Who's Helped by Help-Sessions in Introductory Science Courses?(Report‪)‬

The academic success of students in introductory science courses is influenced by a variety of factors, the most important of which is academic motivation (Moore, 2005, 2006, 2007; Thomas & Higbee, 2000). Students express their levels of academic motivation in many ways, including their class attendance, amount of studying, compliance with assignments, and participation in course-related activities. However, many of these motivation-related behaviors are difficult to study because they involve self-reported data (e.g., asking students how much they studied for an exam) that are highly unreliable (Caron et al., 1992; Sappington et al., 2002). Class attendance is a clear expression of students' academic motivation because it requires a clear and ongoing effort that is directly related to academic success (Launius, 1997). Although some studies have concluded that class attendance is not related to academic performance in non-science courses (e.g., Berenson et al.,1992; Hammen & Kelland, 1994; Thompson & Plummer, 1979), most studies of science courses have reported a strong correlation of class attendance and academic success (Launius, 1997; Moore, 2003, 2007). Does this correlation of grades and attendance extend to optional help-sessions that are often associated with introductory science courses?