Psychological Test and Assessment Modeling, Volume 53, 2011 (1)
Wolfgang Schoppek & Andreas Landgraf
Can a multidimensional hierarchy of skills generate data conforming to the Rasch model? A comparison of methods
Abstract | 
PDF of the full article
Martina Frebort & Michaela M. Wagner-Menghin
Measuring self-concept of ones own ability with experiment-based behaviour assessment: towards the construct validity of three scoring variants
Abstract | PDF of the full article
Special topic - Part 2: Quantitative approaches to the study of self-regulated learning
Guest-Editors: Albert Ziegler, Heidrun Stoeger & Marion Porath
Heidrun Stoeger & Albert Ziegler
Guest Editorial to the special issue: Quantitative approaches to the study of self-regulated learningPDF of the full article
Julia Klug, Sabine Ogrin, Sylvana Keller, Alice Ihringer & Bernhard Schmitz
A plea for self-regulated learning as a process: Modelling, measuring and intervening
Abstract | PDF of the full article
Deborah L. Butler, Sylvie C. Cartier, Leyton Schnellert, France Gagnon & Matt Giammarino
Secondary students self-regulated engagement in reading: researching self-regulation as situated in context
Abstract | PDF of the full article
Roger Azevedo, Jennifer G. Cromley, Daniel C. Moos, Jeffrey A. Greene & Fielding I. Winters
Adaptive Content and Process Scaffolding: A key to facilitating students self-regulated learning with hypermedia
Abstract | PDF of the full article
Barry J. Zimmerman, Adam Moylan, John Hudesman, Niesha White & Bert Flugman
Enhancing self-reflection and mathematics achievement of at-risk urban technical college students
Abstract | PDF of the full article
Albert Ziegler, Heidrun Stoeger & Robert Grassinger
Actiotope model and self-regulated learning
Abstract | PDF of the full article
Can a multidimensional hierarchy of skills generate data conforming to the Rasch model? A comparison of methods
Wolfgang Schoppek & Andreas Landgraf
Abstract
The question of the dimensionality of intelligent performance has kept researchers occupied for decades. We investigate this question in the context of learning elementary arithmetic. Our assumption of a polyhierarchy of skills in arithmetic (HiSkA) predicts a multidimensional structure of test data. This seems to contradict findings that data collected to validate the HiSkA conformed to the Rasch model. To resolve this seeming contradiction, we analysed test data from two samples of third graders with a number of methods ranging from factor analysis and Rasch analysis to multidimensional item response theory (MIRT). Additionally we simulated data sets based on different unidimensional and multidimensional models and compared the results of some of the analyses that were also applied to the empirical data. Results show that a multidimensional generating structure can produce data conforming to the Rasch model under certain conditions, that a general factor explains a substantial amount of variance in the empirical data, but that the HiSkA is capable of explaining much of the residual variance.
Key words: Arithmetic skills; learning hierarchy; simulation; multidimensional item-response theory; knowledge space theory
Wolfgang Schoppek, PhD
University of Bayreuth
Universitätsstr. 30
95447 Bayreuth, Germany
wolfgang.schoppek@uni-bayreuth.de
Measuring self-concept of ones own ability with experiment-based behaviour assessment: towards the construct validity of three scoring variants
Martina Frebort & Michaela M. Wagner-Menghin
Abstract
Self-concept of ones ability is an important construct influencing academic performance (Elliot & Dweck, 2005). The present study deals with the self-concept of ones domain-specific prior knowledge in Psychology. Here, it is measured indirectly through WITE-Psychology (Frebort, unpublished), a knowledge test that measures Psychology student applicants Psychology knowledge. To measure self-concept of ones domain-specific prior knowledge in Psychology, Wagner-Menghins (2004) scoring variant was used. However, this scoring variant entailed certain problems such as disadvantaging able testees under some testing conditions and reducing to the overestimation aspect while neglecting underestimation. The present study suggests two new scoring variants ("alternative tendency score; "sense of reality score) that overcome the one or the other problematic aspect, respectively. For the original scoring variant ("tendency score), as well as for the two new scoring variants, unidimensionality is proven through the conditional Likelihood-Ratio test (Andersen, 1973) and graphical model checks. Furthermore, with the correlation coefficient indicating the relationship of each of the three scores to Psychology knowledge, another aspect of construct validity is tested.
