Using Reflective Journaling to Promote Achievement in Graduate Statistics Coursework
Keywords:
Journals; statistics education; learning management systems, Reflective journaling; statistics courseworkAbstract
By encouraging students to reflect on their own learning
processes and identify areas that they understand as well as areas that
require further improvement, their academic performance can improve.
This reflection promotes the development of metacognitive skills, and
may be especially beneficial for students facing new and challenging
material, notably statistics coursework. Students’ grades from two
different sections of a graduate-level introductory statistics course were
compared. In the experimental section, students were encouraged to
complete a weekly reflective journal about their learning progress and
related experiences in the course. The control section followed the same
course structure as the experimental section, but did not complete the
journals. Independent samples t-tests were conducted on assignment
and test scores as well as the final course grade for the experimental and
the control sections. The experimental section performed significantly
better than the control section on one assignment and one test. The
experimental section also had a marginally higher average than the
control section on a second assignment. The results and analysis of
journal content show support for the use of reflective journaling to
improve the student learning experience.
References
Bagley, T. & Gallenberger, C. (1992). Assessing students’ dispositions: Using journals to improve student performance. Mathematics Teacher, 85(8), 660-663. Retrieved from http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/virtual_disk_library/index.cgi/4273355/FID1736/journals/enc2205/2205.htm
Barker, W., Breesoud, D., Epp, S., Ganter, S., Haver, B., & Pollatsek, H. (2004). Undergraduate programs and courses in the mathematical sciences: CUPM curriculum guide 2004. Washington, DC: Mathematical Association of America.
Bazerman, C., Little, J., Bethel, L., Chavkin, T., Fouquette, D., & Garufis, J. (2005). Reference guide to writing across the curriculum. West Lafayette, IN: Parlor Press. Retrieved from http://wac.colostate.edu/books/bazerman_wac/wac.pdf
Borasi, R. & Rose, B.J. (1989). Journal writing and mathematics instruction. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 20(4), 347 – 365. doi: 10.1007/BF00315606
Britton, J.N., Burgess, T., Martin, N., McLeod, A., & Rosen, H. (1975). Development of writing abilities: Ages 11 – 18. New York: Macmillan.
Boud, D. (2001). Using journal writing to enhance reflective practice. In L.M. English & M.A. Gillen (Eds.), Promoting journal writing in adult education (pp. 9-18). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Boud, D., Keogh, R., & Walker, D. (1985). Promoting reflection in learning: A model. In D. Boud, R. Keogh, & D. Walker (Eds.), Reflection: Turning experience into learning (pp. 18-40). New York: Nichols.
Cook, A. (2010). Improving the success rate in statistics (No. 415). Brisbane: University of Queensland, School of Economics. Retrieved from http://www.uq.edu.au/economics/abstract/415.pdf
Douglass, C. & Morris, S.R. (2014). Student perspectives on self-directed learning. Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 14(1), 13-25. doi: josotl.v14i1.3202
Dunn, K. (2014). Why wait? The influence of academic self-regulation, intrinsic motivation, and statistics anxiety on procrastination in online studies. Innovative Higher Education, 39, 33 – 44. doi:10.1007/s10755-013-9256-1
Flavell, J.H. (1978). Metacognitive development. In J.M. Scandura & C.J. Brainerd (Eds.), Structural/process theories of complex human behavior. The Netherlands: Sijthoff & Noordoff.
Flavell, J.H. (1976). Metacognitive aspects of problem solving. In L.B. Resnick (Ed.), The nature of intelligence. Hillsdale NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Flint, N.R., & Johnson, B. (2011). Towards fairer university assessment: Recognizing the concerns of students. New York: Routledge.
Furnham, A., & Chamorro-Premuzic, T. (2004). Personality and intelligence as predictors of statistics examination grades. Personality and Individual Differences, 37(5), 943-955.
Guiffrida, D.A., Lynch, M.F., Wall, A.F., & Abel, D.S. (2013). Do reasons for attending college affect academic outcomes? A test of a motivational model from a self-determination theory perspective. Journal of College Student Development, 54, 121-139. doi: 10.1353/csd.2013.0019
Herman, G.L. (2012). Designing contributing student pedagogies to promote students’ intrinsic motivation to learn. Computer Science Education, 22, 369-388. doi: 10.1080/08993408.2012.727711
Kenny, R., Shoffner, M., & Norris, D. (2014). Reflecting on the use of writing to promote mathematical learning: An examination of preservice mathematics teachers’ perspectives. The Teacher Educator, 49(1), 28 - 43. doi: 10.1080/08878730.2013.848002
Loud, B.J. (1999). Effects of journal writing on attitudes, beliefs, and achievement of students in a college mathematics course (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations Publishing. (Accession No. 9923962)
Meel, D.E. (1999). Email dialogue journals in a college calculus classroom: A look at the implementation and benefits. The Journal of Computers in Mathematics and Science Teaching, 18(4), 387 – 413.
Moon, J. (1999). Reflection in learning and professional development. London: Kogan.
Murtonen, M. & Lehtinen, E. (2003). Difficulties experienced by education and sociology students in quantitative methods courses. Studies in Higher Education, 28, 171-185. doi:10.1080/0307507032000058064
Onwuegbuzie, A.J., (1997). Writing a research proposal: The role of library anxiety, statistics anxiety, and composition anxiety. Library & Information Science Research, 19, 5 - 33.
Onwuegbuzie, A.J. (2003). Modeling statistics achievement among graduate students. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 63, 1020-1038.
Onwuegbuzie, A.J., & Wilson, V.A. (2003). Statistics anxiety: Nature, etiology, antecedents, effects, and treatments – a comprehensive review of the literature. Teaching in Higher Education, 8(2), 195-209. doi: 10.1080/1356251032000052447
Pan, W., & Tang, M. (2004). Examining the effectiveness of innovative instructional methods on reducing statistics anxiety for graduate students in the social sciences. Journal of Instructional Psychology, 31, 149-159. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.libproxy.db.erau.edu/docview/213906873?accountid=27203
Paris, S.G., & Winograd, P. (1990). Promoting metacognition and motivation of exceptional children. Remedial and Special Education, 11(6), 7-15.
Pink, D.H. (2011). Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us. New York: Riverhead Trade.
Reeve, J. (2009). Why teachers adopt a controlling motivating style toward students and how they can become more autonomy supportive. Educational Psychologist, 44, 159-175. doi:10.1080/00461520903028990
Ryan, R.M., & Deci, E.L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55, 68-78. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.68
Trigwell, K., & Prosser, M. (1991). Improving the quality of student learning: The influence of learning context and student approaches to learning on learning outcomes. Higher Education, 22, 251–266. doi:10.1007/BF00132290
Viswanathan, M. (1993). Measurement of individual differences in preference for numerical information. Journal of Applied Psychology, 78(5), 741-752. doi: 10.1037/0021-9010.78.5.741
Williams, M., Payne, G., Hodgkinson, L., & Poade, D. (2008). Does British sociology count? Sociology students’ attitudes toward quantitative methods. Sociolgy, 42, 1003 – 1021.
Zeidner, M. (1991). Statistics and mathematics anxiety in social science students—some interesting parallels. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 61, 319–328.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2017 J. E. Thropp
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
All articles published by IJLTER are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No-Derivatives 4.0 International License (CCBY-NC-ND4.0).
