Children and youth develop the ability to surmount difficult life challenges through a combination of external supports and internal strengths. Positive peers can contribute substantially to growth in resilient coping and problem-solving skills. Positive Peer Culture (PPC) programs are designed to strengthen supportive social bonds, competence,…

The socioemotional factors, which influence students' trajectories on their pathways to reading success, are often overlooked in literacy screenings and reading instruction. This article outlines the connections between personality factors, in particular resilient personalities, and early literacy success. It also offers teachers a series of six…

Asserts that self-handicapping students protect their self-images by deliberately not trying to achieve for fear of trying hard, failing anyway, and appearing "dumb." Surveys of high school students examined three areas of students' perceptions (self-handicapping, academic self-efficacy, and classroom environment). The correlation…

This article presents a theoretical framework for analyzing psychological systems that contribute to the variability, consistency, and cross-situational coherence of personality functioning. In the proposed knowledge-and-appraisal personality architecture (KAPA), personality structures and processes are delineated by combining 2 principles:…

The article proposes that individuals who acquire certain psychological support skills may experience accelerated learning and enhanced performance in many domains. In support of this proposal, we present evidence that these skills enhance learning and performance, that they are domain-general in that they can be applied in a variety of domains,…

This research brief takes a look at the role of teacher efficacy-how teachers' beliefs in their own abilities affect student achievement. The brief examines the influence of perceived efficacy and building teacher confidence (social persuasion, collegiality, and shared decision making). It concludes by asserting that more positive steps must be…

This paper reports on an innovative way to actively teach risk-taking to students majoring in entrepreneurship. Specifically, students completed a "Fundraising" assignment that involved different degrees of risk. Below, the qualitative experiences of students in one undergraduate class are shared. Additional, results of a short questionnaire…

Exemplary technology-using teachers achieve meaningful technology use in learner-centered, constructive environments despite the presence of both internal and external barriers. In this study, we discuss factors that enabled teachers to overcome these barriers, as identified by 25 winners of statewide technology teacher awards. In addition, we…

A quality physical education program is at the heart of any plan to promote lifelong participation in physical activity, but it has become evident at many schools that physical education specialists alone cannot address the physical activity needs of children. This is why a series of studies were conducted to develop strategies for the…

In psychological terms, impostor syndrome is a cognitive distortion that prevents a person from internalizing any sense of accomplishment. By many accounts, academics--graduate students, junior professors, and even some full professors--relate to this only a little less than they relate to eye strain. The condition was first identified in 1978 by…

This article responds to the need to synthesize theory and research in educational psychology by introducing the Thriving with Social Purpose (TSP) conceptual framework. TSP results when the four components of human motivation--goals, capability beliefs, context beliefs, and emotions--are amplified in dynamic, mutually reinforcing patterns. The…

This article describes the development and evaluation of STARstreams, a pilot effort to utilize videos and online discussions in a conflict resolution curriculum that acknowledges the inherent socio-personal aspects of conflict. The STARstreams curricula includes a set of video-based scenarios depicting conflict situations and potential…

According to Bandura's social cognitive theory, self-efficacy and self-regulation are key processes that affect students' learning and achievement. This article discusses students' reading and writing performances using Zimmerman's four-phase social cognitive model of the development of self-regulatory competence. Modeling is an effective means of…

Informed by an amalgam of notions drawn from constructivist, socio-cultural, metacognitive and self-regulation theory, the discourse created to describe assessment to enhance learning has gone through a number of iterations or discursive shifts. As a result, the current discourse is both ambitious and complex with the roles and responsibilities…

Some of the most pressing problems currently facing chemical education throughout the world are rehearsed. It is suggested that if the notion of "context" is to be used as the basis for an address to these problems, it must enable a number of challenges to be met. Four generic models of "context" are identified that are currently used or that may…