SCREENING FIRST YEAR STUDENTS FOR READINESS TO STUDY PSYCHOLOGY

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SCREENING FIRST YEAR STUDENTS FOR READINESS TO
STUDY PSYCHOLOGY

John Bathurst, Aaron Jarden Nancy Weaver
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INTRODUCTION

• The Open Polytechnic of NZ provides Psychology
  courses from Level 5 7 as part of Diploma and
  Degree courses
• Many of our students are
• Adult learners
• Part-time students
• Sometimes with minimal secondary qualifications
• Some have not studied for several years before
  enrolling with us
• Students vary greatly in
• Motivation
• Preparedness to study
• Ability to complete the course work

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Overall, many students struggle with the
transition from their previous education into
tertiary level courses. This is particularly
evident in the introductory courses, 73195
General and Applied Psychology, and 73196 Social
and Individual Psychology
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THE PROBLEM

• Limited student success in these courses
• Poor retentions Currently around 40-50
• Poor successful completions
• Low pass rates Currently around 60-65
• Lack of student understanding of Psychology as a
  field
• Students are unprepared for the scientific level
  of content in psychology
• Students are unaware of what studying psychology
  entails

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THE PROBLEM (2)

• Stressful workload for tutors
• High maintenance lab report and essay assignments
  with marks often around 40-60
• Large volume of student contacts (email, phone),
  many of which reflect
• Lack of basic study skills
• Lack of general academic preparedness

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THE SOLUTION

• Develop a pre-test to measure basic readiness to
  study
• Calibrate the pre-test
• Divert identified strugglers into a preparatory /
  bridging programme

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THE PRE-TEST

• The aim of the psychology pre-test is to
  distinguish between students who are likely to
  successfully complete the course, and those who
  are likely to fail
• The pre-test is designed to work on two levels
• Firstly the pre-test provides students with a
  glimpse into psychological study content areas
  and requirements, which should reduce the
  discrepancy between student expectations and the
  reality of the course
• Secondly, the pre-test is intended to gauge
  general academic proficiency, specifically
  student verbal and numerical literacy, and
  therefore their likely ability to complete the
  course work

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TEST DESIGN (1)

• Two preparation items. Do students have the time
  and resources to complete this course now?
• Time
• Do you have 10-12 hours a week to devote to
  studying for each course you would like to enrol
  in?
• Resources
• Do you have the necessary resources for your
  courses? For example, money for text books,
  access to a computer for writing assignments,
  access to a phone to contact your tutor, etc

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TEST DESIGN (2)

• 11 understanding items. Do students have the
  basic verbal and numerical literacy needed to
  complete this course now?
• 3 maths items Calculate mean, calculate mode,
  create a table
• 3 comprehension items requiring student writing
  Read a short text then summarize in own words
• 5 multi-choice items requiring student to choose
  correct answer Read a short text and then
  answer multiple choice questions on it

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TYPICAL MATHS ITEM

• Researchers in psychology often calculate
  averages or means for groups of scores. For
  example, a researcher may read out a list of
  words to a group of research participants and
  then test how many words on average are
  remembered. A mean (or average) is calculated by
  adding scores in a group of scores and then
  dividing that total by the number of scores in
  the group. For example, 3 4 12 19. 19
  divided by 3 a mean of 6.333
• Calculate the mean of the following set of scores
  (you may use a calculator for this task if you
  wish)
• 18 7 65 46 90 12 4 22
• Mean _______

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RESPONSES

• 90 get the right answer of 33
• 3.0 have answers around 33
• 0.8 find it too hard and dont give an answer
• 1.7 have answers around 14.67 (total / 18)
• 3.3 have answers around 88 (total / 3)
• 0.4 give an answer of 244.75 (how?)
• Simple arithmetic errors abound
• N781

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A surprisingly hard item (1)

• Researchers in psychology often show their scores
  in a Table to depict their results to others who
  are interested in the findings. In the Table
  below, enter the following mean scores, where
  three different groups of participants have
  completed a reaction time task. The symbol n is
  used to show the number of participants in a
  particular group while the symbol N is used to
  show the total number of participants in the
  experiment. Enter each n and the N into the
  table also

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A surprisingly hard item (2)

