Write a paper examining factors that influence student learning.
Introduction
Note: The assessments in this course build upon each other, so you are strongly encouraged to complete them in sequence.
Identifying and verifying the wide range of factors that might predict student learning is a task dominating educational psychology from its beginning. Hundreds of potential variables have been identified and several models have been developed to help organize research findings.
As an example, imagine that you hypothesize that the student’s characteristic of learning style is a good predictor of how well students would score on measures of learning. You then begin an inquiry on that topic using the Capella library’s databases peer-reviewed scholarly journals and would identify a number of different approaches to defining and measuring learning styles. You find that there are a wide variety of approaches to defining and measuring this variable (Coffield, Moseley, Hall, & Ecclestone, 2004). There are some positive reviews of the concept (Joy & Kolb, 2009; Kotecha, 2019) and some negative reviews (Pashler, McDaniel, Rohrer, & Bjork, 2009; Kirschner, 2017). You summarize your findings and draw a conclusion regarding the validity of your hypothesis.
References
Coffield, F., Moseley, D., Hall, E., & Ecclestone, K. (2004). Learning styles and pedagogy in post-16 learning: A systematic and critical review. London, England: Learning and Skills Research Centre.
Joy, S., & Kolb, D. (2009). Are there cultural differences in learning style? International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 33, 69–85. doi:10.1016/j.ijintrel.2008.11.002
Kirschner, P. (2017). Stop propagating the learning style myth. Computers & Education, 106, 166–171.
Kotecha, A. (2019). Learning styles. InnovAiT: Education and Inspiration for general practice, 12(5), 276–280. doi:10.1177/1755738018814278.
Pashler, H., McDaniel, M., Rohrer, D., & Bjork, R. (2009). Learning styles: Concepts and evidence. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 9(3), 105–119.
Preparation
Note: The assessments in this course build upon each other, so you are strongly encouraged to complete them in sequence.
Identify a factor that you believe to be an important predictor of student learning. Research that factor and report the results of your inquiry.
Include the following:
Provide an overview of prior research on the factors that influence learning that you selected and analyze elements of the findings in relation to your topic.
Identify a specific variable hypothesized to influence learning, and provide specific methods by which it can be investigated scientifically.
Identify five research studies published in peer-reviewed journals that have investigated the variable you hypothesized to influence student learning and summarize each article.
Integrate research findings from the five articles you selected, and draw a conclusion based on the empirical evidence from these studies.
