The age of information and communication technology (ICT) has witnessed the prevalence of computer-based reading. Previous studies yielded mixed results concerning the relationship between ICT perceived competence, ICT use and digital reading performance, and the underlying mechanism was rarely explored. This study aimed to explore the…

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) engagement, as a multidimensional construct, plays an increasingly important role in education. The main purpose of this research was to explore the effects of ICT engagement factors on science performance across Singapore and Turkey conditional to the sufficient degree of measurement invariance of…

While science self-concepts of secondary school students have received considerable attention, several important aspects of chemistry self-concepts have not yet been understood: gender relations, the impact of students' cultural backgrounds, and the impact of chemistry self-concept on learning processes. In the present study, (i) we could confirm…

The United States and Canada, two countries known to have large immigrant populations, have long since reflected a dichotomy, where Canada is generally perceived to be a country with language policies that demonstrate its receptiveness to embrace multiculturalism in schools and classrooms. In contrast, the United States has consistently espoused…

I brought together two strands of literature, one investigating the moderate but persistent underachievement of girls in mathematics in most countries, and the other examining the role of self-efficacy and other self-beliefs in predicting behaviour and achievement. I implemented detailed decompositions of the gender mathematics gap, both at the…

Responding to an earlier "Phi Delta Kappan" article, the author rejects the argument that East Asian students' high scores on international educational assessments come at the expense of learning to be creative and entrepreneurial. According to survey research, people in Japan, Korea, and other East Asian nations perceive themselves to…

This study examined how information and communications technology (ICT) related factors and country-level economic status influence student academic achievement. Two-level structural equation modeling was employed to investigate both student-level and country-level variables, using the PISA 2015 data of ninth-grade students across 39 countries.…

Non-cognitive characteristics of students in four Southeast Asian countries -- Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Viet Nam -- were reviewed based on the PISA 2009, 2012, and 2015 data. Overall, students in this region demonstrated similarities with respect to their non-cognitive dispositions such as learning habits, approaches to learning,…

This dissertation explores how country-level cultural values are associated with gender differences in the enrollment in and completion of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC), national achievement in mathematics and science, and students' science achievement. Study 1 explored how gender-equal…

This paper explores the relationships among attitudes toward mathematics, teaching, and academic achievement in mathematics. Based on the contextual and social nature of academic self-concept, two complementary studies are discussed. The first study from the northeastern United States examined the relationships among these variables in 84 high…

This study investigates how affective and self-related factors impact participation in science learning and environmental awareness and responsibility. Using PISA 2006 datasets from Taiwan and Canada having similar level of science competency, the model for this study verifies and expands an earlier model by examining the relationships among…

Extensive support for the seemingly paradoxical negative effects of school- and class-average achievement on academic self-concept (ASC)-the big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLPE)--is based largely on secondary students in Western countries or on cross-cultural Program for International Student Assessment studies. There is little research testing the…

Using data from the Program for International Student Assessment 2006 surveys for 50 countries, this paper explores gender segregation of adolescent science career plans. We ask whether, in different cultures, bridging the male-female gap in science self-concept could reduce gender disparities in students' career preferences. Bringing together the…

We examined the effects of mathematics self-concept (MSC) and MSC calibration on mathematics achievement through multilevel analyses of the mathematics tests and questionnaire responses of 88,590 15-year olds who participated in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) Program for International Student Assessment (PISA).…