The use of competition to motivate students is common but debated. The purpose of the study was: (a) to examine to whom teachers attribute the common emphasis on competition and (b) to explore the reasons teachers give to minimize competition or not in their classrooms. Teachers attribute the focus on competition least to teachers and then…

Achievement Goal Theory (AGT) is one of the most popular theoretical frameworks in motivation research. Despite its application to a variety of contexts, including, school, work, and sport, it has not yet been referenced in the field of school psychology. First, we review the theoretical underpinnings as told through the theory's evolving models,…

Evidence generally supports a positive association between growth mindset and academic outcomes, even if the experimental evidence for growth mindset interventions is somewhat more tenuous. From an applied perspective, the concept of growth mindsets has grown in popularity with a proliferation of materials readily available to teachers and school…

Professional development (PD) is one way to maintain or increase teacher effectiveness in any number of domains. However, PD comes in many formats and with a wide range of evidence on its effectiveness -- both of which can shape teachers' perspectives of the PD even before they participate. The purpose of this research was to examine how…

In computer-based testing (CBT) environments instructors can provide students with feedback immediately. Commonly, instructors give students their percentage correct without additional descriptive feedback. Our objectives were (a) to compare students' perceived usefulness of a percentage-only score report vs. a descriptive feedback report in a CBT…

Teachers assume personal responsibility in four domains: student motivation, student achievement, relationships with students, and the quality of their own teaching. In all existing research, pre-service and practicing teachers score lowest in the motivation domain. This may be because some teachers view motivation as a shared responsibility or…

During the northern hemisphere Winter 2020 academic term, university students had to adjust to remote learning in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This abrupt change provided a unique opportunity to examine students' motivation, engagement and perceptions of success and cheating under two learning conditions, namely traditional and remote. We…

Preservice teachers can be considered simultaneously students and teachers and therefore likely have both academic and professional goals. However, once in a professional program, predicting professional outcomes becomes somewhat more important than academic ones. This distinction may have implications for the selection of measurement tools used…

Students with learning disabilities (LD) are attending postsecondary education more than ever, but are also less likely to complete their education compared to non-LD peers. Using the Inputs-Environment-Outcomes model of Astin, we examined students with LD and non-LD peers during their first year of postsecondary studies. Using structural equation…

Background: Previous research has shown that pre-service teachers have low responsibility for student motivation and feel underprepared to deal with motivational issues. As an extension, researchers have designed interventions to shift teachers' beliefs about motivation or equip them with approaches to instruction, but never both. Aims: Following…

Self-determination theory (SDT) is one of the most well-known approaches to achievement motivation. However, the three basic psychological needs of SDT have not received equivalent attention in the literature: priority has been given to autonomy, followed by the need for competence, with research into relatedness lacking (Bachman and Stewart in…

During their education, preservice teachers begin to assume professional responsibilities and gain pedagogical knowledge. However, the question remains whether preservice teachers intend to use instructional practices that are effective in meeting their assumed responsibilities. Thus, we examined the concordance between preservice teachers'…

This study evaluated the psychometric properties of the Learning-Related Boredom Scale (LRBS) from the Academic Emotions Questionnaire (AEQ; Pekrun, Goetz, & Perry, 2005; Pekrun, Goetz, Titz, & Perry, 2002) in a sample of 405 university students from Canada and China. Multigroup confirmatory factor analysis was used to test the factor…

It has been theorized that students are most likely to ask why following unexpected, negative, and/or important events (Weiner, 1985); however, the unique contribution of these precursors to causal search and the resultant cognitions, emotions, and behaviors remain largely unclear. In the current study we examined causal search regarding test…

The linkages of achievement-related boredom with students' appraisals and performance outcomes were examined in a series of 5 exploratory, cross-sectional, and predictive investigations. Studies 1 and 2 assessed students' boredom in a single achievement episode (i.e., state achievement boredom); Studies 3, 4, and 5 focused on their habitual…