It is wildly held belief that one way to interest students in mathematics is to use real-world examples. Mathematics teachers are aware of the lack of interest in mathematics by many students and seek ways to improve their motivation. It seems reasonable to suggest that demonstrating to students the ubiquitous nature of mathematics may help…

The effects of video games on self-esteem is an understudied area in social science research, despite the gaming industries massive economic growth and how widespread games have become in everyday lives. This paper explores and investigates literature on how playing video games could impact psychological well-being, specifically self-esteem.…

Many students view PISA as a low-stakes assessment. Their lack of willingness to give the assessment "their all" is reflected in students' performance. Boys are often disengaged, resulting in low test performance. Disengagement should be measured in various different ways to better understand it and improve assessment design.

In this article, both the negative and positive roles of competition as a teaching strategy are explored. By using the lenses of culture, gender, second language learners and different levels of education, the strategy of competition is considered in terms of its component pieces in order to find how best to use it. By adjusting the use of…

For the past two decades, Chinese students have formed a substantial component of many business-related postgraduate degrees in UK Universities. However, there has been little research into what motivates Chinese students to choose one type of business degree over another. In this paper, we use student record data to analyze the choices made by…

Children's memberships in social groups have profound effects on their motivation. Stereotypes about social groups shape children's beliefs about what is expected for their group members. These beliefs can influence children's developing beliefs about themselves (self-perceptions). In this article, I review research on how gender stereotypes…

The purpose of this article is to review "Mathematics and Science Olympiad Studies." The studies undertook the task of evaluating the effectiveness of chemistry, math, and physics Olympiad programs by tracking down their participants from the inception of these programs. The main research questions were: Do these competitions generate…

This century has seen continued exponential growth in the use of digital technologies. In Australia, the proportion of students having access to a computer at home rose from about 91 per cent in 2000 to over 99 per cent in 2013, and access to the internet grew from 67 per cent in 2000 to 98 per cent in 2013. According to the 2013 report on the…

As is the case in most OECD countries, boys in Norway are more likely to have lower levels of academic achievement and attainment than girls. While this phenomenon is not recent, it has become increasingly pronounced in recent years and, as a result, is attracting considerable attention from policy-makers in many countries. This paper develops…

There is increasing consensus among psycho-educational scholars about argumentation as a means to improve student knowledge and understanding of subject matter. In this article, we argue that, notwithstanding a strong theoretical rationale, causal evidence is not abundant, definitions of the objects of study (argumentation, learning) are often not…

In this commentary, we argue that social capital theory, the idea that membership in a group creates opportunities to acquire valuable information and resources from other group members, is a useful framework in which to consider ways to increase diversity in the Earth System Sciences (ESS) and in the science, technology, engineering, and…

Abstract: Nutrition and food students at Sheffield Hallam University completed an "active learning" assessment as part of a final year module, Applied Nutrition 2. The purpose of the "active learning" assessment was to encourage and enhance learner autonomy. The assessment consisted of 5 main stages: a briefing, thought shower,…

A multimedia university programme with relatively equal numbers of male and female students in elective programming subjects provided a rare opportunity to investigate female motivation to study and pursue computer programming in a career. The MSLQ was used to survey 85 participants. In common with research into deterrence of females from STEM…

The aim of this paper was to explore whether there is a gender difference in the beneficial effects of Racing Academy, which is a video game used to support undergraduate students learning of Mechanical Engineering. One hundred and thirty-eight undergraduate students (15 females and 123 males) participated in the study. The students completed a…

The present study examined the structural relations of social influences, task values, ability beliefs, educational expectation and academic engagement for both boys and girls. The structural equation modelling analyses provided nationally representative evidence of gender differences in: (1) the links from teacher-student relationship and peer…