Mathematics-related emotions among Finnish adolescents across different performance levels

This study examined the relation of mathematics performance and gender with seven mathematics-related emotions (enjoyment, pride, anger, anxiety, shame, hopelessness and boredom) among adolescents. Using strict and lenient mathematics performance cut-off scores, respective groups of adolescents with mathematics difficulties (MD, n = 136), low (LA, n = 166) and typical mathematics performance (TA, n = 1056) were identified. Our results revealed that the MD group reported more shame than the LA group. The MD group also reported more negative emotions and less positive emotions than the TA group, with the exception of boredom, for which there was no statistically significant difference. The interaction effect between mathematics performance group and gender on emotions was significant. Only females with MD showed significantly higher levels of hopelessness and shame than females with LA, while males with LA even reported more boredom than males with MD. Concerning gender differences, males reported slightly more pride and enjoyment than females. However, the direction and magnitude of the gender differences showed great variance among mathematics performance groups. The practical implications of the results are discussed.     

Effects of Autonomy-Supportive Teaching on Student Learning and Motivation

Although autonomy-supportive teaching has been linked with increased student performance, this contention has not yet been explored in an experimental study. This article presents a small, pre/post control group experimental study evaluating the effect of procedural and cognitive autonomy-supportive teaching on student learning and motivation during a 7th-grade reform-based science lesson on motion. In a 2 × 2 factorial design, the 4 treatment conditions featured high and low levels of procedural and cognitive autonomy support. As hypothesized, there was no effect of procedural autonomy support. However, to the authors’ surprise—and in contrast with their hypotheses—students in the low cognitive autonomy-supportive conditions learned significantly more, perceived significantly more choice, and rated instruction as more positive than did students in the high cognitive autonomy-supportive conditions. Results are framed in the context of achieving reform in science teaching.     

Promoting elementary school students' autonomous reading motivation: Effects of a teacher professional development workshop

Responding to the declining trend in reading motivation in and beyond the elementary school years, the authors aimed to enhance late-elementary school students' autonomous reading motivation. Toward this end, the authors evaluated the influence of a teacher professional development grounded in self-determination theory on fifth-grade students' (n = 664) autonomous motivation for in-school and leisure-time reading. A quasi-experimental repeated measures design was set up with experimental and control conditions. The experimental condition consisted of teachers participating in a professional development workshop aimed at providing the knowledge and skills necessary to implement an autonomy-supportive and structuring teaching style, whereas the control condition included teachers who continued with their current teaching repertoire. Multilevel piece-wise growth analyses corroborated that students in the experimental group reported increased recreational autonomous reading motivation from pretest to posttest relative to the control group. Additional analyses made clear that boys in particular benefitted from their teachers' professional development.     

A critical investigation of the nature and extent of cyberbullying in two post-primary schools in Northern Ireland

This study aimed to investigate internet usage among post-primary pupils in years 9, 11 and 13 in two contrasting post-primary schools in Northern Ireland, the nature and incidence of cyberbullying among these pupils, and the ways in which their schools are currently addressing the problem. A mixed methodological approach was adopted: a paper questionnaire was completed by pupils in Years 9, 11 and 13 (n = 425) in the two post-primary schools; focus group interviews were conducted with pupils from each year group (n = 18); and individual semi-structured interviews were carried out with the pastoral care coordinators (deputy heads with responsibility for pupil wellbeing) of each school (n = 2). The findings confirm that the post-primary pupils in these two schools own a range of internet-capable media devices and spend considerable time online. The incidence of cyberbullying among these pupils was relatively low, and most often consisted of hurtful or nasty comments sent via texts or posted on social networking sites. The study reveals inconsistencies between the approaches taken by the two schools, but also generally low levels of staff training, little engagement with parents, a lack of pupil confidence in the school’s ability to discuss cyberbullying openly, and a worrying absence of any systematic evaluation of the effectiveness of the schools’ current strategies for tackling this complex issue.     

Entrepreneurship education: motivation and effort for pupils with special needs in Norwegian compulsory school*

Pupil enterprises are a widespread type of entrepreneurship education. In this working method, pupils start up, manage and close a business over short period of time. National and international policy documents claim that practical working methods through the use of pupil enterprises are beneficial to increase motivation by being a realistic and cross-curricular approach. This paper investigates whether this is the case for pupils who receive special education. No previous research has focused on the situation for this group of pupils when working with pupil enterprises. The data are collected from a survey with the participation of 1880 pupils in the 10th grade. Our econometric results indicate that participation in pupil enterprises has no particular impact on motivation or effort for pupils receiving special needs education. Even though there are many positive features with pupil enterprises and they offer a practical and realistic way of learning, we do not find evidence to support that pupil enterprises also have a positive effect on the general school motivation and effort. Thus, the political claim of the practical dimension as a solution to increase motivation for learning in school is not supported by our findings.     

