Cognitive Style and Science Achievement of Canadian and Swedish College Level Students

Author(s):

Tomas JungertSteve RosenfieldIvan IvanovHelena Dedic

Conference:

ECER 2009

Network:

22. Research in Higher Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

22 SES 03 C, Learning Motivation in Higher Education Studies

Paper Session

Time:

2009-09-28

14:00-15:30

Room:

HG; HS 29

Chair:

Monne Wihlborg

Contribution

This study investigated relationships between cognitive style, academic emotions, academic motivation, self-efficacy and achievement in mathematics/science courses. Recent research suggests that empathising and systemising are two major cognitive styles people use in their reasoning (Baron Cohen, 2002; Lawson, Baron Cohen & Wheelwright, 2004). Systemising is defined as the yearning to analyse systems and create structured models. Since understanding and predicting patterns is a necessary skill in science, not surprisingly Billington et al. (2007) found that the majority of students choosing to study physical sciences were systemisers. On average, males are more likely to be systemisers (Lawson et al., 2004) and also to outperform females in mathematical/mechanical reasoning (e.g., Kimura, 1999). The research question is whether systemising cognitive style impacts on student achievement in mathematics and sciences (chemistry and physics) and whether such an impact is mediated by other variables. Perhaps systemisers are higher achievers because they are intrinsically motivated. Intrinsic motivation implies engagement in learning because of personal interest and enjoyment in doing it (Ryan & Deci, 2000). Academic emotions have been linked to cognitive ability and achievement (Goetz et al., 2006). In particular anxiety correlates negatively with student intrinsic motivation and achievement (Pekrun et al., 2002). Systemisers may be less likely to experience learning anxiety. Academic self-efficacy may also mediate the impact of systemising cognitive style on achievement because it concerns students’ self-perceived capability of achieving explicit academic goals and specific results (Bandura, 1997). Perceived self-efficacy for mastering academic tasks predicts academic achievement (Pajares, 1996). In Hafner (2008), self-efficacy is the key variable mediating between mathematics anxiety and achievement. Thus, we hypothesized that a systemising cognitive style has a positive impact on achievement in science courses, mediated by anxiety, intrinsic motivation and academic self-efficacy. We studied whether there are gender or cultural differences (Canadian vs. Swedish) in the relationships amongst these variables.

Method

A population of 18 year old Swedish/Canadian students, headed towards university science, mathematics or engineering, were represented by 980 students (25.2% Swedish females, 29.2% Swedish males, 21.8% Canadian females and 23.8% Canadian males). Swedish students were in their last high school year; Canadian students were in their first year of a two-year junior college program. Surveys, administered late in this year, assessed: systemizing cognitive style, 10 item scale adapted from the Systemizing Quotient (Baron Cohen et al., 2003); self efficacy, 6 item scale adapted from MSLQ (Pintrich et al., 1991); intrinsic motivation, 4 item scale adapted from AMS (Vallerand et al., 1992); anxiety, 4 item scale adapted from AEQ (Pekrun et al., 2002). Achievement data were obtained from participating institutions’ records. An SEM procedure (Byrne, 2006) was used to test a theoretical model concerning how systemising cognitive style relates to achievement in science, and to assess gender and cultural differences.

Expected Outcomes

The best fitting structural model indicates that systemising influences students’ achievement indirectly: students high in systemising experienced less anxiety and had higher intrinsic motivation; low anxiety and robust intrinsic motivation resulted in higher academic self-efficacy in science; higher self-efficacy significantly impacted academic performance. However, prior academic achievement remains the strongest predictor of future academic performance. The causal structure of this model is invariant across gender and culture. Testing for group differences revealed significantly different links between latent variables: Swedes’ (versus Canadians’) cognitive style, as mediated by anxiety, intrinsic motivation and self-efficacy, had a larger impact on achievement; systemising influences academic emotions of males more than that of females, but affects intrinsic motivation of females more than that of males; high anxiety reduces self-efficacy of females more than that of males. Policy and instruction implications of these findings will be discussed.

References

Bandura, A. (1997). The Self-efficacy: The Exercis of Control. New York Freeman Press. Baron-Cohen, S., Richler, J., Bisarya, D., Gurunathan, N. & Wheelwright, S. (2003). The systemizing quotient: an investigation of adults with Asperger syndrome or high--functioning autism, and normal sex differences. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 358,361--374. Baron-Cohen, S., Wheelwright, S., Burtenshaw, A. & Hobson, E. (2002). Mathematical talent is linked to autism. Human Nature, 18(2), 125-131. Billington, J., Baron-Cohen, S. & Wheelwright, S. (2006). Cognitive style predicts entry into physical sciences and humanities: Questionnaire and performance tests of empathy and systemizing. Learning and Individual Differences, 17, 260-268. Byrne, B. M. (2006). Structural equation modeling with EQS and EQS/Windows: Basic concepts, application and programming. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Goetz, T., Preckel, F., Pekrun, R., & Hall, N. C. (2006). Emotional experiences during test taking: Does cognitive ability make a difference? Learning and Individual Differences, 17(1), 3-16 Hafner, E. W. (2008). The relationship between math anxiety, math self-efficacy, and achievement among a sample of eighth grade students. Dissertation Abstracts International Section A: Humanities and Social Sciences. Vol 69(2-A), pp. 503. Kimura, D. (1999). Sex and cognition. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press. Lawson, J., Baron-Cohen, S., & Wheelwright, S. (2004). Empathising and systemising in adults with and without Asperger syndrome. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 34, 301-310. Pajares, F. (1996). Self-efficacy beliefs and mathematical problem-solving of gifted students. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 21, 325–344. Pekrun, R., Goetz, T., Titz, W. & Perry, R. P. (2002). Academic emotions in students' self-regulated learning and achievement: A program of qualitative and quantitative research. Educational Psychologist, 37(2), 91-105. Pintrich, P. R., Smith D. A. F., Garcia, T. & McKeachie, W. J. (1991). A Manual for the Use of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ). Ann Arbor, MI: National Center for Research to Improve Postsecondary Teaching and Learning. Ryan, R.M., & Deci, E.L. (2000). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations: Classic definitions and new directions. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 25, 54-67. Vallerand, R. J., Pelletier, L. G., Blais, M. R., Brière, N. M., Senécal, C. B. & Vallières, E. F. (1992). The Academic Motivation Scale: A measure of intrinsic, extrinsic, and amotivation in education. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 52, 1003-1019.

Author Information

Tomas Jungert

Linköping University

Behavioural Sciences and Learning

Linköping

186

Steve Rosenfield

Vanier College and Concordia University, Canada

Mathematics/Centre for the Study of Learning and Performance

St. Laurent

Ivan Ivanov

Vanier College and Concordia University, Canada

Helena Dedic

Vanier College and Concordia University, Canada

Physics/Center for Study of Learning and Performance

St. Laurent

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