Can critical analysis be carried out without the support of minimal conceptual structuring in the field in question? The results of a research survey of beginning teachers are briefly discussed. Interviews on radiocarbon dating illustrate what we call a "delayed critique", i.e. after a phase of critical passivity and concomitant…

The article is based on reforms in the Danish educational system, encouraging a new focus on learning goals. The use of learning goals is investigated with a teacher in one mathematics class. Inspired by categories from goal theory, different types of students are described regarding their understanding of the usefulness of visible learning goals…

In response to McLean (2021), Laufer (2021) makes three claims which are either not supported by research or are based on studies with important limitations. First is that a vocabulary size, instead of a level, can be used to match learners with lexically appropriate materials despite test creators and research not supporting this. Second is that…

In the late 1980s Batia Laufer worked with teachers who believed that to understand a text it was enough to understand 80% of the text's word tokens. In response, Laufer set out to calculate the minimal text coverage, i.e., percentage of running words in a text the reader should understand to comprehend it reasonably well. In 1992, she explored…

Many large-scale, school-based interventions have attempted to improve academic performance through promoting students' growth mindset, defined as the belief that one's intellectual ability can increase with practice and time. However, most have shown weak to no effects. Thus, it is important to examine how growth mindset might affect retention…

Regner, Escribe, and Dupeyrat (2007) recently demonstrated that not only performance-approach and performance-avoidance goals (respectively, the desire to outperform others and not to be outperformed by others) but also mastery goals (the desire to acquire knowledge) were related to social comparison orientation (SCO, the tendency to search for…

This study relates the performance of college students in introductory science courses to the amount of content covered in their high school science courses. The sample includes 8310 students in introductory biology, chemistry, or physics courses in 55 randomly chosen U.S. colleges and universities. Students who reported covering at least 1 major…

The present study used an ecological framework to examine the relationships among adolescents' perceptions of school climate, social competence, and behavioral and psychological adjustment in the middle school years. This study improved upon prior studies by using "structural equation modeling" to investigate the hypothesized mediating…

The current study examined the fit of a 2 x 2 achievement goal model among a diverse sample of nearly 700 10th-grade students, distinguishing between both mastery and performance goals and approach and avoidance orientations. Additionally, relationships between achievement goals and GPA and intrinsic value of school were examined, and adolescents'…

A general framework is presented to help understand the relationship between motivation and self-regulated learning. According to the framework, self-regulated learning can be facilitated by the adoption of mastery and relative ability goals and hindered by the adoption of extrinsic goals. In addition, positive self-efficacy and task value beliefs…

This study examined the relationship of motivational climate and differential achievement goals to meta-cognitive self-regulation, regulation of effort, help-seeking and self-handicapping in physical education (PE). The sample consisted of 273 pupils (boys n = 125; girls n = 148) attending 10th grade PE classes in Norway. Both motivational…