A recent study claiming to provide a basis for gifted education to drop the construct of overexcitabilities in favor of the construct of openness to experience and align itself with the Five Factor Model and a talent development perspective on gifted education is shown to be without merit. An analysis shows that the study supports the conclusion…

As a personality trait, second language (L2) grit--a combination of perseverance and passion for L2 learning--has recently been proposed as a meaningful predictor of learners' motivational behavior and L2 achievement. The results of a growing body of empirical studies carried out in various L2 contexts have substantiated the power of L2 grit in…

In China, recent social and economic development have resulted in further attention being given to the development of preschool education. Culturally, many Chinese parents have held high expectations of their children's early learning and academic success in later studies. Hence, a high-quality preschool service has become a contentious issue. The…

Reading is one of the most basic academic skills. An accurate monitor of one's text comprehension (i.e., metacomprehension) is essential for effective reading as it guides learning and choices of appropriate strategy used to maximize overall understanding. The processes of reading comprehension and metacomprehension are affected by text-related,…

In recent years, educational practitioners have become more aware of the importance of cultivating students' social and emotional skills, in order to facilitate adaptation beyond academic contexts. Emotional intelligence (EI), the ability to regulate one's own and others' emotions appropriately, has often been targeted in educational…

This article explores the implications for Christian religious education of the theory of moral virtues formulated by Thomas Aquinas and developed by the contemporary Neo-Thomists. The analysis is divided into two parts. The first part introduces Thomistic virtue theory and presents cardinal virtues crucial for Thomistic ethics: prudence, justice,…

Academic achievement has too often been a metric by which students define their self-worth. For some students, this focus manifests itself through perfectionism, attaining high grades, and overvaluing extrinsic learning rewards. Students who consider their self-worth to be contingent upon their academic performance often suffer from withdrawal,…

Research on perfectionism with the Almost Perfect Scale-Revised (APS-R) distinguishes adaptive perfectionists versus maladaptive perfectionists based primarily on their responses to the 12-item unidimensional APS-R Discrepancy subscale, which assesses the sense of falling short of standards. People described as adaptive perfectionists have high…

The question of what makes a good teacher has been asked by practitioners, policymakers, and researchers for decades. However, there is no guiding framework about which qualities are important for teachers. Thus, it is necessary to examine these qualities using a recognized framework and to summarize the previous literature on this topic. We…

Educational reformers have considered teacher empowerment as one of the panaceas for school success. The concept of teacher empowerment has emerged as an important approach in promoting positive work behaviors with many researchers observing the link between the levels of teachers' psychological empowerment and the extent to which they feel…

A student's ability to regulate their thoughts, emotions and behaviors in the face of temptation is linked to their task specific motivational goals and dispositions. Behavioral tasks are designed to strain a targeted resource to differentiate individuals through measures of their performance. In this paper, we explore how student behavior on…

In recent years, democracies across the globe have seen an increase in the popularity and power of authoritarian, nationalist politicians, groups, and policies. In this climate, the proper role of education in liberal democratic society, and in particular its role in promoting characteristics like autonomy and open-mindedness, is contested. This…

This chapter explores the various relationships that exist between contradictions and creativity. The focus is education, with implications for both teachers and students. Contradictions are defined and contrasted with problems, disequilibria, and dilemmae. Product, place, personality, and process perspectives on creativity as also compared. The…

The recent surge in interest in progressive education ideas has often been accompanied by an increased advocacy for learning outdoors, with experiential and holistic learning approaches considered the most beneficial method for cultivating personal and social development and raising awareness of contemporary environmental concerns. However,…

Schools have poor reputation among creativity researchers. Teachers' biases and implicit theories, disruptive behaviors among creative students, and the equivocal pattern of the relationship between creativity and school achievement all contribute to this fact. This chapter presents a new typological model of creativity and demonstrate how this…