Predicting academic achievement by class‐level emotions and perceived homeroom teachers’ emotional support

Using a multilevel approach, this study examined the role of classroom emotional climate on students' academic achievement. Positive and negative emotions and homeroom teachers' support were used to assess the classroom emotional climate on the individual and class levels. To our knowledge, no study to date has investigated these specific aspects of the classroom emotional climate in relation to students' GPA. Data were collected from 73 classrooms in grades 7‐12 (N = 1,641, students; 53% female) across three schools in Israel. Findings revealed that aggregated levels of both positive affect and perceived homeroom teacher support were positively tied to GPA and that aggregated levels of negative affect were negatively tied to GPA. The final model included gender, teacher support, individual and class emotions and explained 14% of within‐class GPA. A central implication of this study is the relevance of having an emotionally supportive homeroom teacher for students' academic achievement.     

Positive error climate promotes learning outcomes through students’ adaptive reactions towards errors

Errors are an integral part of the learning process and an opportunity to increase skills and knowledge, but they are often discouraged, sanctioned and derided in the classroom. This study tests whether students' perceptions of being part of an error-friendly classroom context (i.e., a positive classroom error climate) is positively related to students' learning outcomes via students' adaptive reactions towards errors. A total of 563 Italian middle school students from 32 mathematics classes completed a questionnaire on their perceptions of classroom error climate and their reactions towards errors. Students' math grades were used as indicators of their level of learning outcomes. A multilevel model showed that perceived classroom error climate was positively related to math grades via increased adaptive reactions towards errors. Our findings revealed that an error-friendly classroom context is associated with students’ adaptive adjustment to errors and to better learning outcomes in mathematics.     

Teacher locus of control and classroom climate: A cross-lagged correlational study

The Locus of Control Scale for Teachers was given to 13 middle school teachers, and the Origin-Climate Questionnaire was given to 78 of their students. Results indicated a moderate relationship between teachers' locus of control and students' perception of classroom climate. The difference between the cross-lagged correlations suggested that teachers' locus of control has a causal impact on classroom climate.     

Engaging in science practices in classrooms predicts increases in undergraduates' STEM motivation,identity, and achievement: A short-term longitudinal study

Our short-term longitudinal study explored undergraduate students' experiences with performing authentic science practices in the classroom in relation to their science achievement and course grades. In addition, classroom experiences (felt recognition as a scientist and perceived classroom climate) and changes over a 10-week academic term in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) identity and motivation were tested as mediators. The sample comprised 1,079 undergraduate students from introductory biology classrooms (65.4% women, 37.6% Asian, 30.2% White, 25.1% Latinx). Using structural equation modeling (SEM), our hypothesized model was confirmed while controlling for class size and GPA. Performing science practices (e.g., hypothesizing or explaining results) positively predicted students' felt recognition as a scientist; and felt recognition positively predicted perceived classroom climate. In turn, felt recognition and classroom climate predicted increases over time in students' STEM motivation (expectancy-value beliefs), STEM identity, and STEM career aspirations. Finally, these factors predicted students' course grade. Both recognition as a scientist and positive classroom climate were more strongly related to outcomes among underrepresented minority (URM) students. Findings have implications for why large-format courses that emphasize opportunities for students to learn science practices are related to positive STEM outcomes, as well as why they may prove especially helpful for URM students. Practical implications include the importance of recognition as a scientist from professors, teaching assistants, and classmates in addition to curriculum that engages students in the authentic practices of science.     

Classroom Social Structure and Motivational Climates: On the influence of teachers' involvement,teachers' autonomy support and regulation in relation to motivational climates in school classrooms

This study investigates the relationship between students' perceptions of the social structure in the classroom and perceptions of the motivational climate among 1171 Norwegian eighth‐grade students from 65 school classes. A multilevel approach was implemented to investigate relationships at the individual level as well as at the class level. Results showed that perceptions of motivational climates varied considerably more within than between school classes, as well as a general trend for students to perceive the motivational climate to be more mastery than performance oriented. Moreover, emphatic teacher involvement yielded the strongest positive association with perceptions of a mastery motivational climate, as well as the strongest negative association with perceptions of a performance motivational climate. Besides, a mastery motivational climate was also found to be associated with a certain amount of student influence, whereas the final aspect of social structure investigated, regulation, showed relatively weaker associations with students' perceptions of motivational climate.     

Work in Mathematics Classes: The Context of Students' Thinking During Instruction

The research program described in this article has focused on the work students do in classrooms and how that work influences students' thinking about content. The research is based on the premise that the tasks teachers assign determines how students come to understand a curriculum domain. Tasks serve, in other words, as a context for students' thinking during and after instruction. The first section of this article contains an overview of the task model that guided research. The second section provides a summary of findings concerning the properties of students' work in classrooms, with special attention to work in mathematics classes. I conclude with a brief discussion of implications of this research for understanding classroom processes and their effects.     

