"Jigsaw" is a peer learning procedure derived from social interdependence theory, which suggests that individuals positively linked by a common goal can benefit from positive and promotive social interactions (Aronson & Patnoe, 2011). Although jigsaw has often been presented as an efficient way to promote learning, empirical research…

The present research examined the joint effects of social, dimensional, and temporal comparisons on students' academic self-concepts and parents' beliefs about their children's competencies during students' transition phase from elementary school to junior high school. To this end, we tested the newly developed 2I/E model using longitudinal data…

Four topics were investigated in this longitudinal person-centered study: (a) profiles of subjective task values and ability self-concepts of adolescents in the domain of mathematics, (b) the stability of and changes to the profiles of motivational beliefs from Grade 7 to 12, (c) the relation of changes to student-perceived classroom…

Student misbehavior is a pervasive problem and may seriously affect academic achievement. Previous research hints at different effects depending on whether achievement tests or achievement judgments are used as academic outcomes. Previous research also indicates that low achievement can conversely contribute to problem behavior and that low…

Adaptability is defined as appropriate cognitive, behavioral, and/or affective adjustment in the face of uncertainty and novelty. Building on prior measurement work demonstrating the psychometric properties of an adaptability construct, the present study investigates dispositional predictors (personality, implicit theories) of adaptability, and…

In the literature on achievement goals, performance-approach goals (striving to do better than others) and performance-avoidance goals (striving to avoid doing worse than others) tend to exhibit a moderate to high correlation, raising questions about whether the 2 goals represent distinct constructs. In the current article, we sought to examine…

The authors provide an analytic framework for studying the joint influence of personal achievement goals and classroom goal structures on achievement-relevant outcomes. This framework encompasses 3 models (the direct effect model, indirect effect model, and interaction effect model), each of which addresses a different aspect of the joint…

This study investigated changes in student motivation to participate in physical education and some determinants of these changes over a period of 3 years. Measures were taken twice a year, from age 13 until age 15, from a sample of Greek junior high school students. Multilevel modeling analyses showed significant decreases in task-involving…

Proponents of achievement goal theory typically posit social comparison to be associated with performance goals but not with mastery goals (C. Ames, 1992). Contrary to this postulate, there is some evidence that individuals who are experimentally induced to adopt mastery goals may also use social comparison (e.g., R. Butler, 1992). However, such…

The objective of this study was to investigate how different components of achievement goal theory were related to each other and to students' motivation, cognitive engagement, and achievement in mathematics. Junior high school students (N=525) completed a self-report survey that assessed their perceived classroom goal structures; personal goal…

Four experiments with 263 undergraduates and 57 seventh-graders examined the "testing phenomenon" in relation to students' memory for brief passages and labels for parts of flowers. The phenomenon, which involves the positive effects of previous testing on final test performance, appears to depend on several complete retrieval events. (TJH)

The relation between achievement and self-regulated learning (SRL) was studied through the self-descriptions of 222 seventh graders, all high achievers. Students ranged widely in their use of SRL strategies, suggesting that SRL strategies are not necessary for high achievement. Mastery goal orientation and gender were significantly related to SRL.…

A study involving 58 seventh graders in same-gender dyads in three mutual peer tutoring conditions demonstrates that tutorial interaction can be structured so that same-ability age mates can scaffold each other's higher order thinking and learning. Scaffolding is not necessarily restricted to situations in which one partner is more knowledgeable…

The purpose of this study was to explore whether, in naturalistic physical education classes, the relation between teachers' early expectations and students' later perceived competence was moderated by the extent to which the motivational climate created by the teachers was autonomy supportive. Using a 1-year longitudinal design, data were…