• 20 ambidextrous people gave a mean time of 1.2
  seconds, 23 right handed people gave a mean time
  of 2.6 seconds while 17 left handed people gave a
  mean time of 1.8 seconds
• Table 1
• Mean reaction time to complete task (in seconds)
  
• Handedness n Mean time (in seconds)
• Ambidextrous
• Right handed  
• Left handed  
• N
•  
• 36 are unable to do this correctly

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TYPICAL COMPREHENSION ITEM

• Read the following paragraph, then summarize the
  key information in the paragraph in one SHORT
  sentence, IN YOUR OWN WORDS
• When parental love seems conditional, that is,
  dependent on certain behaviours, children often
  block out of their self-concept those experiences
  that make them feel unworthy of love. They do so
  because theyre worried about parental
  acceptance, which appears precarious. At the
  other end of the spectrum, some parents make
  their affection unconditional. Their children
  have less need to block out unworthy experiences
  because theyve been assured that theyre worthy
  of affection, no matter what they do

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TYPICAL MULTI-CHOICE ITEM (1)

• Read the passage below and then choose the best
  answer to the question by circling the letter
  beside it. Answer the question on the basis of
  what is stated or implied in the passage
• A Russian physiologist called Ivan Pavlov did
  some research early last century. He found that
  when he repeatedly sounded a tone to some dogs as
  he presented them with food, the dogs eventually
  salivated to the tone on its own. By being
  associated with the food, the tone itself had
  acquired the capacity to trigger the response of
  salivation. This came to be known as classical
  conditioning, where the unconditioned stimulus
  (the food) evokes an unconditioned response
  (salivation), that is, a response that occurs
  without previous learning. The previously neutral
  conditioned stimulus (tone) acquires, through
  conditioning, the capacity to evoke a conditioned
  or learned response (salivation)

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TYPICAL MULTI-CHOICE ITEM (2)

• Question
• Rachel has found that when she opens the cupboard
  door to get the cat food, the cats come running
  to the kitchen. Rachel knows that this is
  classical conditioning, and that the
  unconditioned stimulus is the ______ and the
  conditioned stimulus is the _____.
• a. cupboard door opening cat food
• b. cat food kitchen
• c. cat food cupboard door opening
• d. kitchen cat food
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•  Answer _______

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MULTI-CHOICE RESPONSES

• A 14.3
• B 1.7
• C 75.8
• D 1.2
• AB 2.3
• AC 2.7
• AD 1.3
• CD 0.5
• N781

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NUMBERS OF ERRORS

• Cum
• 0 15.4 15.4
• 1 27.1 42.5
• 2 24.6 67.1
• 3 14.1 81.2
• 4 7.7 88.9
• 5 6.5 95.4
• 6 2.2 97.6
• 7 1.4 99.0
• 8 1.0 100
• N 781

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SOCIAL AND INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY
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ERROR DISTRIBUTION BY GRADE

• Errors A B C D E
• 0 5 10 9 7 2
• 1 4 10 11 5 5
• 2 6 8 10 8
• 3 1 3 2 6
• 4 1 2 2 0
• 5 1 1
• 6 1
• N120

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EFFECT OF EXCLUSIONS

• Allowing 2 errors excludes 2 Bs, 7 Cs, 4 Ds and 1
  E
• Allowing 3 errors excludes 1 B, 4 Cs, 2 Ds and 1
  E
• All Failed Mandatory Component grades excluded
  by either

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ACTIONS

• Two or fewer errors enrol in psychology courses
• Three errors advise diversion to 424 Tertiary
  Study Skills
• Four or more errors require diversion into 424

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TERTIARY STUDY SKILLS (1)

• Organise learning effectively
• Write in a style that meets given criteria for a
  report, an essay and a learning journal
• Demonstrate information literacy skills
  appropriate to study at tertiary level
• Operate computer applications to support study
• Perform numerical operations that support
  tertiary-level study
• Free entry into 73196 on successful completion

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TERTIARY STUDY SKILLS (2)

• Correlations
• 424 result with in-course 73196 assignments r
  0.802
• 424 result with 73196 exam r -0.338
• 424 prepares students well for in-course work but
  does not give them exam skills

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What to do next ?
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THANK YOU FOR COMING!