In this study, we examined how self-regulated learning (SRL) and gender influences performance in an educational game for 8th-grade students (N = 130). Crystal Island--Outbreak is an immersive, inquiry-based, narrative-centered learning environment featuring a microbiology science mystery aligned with 8th-grade science curriculum. SRL variables…

Reading for learning frequently requires integrating text and picture information into coherent knowledge structures. This article presents an experimental study aimed at analyzing the strategies used by students for integrating text and picture information. Four combinations of texts and pictures (text-picture units) were selected from textbooks…

Background: The multidimensionality of the academic self-concept in terms of domain specificity has been well established in previous studies, whereas its multidimensionality in terms of motivational functions (the so-called affect-competence separation) needs further examination. Aim: This study aims at exploring differential effects of enjoyment…

Background: Parental involvement in homework is a home-based type of involvement in children's education. Research and theory suggest that it is beneficial for learning and achievement under certain conditions and for particular groups of individuals. Aims: The study examined whether different types of parents' involvement in homework…

Background: It is well established that the activity of producing a text is a complex one involving three main cognitive processes: Planning, translating, and revising. Although these processes are crucial in skilled writing, beginning and developing writers seem to struggle with them, mainly with planning and revising. Aims: To trace the…

Background: The reciprocal I/E model (RI/EM) combines the internal/external frame of reference model (I/EM) with the reciprocal effects model (REM). The RI/EM extends the I/EM longitudinally and the REM across domains. The model predicts that, within domains, mathematics and verbal achievement (VACH) and academic self-concept have positive effects…

This research examined the idea that children's parent-oriented motivation underlies the benefits of parents' involvement on children's engagement and ultimately achievement in school. Beginning in the fall of 7th grade, 825 American and Chinese children (mean age = 12.73 years) reported on their parents' involvement in their learning as well as…

Background: This study examined students' perceptions of autonomy-supportive teaching (AST) and its relations to internalization of pro-social values and bullying in class. Aims: We hypothesized that: (1) teachers' AST, which involves provision of rationale and taking the student's perspective, would relate positively to students' identified…

Study goals were to assess: (a) the development of academic interests from middle childhood through late adolescence; (b) the degree to which junior high and high school transitions, parents' educational expectations, interests, and education were related to changes in academic interests; and (c) the longitudinal links between youths' academic…

The authors provide an analytic framework for studying the joint influence of personal achievement goals and classroom goal structures on achievement-relevant outcomes. This framework encompasses 3 models (the direct effect model, indirect effect model, and interaction effect model), each of which addresses a different aspect of the joint…

This study investigated changes in student motivation to participate in physical education and some determinants of these changes over a period of 3 years. Measures were taken twice a year, from age 13 until age 15, from a sample of Greek junior high school students. Multilevel modeling analyses showed significant decreases in task-involving…

The present study examined the developmental course of perceived efficacy for self-regulated learning and its contribution to academic achievement and likelihood of remaining in school in a sample of 412 Italian students (48% males and 52% females ranging in age from 12 to 22 years). Latent growth curve analysis revealed a progressive decline in…

Background: To effectively respond to the need for greater CT (critical thinking) in the classroom, this study examines the effects of cultivating CT skills within civic education to maximize its potential. Despite realizing the importance of CT in education, schools do not tend to apply it. Furthermore, since students frequently do not raise…

Proponents of achievement goal theory typically posit social comparison to be associated with performance goals but not with mastery goals (C. Ames, 1992). Contrary to this postulate, there is some evidence that individuals who are experimentally induced to adopt mastery goals may also use social comparison (e.g., R. Butler, 1992). However, such…

The purpose of this study was to explore whether, in naturalistic physical education classes, the relation between teachers' early expectations and students' later perceived competence was moderated by the extent to which the motivational climate created by the teachers was autonomy supportive. Using a 1-year longitudinal design, data were…