First-year undergraduates may be particularly prone to experiencing difficulties with facilitating feelings of relatedness, due to the recent shift in educational environments (i.e. from high school to university), which may be unfamiliar. Therefore, the current study aimed to determine whether the implementation of a single pedagogical strategy,…

A major area of interest within the field of professional development is the concept of motivation. However, research explaining how to enhance motivation in participants during training is scarce. Grounded in Self-Determination Theory, this study aimed to gain insight into the design approaches of professional development initiatives in higher…

This paper describes a quantitative study that explores both the degree of preservice teachers' (PSTs) motivation and achievement, and the dimensions of need-supportive teaching, when PSTs were involved in designing and implementing contextualized physical cooperative challenges (CPCCs) in primary schools. The analysis was based on the PSTs'…

This study examined basic psychological need satisfactions for competence, autonomy, and social relatedness in physical education (PE) and their contributions to accelerometer-based in-class and total moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) across a one-year follow-up (T1). Participants were 523 students (girls 280, boys 243; mean age =…

A question asked by many teachers, is "How do we motivate the unmotivated kid?" There are many theories about motivation in the classroom and in order for these theories to work, they must become actionable strategies. These theories can be organized into five different categories: Enthusiasm, Empowerment, Encouragement, Emotions and…

This paper presents a conceptual framework to understand the Nurtured Heart Approach (NHA) through the perspective of Self-Determination Theory (SDT). The Nurtured Heart Approach and the Self-Determination Theory are discussed and the parallels are drawn between the two, to provide a theoretical foundation to NHA and support for its effectiveness,…

Racially minoritized groups are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) degree programs and careers, warranting the need to examine students' racialized experiences in K-12 settings that may influence their STEM persistence. In particular, the current study explored adolescent perceptions of school racial climate…

For some students, the transition from primary to secondary school is a difficult and stressful event that can have potential negative effects on their psychological wellbeing, social adaptability, and academic achievement. Although several individual, environmental, and family protective factors have been investigated, direct and indirect…

This research was aimed at examining the influence of teachers' psychological empowerment on their commitment to the school in the case of private schools in Antalya province, Turkey. Data were collected twice, first 297 teachers for scale development; second, we collected data from separate 297 teachers for the main analysis. A correlational type…

This study assessed the influence of a 10-week teacher emotionally supportive quasi-experimental intervention on the perceived teacher emotional support (PTES), basic psychological needs (BPNs) satisfaction, emotions of anxiety and enjoyment, and emotional engagement of learners of English as a foreign language (EFL). Strategies targeting the…

The goal of this study was to analyse changes in classroom interaction quality in 85 early childhood classrooms in vulnerable social contexts in Santiago de Chile which participated in the first year of a professional development programme. Classroom interaction quality was measured using the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) at the…

The present study investigated the experience of thriving and burnout among college students with regard to their within-person person resilience resources using a Self-Determination Theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 1985; Ryan & Deci, 2000) framework. SDT has proposed and documented that satisfaction of the basic needs for autonomy, competence,…

The first part of this article describes in brief the Six Steps methodology for designing educational environments--be they K-12 schools, tertiary institutions, community centers, youth movements, or the like-- as set forth in my book "Educational Design in Six Steps: A Strategic and Practical Scaffold" (Routledge 2020). The second part…

There is a broad literature that depicts the relationship between mothers' and teachers' autonomy support on students' adjustment at school; yet the mechanisms underlying this link have received less attention. Grounded in self-determination theory (SDT), the present study aimed to address this gap in the literature by testing a model where basic…

Background: The Learning Assistant (LA) model with its subsequent support and training has evidenced significant gains for undergraduate STEM learning and persistence, especially in high-stakes courses like Calculus. Yet, when a swift and unexpected transition occurs from face-to-face to online, remote learning of the LA environment, it is unknown…