Executive function (EF) skills are the attention-regulation skills that make it possible to sustain attention, keep goals and information in mind, refrain from responding immediately, resist distraction, tolerate frustration, consider the consequences of different behaviors, reflect on past experiences, and plan for the future. As EF research…

The goal of this article is to discuss one of Paul Pintrich's more enduring legacies: the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ), an 81-item, self-report instrument consisting of 6 motivation subscales and 9 learning strategies scales. The MSLQ has proven to be a reliable and useful tool that can be adapted for a number of…

This study examined the relationship between college students' preference for an immediately available option (e.g., go to a favorite concert the day before a test) or a delayed alternative (e.g., stay at home to study for the test). Analysis focused on how much a student would like to engage in a specific activity, the importance of the activity…

A series of studies was conducted to investigate the nature of children's goals and the role of goals in children's competence in peer relations. First, a conceptual framework was devised which consisted of eight goal types reflecting social-interpersonal and task-related achievement aspects of game playing: task mastery, approach-oriented…

This study investigated whether secondary school students of varied backgrounds, enrolled at a private school developed for the purpose of integrating computers into all aspects of the curriculum and cultivating self-motivated learners, impose their existing motivational sets on computer programming, and whether instructional settings and…