Collaboration is an early emerging component of successful cooperative relations that produces a cascade of positive social preferences between collaborators. Concurrently, robust preferences for affiliated others may restrict these benefits to in-group peers. We investigated how in-group affiliation (based on minimal group markers) and…

Research on flexible assessment suggests that providing students with choice in assignments can increase motivation and deepen investment in learning. Although instructors are often advised to adopt flexible assessment, they are also warned about potential detriments such as perceived lack of rigour among colleagues, the stress that…

This study examines how one teacher supported low-achieving students' self-regulated learning (SRL) in the context of a secondary mathematics class. The teacher's scaffolding provided students with multiple opportunities to use feedback and adapt learning and study strategies. Data compared pre- and post-measures of metacognitive skills,…

Building on earlier quantitative BCCAT [British Columbia Council on Admissions and Transfer] research assessing number of credits required for graduation (2010, 2020), this study sought to use a qualitative analysis to explore the reasons why students collect more credits than required for their credential(s) and their general feelings towards…

Though there has been limited empirical research on the cost component from the expectancy-value model, a recent interest in the construct has spurred advances in theory and measurement. We present a longitudinal analysis of four types of cost: effort, loss of valued alternatives, emotional, and outside cost. We focus on how cost changes over time…

The literature suggests that owing to profound difficulties with high school geography curricula, teachers play a vital role in stimulating student interest and in providing a platform for continuation in the study of geography at university. Yet, with little empirical evidence offered in support, it is unclear why students select geography at…

This 2015 "mba.com Prospective Students Survey Report" explores the motivations, career goals, preferred program types, financial choices, decision time lines, and intended study destinations of individuals interested in pursuing a graduate management education. Findings analyzed in the report represent responses from nearly 12,000…

Given international concerns about students' pursuit (or more correctly, non-pursuit) of courses and careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, this study is about achieving a better understanding of factors related to high school students' engagement in science. The study builds on previous secondary analyses of Programme for…

Very little Canadian research has examined the academic achievement of private school students. Data from The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2003 were used to examine the achievement of private school students. The study found that private school students outperformed their public school peers. In addition, the students'…

This study explored the influence of an excessively challenging reading task on middle school students' motivation, attributions for failure, and persistence. In particular, the authors considered the possibility that relative topic interest might function as a buffer against the negative outcomes of excessive challenge. Students ranging from 10…

This study documents to what extent writing on a blog in a networked learning environment could influence the affective variables of elementary-school students' writing. The framework is grounded more specifically in theory of self-determination (Deci & Ryan, 1985), relationship to writing (Chartrand & Prince, 2009) and the transactional…

Presents examples of enthusiastic teaching to illustrate how teachers could and should arouse Canadian students' interest in Canada through maintaining their own priorities and values to ensure fair, thoughtful presentation of Canadian culture and history. (Author/CB)

District administrators, principals and teachers need "leading indicators" that provide a framework for intervention, can be used to guide school policy and practice, and can help staff identify issues relevant to particular students or groups of students. In this article, the authors describe "Tell Them From Me", an assessment…

The Russell C. Gordon Elementary School (Nova Scotia, Canada) offers the Enriched Students Program (ESP) for academically gifted students. ESP goals include: fostering and developing individual interests of students; initiating higher level thinking skills; strengthening task commitment; stimulating creativity; promoting leadership qualities; and…

Examined how a combination of motivational and instructional variables can be best used in an intervention program to improve students' emotional and cognitive experiences during argument writing. Results for 177 students at a junior intermediate level in Ontario, Canada, show that the intervention programs, which involved instructions on argument…