The objective of the present study was to better understand a relatively under-researched topic, namely, undergraduate students' attitudes towards mistakes and how their attitudes relate to academic achievement. A series of online surveys were administered to a sample of 207 first- and second-year undergraduate students. Using structural…

This study examines the factor structures of Personal and Classroom Achievement Goals and the relationships between them. Multilevel structural equation modeling was used to examine data from a sample of 3,544 Italian 10th-grade students (184 classrooms) who completed the Patterns of Adaptive Learning Scales (PALS). Findings about the factor…

Disruptive classroom behaviors are a major schooling dilemma in urban schools. While several contextual and motivational factors have been statistically associated with disruptive classroom behaviors, one overlooked factor has been home-school dissonance. The current study examined the relationship between 260 middle school students' reports of…

Formative assessments and feedback are vital to enhancing learning outcomes but require that learners feel at ease identifying their errors, and receiving feedback from a trusted source--teachers. An experimental test of a new theoretical framework was conducted to cultivate a pedagogical alliance to enhance students' (a) trust in the teacher, (b)…

The dominant achievement goals (DAGs) of 7,008 students in the third grade of Dutch secondary education (US grade 9) were investigated, based on Elliot & McGregors' 2 × 2 framework (2001), in relation to track-level and motivational variables. We found the mastery-approach goal and the performance-approach goal, generally considered adaptive,…

It is often argued that enhancement of self-beliefs should be one of the key goals of education. However, very little is known about the relation between self-beliefs and performance when students move from primary to secondary school in highly differentiated educational systems with early tracking. This large-scale longitudinal cohort study…

The current study aimed to explore the concept of transition self-efficacy, which is defined as individuals' subjective evaluation of their ability to execute the actions required for a successful transition from elementary to middle school. The study followed a sample of 128 sixth-grade students for 2 consecutive years (before and after the…

Students' beliefs that success in science depends on exceptional talent negatively impact their motivation to learn. For example, such beliefs have been shown to be a major factor steering students away from taking science and math courses in high school and college. In the present study, we tested a novel story-based instruction that models how…

Person-centered analyses of achievement goals have been scarce in studies of elementary school children. In this investigation, the authors examined the natural combinations of achievement goals (mastery, performance-approach, performance-avoidance) among 3rd grade students (N = 195) and how clusters differed in self-, teacher-, and peer-reported…

This study investigated the relationships of students' incremental beliefs of math ability to their achievement emotions, classroom engagement and math achievement. A sample of 273 secondary students in Singapore were administered measures of incremental beliefs of math ability, math enjoyment, pride, boredom and anxiety, as well as math classroom…

Technology-rich learning environments (TREs) provide opportunities for learners to engage in complex interactions involving a multitude of cognitive, metacognitive, and affective states. Understanding learners' distinct learning progressions in TREs demand inquiry approaches that employ well-conceived theoretical accounts of these multiple facets.…

Helping low-achieving students with learning disabilities and/or emotional-behavioural difficulties to develop the component skills for Self-Regulated Learning (SRL), such as setting and monitoring learning goals, is important for their success, both in and beyond school. This study examined the effects of a goal setting intervention on…

The aims of this study were to investigate the effects of discrepancies between teachers' perceptions of students' motivation and students' reports of their motivation on math and English grades and to identify possible gender and ethnic differences. Participants included 215 low-income, ethnic-minority students and their teachers in academically…

Self-efficacy forecasts student persistence and achievement in challenging subjects. Thus, it is important to understand factors that contribute to students' self-efficacy, a key factor in their success in math and science. The current cross-sectional study examined the contribution of students' gender and math and science anxiety as well as…

In this study, relationships were examined between students' perception of their cognition, behavior, environment, and motivation. The purpose of the research study was to explore the extent to which 9th and 10th grade students' perception of environment, cognition, and behavior can predict their motivation in Algebra and Geometry courses. A…