Brett D. Jones

Teaching Older Adults to Use Computers: Recommendations Based on Cognitive Aging Research.

Recent cognitive aging research provides a framework for the cognitive changes that occur in older adults. This research is useful to instructors who teach older adults to use computers because it provides theories that help to identify older adults’ special instructional needs. Specifically, teachers need to design their instruction to compensate for older adults’ cognitive slowing, limited processing resources, lack of inhibition, and sensory deficits. This article reviews current theories of cognitive aging and derives implications for teaching older adults to use computers. Recommendations are provided to assist teachers in designing and implementing courses intended to teach older adults to use common computer software applications.

The Effects of Stereotypes on the Achievement Gap: Reexamining the Academic Performance of African American High School Students

This study investigated whether African American high school freshman students experience stereotype threat when taking a test that is seen as a predictor of their success on a high-stakes test. The authors conceptually replicated a previous study by Kellow and Jones (2005) using a true experimental design, as opposed to a quasi-experimental design. White students scored statistically significantly higher than African American students when told that their test performance would be predictive of their performance on a statewide, high-stakes standardized test. The following potential mediators of stereotype threat were included in the study and the effects of each are discussed: (a) perceptions of ability and expectancy for success, (b) achievement goal orientation, (c) anxiety, and (d) perceptions of stereotype threat. The results suggest that African American students are at a disadvantage compared to White students when their knowledge and skills are measured using a high-stakes standardized test. Implications for high-stakes testing of African American students are discussed.

The Unintended Outcomes of High-Stakes Testing

SUMMARY Although it is important to evaluate the intended outcomes of high-stakes testing, it is also important to evaluate the unintended outcomes, which might be as important or more important than the intended outcomes. The purpose of this paper is to examine some of the unintended outcomes of high-stakes testing, including those related to: (a) using tests as a means to hold educators accountable, (b) the effects on instruction, (c) the effects on student and teacher motivation, and (d) the effects on students who are at-risk of school failure. In examining the evidence, I conclude that while some unintended outcomes of high-stakes testing have been positive, many of the unintended outcomes have been negative. Hopefully, through a greater awareness of the unintended outcomes, school psychologists can work to minimize the negative effects of testing on students and educators.

The Effects of a Collaborative Problem-based Learning Experience on Students’ Motivation in Engineering Capstone Courses

We identified and examined how the instructional elements of problem-based learning capstone engineering courses affected students’ motivation to engage in the courses. We employed a two-phase, sequential, explanatory, mixed methods research design. For the quantitative phase, 47 undergraduate students at a large public university completed a questionnaire that measured the components of the MUSIC Model of Academic Motivation (Jones, 2009): empowerment, usefulness, success, situational interest, individual interest, academic caring, and personal caring. For the qualitative phase that followed, 10 students answered questions related to the MUSIC components. We identified several instructional elements that led to motivating opportunities that affected students’ motivation to engage in the courses. We discuss how these motivating opportunities can foster or hinder students’ engagement and provide implications for instruction.

The Motivation of Undergraduate Music Students: The Impact of Identification and Talent Beliefs on Choosing a Career in Music Education

The purpose of this study was to examine the reasons why undergraduate music students choose a career in teaching classroom music and how these reasons are related to their beliefs about their identification with teaching classroom music, identification with music performance, teaching talent, and performance talent. Participants included 143 students enrolled in music performance and music education programs at seven large U.S. universities who completed an online questionnaire. One major reason that students chose a career in teaching music was that teaching music had become part of their identity, a part that was separate from their music performance identity. In many cases, the motivation for developing this identity was their belief that becoming a classroom music teacher would allow them to help students by acting as a role model. The findings suggest that further research related to career choice in music education should include the psychological construct of identification with teaching classroom music.

