Procedural flexibility is an important skill for algebra. Although prior work has focused on measuring students' procedural flexibility using arithmetic problems, word problems may also capture students' flexibility because of their open-ended nature. To date, no published study has examined the use of word problems as another measure of…

Background: After elementary school, students in Germany are separated into different school tracks (i.e., school types) with the aim of creating homogeneous student groups in secondary school. Consequently, the development of students' reading achievement diverges across school types. Findings on this achievement gap have been criticized as…

The present study examined the four sources of self-efficacy (mastery experience, vicarious experience, verbal and social persuasion, and physiological state) and how these predict academic self-efficacy over time in N = 1597 (t[subscript 1]) and N = 1373 (t[subscript 2]) 7th-grade students. We simultaneously differentiated three different…

We examined the use of balance and inverse methods in equation solving. The main difference between the balance and inverse methods lies in the operational line (e.g. +2 on both sides vs -2 becomes +2). Differential element interactivity favours the inverse method because the interaction between elements occurs on both sides of the equation for…

Background: The gender gap in education in favour of girls is a widely known phenomenon. Boys generally have higher dropout rates, obtain lower grades, and show lower engagement. Insight into factors related to these academic outcomes could help to address the gender gap. Aims: This study investigated, for Dutch language classes, (1) how boys and…

In this short-term longitudinal study, we systematically examined the distinctiveness of guilt- and shame-proneness in early adolescents (N = 395, mean age = 11.8 years) in terms of differential relations with peer reported prosocial behavior, withdrawal, and aggression. Results from structural equation modeling indicated that guilt-proneness…

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…