Reviews studies and journal articles to collect suggestions for increasing individual student involvement in small-group activities. Briefly addresses the lack of student productivity during these activities. Includes a descriptive table of all articles appearing in "Teaching of Psychology" between 1974 and 1995. (MJP)

Relationships among student motivational orientation, self-regulated learning, and classroom academic performance were examined for 173 seventh graders. Results provide empirical evidence for considering motivational and self-regulated learning components in models of academic performance. Involvement in self-regulated learning is tied closely to…

This study explores the importance of competence in boys' literate lives. Participants were 49 middle and high school boys from very different backgrounds, ethnicities, social classes, and levels of academic achievement. They came from an elite, private all boys' school; a large suburban high school; a large urban school; and a small rural school.…

This study involved the development and preliminary assessment of an intervention derived from contemporary social-cognitive theory to train academically underprepared college students in academic volitional control strategies, as implied by theory and research on volition and research on academic self-regulation. In this pre-post comparison…

This study sought to determine whether the motivational patterns of first-year university students differed between courses of varying difficulty levels, and the nature of the interactions between self-efficacy, attributional style, and academic achievement. A total of 509 students majoring in history, physical education, mathematics, and private…

Educology is the fund of knowledge about the educational process, which obviously occurs within and outside of schools. Educology includes, at the least, the fund of knowledge about past education (historical educology), about current states of affairs in education (scientific educology), about effective practices within education (praxiological…

This paper investigates the effect of engaging students in designing interactive multimedia programs. The design process has been shown to heighten motivation and to develop skills in project management, research, organization and representation, presentation, and reflection. At the same time, previous studies have also revealed that it is…

Many teachers struggle with motivating students to learn. This is especially prevalent in social studies classrooms in which students perceive social studies as boring (Schug, Todd, & Berry, 1984; Shaughnessy & Haladyana, 1985). This article advocates the use of technology in social studies as a means to motivate students by engaging…

In mathematics, Canadian students perform poorly, and enrollment in Canadian postsecondary institutions is low, particularly for women. Clearly, there is a need to understand the personal and social factors that influence mathematics achievement and academic choices. A. Bandura's self-efficacy theory (1977, 1982) implies that academic choices are…

Reviews literature and discusses results of two national surveys to identify factors influencing participation of women and minorities in science and engineering. Notions of self-concept/self-efficacy, peer influence, and goal commitment, which can be traced to early socialization experiences, may account for most participation disparities by race…

Three approaches to in-service development for teachers (action research, skills development, and materials dissemination) were compared using a multimethod evaluation design with innovation-specific and general outcome measures for students and teachers. Thirty-three teachers and their students participated in a project to teach students how to…

This review covers the psychological literature of the last 30 years regarding the personality and motivational characteristics of individuals with mental retardation. The first section is a brief historical review and critical examination of the various conceptual models and theories regarding personality and motivational processes in persons…

Changes in students' (N=313) present and possible "good student" selves over the transition from elementary school to middle school are examined by this study. Findings indicate that both present and possible selves decline over the transition, and that the decline is greater for males than for females. Holding mastery goals is related to…

Academically motivated students engage their schoolwork with confidence and interest, are less likely to drop out of school, suffer fewer disciplinary problems, and are more resilient in the face of setbacks than less motivated students. This book presents the work of numerous scholars of adolescent academic motivation and represents the varied…

The impact of career development interventions on career and technical education (CTE) students' academic self-efficacy and motivation was explored in a pilot study that elicited responses from 293 students at 20 high schools across the United States. The study included a literature review, survey of high school seniors that examined 44…