Development of a Scale for Assessing Elaboration in Learning Activities

The first study was carried out to develop the adult scale for assessing individual differences of elaboration in learning activities. The subjects were 148 undergraduate students at a junior college. They were asked to respond a list of 28 statements representing elaborative learning behaviors which might be utilized in academic settings. Factor analysis yielded three factors which comprised 18 of the original 28 statements. Each factor consisted of the items with loadings exceeding .40 and having minimal overlap with the other factors. Factor I was marked by 7 items which stressed rehearsal, retrieval and recall of information and was refferred to as the Elaboration by recall factor. Factor II, which was called the Elaboration in daily life comprised 6 items which represented the use of systematic study techniques and autobiographical lnformation. Factor III comprised 5 items which indicated summarizing and discrimination for memorizing information and it was called the Between-item and Within-item Elaboration factor. Multiple regression indicated that the Elaboration by recall scale explained 3 % of test performances, but the Elaboration in daily life and the Between-item and Within-item Elaboration scales did not. The second study developed the children's scales and investigated the developmental change in elaborative learning behaviors. The subjects were 29 fourth, 39 fifth and 35 sixth graders. They were asked to respond the 30 statements. Factor analysis yielded three factors which comprised 21 0f the original 30 statements. Each factor consisted of the items with loadings exceeding .40 and having minimal overlap with the other factors. Factor I comprised 10 items which stressed motivation for elaboration of to-be-learned information and was refferred to as the Motivation for elaboration factor. Factor II, which was called the Elaboration by recall of classroom comprised 5 items which indicated the use of episode in the classroom for recalling for to-be-learned information. Factor III was consisited of 6 items which indicated the use of books for learning to-be-learned information and it was called the Elaboration by reading factor. Developmental changes were obtained in some statements