Informed by two theoretical models of homework effects, we extended a model of homework on mathematics achievement in a large sample of Chinese eighth graders. Our model incorporated six clusters of homework variables -- student background factors, homework characteristics, teacher variables, parent variables, student motivation, and homework…

Student motivation predicts academic achievement, engagement, and related academic behaviors. Yet in spite of the importance of motivation for academic success, few studies have examined the school and national-level contextual characteristics associated with motivation. The present study uses hierarchical linear modeling to analyze a large…

Over the past decades, many schools have adapted towards social constructivism with the aim of enhancing students' motivation. There are a variety of perspectives in educational theory, with social constructivist views standing in contrast to traditional views. Hence, we compared students' motivation (levels and developments) in social…

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of Sport Education on the constructs that facilitate amotivation. A total of 78 amotivated secondary students were engaged in a 15-lesson unit of badminton taught using the Sport Education or skill-drill-game approach. Constructs that facilitate amotivation were assessed using the Amotivation…

Taiwanese students are featured as having high academic achievement but low motivational beliefs according to the serial results of the Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). Moreover, given that the role of context has become more important in the development of academic motivation theory, this study aimed to examine the relationship…

Preparation is an effective and necessary activity; however, most students do not prepare for future lessons. The present study addressed this problem and examined how learners' motives, beliefs, and perceptions affected their strategy use during preparation for future lessons. Participants were 219 Japanese junior high school students who…

Most educational climate research is conducted among (day school) students who spend the bulk of their young lives outside of school, potentially limiting the amount of climate variance that can be captured. Boarding school students, on the other hand, spend much of their lives at school and thus offer a potentially unique perspective on…

This study investigated changes in reported test-taking motivation from a low-stakes to a high-stakes test and if there are differences in reported test-taking motivation between school classes. A questionnaire including scales assessing reported effort, expectancies, perceived importance, interest, and test anxiety was administered to a sample of…

This study aims to explore Bayesian multilevel modeling to investigate variations of average academic achievement of grade eight school students. A sample of 636 students is randomly selected from 26 private and government schools by a two-stage stratified sampling design. Bayesian method is used to estimate the fixed and random effects. Input and…

Motivational constructs and students' engagements have great impacts on students' mathematics achievements, yet they have not been theoretically investigated using international large-scale assessment data. This study utilized the mathematics data of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study 2011 to conduct a comparative and…

This study focused on the extrinsic and intrinsic motivation levels of eighth grade students and its relationship with their mathematical achievement. The participants of the study included 6,829 students who took TIMSS in 2011 and 239 mathematics teachers. The data obtained from the student and teacher questionnaires that are included in the…

Research on perceived instrumentality of students' academic work for attaining life goals has shown to have positive effects on academic achievement and motivation The purpose of the study was to examine the changes in perceived instrumentality over time and to identify how significant others such as parents, teachers and peers affect changes in…

School motivation and attachment typically decline after the transition to middle school. According to the stage-environment fit approach, extracurricular activities are supposed to promote motivation. However, research has shown that the effects depend on the quality of the activities, which usually is measured by assessing students' individual…

The present research examined how mode of play in an educational mathematics video game impacts learning, performance, and motivation. The game was designed for the practice and automation of arithmetic skills to increase fluency and was adapted to allow for individual, competitive, or collaborative game play. Participants (N = 58) from urban…

Empirical analysis of secondary biology classrooms revealed that, on average, 68% of teaching time in Germany revolved around processing tasks. Quality of instruction can thus be assessed by analyzing the quality of tasks used in classroom discourse. This quasi-experimental study analyzed how teachers used tasks in 38 videotaped biology lessons…