Foundation programmes provide an alternate access route for prospective students whose prior academic results exclude direct entry to undergraduate studies. Bridging courses within foundation programmes address gaps in prior knowledge while developing content knowledge and requisite skills to equip students for the rigour of undergraduate degree…

Identifying impediments to learning can help both instructors and students. In this study students (N = 222) from across the nation listed concepts from research methods they found the most challenging--"potholes" or impediments to learning, and also rated the difficulty of various concepts from the class. We also measured student…

The current study aimed to understand not only students' attitudes towards statistics, but also their beliefs about their ability to perform statistical tasks (self-efficacy), the value they place on carrying out course and statistical tasks (task value), and the level of effort they perceive when engaging in these tasks (cost) across a semester…

Nationally, men of color are graduating college at the lowest rates of all race-gender subgroups. Prior research suggests this population faces unique obstacles as it relates to race and gender and these challenges are often invisible and difficult to resolve. Academic supports can help students overcome these obstacles; however, it is not clear…

In the past twenty years there has been a surge of research on chemistry students' attitudes, self-efficacy, self-concept, expectations, values, interest, motivation, effort beliefs and achievement emotions. This research has sought to understand how students feel when learning chemistry and how this may be influencing how they perform. However…

Recent reports have indicated that many undergraduate students have become unmotivated and unengaged in the learning process. As a result, calls have been made for instructors in higher education to implement classroom interventions to help better engage students in the learning process. Research has shown that creating a hospitable learning…

We surveyed 139 (88 traditional, 51 nontraditional) students on various motivational measures of self-determination, attribution, and expectancy-value to (a) investigate motivational differences by student status and (b) identify the motivational variables that best predict academic achievement by student status. Results of a multivariate analysis…