Browsing by Author "Bown, Erica"
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Item A comparison of student achievement across pedagogical modalities(2023) Bown, Erica; Moscicki, MicheleRecent research provides evidence that students’ active participation in course activities creates stronger connections and enables deeper levels of information processing and learning compared to passive teaching and learning methods (Nurbavliyev et al., 2022). The present study investigated the relationship between active and passive learning across different pedagogical modalities and its effect on academic performance. We hypothesized that students in the active learning group would perform better academically than students in the passive learning group. Participants were students enrolled in hybrid or in-person PSYC 105 courses at MacEwan University. Our sample size for our analyses related to academic performance included 24 participants, 14 from the active group and 10 from the passive group. Our sample size for our correlational analyses included 97 participants. Throughout the semester, participants in the active condition completed activities and participants in the passive condition heard a lecture. Academic performance was measured based on participants’ performance on eight standardized multiple-choice questions embedded into each class's midterm and final exams, and overall midterm and final exam grades. We also investigated if certain student characteristics moderate the effect of activities on retention. Participants filled out questionnaire items assessing personality, self-regulation, procrastination, and test anxiety. Our results showed that students in the active learning condition performed better than those in the passive learning condition. We also found a moderately positive relationship between procrastination and test anxiety, and neuroticism and test anxiety. These results illustrate the potential benefits of universities offering more opportunities for active learning on students’ academic performance.Item Does a growth mindset reduce procrastination and perfectionism?(2023) Bown, Erica; Moscicki, MicheleResearch has consistently found a positive relationship between fear of failure (FoF) and both perfectionism and procrastination, which are both positively correlated with stress. Many university students report high levels of perfectionism, procrastination, and stress; thus, interventions to help reduce these characteristics are needed. Individuals who have a growth mindset (GM) are more likely to view challenges and failures as opportunities to learn and grow rather than as obstacles. The present study investigated the effect of a GM intervention on procrastination and negative perfectionism. We hypothesized that students who received the GM intervention would report lower procrastination due to FoF and lower negative perfectionism than students who did not receive the GM intervention. In Part 1, all participants completed questionnaires assessing personality, stress, perfectionism, procrastination, and GM. Participants in the GM intervention group were shown a video and infographic about GM and its benefits and were sent reminder emails about the benefits of GM once a week for four weeks. After four weeks, participants completed all measures again. Our results show that the GM intervention failed to produce any significant changes in GM, negative perfectionism, and procrastination due to FoF. We further show positive relationships between stress and both procrastination due to FoF and negative perfectionism. Future research will investigate a more effective GM intervention. Our results confirm that university students’ stress is highly associated with negative perfectionism and procrastination due to FoF and that students may benefit from stress reduction methods that specifically target perfectionism and FoF.