Lyle R. Smith

The Effects on Student Achievement and Student Perception of Varying Structure in Social Studies Content.

Abstract Fifth grade social studies students of various verbal ability levels were presented lessons with a high degree of structure or a low degree of structure. Structure was defined in terms of the frequency with which concepts were repeated from one sentence to the next. After the lessons students were tested for comprehension of the material covered and then they rated the lessons in terms of perceived effectiveness. Students presented the high structure lessons achieved significantly higher and rated the lessons higher. These findings are discussed in relation to previous research on structure.

Teacher Clarifying Behaviors: Effects on Student Achievement and Perceptions.

AbstractHigh school social studies students (N = 448) were each assigned to one of 16 groups defined by possible combinations of two teacher uncertainty conditions (uncertainty vs. no uncertainty), two teacher “bluffing” conditions (bluffing vs. no bluffing), two lesson discontinuity conditions (discontinuity vs. no discontinuity), and two lecture notes conditions (notes handouts vs. no notes handouts). Each group was presented a lesson about the geography, politics, history, and economy of Botswana. The lessons were the same except for variations in the four conditions stated above. After the lesson, each group was tested on comprehension of the material, and then each group completed a lesson evaluation. Teacher uncertainty negatively affected achievement, and notes handouts positively affected achievement. Both teacher bluffing and lesson discontinuity negatively affected student evaluation of the lesson. Several significant interactions were obtained. These findings are discussed in relation to previo...

The Effect of Lesson Structure and Cognitive Level of Questions on Student Achievement.

AbstractHigh school students of various ability levels were presented lessons concerning economics concepts. The lessons were varied according to their organization or structure. Students then were tested over their understanding of the concepts. The test questions ranged from simple recall of information (low level) to application of economics principles (high level). Students scored generally higher when they were presented highly structured lessons. Scores were higher on the low level questions than on the high level questions. Significant interactions occurred between student ability level and lesson structure, as well as between cognitive level of questions and lesson structure. These results are discussed in terms of previous research on lesson structure.

Presentational Behaviors and Student Achievement in Mathematics.

AbstractHigh school students (n = 337) in algebra classes were presented lessons on direct variation. After the lessons, each class was tested on comprehension of the material. The lessons were tape-recorded and analyzed according to low-inference teacher behaviors. Lesson structure and categories of teacher vagueness were related significantly to student achievement. These findings are discussed in relation to previous research on low-inference teacher behaviors.

A Low-Inference Indicator of Lesson Structure in Mathematics

AbstractHigh school geometry students were presented lessons with either a high degree of structure or a low degree of structure. Structure was defined in terms of the frequency with which concepts were repeated from one sentence to the next. After the lessons, students were tested for comprehension of the material covered and then they rated the lessons in terms of perceived effectiveness. Students presented the high-structure lesson achieved significantly higher and rated the lessons higher. These findings are discussed in relation to previous research on structure.

Task-Oriented Lessons and Student Achievement.

AbstractEach of twenty high school algebra teachers taught a lesson to one of his or her classes. After each lesson, each class was tested for comprehension of the material the teachers were to cover. The results indicated that a high degree of classroom activity focusing on the relevant content positively influenced achievement. It was ascertained that coders could be trained to listen to tape-recordings of the lessons and reliably quantify teacher behaviors that were related to student achievement. These findings are discussed in relation to previous research on teacher behaviors and student achievement, as well as the quantification of such behaviors.

Students' Performance as a Function of Sex, Noise, and Intelligence

289 sixth-grade students were randomly assigned to be administered either the Standard Progressive Matrices or the STEP Reading Test, Form 3 (STEP III). Students given the Matrices were assigned to one of eight groups defined by the possible combinations of two classroom noise conditions (40 dbA vs 70 dbA), two sex (boys vs girls), and two levels of intelligence (above average vs below average). The same assignment procedure was used for the STEP III. Students given low noise performed better on the Matrices than did students under high noise. For the STEP III scores, there was an interaction between intelligence and level of noise. No evidence for sex differences was found on either test. The results, while not supporting previous findings concerning an interaction between noise and sex, indicate that the effects of intelligence and noise on classroom performance vary as a function of task familiarity.

Effect of Teacher Transitions and Superfluous Content on Student Achievement and on Perception of Lesson Effectiveness in High School English.

AbstractEleventh grade English students (N = 100) were randomly assigned to one of four groups defined by possible combinations of two teacher transitions conditions (transitions vs. no transitions) and two additional unexplained content conditions (additional unexplained content vs. no additional unexplained content). Each group was presented a lesson involving parallel sentence structure. After the lesson, each group was tested on comprehension of the material and then completed a lesson evaluation. Teacher transitions significantly affected achievement, but the effect of additional content on achievement was not significant. Additional content significantly affected student perception of lesson effectiveness, but transitions generally had no significant effect on student perception. These findings are discussed in relation to previous research on transitions and additional content.

Lesson Complexity, Student Performance, and Student Perception in Mathematics.

AbstractFirst-year algebra high school students of various ability levels were presented lessons concerning the application of geometry theorems. The lessons varied in terms of the complexity of the examples that were shown. After the lessons, students completed a questionnaire concerning their perceptions of the lessons, and then they were tested over the material covered in the lessons. With test scores as the dependent variable, the main effect due to lesson complexity was not significant. With student perception as the dependent variable, significant main effects due to lesson complexity were identified. Significant interactions between lesson complexity and student ability level were identified also. These results are discussed in terms of teaching secondary school mathematics.