Testing the MUSIC Model of Academic Motivation through confirmatory factor analysis

The purpose of this study was to provide empirical evidence to confirm the theoretical factor structure of the MUSIC Model of Academic Motivation that was developed to help instructors understand how current motivation research can be applied to instruction. We hypothesised the MUSIC model as a hierarchical five-factor correlated model and compared its fit to alternative models. Our research question was: Is a hierarchical five-factor correlated model a valid representation of the MUSIC model? The study included 1228 undergraduate students from three different types of university courses. We measured the constructs associated with the main components of the MUSIC model: empowerment, usefulness, success, interest and caring. Results of the confirmatory factor analyses provided strong evidence that the hierarchical five-factor correlated model was a valid representation of the MUSIC model. Thus, the MUSIC model consists of components that are theoretically and empirically correlated, yet distinct.

Recommendations for Implementing Internet Inquiry Projects

The purpose of this study was to provide recommendations to teachers who are interested in implementing Internet inquiry projects. Four classes of ninth- and tenth-grade honors students (N = 100) participated in an Internet inquiry project in which they were presented with an ecology question that required them to make a decision based on information that they gathered, analyzed, and synthesized from the Internet and their textbook. Students then composed papers with a rationale for their decision. Students in one group had access to pre-selected relevant Web sites, access to the entire Internet, and were provided with less online support. Students in the other group had access to only pre-selected relevant Web sites, but were provided with more online support. Two of the most important recommendations were: 1) to provide students with more online support; and 2) to provide students with pre-selected relevant Web sites and allow them to search the Internet for information.

Motivational Constructs Influencing Undergraduate Students' Choices to become Classroom Music Teachers or Music Performers.

The primary purpose of this study was to examine whether any of the six motivational constructs in the expectancy-value model of motivation (i.e., expectancy, ability perceptions, intrinsic interest value, attainment value, social utility value, and cost) would predict whether students intended to have a career teaching classroom music or performing music. Participants included 270 undergraduate students enrolled in music programs at seven major U.S. universities who completed an online questionnaire. Using stepwise multiple regression, the authors documented that attainment value, intrinsic interest value, and expectancy predicted 74% of the variance in whether students intended to choose a career teaching music. They found that expectancy, attainment value, ability perceptions, and intrinsic interest value explained 65% of the variance in whether students intended to choose a career in music performance. Because of the importance of attainment value in predicting students’ intentions to teach and the importance of expectancies in predicting their intentions to have a performance career, these two constructs would be obvious choices for teachers and advisors to target if they want to encourage students to pursue these careers.

Motivating foreign language students using self-determination theory

Abstract Creating classroom environments that are enjoyable to students and support their learning can be challenging for instructors. The purpose of this article is to: (a) discuss self-determination theory and how it can be used to motivate students; and (b) provide specific examples of how we implemented this theory in an undergraduate foreign language course to increase students’ intrinsic motivation. Our questionnaire results and firsthand observations indicate that intentionally implementing the self-determination perspective can be an effective way to create enjoyable and interesting classes. We present six successful examples of how we motivated students by: having students create Play-Doh objects, conducting review sessions, discussing personal objects, facilitating peer interactions, creating assignments of varying difficulties, and showing unusual pictures. We believe that this article will help instructors better connect self-determination theory to practice by providing specific examples that can be imitated or modified for use by other instructors.

Students’ Motivations for Considering a Career in Music Performance

The purpose of this study was to explore the reasons why undergraduate music majors pursue a career in music performance. The authors surveyed music majors at seven institutions and asked them about the main reasons as to why they were considering a career in music performance. Participant responses yielded qualitative data that the authors coded, through a grounded theory approach, into the following four themes: enjoyment, ability, usefulness, and identity. That is, students reported that they enjoyed playing music, they had the ability to succeed, they believed that music performance was useful, and they viewed themselves as musicians. The authors examine these results through the lens of three psychological constructs (i.e., affect, expectancy, and value). To better understand the implications for best practice in music career education, the authors compare the results of the present study with the results of prior studies investigating the reasons why music majors choose a career in music education.