Results indicate that for one of the two new scoring variants ("sense of reality score), items do not cover the latent continuum well; the other new scoring variant ("alternative tendency score) is one-dimensional and shows the expected independency of Psychology knowledge. For this reason, it is suggested as a promising alternative to the original scoring variant under certain testing conditions.
Key words: verbal academic self-concept; fair scoring; Rasch model; construct validity of LEWITE
Martina Frebort, PhD
University of Vienna
Liebiggasse 5
1010 Vienna, Austria
martina.frebort@univie.ac.at
A plea for self-regulated learning as a process: Modelling, measuring and intervening
Julia Klug, Sabine Ogrin, Sylvana Keller, Alice Ihringer & Bernhard Schmitz
Abstract
Self-regulated learning is regarded as a necessary prerequisite for life-long learning. Some of the existing models consider self-regulated learning as a process (e.g. Zimmerman, 2000; Schmitz & Wiese, 2006). Taking a process perspective on self-regulated learning gives us new insights in self-regulation processes, which allows using suitable methods for measuring self-regulation processes and allows evaluating the effectiveness of training programs more precisely. In this article, we want to advocate the process view on self-regulated learning by explaining its possibilities and advantages. We present a process model, show methods of measuring processes and ways to analyze processes. Specially, we present empirical examples for studies performing a process approach which try to enhance self-regulated learning. Finally, we offer practical advice on developing effective interventions and instruments from a process perspective.
Key words: self-regulated learning; process; intervention; diary; ARIMA; time-series analysis
Julia Klug, PhD
Technische Universität Darmstadt
Institut für Psychologie
Alexanderstraße 10
64283 Darmstadt, Germany
klug@psychologie.tu-darmstadt.de
Secondary students self-regulated engagement in reading: researching self-regulation as situated in context
Deborah L. Butler, Sylvie C. Cartier, Leyton Schnellert, France Gagnon & Matt Giammarino
Abstract
In this research, we drew on a model of self-regulated learning (SRL) (Butler & Cartier, 2005; Cartier & Butler, 2004) to investigate student engagement in learning through reading (LTR) as situated in context. Our overarching goals were to enhance theoretical understanding about SRL as situated, identify patterns in self-regulated learning through reading (LTR) for secondary students within and across classrooms, and continue developing productive methodological strategies for investigating SRL and LTR. To those ends, we employed a mixed-methods design to find patterns within and across 31 classrooms at multiple levels of aggregation. Participants were 646 secondary students engaged in curriculum-based LTR activities. Findings were derived from two coupled assessments: A self-report questionnaire and a performance-based measure of LTR. We used frequency, factor analytic, and cluster analyses to create descriptive profiles of SRL (across emotion, motivation, cognition, and metacognition). Main findings were: (1) important mismatches between students self-reported LTR engagement and the demands of LTR activities; (2) four coherent profiles of LTR engagement (actively engaged; disengaged; high stress/actively inefficient; passive/inactively efficient), (3) moderate links between students self-reported LTR profiles and LTR performance; and (4) differences in SRL profiles that reflected individual-context interactions. We close by distilling implications for understanding, researching, and fostering SRL as situated within naturalistic settings.
