Inservice, preservice, and prospective teachers and nonteacher controls (N=408) participated in a cross-sectional study of the development of beliefs about use of critical-thinking (CT) activities with different learner populations. Teachers' self-selection of their careers was associated with strong support for high-CT activities for both high-…

The authors examined relations among motivational styles and school adjustment in a sample of 786 7th and 8th grade U.S. students. Specifically, the authors tested the hypothesis that agency beliefs mediate relations between styles of motivational self-regulation (i.e., intrinsic, identified, introjected, and extrinsic) and school adjustment…

The present study on the influence of parental involvement on students' academic achievement overcame limitations in current research by including simultaneous considerations of multidimensional, longitudinal, mediational, and ethnic factors. Results indicated (a) significant ethnic differences in the direct effects of parental involvement on…

The authors explored a new means of assessing responsiveness to decoding-skill intervention to model individual differences in the transfer of decoding-skill gains to other aspects of reading acquisition in 35 children, Grades 3 through 5, with reading disabilities. Seven different parameters, representing responsiveness to decoding instruction,…

Previous research has shown better text learning after rereading versus 1 reading of a text. However, rereading effects have only been explored using immediate tests, whereas most students face delays between study and test. In 2 experiments, 423 college students read a text once, twice in massed fashion, or twice with 1 week between trials.…

The present 9-month longitudinal study investigated relations between Chinese native language phonological processing skills and early Chinese and English reading abilities among 227 kindergarteners in Hong Kong. Phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming, and short-term verbal memory differed in their relations to concurrent and subsequent…

The authors examined the effect of prereading relevance instructions on reading time and learning for 2 types of text. Experiment 1 found that relevance instructions increased learning for relevant segments without increasing reading time when reading a scientific text sentence by sentence on a computer. In contrast, the same segments were learned…

This mixed-methods study examined cognitive correlates and learning outcomes related to the use of copy and paste (CP). Quantitative results indicated that college students whose CP capability was restricted to a small amount of text as they entered information into a matrix-like tool recalled more facts, recognized more concepts, and inferred…

The authors investigated whether guidance and reflection would facilitate science learning in an interactive multimedia game. College students learned how to design plants to survive in different weather conditions. In Experiment 1, they learned with an agent that either guided them with corrective and explanatory feedback or corrective feedback…

Seventy 8th-grade students (including talented writers, those with average ability, and students in need of special education services) participated in an integrated social studies and language arts unit designed to promote historical understandings and argumentative writing skills. The historical reasoning instruction lasted 12 days, and the…

The authors investigated ways of encouraging students to consider more counterarguments when writing argumentative texts. One hundred eighty-four undergraduates wrote essays on TV violence. In Experiment 1, students given specific goals generated more counterarguments and rebuttals than controls. In Experiment 2, some participants were provided…

This research examined changes in intrinsic and extrinsic motivation during the transition from junior to senior high school as well as the impact of motivational changes on various educational consequences (i.e., dropout intentions, absenteeism, homework frequency, and educational aspirations). A total of 646 participants completed a…

Age differences in intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and the relationships of each to academic outcomes were examined in an ethnically diverse sample of 797 3rd-grade through 8th-grade children. Using independent measures, the authors found intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to be only moderately correlated, suggesting that they may be largely…

The study examines the effects of a quasi-experimental classroom goal condition (mastery, performance-approach, combined mastery/performance-approach) and entering personal goal orientations on motivation, emotional well-being, help seeking, cognitive engagement, and achievement for 237 upper elementary students during a 5-week math unit…

Two experiments were conducted to understand the processes through which 5th graders discriminate relevant from irrelevant information when solving mathematical story problems. Visual scanning was recorded and coded as directed toward relevant information, irrelevant information, the question, workspace, and elsewhere. Experiment 1 focused on the…