Effects of Time Perspective on Student Motivation: Introduction to a Special Issue

This article introduces this special issue by establishing a conceptual foundation for thinking about how students' conceptions of time influence motivation and achievement. In particular, we describe how students' perceptions of the utility of what they are learning for their futures can positively affect motivation. Temporal perspective is tied to current models of motivation and learning such as intrinsic motivation and self-regulation. We present 2 purposes for organizing this issue: (a) initiating discussion and research about how conceptions of the future influence and are influenced by students' motivation and (b) bridging gaps in the field between American and international perspectives on learning and motivation. We conclude by introducing the 6 articles that comprise this special issue of Educational Psychology Review.     

Mathematics teacher educator knowledge: What do we know and where to from here?

The knowledge that mathematics teacher educators need has attracted limited but increasing attention in recent years. The papers in this special issue build on emerging themes from that work and raise additional questions that contribute towards a future research agenda in the field. Several of the articles develop conceptualisations of teacher knowledge to apply to mathematics teacher educators, introducing new aspects and drawing attention to unique characteristics of mathematics teacher educators in the process. To some extent the questions these papers raise reflect similar questions in mathematics education more generally but for which the implications for mathematics teacher educators warrant attention. In this paper we review the articles in this special issue and use them as a springboard to examine contemporary developments in the field and posit ways forward for research on mathematics teacher educators’ knowledge.     

Changing classroom culture,curricula, and instruction for proof and proving: how amenable to scaling up,practicable for curricular integration,and capable of producing long-lasting effects are current interventions?

This paper is a commentary on the classroom interventions on the teaching and learning of proof reported in the seven empirical papers in this special issue. The seven papers show potential to enhance student learning in an area of mathematics that is not only notoriously difficult for students to learn and for teachers to teach, but also critically important to knowing and doing mathematics. Although the seven papers, and the intervention studies they report, vary in many ways—student population, content domain, goals and duration of the intervention, and theoretical perspectives, to name a few—they all provide valuable insight into ways in which classroom experiences might be designed to positively influence students’ learning to prove. In our commentary, we highlight the contributions and promise of the interventions in terms of whether and how they present capacity to change the classroom culture, the curriculum, or instruction. In doing so, we distinguish between works that aim to enhance students’ preparedness for, and competence in, proof and proving and works that explicitly foster appreciation for the need and importance of proof and proving. Finally, we also discuss briefly the interventions along three dimensions: how amenable to scaling up, how practicable for curricular integration, and how capable of producing long-lasting effects these interventions are.     

Research on Learners and Teachers of Mathematics and Science: Forerunners to a Focus on Teacher Educator Professional Growth

This introductory paper first reflects the genesis of research in mathematics and science teacher education. The analyses show a movement from foci of research in mathematics and science education from students to teachers, and then to teacher educators. Next, an overview of research in mathematics and science teacher education and its development is provided, including teacher educators’ growth. This is followed by a comparative look at the seven papers in this special issue through three lenses, focusing on who the teacher educators in these papers are, the practices which are the focus for development, and the contexts in which the professional growth is situated. The seven papers not only exemplify how teacher educators might critically and systematically reflect on their own growth, educate new teacher educators, and do corresponding research, but also demonstrate the considerable progress the research community has made with respect to the professional growth of mathematics and science teacher educators in the last decade. Finally, challenges and questions are raised, in particular in relation to raising the quality and quantity of proficient teacher educators in order to strengthen teacher education research, and to have enough human resources to offer more and better professional development opportunities and to support schools.

     

Motivating teachers in the developing world: Insights from research with English language teachers in Oman

According to some commentators, targets set by the international community for bringing education to all children in developing countries are threatened by a teacher motivation crisis. For this crisis to be addressed, challenges to the motivation of teachers in such contexts need to be understood from perspectives both theoretical and comparative. Thus an analysis is required of the changes that have taken place particularly in countries whose education systems have developed rapidly in recent decades. Case studies of motivated teacher behaviour in such national contexts might be of relevance to educational reformers. Drawing upon the tenets of self-determination theory (SDT), this article begins by discussing the nature of the reported teacher motivation crisis in the developing world more generally. It then focuses on the Sultanate of Oman, highlighting recent historical developments there. Having thus set the scene, the author considers the extent to which negative environmental influences on teacher motivation in Oman have been addressed and then looks for evidence of intrinsic motivation in case studies of Omani English teachers. Returning to the developing world more generally, conclusions focus on how teachers’ psychological needs for competence, autonomy and relatedness can be met through educational policies that reduce negative influences on teacher motivation and provide both inspiring professional development opportunities and work environments characterised by respect.     

Student engagement,context, and adjustment: Addressing definitional,measurement, and methodological issues

The goal of this special issue is to examine relationships among context, student engagement, and adjustment. We begin by describing the reasons for the increased popularity of student engagement in research, policy, and practice, and then describe how researchers in the field define and study this construct. Next, we outline some of the issues and challenges around the definitions, measurement, and analytic techniques that have been used in prior research. Finally, we provide a short overview of the papers in this special issue highlighting their theoretical frameworks, methodologies, and analytical techniques by which many of the challenges outlined in this introduction are addressed. The overall findings of these papers come from samples in Finland, Korea, and the United States.     

