Digital Distractions, Mindfulness, and Academic Performance With Undergraduate College Students

This study examined the relationship between digital distractions, mindfulness, and academic performance with undergraduate college students. A total of 199 students completed surveys that examined digital distractions and the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (Baer et al., 2006). The results indicated that 96.5% of participants had a digital device near them when studying, and 94.0% used a digital device to help them study. The major purpose for using a digital device in the classroom was to check the time on their phone (91.0%) and text someone (88.9%). Some reasons for using a digital device for non-classroom purposes included to fight boredom (39.2%) and to stay connected with others (25.1%). Participants who had fewer digital distractions tended to be more mindful and a significant positive relationship (r = .192, p <; .05) was obtained between overall mindfulness and academic performance.

Cultural Variations in Evaluation of Creative Work: A Comparison of Russian and Emirati Samples

The study investigates how cultural variations influence evaluation of creative work. Russian and Emirati undergraduate college students were asked to judge alien creature drawings produced by their country mates in previous studies’ structured imagination test. We found cultural differences in creativity judgment. Emirati participants’ judgments were significantly lower than Russian participants’ judgments. We also found that Russians judged their compatriots significantly higher than the Emirati judged their compatriots. Russians also judged foreigners significantly lower than the Emirati judged foreigners. These findings were speculatively placed in the context of the cultural differences in the implicit theory of creativity.

Critical Thinking Dispositions of Undergraduate College Students in A Comprehensive University of Mainland China

This study was undertaken to assess the critical thinking dispositions of undergraduate college students in a comprehensive university of mainland China and examine the roles of gender and major in the subjects’ critical thinking dispositions. An adapted Chinese version of the California Critical Thinking Dispositions Inventory (CCTDI) was used to survey 534 undergraduate students. Statistics revealed that over 3/4 of the subjects were negative in their dispositions to think critically, and no more than 1/4 of them were positive. All the subscale mean scores were between 30-35, indicating an ambivalent attitude to critical thinking. Meanwhile, the subjects were stronger in systematicity, truth-seeking, and self-confidence than in analyticity, inquisitiveness, and cognitive maturity. Besides, males got significantly higher scores in overall critical thinking dispositions, truth-seeking, cognitive maturity, open-mindedness, and justice-orientedness, an added subscale in the Chinese version of CCTDI. Finally, science-engineering students achieved a non-significant higher overall mean score than non-science-engineering students. They also scored higher in seven out of the eight subscales, but the differences were only significant in open-mindedness and justice-orientedness.

The Relationship between Smartphone Addiction and Academic Performance in College Students

OBJECTIVES: Smartphone addiction is a growing concern that can impact social, psychological, and health, while contributing to functional impairments. This study aimed to determine the relationship between smartphone addiction and the grade point average (GPA) of undergraduate college students in the U.S. METHODS: This descriptive study consisted of 53 undergraduate college students. The Smartphone Addiction Scale (SAS) and overall grade point average (GPA) was gathered via survey. The data was analyzed through Pearson&rsquo;s correlation to demonstrate the association between these variables. FINDINGS: While not statistically significant at the &alpha; = .05 level, the results suggest an almost statistically significant negative correlation (r = -0.210, p = .066) indicating a weak but noteworthy association between smartphone addiction and GPA. CONCLUSION: Smartphone addiction is a growing concern that has shown to impact quality of life in Asian countries. These results suggest further research with larger samples in the U.S. is needed to inform college students of the risks smartphone addiction can have on academic success.

Transcending disciplines: Engaging college students in interdisciplinary research, integrated STEM, and partnerships

An authentic, interdisciplinary, research and problem-based integrated science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) project may be ideal for encouraging scientific inquiry and developing teamwork among undergraduate students, but it also presents challenges. The authors describe how two interdisciplinary teams (n=6) of undergraduate college students built integrated STEM projects in a research based internship setting, and then collaboratively brought the project to fruition to include designing lessons and activities shared with K-12 students in a classroom setting. Each three person undergraduate team consisted of two STEM majors and one Education major. The Education majors are a special focus for this study. Interviews, field observations, and lesson plan artifacts collected from the undergraduate college students were analyzed according to authenticity factors, the authentic scientific inquiry instrument, and an integrated STEM instrument. The authors highlight areas of strength and weakness for both teams and explore how preservice teachers contributed to integrated STEM products and lessons. Teacher educators might apply recommendations for teacher preparation and professional development when facilitating authentic scientific inquiry and integrated STEM topics with both STEM and non-STEM educators. Undergraduate college students were challenged to fully integrate the STEM disciplines, transitions between them, and the spaces between them where multiple disciplines existed. By describing the challenges of integrating the spaces between STEM, the authors offer a description of the undergraduate college students’ experiences in an effort to expand the common message beyond a flat approach of try this activity because it works, to a more robust message of try this type of engagement and purposefully organize for maximum results.

Identity Formation: Role of Academic Achievement and Gender Among College Students

Erikson's work on identity development focused on the question, 'who am I'? As in society, identity formation is argued to be one of the key developmental tasks. This study aims to explore identity formation among undergraduate college students of Punjab across gender and achievement. The study was carried out on 200 undergraduate students (80 males and 120 females) from colleges under Punjab University, Chandigarh. The objective was to measure the Ego Identity Status which was done by using a tool developed by Bennion and Adams (1986). Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to test the hypothesis formulated for the study. It was found that majority of undergraduate college students are in diffusion and achievement identity status. Female students outnumbered the male students in 'Identity Achievement', 'Foreclosure' and 'Moratorium' status. There were no significant gender differences in the academic achievement of undergraduate college students. There was an interaction effect of gender and identity formation on achievement. It was found that among males identity achievement and foreclosure identity status groups performed better than moratorium and diffusion groups of undergraduate college.