Theories underlying perceived changes in teaching and learning after installing a computer network in a secondary school

This paper discusses the theoretical links between motivation and learning and the use of information technology that arose during the evaluation, by both teachers and pupils, of the effects upon teaching and learning of the installation of an extensive new computer network in their secondary school.
The school was visited throughout the 1996/7 academic year, and two questionnaire surveys were carried out during this time. The initial questionnaire was completed by 69 (73%) of the staff and a stratified, random sample comprising 161 (11%) of the pupils. Those originally surveyed were sent a follow up questionnaire at the end of the year. Responses to the questions were grouped by similarity into categories and these categories were related to theories of motivation and learning.
It is concluded that the installation of a computer network in a secondary school results in improved teaching and learning and increased enjoyment of learning in the school with both pupils and teachers viewing the use of IT as beneficial to learning.
Where such positive effects of using IT are noted they can be justified theoretically using Behaviourist, Cognitive and Social Constructivist theories of motivation and learning. The wide range of ways in which use of a computer can be both extrinsically and intrinsically motivating explains the increased motivation observed in the pupils.     

Physical education teachers’ perceptions about the effectiveness and acceptability of strategies used to increase relevance and choice for students in physical education classes

School physical education (PE) aims to develop students’ knowledge and skills for lifelong participation in physical activity (PA). Unfortunately, many PE teachers report that motivating students is a significant challenge. The purpose of this study was to explore PE teacher perceptions about the effectiveness and acceptability of three self-determination theory-based motivational strategies on students’ PA, motivation, and learning during PE lessons. Thirteen PE teachers from five schools in Western Sydney, Australia, participated in this study. We carried out semi-structured post-lesson interviews with PE teachers to gather information about the perceived effectiveness and acceptability of the three intervention strategies and whether these were sustainable teaching methods: (1) explaining relevance; (2) providing choice; and (3) complete free choice. Analysis of interview data revealed that teachers believed each strategy successfully enhanced student PA, enjoyment, motivation, and student learning. The findings also showed that our motivational teaching strategies were acceptable when embedded within certain PE contexts. Overall, the results have implications for future pre-service and in-service PE teaching practice.     

Pre-service and in-service teachers’ knowledge,attitudes and confidence towards self-injury among pupils

Teachers are ideally placed to identify and refer pupils who self-injure, but are often unaware when pupils self-injure or unsure how to respond. The aims of this study were to explore and compare pre-service and in-service teachers’ knowledge and attitudes towards self-injury, and their confidence responding to pupils who self-injure. Pre-service teachers (n = 267) and in-service teachers (n = 261) completed self-report questionnaires. Prior education regarding self-injury was positively related to knowledge and confidence, while pre-service teachers were more confident than in-service teachers in their ability to cope with legal and school regulations. Thematic analysis of open-ended questions indicated that although pre- and in-service teachers are concerned about pupils who self-injure and are willing to help these students, they feel ill-informed about self-injury and requested school policies and additional education regarding the behaviour. Results have implications for educational programmes that prepare pre- and in-service teachers to identify and respond to pupils who self-injure.     

Swedish primary‐school teachers’ attitudes to inclusion – the case of PE and pupils with physical disabilities

Teachers play a decisive role in making inclusive education a reality. The particular case of inclusion in physical education (PE) poses a specific challenge to teaching practice. How PE teachers view inclusion may provide special insights into teachers’ general attitudes toward inclusion and inclusive practices in the general school curriculum. The aim of this study is to investigate Swedish PE teachers’ attitudes to inclusion of pupils with physical disabilities in mainstream PE classes at primary school. The sampling frame was members of the Swedish Teachers’ Union who had registered themselves as PE teachers and who indicated a current e‐mail address (n = 560). Respondents were invited to complete an e‐mail questionnaire with questions covering demographics, general attitudes, support from school management and staff, possible hindrances and personal experiences of inclusion. A total of 221 teachers (39%) responded, equal numbers of males and females with a bimodal age distribution (means of 28 and 44) with an average of eight years of service. On average, Swedish PE teachers are very positive to inclusion of pupils with physical disabilities into general PE. Gender, age, years of service and work satisfaction had no impact on general opinions of inclusive PE. PE teachers with actual previous experience of teaching pupils with physical disabilities were slightly more positive to inclusive PE. Stepwise multiple regressions were used to establish a predictive model of positive attitudes to inclusion based on: (1) having adequate training; (2) having general school support (from management and staff); and (3) demands on resources. This yielded an adjusted R ² that explained 33% of variation in attitudes.     

