Achievement goals have been key concepts for describing what motivates individuals in educational contexts. While achievement goals have often merely been conceptualized in terms of aspired end-states (aims of goal striving), contemporary research has proposed a more holistic perspective synthesizing these aims alongside autonomous versus…

Research on effective teaching and learning shows that when students set and monitor their own learning goals, it significantly narrows achievement gaps. While teacher-written objectives are important for clarity, when these objectives are re-written as personal statements, they evolve from what a teacher needs to teach to what students want to…

Background: According to Dweck's mindset theory, implicit beliefs (a.k.a. mindset) have an organizing function, bringing together mindset, achievement goals and effort beliefs in a broader meaning system. Two commonly described meaning systems are a growth-mindset meaning system with mastery goals and positive effort beliefs, and a fixed-mindset…

The literature links parental practices to students' academic achievements, highlighting the roles of both supportive and psychologically controlling parenting. However, few studies have separately examined mothers' and fathers' contributions to students' achievement goals and learned helplessness in university students. This study aimed to…

Recent academic motivation research has shifted towards understanding the situation-specific and process-sensitive nature of motivation. This shift has initiated discussions on methodological advancements to capture dynamic changes in motivation as they occur in authentic learning contexts. However, these studies have not been systematically…

Earning Open Badges instead of regular grades and credits can be a motivating factor for high-performing students in terms of attending classes and completing assignments in extracurricular courses, but to what extent? And for what student profiles? To tackle these questions, we conducted a quantitative study with high-performing students. Each…

Student self-efficacy, their confidence to successfully perform a task, is positively related to course performance. Students with high self-efficacy for a task are more motivated toward that task. Yet few studies have measured students' self-efficacy and motivation levels after exams are returned in introductory biology classes or studied how…

The study explores the influence of motivation on college students' achievement, emphasizing the differential roles of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. 147 college students, aged eighteen to forty-two, completed a survey consisting of the Academic Motivation Scale and the Academic Success Inventory for College Students and provided their grade…

The purpose of this research is to explore the impact of Learning Goal Orientation (LGO) on Self-Readiness for Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (SR-CSCL) and Self-Directed Learning (SDL). LGO is a central concept of motivation, but there is little research on its contribution to SDL and SR-CSCL. This study was performed at the Faculty of…

In higher education, motivational factors are considered one of "the strongest predictors of academic performance" (Honike et al., 2020, p. 1). A meta-analysis of face-to-face (f2f) courses (Richardson et al., 2012) supports these claims, finding a strong correlation between performance self-efficacy and academic performance (r = 0.59),…

Background: Achievement goal theory is a popular motivational theory within education and psychology, with several review papers summarizing the extensive work done in these fields. Although reviews exist in these specific fields, none exists within science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. This is a considerable gap in…

Background: Achievement goal theory is a popular motivational theory within education and psychology, with several review papers summarizing the extensive work done in these fields. Although reviews exist in these specific fields, none exists within science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. This is a considerable gap in…

Early adolescents entering middle school are at a pivotal developmental phase as they become less dependent on parents/guardians and seek greater autonomy while encountering a complexity of social demands requiring them to regulate their emotions, thoughts, and behaviors to achieve academic and social success. Yet, students who receive services…

This study introduces a novel Learner-Intention Continuum, spanning from curiosity and exploration to purposeful, goal-directed learning. This continuum fills a critical gap in understanding the diverse motivations of informal and semi-formal learners, specifically those who enroll in massive open online courses (MOOCs). Through latent class…

Human flourishing is often defined in terms of a collection of positive human factors. However, many people around the world are living in conditions that block human flourishing and find themselves powerless to change those circumstances. I argue that it is more useful to examine instead the idea of living well. Drawing upon Yu Hua's novel…