Teacher motivation,quality instruction,and student outcomes: Not a simple path

In this commentary, I briefly describe the assumptions of the researchers, then consider what we have learned from the studies in this issue about the links between teacher motivation, instruction, and student perceptions and how best to study these links. Next, I describe three surprises and two concerns about the work reported. In discussing the implications of the research in this issue, I raise several questions that could be investigated to help us understand why teacher and student perceptions might differ and what can be done to bring them into better alignment. Finally, I explore some implications of these studies for teacher education.     

Teacher knowledge,curriculum materials,and quality of instruction: Unpacking a complex relationship

The set of papers presented in this issue comprise a multiple-case study which attends to instructional resources—teacher knowledge and curriculum materials—to understand how they individually and jointly contribute to instructional quality. We approach this inquiry by comparing lessons taught by teachers with differing mathematical knowledge for teaching who were using either the same or different editions of a US Standards-based curriculum. This introductory paper situates the work reported in the next four case-study papers by outlining the analytic framework guiding the exploration and detailing the methods for addressing the research questions.     

Making Accountability Really Count

Standards-based education has now reached a stage where it is possible to evaluate its overall effectiveness. Several earlier papers in the special issue of Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice on "Test Scores and State Accountability" (Volume 24, Number 4) examined specific state policies and their effects on schools and students. This paper provides a context for understanding state accountability policies by briefly sketching the history of America's standards movement. It then situates the findings of the four special issue papers in the context of theories of how state policies exert their influence, focusing on school capacity building, governmental authority, and educator motivation. Broader forms of assessment may be needed to meet the goals of the standards effort. Several kinds of evidence that could better ground state decisions in knowledge of the actual functioning of schools and districts are suggested.     

Connecting with Learning: Motivation, Affect and Cognition in Interest Processes

In this paper we draw on our research on interest to explore the questions posed for this special issue. Interest is conceptualized as an affective state that represents students’ subjective experience of learning; the state that arises from either situational triggers or a well-developed individual interest. Drawing on the broad research literature on interest, and using our own findings in relation to the state of interest, we consider how interest represents an integration of affect, motivation and cognition. In particular, how the state of interest brings together motivation in the form of prior goals and interests and focuses them into on-task behavior. We illustrate ways that our research monitoring on-task sequences of affect and behavior, is confronting some of the methodological concerns posed in relation to measurement of affective states. Finally, we examine some of the paths by which triggered states of interest can contribute to productive student engagement with learning.     

The potential of information technology in support of teachers and educational managers managing their work environment

The use of information technology (IT) to support the classroom teacher and school managers to organize and manage the learning environment better has received little specific attention, even though many applications or systems purport that this is one of their aims. This special issue attempts to fill that gap. This introduction paper provides an overview of the range of support that IT can provide in the field of education, and discusses how the development of these support systems needs to be approached analytically. Finally, there is an overview of the papers invited for this edition of the journal that are illustrative of the wide ranging development of IT to support teachers, teaching and the management of both     

Why did people become secondary-school English as a foreign language teachers in China? An examination of the pathways, motivations and policy through a life-history narrative approach

Teacher motivation has been found to be a critical predictor of teachers’ work commitment, identity and performance, yet has received insufficient attention in educational policymaking. In this article the reasons for people becoming teachers of English as a foreign language in China, reflect both social and psychological factors. This motivational aspect of becoming and being a teacher, in particular a teacher of English, provides an avenue for capturing teachers’ meaning and understanding of teaching in their context through the narratives of their experience of why and how they teach English. To develop a policy aimed at sustaining the intrinsic motivation of teachers, it is crucial to analyze the issues that affect a teacher’s commitment and identity.     

Theoretical Perspectives and Empirical Evidence Relevant to Classroom Instruction with Manipulatives

The papers in this special issue focus on instructional strategies with manipulatives. Often described as “hands-on learning”, these strategies emphasize the use of physical and, more recently, virtual objects to represent target information and concepts. These strategies are frequently suggested as effective techniques for teaching across many domains of learning. This special issue presents contemporary theoretical perspectives and empirical evidence, regarding instructional manipulatives with a focus on application in classroom contexts. In this introduction, we present the primary topics of interest to the special issue and provide broad overviews of the contributors’ papers.     

Evaluating instructional quality

ABSTRACT

Building on the papers in this special issue, this article uses modern conceptions of validity theory to provide a framework for considering the evaluation of teaching quality. The 3 facets of teaching quality focused on are domain conceptualization, evidence and inferences, and their evaluation. Domain definitions vary in their specificity with tradeoffs in their range of applicability and specificity of inference. Evidence collection can range from highly standardized assessments to observations that must attend to evidence from a myriad of classroom interactions. For all assessments, however, even the most standardized, different interpretations of assessment tasks can threaten the validity of score interpretations. The papers consider a range of processes that are designed to generate, support, and interrogate the validity of inferences based on assessment scores. A fundamental question underlying this type of measurement is whether differences in the quality of teaching that students experience can be causally attributed to the teacher.