Intelligence is not fixed. While many of us may not be innately talented in all areas of learning, all of us are capable of learning anything. It is important that teachers help communicate this concept to students and help students to develop this growth mindset. This article first compares growth and fixed mindsets, discussing some of the…

The disproportionately high rates of school exclusion and lower levels of academic achievement of students from particular minority ethnic groups have been a focus of investigation in educational research across the world for some time. This articles uses a communities of practice framework to examine how restorative practice can draw on family…

The author wrote a piece called "What Our Children Should Learn about 9/11." In that piece, the author made just four simple points. These include: (1) children should know the facts; (2) once they had a grounding in the facts, the children should not abjure moral judgment; (3) children should learn to make both analytical and moral…

Reiss ("The normal personality: a new way of thinking about people." Cambridge University Press, New York, 2008) empirically derived a reliable and valid taxonomy of 16 life motives ("psychological needs"). The model suggests six motivational reasons for low achievement in school. Low achievement may be motivated by fear of failure (high need for…

This article describes key elements for mathematics teachers, through the faculty development process, to increase student engagement and motivation in learning mathematics. It addresses common barriers facing student motivation and achievement in the field of mathematics and provides potential remedies from a faculty development viewpoint to…

Presents strategies for making instruction more emotionally sound based on the FEASP (fear, envy, anger, sympathy, pleasure) approach. Highlights include the roles of emotions in cognitive instructional design, in motivational design of instruction, in affective education, and in emotional education; and a framework for Emotional Design of…

Examines the self-referenced cognitions and feelings of 292 freshmen and the regulatory study activities that were measured by self-report. Reveals that the correlation between self-referenced cognitions and feelings and regulatory activities was very substantial. Fear of failure acted as a detrimental agent on regulatory activities for female…

The belief that one can make a difference in the world drives the whole achievement process. Developing skills or using one's talents for a task deemed valuable becomes the basis of defining oneself as a person. That's why the good parent or coach or teacher knows how to make the appropriate compliment--and ask the right questions. This article…