Informal programs provide multiple pathways to STEM degrees and careers and support students' interest, engagement, attitude, motivation, and academic achievement in STEM. Examining high-achieving rural students' profiles in informal STEM settings using their cognitive and psychosocial characteristics is crucial to understanding and supporting…

Prior studies identified effective, but mainly non-digital, homework aids. This research involved 18 middle school students in a lo-fi prototyping study to integrate traditional homework support tools with intelligent tutoring systems (ITS), leveraging rich log data for personalized learning. Feature investigations in standardized diaries, goal…

This paper explores how learning analytics data provided by a math problem-solving educational technology platform informed 5th and 6th grade teachers' instructional decisions around socioemotional learning (SEL). MathSpring is an educational technology tool that provides teachers with data on students' effort, progress, and emotions while…

Interest-driven activities, such as mathematical play, can support student agency, motivation, and engagement, and can foster dispositions that reflect authentic disciplinary engagement. However, the bulk of research on mathematical play investigates the mathematics that emerges in young children's natural play or in informal spaces such as video…

The usefulness of achievement goal theory in explaining motivation in writing classrooms was studied with 14 students interviewed in fifth, sixth, and tenth grades. In the tenth-grade interview, students were asked about their writing experiences and processes. Interview statements were analyzed by three judges regarding mastery and performance…

Theorists have traditionally described motivation in terms of approach and avoidance tendencies. In contrast, goal orientation research has focused primarily on two approach goals: demonstrating ability (performance-approach) and developing ability (task). A scale to assess the goal of avoiding the demonstration of lack of ability…

Structural equation analysis of the cognitive engagement (CE) of 100 fifth and 175 sixth graders in science activities demonstrated that students who placed greater emphasis on task-mastery goals reported more active CE. Students oriented toward social recognition, pleasing the teacher, or avoiding work had a lower level of CE. (SLD)

A primary objective of this study was to examine the relations among students' perceptions of the classroom goal orientation as ability-focused goals and their own goals, as well as the relationships between these two components and other motivational factors such as subject-specific self-efficacy and task value. An additional purpose was to…

Studies suggest that the transition to middle school is associated with a decline in motivation and performance for a number of children. This longitudinal study examined changes in motivation in English and mathematics across and after the transition from elementary to middle school. Of particular interest were changes in personal goal…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of implementing cooperative learning and objectives with computer-based instruction (CBI). Subjects were 125 fifth and sixth grade students. Cooperative dyads and individuals worked through a CBI earth science program that contained either instructional objectives, advance organizers, or no…