Engaging learners in exploratory problem-solving activities prior to receiving instruction (i.e., explore-instruct approach) has been endorsed as an effective learning approach. However, it remains unclear whether this approach is feasible for elementary-school children in a classroom context. In two experiments, second-graders solved mathematical…

The present study sought to explore (a) the extent to which certain school subjects are perceived "sui generis" more interesting than others and (b) the extent to which students' interest in a subject is related to their study choices. A mixed-methods approach was chosen in which an individual interest questionnaire and an open-ended…

Performance contracting has been acclaimed as an effective and promising means of improving the performance of public enterprises as well as government departments. The government of Kenya introduced performance contract signing in 2004. The aim of performance contracts was to improve resource utilization in public institutions among other…

Background: Positive attitudes toward school have been suggested as a meaningful indicator of school engagement among elementary children. The current study was guided by a social cognitive developmental perspective which suggests that social cognitions, including beliefs, play an important role in children's adjustment outcomes. Objective: The…

A change in the Community of Inquiry (COI) framework with an addition of an instructor social presence is suggested. The sample included 137 students in the School of Business of an online university. The independent variables were teaching and social presences from the COI framework and instructor social presence from an instrument developed for…

A study was conducted to measure possible sex differences in phonological awareness and reading ability among children in early primary school. A subset of the "Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills" (DIBELS) was administered to 140 children in kindergarten through to second grade (mean ages five to seven years). Independent…

Rising costs, burgeoning debt, and falling credit ratings are among the financial challenges faced by small, tuition-dependent private colleges, including many members of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU). In their efforts to generate more revenue, most of these institutions have focused on enrollment strategies as the…

The placebo effect is any outcome that is not attributed to a specific treatment but rather to an individual's mindset (Benson & Friedman, 1996). This phenomenon can extend beyond its typical use in pharmaceutical drugs to involve aspects of everyday life, such as the effect of sleep on cognitive functioning. In 2 studies examining whether…

Individuals have difficulty changing their causal beliefs in light of contradictory evidence. We hypothesized that this difficulty arises because people facing implausible causes give greater consideration to causal alternatives, which, because of their use of a positive test strategy, leads to differential weighting of contingency evidence.…

The authors propose a theoretical model linking emotions, self-regulated learning, and motivation to academic achievement. This model was tested with 5,805 undergraduate students. They completed the Self-Regulated Learning, Emotions, and Motivation Computerized Battery (LEM-B) composed of 3 self-report questionnaires: the Self-Regulated Learning…

In the Netherlands, university programs increasingly use the binding study advice (BSA) to select students after the first year. Students with insufficient progress after the first year and who therefore do not conform to pre-defined BSA norms have to quit their program. This study investigated whether the introduction of the BSA is associated…

In a quasi-experimental evaluation of the possible role of stereotype threat in the academic performance of college students with learning disabilities (LD), students with (N = 29) and without (N = 62) identified LD took a simulated Verbal GRE® task in one of two conditions modeled after those used in past stereotype threat (ST) research. The task…

Model-eliciting activities (MEAs) are not new to those in engineering or mathematics, but they were new to Melissa Parks. Model-eliciting activities are simulated real-world problems that integrate engineering, mathematical, and scientific thinking as students find solutions for specific scenarios. During this process, students generate solutions…

Experienced readers of literature are more likely than novices to identify aspects of text that are salient to literary interpretation and to construct figurative meanings and thematic inferences from literary texts. This quasi-experimental study explores the hypothesis that novice readers can be supported in constructing literary interpretations…

From all over the world there have been calls from governmental institutions to address a shortage of high quality teachers. As changing jobs generates new experiences, job mobility could be a way for teachers to adhere to the government's call to develop themselves into the teaching force needed. The research question of this study was: How do…