In the classroom setting, social context and self-systems affect student engagement for school success. Students' perceived goal orientation of their teachers and grit influence their engagement in academic learning. However, adolescents' efforts for academic success related to teachers' goal orientation and grit remains under-researched in the…

Writing and identity development are enhanced when students have opportunities to discuss and write about their lives and concerns. This qualitative study explored sites of possibility for reflective, dialogic pedagogy within middle and high school writing instruction. The context for the study were three rural school districts that were…

Building on recent research into the importance of positive teacher emotions for student learning experiences, the current study involved five upper primary teachers at a Victorian government school developing integrated mathematics units built around topic areas of personal interest or passion. Respective students (n=88) elected to participate in…

Most teacher candidates enter education programs as elementary or secondary teachers, despite the call for uniquely prepared middle grades teachers and despite the fact that nearly one-third of teaching jobs available are in grades 5-8 schools. This article describes a middle level education course required by candidates at all licensure levels,…

Quality of the instructional process is at stake when taught by out-of-field teachers. The current study identified the problems met by such teachers who teach across their specialization in the teaching of social studies. These Out-of-field social studies teachers encounter several issues in the preparation and administration of their lessons.…

Mental and social wellbeing (MSWB) promotion programs could improve mental health and other outcomes for youth in Low and Middle Income Countries (LMICs). Unfortunately, few such programs have progressed to scale-up and few studies have detailed processes and considerations that could facilitate doing so. This study begins to fill these gaps,…

In October 2014, the Women's Sports Foundation (WSF), and espnW co-founded "Sports 4 Life", a national grant program to increase participation and retention of African American and Hispanic girls in sports, especially in under-resourced communities. These grants are intended to help small and mid-size organizations in all 50 states…

Adoption of science content standards that include anthropogenic climate change has prompted widespread instruction in climate change for the first time. However, the controversial nature of the topic can be daunting and many teachers share misconceptions that lead to weak treatment of climate change in classrooms. Nevertheless, numerous teachers…

Educational games can be viewed in two ways, "learning to play" or "playing to learn." The Chinese Idiom String Up Game was specifically designed to examine the effect of "learning to play" on the interrelatedness of players' gameplay interest, competitive anxiety, and perceived utility of pre-game learning (PUPGL).…

The literature suggests that adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) typically are not socially engaged during unstructured school activities and do not initiate social activities with typically developing peers. This study assessed whether implementing socialization opportunities in the form of lunch clubs based around aspects of the…

Research has shown that the average values for academic interest decrease during adolescence. Looking beyond such quantitative decline, we explored qualitative change of interest in the domain of mathematics across adolescence. Study 1 was based on a longitudinal data set (annual assessments from Grade 5 to Grade 9; N = 3,193). Latent variable…

Background: Cognitive conflict has been identified as an important factor for bringing about students' conceptual change. Researchers draw attention to the need to study not only cognitive factors related to cognitive conflict but affective factors as well. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the contribution of cognitive…

The purpose of this study was to analyze a large data base of self-selected/self-determined goals developed by students aged 7-21 that had developmental disabilities. Data included 288 goals developed by 205 students involved in the Kentucky Youth Advocacy Project. Students, teachers, Speech/Language pathologists and families utilized the Self…

This article analyzes three curricula for the bat/bar-mitzvah year of the public religious, Tali and public schools in Israel. It compares their views on gender and theology, and throws light on the intersection of gender, religion and education in Israeli society. It shows how the messages of the public religious and public schools serve to…

This study measures the nationwide participation rates of girls and boys in exercise and organized team sports. The central focus is on how the intersections among families, schools and communities are related to children's involvement and interest in athletics and physical activity. Some of the personal and social benefits associated with…