Executive skills are the cognitive abilities that make it possible for people to set goals, regulate impulses, and complete the steps necessary to achieve their objectives. Examples of these skills include time management, emotional control, and organization. Richard Guare and Peggy Dawson have developed a coaching strategy based on executive…

Errors bear the potential to improve knowledge acquisition, provided that learners are able to deal with them in an adaptive and reflexive manner. However, learners experience a host of different--often impeding or maladaptive--emotional and motivational states in the face of academic errors. Research has made few attempts to develop a theory that…

This chapter examines development through different life transitions, such as educational transitions and transition to parenthood during adolescence to adulthood in the context of the life-span model of personal goals. According to the life-span model of motivation, four key mechanisms--channeling, choice, co-regulation, and compensation--play a…

This paper defines a broad model of the psychosocial climate in educational settings. The model was developed from a general theory of learning environments, on a theory of human values and on empirical studies of children's evaluations of their schools. The contents of the model are creativity, stimulation, achievement, self-efficacy, creativity,…

This article describes an in-class activity that helps undergraduate students to understand the effects of their socio-economic position on the formulation, pursuit, and achievement of goals. Social stratification and inequality have an initial impact on the formulation of goals. Through this exercise students will perceive the effects of having a…

This article focuses on three general areas of research on achievement goal theory, including the definition and role of achievement goals, the role of contextual goals and factors, and the measurement and induction of goals. Issues regarding the definition of achievement goals include the generality of the approach/avoid dimension and the…

This article describes the way in which colleagues from the Business faculty, the Careers Service and the Library at Dublin City University collaborated to design and deliver an integrated approach to personal development planning (PDP) with the aim of motivating first year undergraduate students to take greater responsibility for their own…

This report presents outcome information concerning programs of the Colorado Division for Developmental Disabilities. Preliminary information outlines the legislative goals and the program evaluation process, which involves a longitudinal evaluation of service outcomes for a sample of adults receiving services, using the COPAR (Colorado Progress…

Focus on Choice was a 309 Special Project with education and research components. The educational aspect involved two pilot classes of under-educated adults in a 13-week course which emphasized self-assessment, goal-setting and occupational information. An integral feature of the design included mutual support groups and role models as a way of…