Motivation and self‐regulated science learning in high‐achieving students: differences related to nation,gender, and grade‐level

A total of three hundred and fifteen (n = 315) gifted students from the 10th and 12th grade from the United States (n = 102), China (n = 125) and Germany (n = 88) were surveyed regarding their motivation and self‐regulation in chemistry learning. A 3×2×2 MANOVA revealed “nation” as having the largest major effect on these variables. The American group scored higher in most of the motivational and self‐regulatory characteristics than their Chinese and German counterparts. Although in all samples gifted girls reported a higher effort goal orientation, they used superficial cognitive strategies in learning science more frequently than boys. In addition, students' effort goal orientation was less pronounced in higher grades in all samples.     

GENDER DIFFERENCES IN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TAIWANESE ADOLESCENTS' MATHEMATICS ATTITUDES AND THEIR PERCEPTIONS TOWARD VIRTUAL MANIPULATIVES

This study explored gender differences in the relationship between young people's mathematics attitudes and their perceptions toward virtual manipulatives. Seven hundred eighty junior high school adolescents who participated in the problem-solving activity using virtual manipulatives were selected for examination. The study found the male adolescents' views on motivation and enjoyment of mathematics could explain many aspects of their perceptions toward virtual manipulatives. The female adolescents' views on the importance of mathematics and freedom from fear of mathematics could explain many aspects of their perceptions toward virtual manipulatives. However, motivation, enjoyment, and importance of mathematics were more prominent than freedom from fear of mathematics in predicting male adolescents' perceptions toward virtual manipulatives, and freedom from fear and importance of mathematics were more prominent than enjoyment and motivation of mathematics in predicting female adolescents' perceptions toward virtual manipulatives. Two implications can be drawn from this study. First, teachers could provide males with appealing problem contexts not only to be used to remove the fear of mathematics, but also to be used for enjoyment and as motivation to see the importance of mathematics. Then male students could be encouraged to have more confirmed positive perceptions toward virtual manipulatives when engaging in the activities of computer-based mathematics. Second, teachers could provide females with interesting teaching activities, not only to be used for motivation and the enjoyment of mathematics, but also to be used to remove the fear of mathematics and for experiencing the importance of mathematics. Then female students could have positive perceptions toward virtual manipulatives when technology was integrated into the classroom to enhance learning and to support effective mathematics teaching.     

Physical education and academic achievement—literature review 1997–2015

The purpose of this review was to organize the results of studies conducted during the last 18 years into a body of knowledge concerning the link between physical education (PE) and academic achievement (AA). Such knowledge may help in clarifying the role of PE in the schools, whose main focus is on improving the AA of the children. The term PE is used to denote those classes taught in the framework of a school curriculum in which physical activity is at the centre. The reviewed studies were divided into three categories: the ‘political’, in which a rationale is provided for PE in mainly achievement-oriented academic schools (n = 10); the ‘interventionist’, in which it is shown that PE given in accordance with a defined intervention programme influences AA (n = 10); and the ‘integrative’, in which it is determined how physical activity incorporated into the daily routine of academic studies contributes to AA (n = 5). The significance of the reviewed studies in each category is discussed, as well as the advantages and limitations of the studies. Ideas for future research on the link between PE and AA are proposed.     

Measuring self-efficacy,aptitude to participate and functioning in students with and without impairments

Including vulnerable groups of students such as students with learning disabilities in mainstream school research, require ethical considerations and questionnaire adaptation. These students are often excluded, due to low understanding or methodologies generating inadequate data. Students with disability need be studied as a separate group and provided accessible questionnaires. This pilot study aims at developing and evaluating student self-reported measures, rating aspects of student experiences of school-based Physical Education (PE). Instrument design, reliability and validity were examined in Swedish secondary school students (n = 47) including students, aged 13, with intellectual disability (n = 5) and without impairment and test–retested on 28 of these students. Psychometric results from the small pilot-study sample were confirmed in analyses based on replies from the first wave of data collection in the main study (n = 450). Results show adequate internal consistency, factor structure and relations between measures. In conclusion, reliability and validity were satisfactory in scales to measure self-efficacy in general, in PE, and aptitude to participate. Adapting proxy ratings for functioning into self-reports indicated problems. Adequacy of adjustments made were confirmed and a dichotomous scale for typical/atypical function is suggested for further analyses.     

