As discipline-based astronomy education researchers become more interested in experimentally testing innovative teaching strategies to enhance learning in undergraduate introductory astronomy survey courses ("ASTRO 101"), scholars are placing increased attention toward better understanding factors impacting student gain scores on the…

This article shares thoughts about motivating young adolescents from the perspective of middle level students. The most compelling thread to emerge from the interviews with students was the fact that teachers matter. Teachers have a direct and significant impact on students' motivation to achieve. This article identifies three ways in which…

Drawing on data from 1740 pupil questionnaires and 160 pupils in focus-group interviews, the study aimed to gain insight into British pupils' ideas about why they study history at school. The paper considers the implications of these ideas for history teachers and teacher educators. The data suggest that many pupils have very vague ideas about the…

The present study was designed to identify and characterize the major factors that influence entering science teacher candidates' preferences for different types of instructional activities, and to analyze what these factors suggest about teacher candidates' orientations towards science teaching. The study involved prospective teachers enrolled in…

Background: Goal-setting is not always the simple motivational technique when used in an applied sport setting especially in relation to the meaning of achievement in competitive sport. Goal-setting needs to be examined in a broader context than goal-setting theory, such as provided by social cognitive theories of motivation. In football, the…

This case study examines a U.S. History class where a veteran teacher uses challenging primary source documents and a debate to encourage his students to think critically about history. The teacher is knowledgeable about the subject matter and articulates a clear purpose for teaching. Surprisingly, the author finds that the teacher's methods,…

Over the past decade many social studies educators have called for teachers to engage their students in historical interpretation. This case study examined the beliefs and practices related to engaging students in historical interpretation of four secondary social studies teachers from their teacher preparation through their first year in the…

This paper reports outcomes of a project in which five teachers developed a web-based user guide to integrating new technologies in secondary science teaching. The guide aimed to support the initial education of trainee teachers, and the professional development of mentors, in working with, and understanding the affordances of, new technologies.…

Situational interest has been identified as an important motivational variable that has an impact on students' academic performances, yet little is known about how the specific variable of the learning environment might trigger students' situational interest. The purpose of this study was to investigate sources that stimulate the interest of…

This paper extracts and elaborates rural secondary teachers' most effective reported motivating strategies. From the data generated by two years of mixed method research in rural secondary schools, these strategies emerged as among the most successful. Selection of best practices was based on a synthesis of what both teachers and students reported…

Teachers' informal discussions of learner motivation often emphasize the need to find ways to motivate learners, most usually through "fun" or "dynamic" activities. This paper starts from the assumption, however, that part of the work of the teacher is to avoid the "demotivation" of learners, and that there is a need to consider the overall…

Most academic science educators encourage teachers to provide their students with access to more authentic science activities. What can and do teachers say to increase students' interests in participating in opportunities to do real science? What are the discursive "resources" they draw on to introduce authentic science to students? The purpose of…

This study seeks to explain prevalent gender differences in academic achievement of 84 third-year students enrolled in a pre-service ELT (English Language Teaching) teacher training department. The study collected both qualitative and quantitative data through semi-structured interviews from a sample of 38 students. A content analysis of the data…

In the year 2000, what started as an isolated pedagogical gambit at Glendale Community College (GCC) in Southern California has evolved into a program-wide initiative to revise the developmental composition curriculum and boost student learning outcomes. One instructor, frustrated with poor student motivation and success in his precollegiate…

This article explores the fine detail of practice by three teachers, all recognised as effective teachers of literacy. The three were observed during nine literacy lessons (three lessons each), working with Year 2 classes (6/7-year-olds) in successful inner-city primary schools in the south of England. Data collection took place in 2003, just as…