Self-Efficacy and Student Achievement

Barbara Goza, Ph.D.UCSC Educational Partnership Center

UCSC Learning Support ServicesOctober 3, 2009

In Appreciation of Learning

• Think back to a recent time in which you were being helped with an academic task.– What was the task?– Who was your helper, what was your

relationship with your helper?– What specifically did the helper DO?– What did you do/feel in response?– What was the outcome for you? For your

helper?

Self-Efficacy: What It Is

“The belief in one’s abilities to organize and execute courses of action required to produce given attainments.”

(Bandura, 1997, p. 3)

Self-Efficacy: What It Does

• Influences:– Choice of courses of action

– Amount of energy expended

– Perseverance and resilience in the face of challenges and failures

Efficacy Beliefs: How They Work

• Cognition– Analytic complexity– Strategic planning

• Motivation– Goal setting (specific, difficult goals)– Self-regulation (evaluation and modification)

• Emotion– Calmness– Challenge vs. threat appraisals

University Life Study

Martin Chemers, Li-Tze Hu, & Ben Garcia (2001)

Effects of Academic Efficacy and Optimism on First-Year Student

Academic Performance and Adjustment

Participant Demographics

• Recruited from UCSC frosh, Winter 1997• N = 256 participants with complete data Winter

and Spring• 82% Female• Ethnicity:

– 58% White– 16% Asian– 15% Latino – 11% Other

GPA

Academic Self-

Efficacy

Optimism

Challenge/ Threat

Academic Expectations

Academic Performance

Stress

Health Problems

Adjustment

Path Diagram For Efficacy Effects

Assessing Scientific Inquiry and Leadership Skills (AScILS)

Recent Findings

Martin M. Chemers, PIUniversity of California, Santa Cruz

Program Components

Psychological Processes

Outcomes

Research Experience

Community Involvement

Mentoring:Instrumental

Socio-Emotional

Performance: ScienceInquiry

andLeadership

Skills

Commitment: Satisfaction

andContinuationin Science

Education and Research

Student Demographics: Ethnicity, Gender

Science Inquiry

Self-Efficacy

Leadership and

Teamwork Self-Efficacy

Identity and Belonging as

a Scientist

Participant Demographics

• Recruited from UCSC COSMOS program in 2006 and 2007

• N = 276 participants with complete data (95% of all attendees)

• 56% Female• Ethnicity:

– 26% Under-Represented Minority – 36% White– 38% Asian

• 38% Received financial aid

COSMOS Longitudinal Study: Pre-Program Results

Community Involvement

Identity as a Science Student

Science Inquiry Self-

Efficacy

Research Experience .39

.45

.20

.20

.27

Model Fit: χ2 (4) = 4.19, p = .38, CFI = 1.0, IFI = 1.0, GFI = .99, NNFI = .99, RMR = .02, RMSEA = .01 (.00, .09)

Commitment

.69

Ethnic Group Comparisons on Pre- to Post-Program Change

Ethnic Group Comparisons on Pre- to Post-Program Change

Self-Efficacy: What Are Its Sources?

Source Explanation

Enactive Mastery Graduated challenges with “scaffolding”

Social Comparison Role modeling plus peer comparisons

Verbal Persuasion Confidence-supporting explanations for performance

Affective States Positive experiences while working

Enactive Mastery: Graduated challenges with “scaffolding”

• Increase competencies gradually

• Provide “scaffolding”

• “Stretch, but don’t break.”

Social Comparison: Role modeling plus peer comparisons

• Social comparison to assess competency

• Role modeling for possibilities

Verbal Persuasion: Confidence-supporting explanations for

performance

• Help students make confidence-building judgments

• Explain success and failure

“Causes” of Success and Failure

Source:

Internal External

Stable Ability Task

Stability

Unstable Effort Luck

Judgments that Enhance Confidence:

Ability & Effort following Success

Task Difficulty following Failure

Expect Ups & Downs

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AScILS Research Team• Melissa Bayne, Graduate Student, Psychology• Steve Bearman, Graduate Student, Psychology• Martin Chemers, Principal Investigator, Professor Psychology• Faye Crosby, Professor Psychology• Elizabeth Espinoza, Graduate Student, Chemistry • Jamie Franco-Zamudio, Graduate Student, Psychology• Barbara Goza, Educational Partnership Center, Director Research & Evaluation• Lisa Hunter, Center for Adaptive Optics, Associate Director Education and Human Resources• Beth Jaworski, Graduate Student, Psychology• John Johnson, Graduate Student, Psychology• Carrol Moran, Educational Partnership Center, Director• Elizabeth Morgan, Graduate Student, Psychology• Deborah Kogan, Evaluation Consultant• Refugio Rochin, Educational Partnership Center, Dir. Of Research and Evaluation• Kristina Schmukler, Graduate Student, Psychology• Julie Shattuck, Evaluation Consultant• Jerome Shaw, Assistant Professor Education• Moin Syed, Graduate Student, Psychology• Eileen Zurbriggen, Associate Professor Psychology

• Former members: – Graduate Students: Lisa Algee, Education; Christy Rowe, Earth Sciences; – Undergraduate Students: Isai Baltezar, Helen Han, Jaime Jarvis, Teiki Kimball, Ana Daniela Mesa, Marisa Sanders, Patrick

Schirmer, Barbara Smith, and Zavi Smith, Emilee Turner, Justin Wang, Bridget Zwimpfer, Psychology; Marcia Soriano, Bioinformatics

– Others: Stephen Mello, Educational Partnership Center, Policy Analyst;; Gloria Williams, Educational Partnership Center, Data Manager

• The project was supported by Grant Number R01GM071935 from the National Institute Of General Medical Sciences. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute Of General Medical Sciences or the National Institutes of Health.