Proposal view
| Proposal Type: | Individual Paper |
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| Domain: | Motivational and Affective Processes |
| SIG: | Higher Education |
| Type | Submitted Paper |
| Equipment |
Overhead projector |
| Paper Details |
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| Title | Examination of Persistence among American Indian University Students: The roles of cognitive engagement and beliefs |
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| Abstract | Data from 88 participants were examined for correlates of persistence among American Indian university students. Potential correlates were meaningful strategy use, belief in one’s potential for success in college (self-efficacy); beliefs that learning is knowledge construction; and beliefs that schooling is for the empowerment and/or subjugation of one’s culture of origin. Subjugation belief was negatively correlated with persistence. All other correlations were positive. Persistence was predicted by meaningful cognitive engagement, positive beliefs about the self, and negative beliefs about the role of schooling. |
| Summary | The recruitment and retention of American Indian students remains a problem for higher education institutions (e.g., Bellcourt, 2004 & Taylor, 1999). Rather than focus on disheartening findings about American Indians in Higher Education, we wanted to follow in the footsteps of Demmert (2001) and Montgomery et al (2001) to study the characteristics and experiences of students who are persistent in education. We agreed with Demmert (2001) when he said that “much remains to be learned about personal characteristics of successful Native students” (p. 34). Our goal was to examine the characteristics of cognitive engagement and beliefs to see whether these characteristics are related to persistence for American Indian college students. We examined student characteristics that have been associated with motivation to learn (e.g., Bandura, 1986; Greene et al., 2004; Mansell, Greene, & DeBacker, 2004). We targeted persistence in higher education as our “outcome” variable. Persistence is the willingness to keep trying in the face of challenges and seeking alternative ways to learn and succeed when the first attempts lead to frustration. We chose Meaningful strategies as one of the predictor variables because knowledge and use of such strategies have been found to predict success. Meaningful strategies are learning and study strategies that include thoughtfulness when studying, the elaboration of new information, and the integration of new information with what one already knows (e.g., Entwistle & Ramsden, 1983; Kardash & Amlund, 1991). Both persistence and meaningful or deep strategy use are considered achievement - related variables (e.g., Eccles, Wigfield, & Schiefele, 1998; Greene et al., 2004). For motivation-related variables we included self-efficacy for college success and beliefs about learning and schooling. There is a large body of research supporting the role of self-efficacy for predicting successful learning (e.g., Greene, DeBacker, Ravindran, & Krows, 1999; Pajares, 1996; 2003; Pajares, Britner, & Valiante, 2000). A much smaller body of research has shown that beliefs about learning and schooling predicted strategy use (Mansell et al, 2004; Ravindran, Greene, & DeBacker, 2005). We examined the following three beliefs: a) that learning is a construction of knowledge process; b) that schooling is for the empowerment of people; and c) that schooling is a tool for subjugation of one’s culture of origin. Method Self-report data from 88 American Indian students at a Southwestern university were gathered with a series of questionnaires that measured 18 constructs including those studied here. Of the 18 constructs, six are included here as we had sufficient power to examine only six variables and those six were theoretically significant. Instruments were taken or constructed from the relevant literatures reviewed above and recommendations by Bandura (2001). We solicited participants from an American Indian organization, from large lecture classes, and word of mouth. People completed the packet in small groups or individually. Results We first examined the reliability of our measures. All six of the constructs included here reached an acceptable level of reliability (coefficient > .70) measured by the Cronbach alpha. The descriptive statistics, including the alpha coefficients, are included in Table 1. One analysis involved computing correlation coefficients in order to see which variables were related to persistence and use of meaningful strategies. The correlations are all shown in Table 2. As expected, self-efficacy was positively related to both persistence and meaningful strategy use. Subjugation belief was negatively correlated with persistence, while the other beliefs were positively correlated with both persistence and strategy use. The final analysis examined used regression to test the prediction of persistence by the five variables. The overall R2 for the equation was .72 (F (5,77) = 40.36, p < .0001). There were three significant Beta values: Meaningful strategy use (.42 , p < .0001); self-efficacy (.42 , p < .0001); and subjugation belief (-.18, p < .01). Conclusions These data demonstrate only correlations and predictions among a small number of variables related to the persistence of American Indians in a university setting. Nonetheless, they have important implications for higher education. The data tell us that students who are persistent know how to engage the content in meaningful ways. The findings provide yet more evidence that people need to believe they possess the competence required to learn in the current setting. The findings suggest that faculty and advisors need to learn how to help students develop the appropriate learning strategies and then help them recognize how those strategies empower students to be persistent and successful. This inference from our findings is consistent with other research (Hornett, 1989) on the role that faculty can play with American Indian students. Findings regarding the beliefs about learning and the role of schooling were also revealing. The empowerment belief and the belief that knowledge is constructed were both positively correlated with persistence, meaning learning strategy use, and self-efficacy. However, they did not help predict persistence with all the variables in the equation. Instead, the belief that schooling is a tool of subjugation was a negative predictor of persistence. One may speculate in several ways about the interpretation of this finding. First, it is possible that the belief in the subjugation role of schooling could result in a hopeless stance toward education as well as feelings of marginalization. This is consistent with attribution theory which holds that external causes for failure will result eventually in giving up (Weiner, 2000). Second, the subjugation belief may also encourage an activist resistance that might lead to lower persistence in mainstream education that is better suited for the individualistic pursuits. The findings add to a small body of research that suggests that beliefs about learning and schooling are related to motivation to learn. Future research needs to explore whether these beliefs about school precede beliefs about competence. Although, the role of self-efficacy is well-established in the research, the influences on self-efficacy are not yet well-understood (Greene et al., 2004). Clearly, we need further investigation into how different beliefs impact aspects of motivation and strategy use. |
| Keywords | Beliefs Motivation Study approaches |
| Appendices | Tables.doc |
| Authors | ||||||
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| Name | Surname | Institution | Country | EARLI Number | Presenting | |
| Barbara | Greene | University of Oklahoma | United States | barbara@ou.edu | * | |
| Teresa | DeBacker | University of Oklahoma | United States | debacker@ou.edu | ||
| Robert | Mansell | University of Oklahoma | United States | rmansell@ou.edu | ||
| Rockey | Robbins | University of Oklahoma | United States | rockey@ou.edu | ||
