Parental incarceration, poverty, urban violence, and drug use can be underlying factors of academic achievement gaps between Black urban males and their counterparts. These risk factors have the potential to position low-income urban students as struggling readers. Two qualitative case studies obtained from a larger mixed methods study illustrate…

This paper is a summary of a pupil voice research project conducted to investigate the influence that teacher-pupil relationships have on pupils' feelings of engagement with their school. The study involved two year groups (12-13 and 14-15 year olds) in a rural secondary school in Cambridgeshire. Data sources were collected through a questionnaire…

With an ever growing diverse population and access to new technologies, it is no revelation that education is undergoing a significant transformation in the twenty-first century. What remains a struggle is equipping students to meet modern expectations while trying to provide a platform for learning that does not perpetuate the same inequalities…

Using Gagne's Differentiated Model of Giftedness and Talent (DMGT) as a conceptual model, this study investigated the factors that influenced the talent development process of a musically gifted adolescent in Singapore. Five macro themes emerged as key catalysts that impacted the adolescent's talent growth: (1) natural abilities; (2) early musical…

The lack of motivation among students is a common challenge in physical education. Studies drawing on the self-determination theory consistently show that perceived autonomy facilitates adaptive motivation in students, which can lead to a wide range of desired educational outcomes. However, instructional strategies designed to support student…

Studio STEM adopts a design studio model to provide middle school youth with the opportunity to work with peers and college student facilitators after school in a relaxed, non-threatening, collaborative environment. Two informal learning educators guided overall instruction and pacing, but youth directed their own step-by-step activities by…

Introduction: The MUSIC Model of Academic Motivation consists of psychological components (i.e., empowerment, usefulness, success, interest, and caring) that have been derived from research and theory as ones that are critical to student engagement in academic settings. The purpose of this study was to: (1) determine whether men and women rate…

This volume contains a collection of selected papers submitted to the 19th Annual International Conference of the Bulgarian Comparative Education Society (BCES) held in June 2021. The 19th BCES Conference theme is "New Challenges to Education: Lessons from around the World." The book includes 40 papers written by 66 authors from 15…

This article provides an overview of the Writers Matter program, which allows adolescents to use their life stories as a vehicle for self-expression and writing skill development. Evaluations of the program have show increased writing skills among participating students in the areas of focus, content, organization, and grammar. Additional benefits…

This project explored a classroom model of motivation in which the source of student motivation is based on internal mechanisms or structures and classroom student/instructor interactions. It also extended earlier research in which beliefs of veteran, entry level, and preservice teachers have been explored. For this project, 117 elementary…

In the pedagogy of classroom engagement, most instructors have become vastly familiar with first day of class Get-to-Know-You exercises. While entertaining, the empirical value of these exercises is not well established. The present analysis provides a data driven study of the utility of initial engagement activities, including a generalized…

This article will provide an overview of whether students have positive motivational attitudes towards the use of computers for writing and communication. Firstly, it summarizes the basic theories of motivation and then explains the relationship between language and motivation, and the use of computers and motivation. Then, it aims to explore the…

After noting the disconnect between students' passionate oral stories and their lifeless writing, an adult education instructor made specific instructional and curriculum changes in an ESOL reading and writing course. All changes served the purpose of teaching the element of voice in second language writing. The instructor used the issue of…

This study is a transcendental phenomenological study that described the experience of students' interest in science from elementary school through middle school grades and the identification of the factors that increase or decrease interest in science. Numerous researchers have found that interest in science changes among children and the change…

As debate continues around the nature and values of education, it is important to ask the question of what factors motivate a student to engage with the ends of an educational institution. In this paper, a broad, holistic view of learner motivation, derived from Aristotelian ethics, is used to provide a model to drive institutional change.…