This study compared the effects of two information presentation formats on learning to solve problems in electrical circuits. In one condition, the split-source format, information relating to procedural aspects of the functioning of an electrical circuit was not integrated in a circuit diagram, while information in the integrated format condition…

Background: Although considerable research has examined beliefs and learning outcomes (e.g. Schommer, 1990, 1993a, 1993b; Schommer & Dunnell, 1997), little has looked at the relationship between beliefs and the actual learning process. Aims: This research examines the relationship between beliefs about learning and knowledge, and reports of…

Background: Previous research suggests that children with specific comprehension difficulties have problems with the generation of inferences. This raises important questions as to whether poor comprehenders have poor comprehension skills generally, or whether their problems are confined to specific inference types. Aims: The main aims of the…

Background: In recent decades, two lines of research, phenomenographic and meta-cognitive, have examined students' approaches and epistemological beliefs about learning. To date there has been very little research describing the change in epistemological beliefs in European secondary students, or analysing interrelationships between…

Background: This paper presents results from the first wave of a longitudinal study examining the effects of various psychosocial variables on scholastic achievement and behaviour at school. Aims: The main aim is to investigate the nature and strength of the effects of major individual difference dimensions on important outcome variables at school…

Background: Carrying out whole tasks is often too difficult for novice learners attempting to acquire complex skills. The common solution is to split up the tasks into a number of smaller steps. The number of steps must be optimized for efficient and effective learning. Aim: The aim of the study is to investigate the relation between the number of…

Background: When developing a domain-specific academic self-concept, students are not restricted to social comparisons; they may also make temporal or dimensional comparisons. Aims: The main purpose of this study was to examine whether these different types of comparison trigger paradoxical effects of praise and criticism in the sense described by…

Background: Research indicates that affective aspects of development provide a basis for autonomous learning. Pupils' liking for school may be a useful indicator of their relationships with teachers and the school. Aims: The aim of the research reported in this paper is to establish the properties of a measure of pupils' liking for school and to…

Background: In the last decade, there has been a growing interest, both in the UK and abroad, in developing early screening tests for dyslexia that can be used with very young children. In addition to measures of literacy achievement, such screening tests typically aim to identify underlying difficulties, such as phonological deficits, that might…

Background: A Vygotskian framework links cognitive change to collaborative interaction with a more competent partner whereas a Piagetian perspective supports the view that cognitive conflict arising from peer interaction leads to cognitive change. Aims: The study investigated the effect of collaborative learning on children's problem-solving…

Background: A small number of prior studies have found that victims of school bullying tend to exhibit poor social skills. Few of these have examined this issue from multiple perspectives, and there has been a focus on a restricted range of social skills. Aims: To determine the extent to which self, peers, and teachers regard victims as having…

With the growing adoption of the Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) system state-wide in New South Wales, Australia, it was of interest to determine the readiness of behaviour specialists to conduct Functional Behaviour Assessments (FBA) as part of the third tier of School-wide PBS provision. This article presents the findings from a survey…

This paper examines the relationship between key predictors of middle school students' interest for statistical literacy, including their self-efficacy for statistical literacy and their prior mathematics achievement. Given the lack of research in the statistical literacy domain, a review of the mathematics education literature confirms the…

Providing a curriculum that promotes personal growth and wellbeing is an overarching learning outcome of the Western Australian Curriculum Framework (Curriculum Framework, 1998). However, little is known about what constitutes and causes wellbeing of students in our primary schools. In the study reported in this paper the happiness of 312…

Adolescent participation in extracurricular activities is associated with numerous positive outcomes, yet the mechanisms underlying this relationship are largely unknown. This study had two goals: to investigate the association between participation in extracurricular activities and indicators of positive and negative development for Australian…