Aim: Investigating the relationship between what Japanese elementary school students (aged 8 to 12) actually do and what they want to do in their free time, and clarifying the problems concerning Japanese children's free time. Background: Previous studies reported that 51.2% of Japanese fifth and sixth graders answered that they were either…

Considering the essential role that socio-motivational relationships at school play with respect to achievement motivation, this study examined the differences between students with a low school self-concept and students with a high school self-concept in a large sample of 7th and 8th grade students (N= 1088; M[subscript Age]= 13.7) in secondary…

This paper is based on two studies conducted in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in 2008 and in Kampala, Uganda, in 2014. The basic research question addressed in both studies was: "What are the experiences in the lives of upper elementary-aged children that foster an intrinsic motivation to seek information?" The secondary question was:…

Learning physics often requires overcoming common misconceptions based on naïve interpretations of observations in the everyday world. One proposed way to help learners build appropriate physics intuitions is to expose them to computer simulations in which motion is based on Newtonian principles. In addition, playing video games that require…

Based on the study of seventy-four middle school children of mostly Filipino and part Hawaiian heritages, this article explores the relationships of children's thinking styles, play preferences, and school performance. Using the Group Embedded Figures Test, the Articulation of the Body Scale, and written responses to three questions, the authors…

This study examined the relationships between American and South Korean students' achievement and their time spent in out-of-school activities. Analyzing nationally representative data for 8,912 U.S. and 5,309 Korean middle school students from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2003, we found differences in…