States and school districts in the USA have begun to create and implement curriculum to promote elementary students' nascent STEM-related interests and to generate their initial knowledge of careers in those fields. Evaluating the efficacy of such interventions warrants valid and reliable tools, which are not presently available for middle…

Self-regulated learning can be conceptualized as the pursuit of learning goals by means of self-initiated control processes. Models of self-regulated learning postulate that goal-directed processes unfold within individuals from motivational states through volitional-control processes to goal achievement. Thus far, this hypothesis has mostly been…

Individuals coming from low-income backgrounds, particularly women and people of color, are disproportionately underrepresented in STEM fields. The low representation is often attributed to low enrollment and completion rates in STEM programs. Community colleges play a crucial role in increasing diversity in the workforce. However, there is not…

Each month, the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) surveys a random sample of individuals who three months prior registered on mba.com--the GMAC™ website for prospective graduate business students. Their survey responses provide an inside look into the decision-making process of people currently considering applying to a graduate…

The effects of ability performance goals, normative performance goals, and mastery goals on anxiety, interest, and performance were examined in a series of experiments. Challenging problem-solving tasks that would demonstrate the effects of each performance goal more clearly were designed. Groups of early adolescents (Study 1) and college students…

Each month, the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) surveys a random sample of individuals who three months prior registered on mba.com--the GMAC™ website for prospective graduate business students. Their survey responses provide an inside look into the decision-making process of people currently considering applying to a graduate…

This study investigated the usefulness of social cognitive career theory--SCCT (Lent, Brown, and Hackett, 1994) in predicting interests and goals relating to statistics among psychology students. The participants were 1036 Spanish students who completed measurements of statistics-related mastery experiences, self-efficacy, outcome expectations,…

In a replication and extension of earlier research, we examined the explanatory adequacy of the social cognitive choice model (Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994) in a sample of 1404 students majoring in a variety of computing disciplines at 23 historically Black and 27 predominantly White universities. Participants completed measures of self-efficacy,…

The prospective major fields of study and career plans of National Merit Finalists are recorded on the scholarship application forms submitted during the students' senior year in high school. (Finalists are selected from the top 1% in measured scholastic ability.) A study of the answers given from 1957-67 indicates that interest among boys in the…

Background: Consideration of motivation in higher education has often been drawn upon theories and research that were based upon school or workplace studies. Aims: This paper reports an open naturalistic study to better characterize the motivational orientation of students in higher education. Method: Open semi-structured individual interviews…

A Student Goals Inventory (SGI) for use in the community college was developed by a committee of Florida community college personnel. Six general goal categories were identified: career development, personal development, social development, academic development, cultural development, and community development. From six to seventeen goals are…

An activities program, involving 91.4 percent of the Ingomar Middle School student body, utilizes every area of the school facility during one period weekly. (AP)

This research, which was undertaken in conjunction with a larger project to study American colleges of agriculture, was concerned with: the relative importance that male freshmen students of 1964 assigned to reasons for enrolling in the University; the process by which they arrive at these decisions; whether types of student orientations could be…

States that the "right" curriculum is one that provides students opportunities to work toward goals they consider worthwhile. Outlines areas of possible student ambition and interest. (GS)