This study aims to investigate coping strategies of middle school students in science classes in relation to students' goal orientations and motivating tasks conducted in the classroom environment. The study was conducted in spring semester of 2015-2016 academic year. Sample of the study consists of 316 middle school students receiving education…

The present study investigated contextual and personal factors associated with teachers' achievement goals for teaching. A total of 211 teachers completed an online survey. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that perceived school mastery goal structure and performance goal structure predicted teachers' mastery goals and…

Achievement goal theory (Dweck, 1986) initially characterized mastery goals and performance goals as opposites in a good-bad dualism of student motivation. A later revision (Harackiewicz, Barron, & Elliot, 1998) contended that both goals can provide benefits and be pursued together. Perhaps both frameworks are correct: Their contrasting views…

Research Findings: Unlike other Latino groups, there is little information about the early socialization of children from Central American (CA) immigrant families. This study examined CA immigrant mothers' short-term goals and the implications of these goals for children's behavior in preschool. A total of 47 low-income mothers described their…

This study focuses on the goal orientation of students with and without special education needs (SEN) in inclusive schools. Participants were 186 students (110 boys; 76 girls) from Grade 7 (mean age = 13.83). Of these, 93 were diagnosed as having SEN, while the other 93 were mainstream students matched on IQ. Students without SEN scored…

With Bronfenbrenner's (1977) ecological theory and other multifactor models (e.g. Pianta, 1999; Prinstein, Boergers, & Spirito, 2001) underlying this study design, the purpose was to examine, simultaneously, key variables in multiple life contexts (microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem levels) for their individual and combined roles in predicting…

Current higher education is characterized by a proliferation of distance education programs and by an increasing inclusion of nontraditional students. In this study we investigated whether and to what extent nontraditional students are particularly at risk for attrition (vs. graduating) from distance education programs. We conducted a secondary…

Learner motivational constructs of self-efficacy, self-regulation, and goal orientation in predicting successful student performance in online courses were explored. Thirty-three undergraduate students from the online courses Introduction to Educational Technology and Introduction to Education completed sections of the Motivated Strategies for…

The aim of this study was to assess the reliability and validity of the Amotivation Inventory in Physical Education (AI-PE). In addition, the study sought to identify the relationships between students' amotivation, physical self-concept, and teacher ratings of National Curriculum attainment levels in PE. Students ("N" = 510) from a…

Academic self-efficacy is associated with academic success; the more positive or stronger the individual's academic self-efficacy, the more likely the individual will be successful in an academic environment. Prior research by Bandura (1989, 1993, 1997) suggested that self-efficacy influences not only activity choice but also the degrees to…

This study investigated the proposal that (a) contextual and personal factors affect the endorsement of social goals during early adolescence and (b) contextual factors and social goals may change over time. Self-reports of classroom contextual factors (i.e., promotion of performance goals, social interaction, and mutual respect) and personal…

The purpose of this study was (a) to explore descriptions of students who attended selected religious four-year colleges; (b) to explore relationships between background characteristics and overall college satisfaction and relationships between college experiences and overall college satisfaction; (c) to explore changes over time with respect to…

This research explicates the construct of social ability and describes the relationship between students' academic motivation and social ability in online learning environments. Findings reveal perceived peers social presence, perceived written communication skills, perceived instructor social presence, comfort with sharing personal information,…

Research on student withdrawals has largely ignored the issue of stop-outs, those students who withdraw from a college or university but subsequently reenroll. As a result, student withdrawals have been seen as an attrition issue. However, this study suggests they should be viewed as a retention possibility rather than an attrition issue. This…