Students' goal orientations and cognitive engagement in classroom activities.

We used structural equation analysis to test the validity of a goal mediational model for conceptualizing the influence of individual and situational variables on students' cognitive engagement in science activities. Fifth- and sixth-grade students (N?=?275) from 10 classrooms completed a set of questionnaires designed to assess their goal orientations and their use of high-level or effort-minimizing learning strategies while completing six different science activities. Results indicate that students who placed greater emphasis on task-mastery goals reported more active cognitive engagement. In contrast, students oriented toward gaining social recognition, pleasing the teacher, or avoiding work reported a lower level of cognitive engagement. The relative strength of these goals was related to differences in students' intrinsic motivation and attitudes toward science. Our analyses also suggested that these variables exerted a greater influence in small-group than in whole-class activities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predictors of math anxiety and its influence on young adolescents' course enrollment intentions and performance in mathematics.

We used structural modeling procedures to assess the influence of past math grades, math ability perceptions, performance expectancies, and value perceptions on the level of math anxiety reported in a sample of 7th- through 9th-grade students (N?=?250). A second set of analyses examined the relative influence of these performance, self-perception, and affect variables on students' subsequent grades and course enrollment intentions in mathematics. The findings indicated that math anxiety was most directly related to students' math ability perceptions, performance expectancies, and value perceptions. Students' performance expectancies predicted subsequent math grades, whereas their value perceptions predicted course enrollment intentions. Math anxiety did not have significant direct effects on either grades or intentions. The findings also suggested that the pattern of relations are similar for boys and girls. The results are discussed in relation to expectancy-value and self-efficacy theories of academic achievement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex differences in math achievement: Toward a model of academic choice.

Competence in mathematics has long been identified as a critical skill directly related to educational and occupational choices. Yet compared with men, fewer women elect to take advanced level mathematics courses and to enter mathematically-oriented careers. The present article summarizes the common explanations of this problem and then integrates this research into a theoretical model first proposed by J. E. Parsons et al (in press) for studying students' academic choices and decisions. Drawing on concepts used in decision-making, achievement, and attribution research, this psychological model links academic choice to expectations of success and the subjective value of a particular course. In addition, the model specifies the relations among a set of other variables that are believed to mediate individual differences in both students' expectations of success and their perceptions of the relative value of various academic options. The utility of the model for increasing understanding of course enrollment patterns and career decisions and for designing appropriate intervention strategies is discussed. (3 p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex differences in achievement: A test of alternate theories.

200 students in Grades 8–10 were given the following attitudinal measures regarding both math and English: self-concept of ability, subjective task value, perceived task difficulty, and continuing motivation. In a follow-up, Ss" math course enrollment decisions were assessed each year through high school. 142 of the Ss also were exposed to 2 sets of trials: a number sequence set and an anagram set. Outcome was manipulated across trials (success, failure, success). For each series, Ss provided estimates of their ability, their expectations for continued success, and causal attributions. Their response time, persistence, and accuracy were recorded. Finally, teacher estimates of learned helplessness were obtained in Year 1 of the study for all Ss. Subjective task value emerged as the strongest mediator of sex differences in achievement-related behaviors and plans. There was little support for learned-helplessness models of sex differences in achievement. There was some evidence of sex differences in ability attributions, but these differences occurred only among low-expectancy Ss. Verbal and behavioral indexes of achievement beliefs were often inconsistent. Implications for general attribution theory and for sex-difference theory are discussed. (40 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Math anxiety in elementary and secondary school students.

We assessed math anxiety in 6th- through 12th-grade children (N?=?564) as part of a comprehensive longitudinal investigation of children's beliefs, attitudes, and values concerning mathematics. Confirmatory factor analyses provided evidence for two components of math anxiety, a negative affective reactions component and a cognitive component. The affective component of math anxiety related more strongly and negatively than did the worry component to children's ability perceptions, performance perceptions, and math performance. The worry component related more strongly and positively than did the affective component to the importance that children attach to math and their reported actual effort in math. Girls reported stronger negative affective reactions to math than did boys. Ninth-grade students reported experiencing the most worry about math and sixth graders the least. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A pattern analysis of students' achievement goals.

Cluster analysis procedures were used to classify 257 5th- and 6th-grade students on basis of their mastery, ego, and work-avoidant goal orientations. The results identified 3 clusters of students with different achievement profiles in science. Students who exhibited a pattern in which mastery goals were stronger than the other 2 goals, showed the most positive achievement profile. In contrast, students who were high on both mastery and ego goals did not perform as well academically; students low on both mastery and ego goals showed the most negative achievement profile. Additional analyses revealed that the cluster analysis provided a more distinctive and internally consistent set of findings than did pattern analyses that were based on median split procedures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Methods for estimating adsorbed uranium(VI) and distribution coefficients of contaminated sediments

Assessing the quantity of U(VI) that participates in sorption/desorption processes in a contaminated aquifer is an important task when investigating U migration behavior. U-contaminated aquifer sediments were obtained from 16 different locations at a former U mill tailings site at Naturita, CO (U.S.A.) and were extracted with an artificial groundwater, a high pH sodium bicarbonate solution, hydroxylamine hydrochloride solution, and concentrated nitric acid. With an isotopic exchange method, both a KD value for the specific experimental conditions as well as the total exchangeable mass of U(VI) was determined. Except for one sample, KD values determined by isotopic exchange with U-contaminated sediments that were in equilibrium with atmospheric CO2 agreed within a factor of 2 with KD values predicted from a nonelectrostatic surface complexation model (NEM) developed from U(VI) adsorption experiments with uncontaminated sediments. The labile fraction of U(VI) and U extracted by the bicarbonate solution were highly correlated (r2 = 0.997), with a slope of 0.96 +/- 0.01. The proximity of the slope to one suggests that both methods likely access the same reservoir of U(VI) associated with the sediments. The results indicate that the bicarbonate extraction method is useful for estimating the mass of labile U(VI) in sediments that do not contain U(IV). In-situ KD values calculated from the measured labile U(VI) and the dissolved U(VI) in the Naturita alluvial aquifer agreed within a factor of 3 with in-situ KD values predicted with the NEM and groundwater chemistry at each well.