Presents a rationale for learner-centered education. Outlines learner-centered psychological principles in terms of cognition/metacognition, motivational/affective, and developmental/social factors. Discusses research on the impact of teachers' beliefs and perceptions on teaching practices. (Contains 37 references.) (SK)

Explores the ongoing, complex, and difficult task of trying to inspire students. Discusses some of a teacher's first steps toward learning how to inspire, including a good will toward students, a trust in the significance of the momentary encounter, and a confidence in the significance of the subject and passionate attachment to its truths. (EV)

This study investigated the relationship among new measures of motivation, such as persistence, attention, and goal specificity, and existing measures of motivation and achievement in 75 students enrolled in a francophone secondary school in Ontario. It concluded that these new motivational measures add to the understanding of the effects of…

Addresses the role of multiple goals, both mastery and performance goals, and links them to multiple outcomes of motivation, affect, strategy use, and performance. Data from 8th and 9th graders (N=150) reveal that, in line with normative goal therapy, mastery goals were adaptive; but also that performance goals, when coupled with mastery goals,…

Evaluated a service learning program in Spanish, in which learners of Spanish provide various forms of social services to native speakers in local communities in the target language, to assess its impact on learner motivation and attitudes. (Author/VWL)

Presents results of an empirical survey aimed at obtaining classroom data on student motivational strategies. Hungarian teachers from various language teaching institutions were asked how important they considered a selection of 51 strategies, and how frequently they used them in their teaching practice. (Author/VWL)

This study compared the motivation and quality of experience of demographically matched students from Montessori and traditional middle school programs. Approximately 290 students responded to the Experience Sampling Method (ESM) and filled out questionnaires. Multivariate analyses showed that the Montessori students reported greater affect,…

A sense of obligation to support, assist, and respect the family was examined among approximately 700 urban and rural 10th- (M=16.6 years) and 12th- (M=18.9 years) grade students in the People's Republic of China. Urban male adolescents reported a weaker sense of family obligation than did rural male adolescents and both urban and rural female…

The current study evaluates existing and new validity evidence for the Academic Motivation Scale (AMS; Vallerand et al., 1992). We first provide a narrative review synthesizing past research, and then conduct a validity investigation of the scores from the measure. Data analysis using a sample of 1406 American college students provided construct…

The 2004 Gold Medal Award for Life Achievement in the Science of Psychology is awarded to Janet Taylor Spence. She is recognized for her outstanding scientific contributions that have had a profound theoretical and empirical impact on two areas of inquiry: Her early seminal research on the motivational properties of trait anxiety led the way to…

The study investigated whether changes in the educational context of teaching Arabic as a second language in Israeli schools affect students' attitudes towards the language, its speakers and culture, and motivation to study the language. These changes included teaching spoken Arabic rather than Modern Standard Arabic and lowering the starting age…

The study examines the effects of a quasi-experimental classroom goal condition (mastery, performance-approach, combined mastery/performance-approach) and entering personal goal orientations on motivation, emotional well-being, help seeking, cognitive engagement, and achievement for 237 upper elementary students during a 5-week math unit…

It is frequently held forth, within the area of virtual pedagogical characters, that such characters are beneficial for learning as they strengthen the social dimension of electronic learning environments. This article presents more details on this proposal together with a survey of corresponding empirical evidence. In addition, materials from a…

The aim of this study is to design and develop a Physically Interactive Learning Environment, the PILE system, by integrating video-capture virtual reality technology into a classroom. The system is designed for elementary school level English classes where students can interact with the system through physical movements. The system is designed to…

This paper discusses research and thinking on the importance of interpersonal and intrapersonal effectiveness for teachers, school leaders and school improvement, and explores implications of the use of NLP in relation to personalisation and the children's agenda. It outlines initial research carried out as part of the Fast Track Teaching…