Abstract
In this chapter, we describe the importance of assessing and developing conscientiousness in students and how we are approaching this challenge. After discussing the benefits conscientiousness has for learning, we describe the process we are using to create a valid stealth assessment of conscientiousness. We then discuss the current state of this work and suggest next steps and areas of future research around conscientiousness. Finally, we broaden our scope to discuss the strengths and limitations of using stealth assessment to measure noncognitive competencies, as well as give some recommendations to help others use this approach. Our hope is that this chapter will demonstrate both (a) the importance and complexity of conscientiousness measurement in educational settings, and (b) a general process for thinking about and designing assessments for noncognitive competencies.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Abe, J. A. (2005). The predictive validity of the Five Factor Model of personality with preschool age children: A nine year follow-up study. Journal of Research in Personality, 39, 423–442. doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2004.05.002.
Almond, R. G., Mislevy, R. J., Steinberg, L. S., Yan, D., & Williamson, D. M. (2015). Bayesian networks in educational assessment. New York, NY: Springer.
Bajor, J. K., & Baltes, B. B. (2003). The relationship between selection optimization with compensation, conscientiousness, motivation, and performance. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 63, 347–367. doi:10.1016/S0001-8791(02)00035-0.
Bakker, A. B., Demerouti, E., & ten Brummelhuis, L. L. (2012). Work engagement, performance, and active learning: The role of conscientiousness. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 80, 555–564. doi:10.1016/j.jvb.2011.08.008.
Chamorro-Premuzic, T., Furnham, A., & Lewis, M. (2007). Personality and approaches to learning predict preference for different teaching methods. Learning and Individual Differences, 17, 241–250. doi:10.1016/j.lindif.2006.12.001.
Cheramie, R. A., & Simmering, M. J. (2010). Improving individual learning for trainees with low conscientiousness. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 25(1), 44–57. doi:10.1108/02683941011013867.
Colquitt, J. A., & Simmering, M. J. (1998). Conscientiousness, goal orientation, and motivation to learn during the learning process: A longitudinal study. Journal of Applied Psychology, 83(4), 654–665.
Drake, K., & Belsky, J. (2014). From early attachment to engagement with learning in school: The role of self-regulation and persistence. Developmental Psychology, 50(5), 1350–1361. doi:10.1037/a0032779.
Duckworth, A. L., Peterson, C., Matthews, M. D., & Kelly, D. R. (2007). Grit: Perseverance and passion for long-term goals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92(6), 1087–1101. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.92.6.1087.
Dudley, N. M., Orvis, K. A., Lebiecki, J. E., & Cortina, J. M. (2006). A meta-analytic investigation of conscientiousness in the prediction of job performance: Examining the intercorrelations and the incremental validity of narrow traits. Journal of Applied Psychology, 91(1), 40–57. doi:10.1037/0021-9010.91.1.40.
Eisenberger, R. (1992). Learned industriousness. Psychological Review, 99(2), 248–267.
Eisenberger, R., & Leonard, J. M. (1980). Effects of conceptual task difficulty on generalized persistence. American Journal of Psychology, 93(2), 285–298.
Feather, N. T. (1961). The relationship of persistence at a task to expectation of success and achievement related motives. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 63(3), 552–561.
Gee, J. P. (2007). What video games have to teach use about learning and literacy (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Palgrave/Macmillan.
Goldberg, L. R. (1999). A broad-bandwidth, public domain, personality inventory measuring the lower-level facets of several five-factor models. In I. Mervielde, I. Deary, F. De Fruyt, & F. Ostendorf (Eds.), Personality psychology in Europe (Vol. 7, pp. 7–28). Tilburg: Tilburg University Press.
Hamachek, D. E. (1978). Psychodynamics of normal and neurotic perfectionism. Psychology: A Journal of Human Behavior, 15(1), 27–33.
Lenhart, A., Kahne, J., Middaugh, E., Macgill, A. R., Evans, C., & Vitak, J. (2008). Teens’ gaming experiences are diverse and include significant social interaction and civic engagement. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2008/Teens-Video-Games-and-Civics.aspx
MacCann, C., Duckworth, A. L., & Roberts, R. D. (2009). Empirical identification of the major facets of Conscientiousness. Learning and Individual Differences, 19, 451–458. doi:10.1016/j.lindif.2009.03.007.