The Relationship between Behavioral Inattention,Meta‐Attention,and Graduate Students' Online Information Seeking

Success in postsecondary education requires proficiency with academic online information seeking. Navigating the internet to find information is a complicated task that is vulnerable to lapses in attention. This study examined the relationships among Canadian graduate students' self‐reported behavioral inattention symptoms, awareness and regulation of attentional focus (meta‐attention), and online academic information seeking abilities. One‐hundred and thirteen (99 female) graduate students (83 master's level, 27 doctoral level) completed an online self‐report questionnaire examining domain‐ and strategic‐experience, behavioral inattention symptoms, meta‐attention, and online information seeking ability. Results indicated that self‐reported inattention symptoms, both components of meta‐attention and domain experience each significantly predicted unique variance in online information seeking ability. Implications for research and intervention are discussed.     

“It isn't no slang that can be said about this stuff”: Language,identity, and appropriating science discourse

This investigation explores how underrepresented urban students made sense of their first experience with high school science. The study sought to identify how students' assimilation into the science classroom reflected their interpretation of science itself in relation to their academic identities. The primary objectives were to examine students' responses to the epistemic, behavioral, and discursive norms of the science classroom. At the completion of the academic year, 29 students were interviewed regarding their experiences in a ninth and tenth‐grade life science course. The results indicate that students experienced relative ease in appropriating the epistemic and cultural behaviors of science, whereas they expressed a great deal of difficulty in appropriating the discursive practices of science. The implications of these findings reflect the broader need to place greater emphasis on the relationship between students' identity and their scientific literacy development. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 43: 96–126, 2006     

Instructional Climate in Dutch Secondary Education

Research, aimed at constructing an instrument for measuring instructional climate, was conducted in 121 Dutch schools for senior general secondary education. The instrument comprised scales for students, teachers, heads of department and principals. All scales proved to be sufficiently reliable and valid. The results show that the following variables are significantly related to students' results in mathematics: students' enjoyment of mathematics; students' attitude towards high grades; students' enjoyment of learning; appreciation of how teachers prepare students for tests; students' appreciation of the teacher as a person; students' appreciation of teaching abilities; an orderly instructional climate in the classroom; frequent monitoring of student results; emphasizing achievement by teachers; and the principals' emphasis on a task oriented climate.     

The effects of behavior-specific praise and public posting in secondary classrooms

Behavior-specific praise (BSP) and other forms of positive feedback and public acknowledgment are underutilized in secondary classrooms. Surprisingly, few studies have evaluated the independent effects of BSP in these settings. Using a multiple baseline design with an embedded A/B/B + C condition sequence, the purpose of the current study was to evaluate the effects of BSP and BSP combined with public posting on the appropriately engaged and disruptive behaviors across 4 secondary classrooms. Results supported a functional relation between BSP alone and improvements in students' appropriately engaged and disruptive behaviors. Combining BSP with public posting, which involved writing students' names on the classroom whiteboard, further increased students' appropriately engaged behaviors but had mixed effects on students' disruptive behaviors. Practical implications, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.     

Transformational Leadership: The Nexus Between Faith and Classroom Leadership

Transformational leadership is well documented in organizational and business literature. Classroom and faith-based applications are more recent phenomena. The authors of this mixed-methods study explored professor behaviors and characteristics perceived as transformational in students' faith and focused on transformational leadership in the classroom at a faith-based institution. Thirty-four undergraduate students completed surveys containing open-ended and forced-choice questions; the findings highlighted the importance of compassion, optimism, encouragement, and openness as behaviors that facilitated faith transformation.     

Learning environment,motivation, and achievement in high school science

In a study of the relationship between high school students' perceptions of their science learning environments and their motivation, learning strategies, and achievement, 377 students in 22 introductory science classrooms completed surveys in the fall and spring of their ninth‐grade year. Hierarchical linear regression was used to model the effects of variables at both the classroom and individual level simultaneously. High intraclass agreement (indicated by high parameter reliability) on all classroom environment measures indicated that students shared perceptions of the classroom learning environment. Controlling for other factors, shared perceptions that only the most able could succeed in science classrooms and that instruction was fast‐paced and focused on correct answers negatively predicted science achievement, as measured on a districtwide curriculum‐linked test. Shared perceptions that classrooms focused on understanding and independent thinking positively predicted students' self‐reported satisfaction with learning. Implications of these results for both teaching and research into classroom environments are discussed. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 40: 347–368, 2003     

Factors related to Taiwanese adolescents' academic procrastination,time management,and perfectionism

There is a shortage of studies that explore adolescents' academic procrastination. The author hence attempted to examine the mechanisms determining Taiwanese adolescent students' perfectionistic tendencies, time management, and academic procrastination. A total of 405 eighth-grade Taiwanese students completed a self-reported survey assessing their perceptions of classroom structure, parental expectations and criticism, perfectionistic tendencies, time management, and academic procrastination. Findings of regression analyses indicated that parental expectations and criticism were the key predictors of students' adaptive and maladaptive perfectionism. Students' perceptions of classroom structure also positively predicted their adaptive perfectionism. Moreover, results of hierarchical regressions suggested that perceived classroom structure, parental expectations and criticism, as well as adaptive perfectionism all emerged as predictors of time management. With regard to procrastination on homework and examination preparation, parental expectations and adaptive perfectionism were negative predictors, whereas parental criticism and maladaptive perfectionism were positive predictors. Also, time management negatively predicted academic procrastination.     

