Efficacy of an assessment instrument to measure affective and cognitive learning domains of students enrolled in food or nutrition courses

The purpose of the project was to evaluate the feasibility of using a public domain instrument, the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ), to assess affective and cognitive learning domains among volunteer students ( n =44) enrolled in food and nutrition courses. Using SAS and alpha 0.01, significant Pearson's Product Moment Correlation Coefficients were calculated between the MSLQ scale, intrinsic motivation, and the following MSLQ scales: task value ( r =0.55), metacognition ( r =0.5) and time management ( r =0.54). Correlations between task value and metacognition, students’ effort, rehearsal or elaboration learning strategies were r =0.48, 0.51, 0.55 and 0.58, respectively. Correlations between students’ effort and time management, metacognition and sense of self‐efficacy were r =0.71, 0.73 and 0.48, respectively. Significant inverse correlations were identified between students’ fear of tests and their sense of self‐efficacy ( r =−0.50) or the effort expended to master learning ( r =−0.40). Multiple regression analysis revealed that a three predictor variable model including metacognition, peer help and seeking help from the instructor explained 51.6% of the variance in scores of the first course exam ( F =14.22, P =0.0001). Educators need to consider how cognitive and affective differences in learning processes influence curricular and instructional decisions in human nutrition and dietetics.