An entering university class (N=2,391) was observed across five semesters to study differences in motivational factors (adjusted for differences in talent) between students who declared majors and those who did not. Results indicated that the longer a student waited to declare a major, the lower were the motivation indicators. (Author)

Examines the hypothesis that students' perceptions of teacher autonomy support, parent attachment, competence, and self-worth would predict motivational orientation and achievement test performance. Results indicate that autonomy support, parent attachment, scholastic competence, and self-worth predicted the academic criterion variables.…

Low-achieving college students (N=94) evidenced less use of self-regulating strategies and a stronger relationship of self-regulated strategy use to positive motivational orientation than high-achieving students (N=49). Samples were predominantly white and female. Encouraging the use of these strategies may improve low achievers' academic…

General intelligence, Big Five personality traits, and the construct Work Drive were studied in relation to two measures of collegiate academic performance: a single course grade received by undergraduate students in an introductory psychology course, and self-reported GPA. General intelligence and Work Drive were found to be significantly…

Why is it so important to keep the arts strong in schools? How does study of the arts contribute to student achievement and success? This paper is designed to answer these and other questions. It describes in nontechnical terms what the research says about how study of the arts contributes to academic achievement and student success. It offers…

In the bilingual contexts of two regions of Spain, Asturias (Asturian/Spanish) and Eastern Aragon (Catalan/Spanish), and given the relationship between language attitudes and linguistic proficiency, our study has two objectives. Firstly, the attitudes to the two contact languages are described. Secondly, the variables that can explain such…

The current study examined the influence of symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) on student academic achievement in reading and in mathematics in a sample of 146 first- through fourth-grade students, 103 of which were identified as having ADHD and academic problems in reading and/or math. A theoretical model was examined…

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among students' self-perception, attitudes toward school, study and organizational skills, achievement motivation, attributional style, gender, parental involvement and style, parental income and parental level of education, and students' academic performance or achievement. Using…

The role of motivation and collaboration in STEM learning and performance is paramount. A learning community represents an educational approach that can engage students in learning in a motivated, thoughtful, active, and collaborative way. The focus of this article is on the nature of students' interest, attitudes, learning experiences and…

This paper reports on the results of an action research to explore the effectiveness of using cooperative learning strategies on students' academic achievement, their understanding of physics concepts and their motivation to learn in the physics classroom. The study involved a secondary four express physics class of 41 students in a neighbourhood…

The study investigated whether performance levels of employed students receiving financial aid increase singnificantly as a consequence of monetary incentive, and whether there are result differentials for some students and not for others. The assumption concerning the incentive value of financial aid was not supported by the study's results.…

Using analysis of variance and regression techniques, the authors analyzed the results of 40 studies that were conducted between 1953 and 1976 and contained 232 correlations between various measures of motivation and achievement. The motivation variables were restricted to students' achievement motivation, locus-of-control perceptions, and general…

The question examined by this study was: Are the traditional reinforcers common to many planned programs of reinforcement in the classroom relevant and meaningful to the pupils themselves? Data is reported from a questionnaire administered to seven-year-old pupils, ten-year-old pupils, and their teachers. A discrepancy was found between reward…

THERE ARE SIGNIFICANT FACTORS IN GROUPING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CHILDREN FOR EFFECTIVE LEARNING. THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS SECTION HAS EXAMINED NUMEROUS RESEARCH STUDIES ON GROUPING. DISCUSSED ARE QUESTIONS CONCERNED WITH RELATIVE VALUES OF GROUPING CHILDREN ACCORDING TO NEED, SPECIAL ABILITIES, AND ACHIEVEMENT LEVELS. PREDICTIONS ON THE FUTURE OF…

Describes a study in which the Survey of School Attitudes was administered to more than 13,500 first through eighth graders in 10 states. Assessed were pupil's attitudes toward four major curriculum areas: reading/language, mathematics, science and social studies. (BF)