This edited volume presents innovative current research in the field of Science Education. The chapter's deal with a wide variety of topics and research approaches, conducted in a range of contexts and settings. Together they make a strong contribution to knowledge on science teaching and learning. The book consists of selected presentations from…

This paper presents a study on tattooing as a topic for chemistry education. The selection of the topic was inspired by a newly suggested framework, which focuses on the question of relevance of science education. The aim of this case was to get evidence on how topics selected based on the suggested model of relevance of science education affect…

Across several countries, science is often regarded as unpopular and a male-dominated domain. Furthermore, the number of students who are interested in science education or intend to work in the field of science is relatively low. This might be due to expectations adolescents hold towards science and successful scientists. The current…

Civics courses strive to promote students' political competencies, which according to the model of Detjen et al. incorporate content knowledge, abilities to make political judgements and take political action, as well as motivational skills and attitudes. For achieving these goals, high hopes are placed on active learning tools such as political…

Most self-regulated learning theories are imbedded within a social-cognitive framework and comprise cognitive, metacognitive and motivational components. Nevertheless, these theories partly neglect volition, which is necessary for implementing learning intentions. Therefore, the present study is frontline as it aimed to integrate volition within a…

Academic success in early childhood teacher education is important because it provides a foundation for occupational development in terms of professional competence, the quality of educational practices, as well as career success. Consequently, identifying factors that can explain differences in academic success is an important research task.…

School motivation and attachment typically decline after the transition to middle school. According to the stage-environment fit approach, extracurricular activities are supposed to promote motivation. However, research has shown that the effects depend on the quality of the activities, which usually is measured by assessing students' individual…

This cross-national study investigates the perception of the impact of students' relationships towards teachers and peers on scholastic motivation in a total sample of 1477 seventh and eighth grade German (N?=?1088) and Canadian (N?=?389) secondary school students. By applying Multigroup Confirmatory Latent Class Analysis in Mplus we confirmed…

It is now well known that adolescence is frequently marked by a decline in students' achievement motivation, which in turn is often associated with a decline in individual school self-concept. Less is known about the mediating role of socio-motivational support in the association between individual school self-concept and achievement motivation.…

Nearly all primate species are globally threatened. Conservation approaches need to focus on local people and users of resources from the habitats of the apes. Students worldwide should become aware of the context and relationships in school, and they should change their usage and behaviour as the ultimate goals. This study explored the…

In this study, we investigated effects of the proportion of language minority students in classrooms on the development of students' intrinsic motivation in language lessons and the mediating role of instructional climate (e.g., teacher support, focus on student interests). In addition, we explored the interaction between the proportion of…

Many researchers consider a lacking interest in science and the students' belief that science is too demanding as major reasons why young people do not strive for science-related careers. In this article, we first delineated a theoretical framework to investigate the importance of interest, self-concept, and school factors regarding students'…

Based on Weiner's attributional theory of intrapersonal motivation, the mediating effect of attributions between teacher judgment and student motivation was examined. In two studies, 144 German and 272 Chinese fourth-grade elementary school students were tested on their mathematical achievement, causal ascriptions for success and failure,…

Students' cognitive and motivational profiles have a large impact on their academic careers. The development of such profiles can partly be explained by the reciprocal internal/external frame of reference model (RI/E model). The RI/E model predicts positive and negative longitudinal effects between academic self-concepts and achievements within…

School success is closely linked to intelligence but also to non-cognitive factors such as achievement motivation. The present study examines which non-cognitive factors predict secondary school grades and looks at reasons why female students tend to outperform their male counterparts. A sample of 554 German freshman students provided measures of…