McCrae, R. R., & Costa, P. T. (1987). Validation of the five-factor model of personality across instruments and observers. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52(1), 81–90.
Mislevy, R. J., Steinberg, L. S., & Almond, R. G. (2003). On the structure of educational assessments. Measurement: Interdisciplinary Research and Perspective, 1(1), 3–62.
Noftle, E. E., & Robins, R. W. (2007). Personality predictors of academic outcomes: Big Five correlates of GPA and SAT scores. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 93(1), 116–130. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.93.1.116.
O’Connor, M. C., & Paunonen, S. V. (2007). Big Five personality predictors of post-secondary academic performance. Personality and Individual Differences, 43, 971–990. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2007.03.017.
Parker, W. D. (1997). An empirical typology of perfectionism in academically talented children. American Educational Research Journal, 34(3), 545–562.
Partnership for 21st Century Learning. (2015). Retrieved from http://www.p21.org
Paulhus, D. L. (1991). Measurement and control of response bias. In J. P. Robinson, P. R. Shaver, & L. S. Wrightsman (Eds.), Measures of personality and social psychological attitudes (pp. 17–59). San Diego, CA: Academic.
Perry, S. J., Hunter, E. M., Witt, L. A., & Harris, K. J. (2010). P = f (Conscientiousness x Ability): Examining the facets of conscientiousness. Human Performance, 23, 343–360. doi:10.1080/08959285.2010.501045.
Poropat, A. E. (2009). A meta-analysis of the five-factor model of personality and academic performance. Psychological Bulletin, 135(2), 322–338. doi:10.1037/a0014996.
Roberts, B. W., Kuncel, N. R., Shiner, R., Caspi, A., & Goldberg, L. R. (2007). The power of personality: The comparative validity of personality traits, socioeconomic status, and cognitive ability for predicting important life outcomes. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 2(4), 313–345.
Shute, V. J. (2011). Stealth assessment in computer-based games to support learning. In S. Tobias & J. D. Fletcher (Eds.), Computer games and instruction (pp. 503–524). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishers.
Shute, V. J., & Ventura, M. (2013). Measuring and supporting learning in games: Stealth assessment. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Shute, V. J., Ventura, M., & Ke, F. (2015). The power of play: The effects of Portal 2 and Lumosity on cognitive and noncognitive skills. Computers & Education, 80, 58–67. doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2014.08.013.
Shute, V. J., Ventura, M., & Kim, Y. J. (2013). Assessment and learning of qualitative physics in Newton’s Playground. The Journal of Educational Research, 106, 423–430. doi:10.1080/00220671.2013.832970.
Shute, V. J., & Zapata-Rivera, D. (2012). Adaptive educational systems. In P. Durlach (Ed.), Adaptive technologies for training and education (pp. 7–27). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Stoeber, J., & Otto, K. (2006). Positive conceptions of perfectionism: Approaches, evidence, challenges. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 10(4), 295–319.
Terry-Short, L. A., Owens, R. G., Slade, P. D., & Dewey, M. E. (1995). Positive and negative perfectionism. Personality and Individual Differences, 18(5), 663–668.
Trapmann, S., Hell, B., Hirn, J. W., & Schuler, H. (2007). Meta-analysis of the relationship between the Big Five and academic success at university. Journal of Psychology, 215(2), 132–151. doi:10.1027/0044-3409.215.2.132.
Ventura, M., & Shute, V. (2013). The validity of a game-based assessment of persistence. Computers in Human Behavior, 29, 2568–2572. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2013.06.033.
Wang, L., Shute, V. J., & Moore, G. (2015). Lessons learned and best practices of stealth assessments. International Journal of Gaming and Computer Mediated Simulations, 74(4), 66–87. doi:10.4018/IJGCMS.2015100104.
Wilson, K. A., Bedwell, W. L., Lazzara, E. H., Salas, E., Burke, C. S., Estock, J. L., … Conkey, C. (2009). Relationships between game attributes and learning outcomes. Simulation & Gaming, 40(2), 217–266. doi: 10.1177/1046878108321866
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Moore, G.R., Shute, V.J. (2017). Improving Learning Through Stealth Assessment of Conscientiousness. In: Marcus-Quinn, A., Hourigan, T. (eds) Handbook on Digital Learning for K-12 Schools. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33808-8_21
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33808-8_21
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-33806-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-33808-8
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)