Aptitude × treatment interaction effects on teacher structuring and student participation in college instruction

Investigated the generalizability to college instruction of Aptitude by Treatment interactions (ATIs) found in the author's (1977) study of 9th-grade students. The experimenter taught a 5-wk educational psychology course to 4 classes of undergraduates according to 4 treatments that varied in the amount of teacher structuring and student participation. Lessons were videotaped and coded to demonstrate fidelity of treatment implementation. Ss completed aptitude measures at the beginning of the study and achievement and attitude measures at the end of the study; these included the Extended Range Vocabulary Test, Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and 2 achievement scales from the California Psychological Inventory. Generalized regression analysis indicated significant ATIs for achievement via independence and for Ability by Anxiety. Some similarities and some differences found when ATIs for college students and 9th-grade students were compared are noted. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).