Background: Previous work suggests that the expectation of failure is related to higher test anxiety and achievement goals grounded in a fear of failure. Aim: To test the hypothesis, based on the work of Elliot and Pekrun (2007), that the relationship between perceived competence and test anxiety is mediated by achievement goal orientations.…

Background: Previous research has shown that pre-service teachers have low responsibility for student motivation and feel underprepared to deal with motivational issues. As an extension, researchers have designed interventions to shift teachers' beliefs about motivation or equip them with approaches to instruction, but never both. Aims: Following…

Background: Culturally responsive teaching (CRT) has been associated with increased student engagement and achievement. Its practice in classrooms, however, has been shown to be less than optimal. Nonetheless, certain teacher qualities have been suggested to facilitate its practice. Aims: The current study sought quantitative evidence in support…

Background: Traditionally writing instruction at the start of school has focused on developing students' ability to spell and handwrite. Teaching children explicit self-regulatory strategies for developing content and structure for their text has proved effective for students in later grades of primary (elementary) education. Aims: The present…

Background: Students commonly struggle with mathematics and mathematical problem-solving. Therefore, it is necessary to design and implement interventions aimed at improving these essential components of learning. Furthermore, the outcomes of these interventions can vary significantly and appear to be a function of a student's initial competencies…

Background: Given the strong relationship between executive functions and academic achievement, there has been great interest in improving executive functions. School-based group interventions targeting executive functions revealed encouraging results in preschoolers and young school children; however, there is a paucity of studies in older…

Background and Aim: Spaced restudy has been typically tested with written learning materials, but restudy with visual representations in actual classrooms is under-researched. We compared the effects of two spaced restudy interventions: A Diagram-Based Restudy (DBR) warm-up condition and a business-as-usual Text-Based Restudy (TBR) warm-up…

Background: In this study, the effect of guidance on students' performance was investigated. This effect was hypothesized to be manifested through a reduction of cognitive load and enhancement of self-explanations. Aim: The goal of this study was to investigate the effect of guiding questions on students' understanding of statistics. Sample and…

Background: In separate studies and research from different perspectives, five factors are found to be among those related to higher quality outcomes of student learning (academic achievement). Those factors are higher self-efficacy, deeper approaches to learning, higher quality teaching, students' perceptions that their workload is appropriate,…

Background: A key learning outcome in problem-solving domains is the development of procedural flexibility, where learners know multiple procedures and use them appropriately to solve a range of problems (e.g., Verschaffel, Luwel, Torbeyns, & Van Dooren, 2009). However, students often fail to become flexible problem solvers in mathematics. To…

Background: Education is aimed at students reaching conceptual understanding of the subject matter, because this leads to better performance and application of knowledge. Conceptual understanding depends on coherent and error-free knowledge structures. The construction of such knowledge structures can only be accomplished through active learning…

Background: Methods for teaching thinking may be described as out-of-context or infusion. Both approaches have potential to raise students' general cognitive processing ability and so raise academic achievement, but each has disadvantages. Aims: To describe and evaluate a theory-based learn to think (LTT) curriculum for primary school students,…

Background: Many countries rely on immigrants for population growth and to maintain a skilled workforce. However, many such immigrants face literacy-related barriers to success in education and in the labour force. Aims: This meta-analysis reviews experimental and quasi-experimental studies to examine strategies for teaching English literacy to…

Background: A significant number of children now enter formal education in England with reduced levels of proficiency in oral language. Children who come from disadvantaged backgrounds and who are English language learners (ELL) are at risk of limited oral language skills in English which impacts on later educational achievement. Aims: This paper…

Background: In the context of the British Government's policy directed on improving standards in schools, this paper presents research on the effects of a programme intended to promote the cognitive development of children in the first 2 years of primary school (Y1 & 2, aged 5-7 years). The programme is based on earlier work dealing with…