The activity described here was designed to center on the observation of circadian rhythms in plants through the example of growing beans. The aim was to develop students' skills of systematic observation of various variables in the long-term. Our study took place at a Science and Arts Center with 17 gifted students in the third and fourth grades…

The purpose of this study was to seek to understand and describe current educators' perceptions of building relationships in education. Thirty-five K-12 educators completed reflective writing responses as part of this phenomenological study. The thematic analysis constructed four themes: (a) "students are motivated to learn when strong…

While it is well established that positive peer relationships lead to positive outcomes, little is known about the mediating role of school motivation on the association between perceived peer support and school achievement among middle grades students. Even less is known about the effect of gender on this mediation. The current study examined…

This study compares the effects of Spherical Video-Based Virtual Reality (SVVR) and Conventional Video (CV) on students' writing achievement and motivation. A quasi-experimental method was used in a primary school's Chinese Descriptive Article Writing courses. Twenty-eight fourth-grade students were randomly divided into two groups. In the SVVR…

Throughout the United States, dual enrollment programs enable high school students to earn college credit by completing college classes while in high school. In 2015, the State of Ohio expanded grade-level eligibility to participate in the state's dual enrollment program, College Credit Plus, to seventh- and eighth-grade students. The purpose of…

The heterogeneity in the developmental trajectories of math motivational beliefs (i.e., expectancies for success and subjective task value beliefs) was examined among Asian and Latinx male and female students from Southern California across Grades 8 through 10 (n = 2,710; 50% female; 85% Latinx; 15% Asian; M[subscript age] = 13.77). By conducting…

When young children evaluate their confidence, their monitoring is often overoptimistic, that is, inaccurate. The present study investigated a potential underlying mechanism for kindergarteners' and second graders' overconfidence within a paired associates learning paradigm. We implemented a pre-monitoring phase motivating children to…

Research shows that motivation is a critical precursor to students' science achievement. However, research on the topic yields ambiguous results in different cultural contexts. While the positive association between motivation and science achievement has been evidenced universally, the relatively predictive effect and strength of different…

Strengthening civic literacy needs to be done because this can help individuals become more critical, active, and responsible citizens. Strong civic literacy can help a person understand his rights and obligations as a citizen, as well as how to participate in political and governmental processes. It can also help individuals make informed…

This study examined the reciprocal dynamics of teacher autonomy support with student motivation and engagement during late elementary and early middle school. A total of 861 students in grades 5-7 reported on three components of teacher autonomy support (choice, relevance, and respect), as well as their own engagement and self-system processes…

The primary objective of this study is to explore the interrelation between motivation, self-efficacy, and behavioral engagement in primary school mathematics learning. This study also examines the mediating role of self-efficacy in the relationship between motivation and behavioral engagement. The research involved 660 fifth and sixth grade…

This paper examines the spillover effects of maternal education in elementary classrooms in the context of Vietnam. Drawing from the sample of students who are randomly assigned to classrooms, we find that exposure to classmates whose mothers are well-educated positively influences student achievement. The heterogeneity analyses reveal that the…

"Using Educational Psychology in Teaching" helps readers learn to apply educational psychology theories and research to their own classroom practice. This book teaches using an integrated-case approach, with every chapter starting with a true-life classroom case study. The case is then woven throughout the chapter. The 12th Edition…

Collaboration is an early emerging component of successful cooperative relations that produces a cascade of positive social preferences between collaborators. Concurrently, robust preferences for affiliated others may restrict these benefits to in-group peers. We investigated how in-group affiliation (based on minimal group markers) and…

Motivation is known to fluctuate, often declining, over time. Research on how motivation changes across school years is ubiquitous, yet little research examines changes in motivation within one school year. In this study, we model how third- through fifth-grade students' mathematics motivation (i.e., expectancies and values) changes over two years…