Heart Rate and Behavioral measures of Attention in Six-, Nine-, and Twelve-Month-Old Infants during Object Exploration

In this study we examined the effect of heart rate and behavioral measures of attention on distractibility of 6-, 9-, and 12-month-old infants. The infants were presented with a toy, and a distractor was presented while they attended to the toy. The distractor was presented during heart rate changes indicating sustained attention or attention termination, or during periods of time when behavioral ratings indicated the infant was in focused or casual attention. There were longer distraction latencies during attentional engagement as defined by heart rate changes or behavioral ratings than for periods of inattention. Infants had the longest distraction latencies when heart rate and behavior measures were congruent with respect to attention engagement (heart rate deceleration and focused attention). Conversely, latencies were shortes for congruent values of inattention (heart rate acceleration and casual attention). Infant information processing may be greatest when a heart rate deceleration occurs simultaneously with an episode of focused attention.     

How do professional development programs on comparing solution methods and classroom discourse affect students' achievement in mathematics? The mediating role of students’ subject matter justifications

Comparing solution methods fosters strategy flexibility in equation solving. Productive classroom discourse such as Accountable Talk (AT) orchestrated by teachers can improve students' justifications during classroom discussions and achievement. Do students' subject matter justifications during classroom discourse mediate the effect of teachers' professional development (PD) programs focused on comparing and AT on students’ mathematics achievement? We investigated whether two PD programs (comparing or comparing+AT) compared to a control group increased the number of students justifications, and whether this affected mathematics achievement (strategy flexibility, procedural knowledge, and conceptual knowledge). The study (739 9th and 10th grade students in 39 classes) had an experimental pre-post control group design. Both PD programs significantly increased students justifications compared to the control group. The results of our multilevel path models showed significant small mediation effects in the comparing+AT group on procedural and conceptual knowledge. No mediation effects were found in the comparing group.     

Predictors of Children's Kindergarten Classroom Engagement: Preschool Adult–Child Relationships,Self-Concept,and Hyperactivity/Inattention

The aim of this prospective study was to identify preschool factors that are associated with children's classroom engagement during their 1st school year. The study was guided by a social-motivational process model that highlights the importance of parent–child and teacher–child relationships in promoting engagement. In preschool, parents and teachers completed questionnaires assessing children's (n = 562) parent–child and teacher–child relationships, global self-concept, and mental health problems. Teachers rated children's engagement levels 1 year later in kindergarten. Research Findings: Results from structural equation modeling suggested that experiencing good-quality relationships with parents and teachers and positive self-concept during preschool were only indirectly associated with children's kindergarten classroom engagement through their negative associations with hyperactivity/inattention; only hyperactivity/inattention had a significant direct (small-moderate and negative) association with children's engagement. Practice or Policy: Interventions that improve adult–child relationships may reduce childhood hyperactivity/inattention during preschool and potentially improve children's engagement, helping them start school ready and eager to learn.     

The Development of Regulatory Functions From Birth to 5 Years: Insights From Premature Infants

This study examined physiological, emotional, and attentional regulatory functions as predictors of self-regulation in 125 infants followed 7 times from birth to 5 years. Physiological regulation was assessed by neonatal vagal tone and sleep–wake cyclicity; emotion regulation by response to stress at 3, 6, and 12 months; and attention regulation by focused attention and delayed response in the 2nd year. Executive functions, behavior adaptation, and self-restraint were measured at 5 years. Regulatory functions showed stability across time, measures, and levels. Structural modeling demonstrated both mediated paths from physiological to self-regulation through emotional and attentional processes and direct continuity between vagal tone and each level of regulation. Results support the coherence of the regulation construct and are consistent with neurobiological models on self and consciousness.     

Enhancing student self‐worth in the primary school learning environment: teachers' views and students' views

This paper reports the findings from a study of teachers and students' views regarding self‐worth in the primary school learning environment. The revised New Zealand curriculum recognises the importance of self‐worth in students' motivation and ability to learn. While the need to enhance self‐worth in the classroom has been well established in the literature, similarities and differences between teachers and students' understanding of the impact of various classroom interactions on self‐worth has not received the same attention. The purpose of the research reported on in this paper was to provide further insight for teachers, thereby enabling them to strengthen classroom relationships and their students' learning experiences in ways commensurate with enhancing students' feelings of self‐worth.