Key words: Self-regulation; learning through reading; cognitive strategies; metacognition; assessment; motivation
Deborah L. Butler, PhD
Faculty of Education
University of British Columbia
2125 Main Mall
Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z4
deborah.butler@ubc.ca
Adaptive Content and Process Scaffolding: A key to facilitating students self-regulated learning with hypermedia
Roger Azevedo, Jennifer G. Cromley, Daniel C. Moos, Jeffrey A. Greene & Fielding I. Winters
Abstract
In this mixed-method study, we converged product and process data to examine the effectiveness of three human scaffolding conditions in facilitating students learning about the circulatory system and the deployment of key self-regulatory processes during a 40-minute hypermedia learning task. Undergraduate students (N = 123) were randomly assigned to one of three scaffolding conditions (adaptive content and process scaffolding [ACPS], adaptive process scaffolding [APS], and no scaffolding [NS]) and were trained to use a hypermedia environment to learn about the circulatory system. The product data revealed that the students in the ACPS condition gained significantly more declarative knowledge than did those in the other two comparison conditions. In addition, ACPS was statistically significantly associated with qualitative shifts in the students mental models of the topic, whereas the other two conditions were not. The verbal protocol data revealed that students in the ACPS condition utilized only a few regulatory processes, engaged in help-seeking behavior, and relied on the tutor to regulate their learning. By contrast, the verbal protocol data indicated that learners in the APS condition regulated their learning by using several key monitoring activities and learning strategies, while those in the NS condition were less effective at regulating their learning and used fewer key self-regulatory processes during the activity. We propose several design principles for adaptive hypermedia learning environments based on these findings.
Key words: self-regulated learning; scaffolding conditions; hypermedia
Roger Azevedo, PhD
McGill University
Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology
3700 McTavish Street
Montreal, Quebec, H3A 1Y2, Canada
roger.azevedo@mcgill.ca
Enhancing self-reflection and mathematics achievement of at-risk urban technical college students
Barry J. Zimmerman, Adam Moylan, John Hudesman, Niesha White & Bert Flugman
Abstract
A classroom-based intervention study sought to help struggling learners respond to their academic grades in math as sources of self-regulated learning (SRL) rather than as indices of personal limitation. Technical college students (N = 496) in developmental (remedial) math or introductory college-level math courses were randomly assigned to receive SRL instruction or conventional instruction (control) in their respective courses. SRL instruction was hypothesized to improve students math achievement by showing them how to self-reflect (i.e., self-assess and adapt to academic quiz outcomes) more effectively. The results indicated that students receiving self-reflection training outperformed students in the control group on instructor-developed examinations and were better calibrated in their task-specific self-efficacy beliefs before solving problems and in their self-evaluative judgments after solving problems. Self-reflection training also increased students pass-rate on a national gateway examination in mathematics by 25% in comparison to that of control students.
Key words: self-regulation; self-reflection; math instruction
Barry Zimmerman, PhD
Graduate Center of the City University of New York
and Center for Advanced Study in Education
365 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10016, USA
bzimmerman@gc.cuny.edu
Actiotope model and self-regulated learning
Albert Ziegler, Heidrun Stoeger & Robert Grassinger
Abstract
Research on self-regulated learning takes two central perspectives on the learning process, that of the learning individual and that of the accompanying environmental factors. We suggest combining both of these perspectives in a systemic model, the actiotope model. 399 pupils in fifth and sixth grade were examined at three points in time: prior to the introduction of a new subject (Latin, French, or physics), three to five weeks after the introduction, and, finally, about twelve weeks after the new subject had been introduced. Hierarchical linear modeling shows that the adaptivity of the actiotope explains the frequency of self-regulated learning obtained via self-report measures (goal setting, planning, monitoring, regulating); but the actiotopes adaptivity does not explain individual differences in the development of self-regulated learning processes.
Key words: self-regulated learning; actiotope; goal setting; monitoring; planning
Prof. Dr. Dr. Albert Ziegler
Institute of Psychology and Education
Educational Psychology
Ulm University
Albert-Einstein-Allee 47
89081 Ulm, Germany
albert.ziegler@uni-ulm.de
