versus pictures versus speech) and/or what kind of mental activity they find most engaging or congenial (e.g., analysis versus listening), although assessment instruments are extremely diverse. The most common-but not the only-hypothesis about the instructional relevance of learning styles is the meshing hypothesis, according to which instruction is best provided in a format that matches the preferences of the learner (e.g., for a "visual learner," emphasizing visual presentation of information). The learning-styles view has acquired great influence within the education field, and is frequently encountered at levels ranging from kindergarten to graduate school. There is a thriving industry devoted to publishing learning-styles tests and guidebooks for teachers, and many organizations offer professional development workshops for teachers and educators built around the concept of learning styles. The authors of the present review were charged with determining whether these practices are supported by scientific evidence. We concluded that any credible validation of learning-styles-based instruction requires robust documentation of a very particular type of experimental finding with several necessary criteria. First, students must be divided into groups on the basis of their learning styles, and then students from each group must be randomly assigned to receive one of multiple instructional methods. Next, students must then sit for a final test that is the same for all students. Finally, in order to demonstrate that optimal learning requires that students receive instruction tailored to their putative learning style, the experiment must reveal a specific type of interaction between learning style and instructional method: Students with one learning style achieve the best educational outcome when given an instructional method that differs from the instructional method producing the best outcome for students with a different learning style. In other words, the instructional method that proves most effective for students with one learning style is not the most effective method for students with a different learning style. Our review of the literature disclosed ample evidence that children and adults will, if asked, express preferences about how they prefer information to be presented to them. There is also plentiful evidence arguing that people differ in the degree to which they have some fairly specific aptitudes for different kinds of thinking and for processing different types of information. However, we found virtually no evidence for the interaction pattern mentioned above, which was judge...

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Section: Personality-by-treatment Interactionssupporting

confidence: 84%

Learning Styles

Pashler

McDaniel

Rohrer

et al. 2008

Psychol Sci Public Interest

1,393

405

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The importance of the locus of control construct with respect to science education is discussed throughout the literature. The influence of locus of control has been alluded to in terms of the enhanced capacity that internally oriented individuals possessed with regard to: (1) understanding cause/effect phenomena (Brooks & Hounshell, 1975), (2) applying scientific inquiry skills (Horak & Slobodzian, 1980), (3) science achievement (Sherris & Kahle, 1984), and (4) spatial-analysis (Cohen, 1982). This investigation produced a number of findings consistent with those of the above researchers.…”

Section: Implications For Science Teachingsupporting

confidence: 68%

“…Test-retest reliability was reported to be 0.83 and internal consistency reliability was assessed at 0.79 (Rotter, 1966). Evidence for construct validity has largely been established through others' research efforts; however, the I-E scale has accumulated an impressive array of construct validity (Feather, 1967;Phares, 1968;Joe, 1971;Brooks & Hounshell, 1975;Lefcourt, 1976;Horak & Slobodzian, 1980;Cohen, 1982;Sherris & Kahle, 1984).…”

Section: Science Content Knowledgementioning

confidence: 99%

“…More recently, behavioral psychologists have suggested the need to consider social-personal variables (Lefcourt, 1976) such as locus of control onentation. Locus of control has been suggested by many researchers (Feather, 1967;Joe, 1971;Brooks & Hounshell, 1975;Horak & Slobodzian, 1980;Cohen, 1982;Sherris & Kahle, 1984) as an influential determinant on an understanding of the nature of science. The specificity of this variable with regard to science education concerns the documentation that "externals" have an intolerance for ambiguity (Feather, 1967), information-processing difficulty (Phares, 1968), and low science achievement (Brooks & Hounshell, 1975).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Locus of control: A discriminator of the ability to foster an understanding of the nature of science among preservice elementary teachers

Scharmann

1988

Science Education

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“…Most of the AT1 studies dealing with locus of control have examined its effect on the learning process in high-and low-structure situations. Generally, research on locus of control predicts and supports that students with an external locus of control will excel in high-structure situations, while internal students will do better in lowstructure situations (Horak & Horak, 1982;Parent, Forward, Canter, & Mohling, 1975;Daniels & Stevens, 1976;Horak & Slobodzian, 1980). A study with preservice elementary teachers by Yeany, Dost, and Matthews (1980) found no interaction between instructional strategy and locus of control.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effects of computer‐assisted instruction and locus of control upon preservice elementary teachers' acquisition of the integrated science process skills

1985

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The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of computer-assisted instruction (CAI) versus a text mode of programmed instruction (PI), and the cognitive style of locus of control, on preservice elementary teachers' achievement of the integrated science process skills. Eighty-one preservice elementary teachers in six sections of a science methods class were classified as internally or externally controlled. The sections were randomly assigned to receive instruction in the integrated science process skills via a microcomputer or printed text. The study used a pretest-posttest control group design. Before assessing main and interaction effects, analysis of covariance was used to adjust posttest scores using the pretest scores. Statistical analysis revealed that main effects were not significant. Additionally, no interaction effects between treatments and loci of control were demonstrated. The results suggest that printed PI and tutorial CAI are equally effective modes of instruction for teaching internally and externally oriented preservice elementary teachers the integrated science process skills.

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Influence of instructional structure and locus of control on achievement of preservice elementary science teachers

Cited by 10 publications

References 16 publications

Learning Styles

Learning Styles

Locus of control: A discriminator of the ability to foster an understanding of the nature of science among preservice elementary teachers

The effects of computer‐assisted instruction and locus of control upon preservice elementary teachers' acquisition of the integrated science process skills

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