Many recent studies emphasize the fundamental importance of stimulating wonder in education, for example, to increase children's intrinsic motivation to learn and their emotional engagement with the lesson contents. Our study advances the research regarding wonder in education in three different ways. First, we present a theoretical framework to…

In this two-part study, high-ability students' experiences of need support, need satisfaction, and motivation in regular and pull-out classes were compared. Quantitative results from Study 1 indicated that high-ability students (N = 203) reported more satisfaction of their needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness and more favorable…

Personalizing learning with technology in secondary schools is a way to empower students to take control of their learning. The more learners can direct their own learning experiences, including path, pace and instructional approach, the more they may learn what they want and need to learn. In a quasi-experimental design, data about the…

Intellectual abilities are consistently found to be associated to child functioning. To date, however, it is unclear how varying intellectual profiles relate to differential aspects of child functioning. We screened 513 fifth-grade children on their intellectual abilities and selected three groups of gifted children, scoring in the top 10%:…

This study's aim was to examine the prevalence, development and domain specificity of fifth- and sixth-grade elementary school students' achievement goal profiles. Achievement goals were measured for language and mathematics among 722 pupils at three points in time. These data were analysed through latent profile analysis and latent transition…

Student performance is related to motivation to learn. As motivation generally declines during lower secondary education, one might expect performance to decline as well during this period. Though, until now, it has been unclear whether this pattern exists. In the present study, we examined student performance during the early years of secondary…

This study focuses on learning in three different hypermedia environments that either support autonomous learning, learner-controlled learning or system-controlled learning and explores the mediating role of academic self-regulation style (ASRS; i.e. a macro level of motivation) on learning. This research was performed to gain more insight in the…