International Journal of Education and Management Studies

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Academic Help-Seeking: A Constructivist Approach in Learning and Achievement


Affiliations
1 Syamaprasad Institute of Education and Training, Kolkata, West Bengal, India
2 Department of Education, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, West Bengal, India
     

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Academic achievement has become the prime concern of teachers, parents as well as of students in the 21st century. Academic achievement decides future success, social acceptance, emotional stability and self-esteem. Therefore, the prime concern of present day teaching-learning process is the eradication of low achievement. An important factor which creates performance gap between high and low achievers is the use constructivist learning strategies. High achievers were often found as more self-regulated learners and better users of cognitive constructivist strategies. Academic help-seeking is one such under focused constructivist strategy which plays an important part in students' learning but has been ignored by researchers for a long time. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to enlighten the readers about the role of academic help-seeking as a constructivist strategy in academic achievement and how high and low achievers differ in academic help-seeking. Based on the findings from different literatures, the present paper also established the fact that high achievers are better help-seekers than low achievers. Thus the current paper predicted that low achievers could be made better achievers by bringing changes in their help-seeking strategies. The role of teachers and parents in improving academic help-seeking behavior has also been discussed.

Keywords

Academic Help-Seeking, Academic Achievement, Constructivist Approach, Learning Strategies.
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  • Academic Help-Seeking: A Constructivist Approach in Learning and Achievement

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Authors

Sreepama Chowdhury
Syamaprasad Institute of Education and Training, Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Santoshi Haider
Department of Education, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, West Bengal, India

Abstract


Academic achievement has become the prime concern of teachers, parents as well as of students in the 21st century. Academic achievement decides future success, social acceptance, emotional stability and self-esteem. Therefore, the prime concern of present day teaching-learning process is the eradication of low achievement. An important factor which creates performance gap between high and low achievers is the use constructivist learning strategies. High achievers were often found as more self-regulated learners and better users of cognitive constructivist strategies. Academic help-seeking is one such under focused constructivist strategy which plays an important part in students' learning but has been ignored by researchers for a long time. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to enlighten the readers about the role of academic help-seeking as a constructivist strategy in academic achievement and how high and low achievers differ in academic help-seeking. Based on the findings from different literatures, the present paper also established the fact that high achievers are better help-seekers than low achievers. Thus the current paper predicted that low achievers could be made better achievers by bringing changes in their help-seeking strategies. The role of teachers and parents in improving academic help-seeking behavior has also been discussed.

Keywords


Academic Help-Seeking, Academic Achievement, Constructivist Approach, Learning Strategies.

References