Students' ability beliefs about running activities in physical education/athletics classes were investigated longitudinally from the perspectives of Nicholls' conceptions of ability and Dweck's implicit theories of ability. The data for this study were provided by 44 students (20 boys; 24 girls) who participated in a larger longitudinal project on…

We investigated the effect of participating in two domains of extracurricular activities (sports and performance arts/clubs) in Grades 7 and 8 on Grade 9 academic motivation and letter grades, above baseline performance. Participants were 483 students (55% male; 33% Euro-American, 25% African American, and 39% Latino). Propensity score weighting…

Educators face decisions when incorporating an expanding array of technological resources in mathematics education and interventions. Guided by Bandura's theory of self-efficacy, which holds that self-efficacy augments personal accomplishments, this quantitative study explored the relationship of Web 2.0 technology use and the development of…

This study investigated the impact of Readers Theater on eighth-grade students, the majority of whom were reading below grade level. Over six weeks of a short story unit, one class participated in Readers Theater. The comparison group of like-ability students received more traditional literary and vocabulary instruction. Quantitative measures…

This article discusses a project that placed over 97% of Mars' topography made available from NASA into an interactive 3D multi-user online learning environment beginning in 2003. In 2005 curriculum materials that were created to support middle school math and science education were developed. Research conducted at the University of North Texas…

Discusses preservation of a historic house in Beaumont, Texas, by the National Endowment for the Arts' Architect-in-Residence program with help from eighth-grade volunteers. Notes attitude changes in one participating student, who had previously been failing mathematics, English, and American history, but received A's after the experience. (MH)

Whether there were differences in motivational and learning environment perceptions of students selected based on their performance on the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) was studied over 3 years in a public school district in Texas. The degree to which affective elements of student behavior varied according to their success on this…

Little prior research exists on the achievement motivation of Mexican American students. In a rural south Texas junior high school, 120 eighth-grade students completed the 1969 Achieving Tendency Scales and demographic and socioeconomic questionnaires. Subjects were equally divided among four groups: Mexican American males and females and Anglo…

Reported is a 1964 conference devoted to the problem of the low achiever in mathematics. Part I of the document presents five position papers concerned with motivation, Piaget's views on children's intellectual development, inplications of psychological research, the responsibility of school administrators, and business and industry cooperation…