Variability in Reading Scores on a Given Level of Intelligence Test Scores

ABSTRACT

Previous studies have shown that several key variables influence student achievement in geometry, but no research has been conducted to determine how these variables interact. A model of achievement in geometry was tested on a sample of 102 high school students. Structural equation modeling was used to test hypothesized relationships among variables linked to successful problem solving in geometry. These variables, including motivation, achievement emotions, pictorial representation, and categorization skills, were examined for their influence on geometry achievement. Results indicated that the model fit well. Achievement emotions, specifically boredom and enjoyment, had a significant influence on student motivation. Student motivation influenced students’ use of pictorial representations and achievement. Pictorial representation also directly influenced achievement. Categorization skills had a significant influence on pictorial representations and student achievement. The implications of these findings for geometry instruction and for future research are discussed.     

The role of autonomy supportive activities on students’ motivation and beliefs toward out-of-school activities

Physical education in elementary education usually provides children’s first contact with sports. According to the trans-contextual model of motivation, physical education teachers can positively influence children’s beliefs toward and actual leisure time physical activity behavior. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of a dance-based physical education program on motivation regarding physical education lesson participation, as well as leisure time physical activity participation. The sample consisted of 252 pupils attending Grades 5 and 6 of elementary school (M_age?=?10.48 years, SD?=?0.50 years). Participants were randomly assigned into three groups. The first group attended a physical education lesson based on various forms of dance, the second one attended lessons with Greek traditional dances only, and the third group served as active control group that attended the typical curriculum. The intervention lasted six weeks. Before and after the intervention, students completed survey-based measures of motivational climate, motivational regulations in physical education and leisure time, enjoyment, attitudes, perceived behavioral control, subjective norms, and intentions toward leisure time physical activity. In support of the trans-contextual model, results showed that students in the dance intervention programs scored significantly higher in perceptions of motivational climate and beliefs toward leisure time physical activity. The findings of the study suggest that dancing lessons at school can bolster more positive attitudes and beliefs toward physical education and leisure time physical activity.     

Begin-of-school-year perceived autonomy-support and structure as predictors of end-of-school-year study efforts and procrastination: the mediating role of autonomous and controlled motivation

In this prospective study, we recruited a sample of Belgian adolescents (N = 886) to investigate to what extent perceived teachers’ motivating style relates to quality of motivation in the beginning of the school year and, in turn, changes in study effort and procrastination by the end of the school year. After controlling for initial levels of study effort and procrastination and for a shared variance due to classroom membership, we found, through path analysis, perceived autonomy support and structure to relate positively to autonomous motivation, which in turn predicted increased study effort and decreased procrastination at the end of the school year. The findings are discussed from a theoretical and practical standpoint.     

Reading Intervention for Poor Readers at the Transition to Secondary School

This study evaluated two 20-week reading interventions for pupils entering secondary school with reading difficulties. The interventions were delivered by trained teaching assistants (three 35-min sessions per week). 287 pupils (ages 11–13) from 27 schools were randomly allocated to three groups: reading intervention (targeting word recognition and decoding skills), reading intervention plus comprehension, or a waiting list control group. Neither intervention produced statistically significant gains in word reading but the reading intervention plus comprehension intervention produced significant gains in reading comprehension (d = 0.29) and vocabulary (d = 0.34). Further evaluations of methods to improve word reading in this population are needed.     

The Impact of Emotions on Student Achievement in Synchronous Hybrid Business and Public Administration Programs: A Longitudinal Test of Control‐Value Theory*

Synchronous hybrid delivery (simultaneously teaching on‐campus and online students using Web conferencing) is becoming more common in higher education. However, little is known about students’ emotions in these environments. Although often overlooked, emotions are fundamental antecedents of success. This study longitudinally examined the role of students’ emotions (enjoyment, anxiety, and boredom), perceptions of control, value, and success in synchronous hybrid learning environments. In particular, the investigation assessed students’ self‐reported enjoyment, anxiety, and boredom as predictors of their program achievement and successful technology use. Students were recruited from synchronous hybrid MBA and MPA programs. Control‐value theory of emotions was used as the theoretical framework. Paired samples t‐tests revealed that the achievement domain, compared to the technology domain, yielded higher mean scores for control, value, enjoyment, anxiety, and boredom. In addition, mixed ANOVAs indicated an interaction effect in which group means for program boredom were significantly higher for on‐campus students than for online students. Intercorrelations in each domain showed that perceived success was positively related to enjoyment and negatively related to anxiety and boredom. Technology‐related anxiety was also found to fully mediate the positive effect of control on perceived success in using technology.