| Abstract: |
| Unproductive study habits are often attributed to poor time management, lack of motivation, or underestimation of the effort required for success. However, social and psychological factors, particularly stereotype threat and math anxiety, have been shown to significantly influence student performance even when students are highly motivated. Simple qualitative optimal control models including emotional and social costs can provide insight into student learning strategies and interventions intended to increase student engagement and success.
Costs modeling anxiety, threats to self-esteem, and societal or familial pressure can generate optimal solutions mimicking self-sabotage and cramming: if progress is slow and painful, the penalty for a poor final state may be outweighed by the cumulative cost of striving for a better final state. Models in which mastery, self-efficacy (beliefs about current skills and ability to efficiently gain new skills and knowledge), and anxiety are interdependent variables can guide development and analysis of instructional interventions. For example, the role of formative assessment in calibrating self-efficacy can be explored by comparing models in which evolving self-efficacy is influenced by feedback reflecting actual mastery and progress to models in which self-efficacy is piecewise constant (e.g. updated midterm). |
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