Educational outcomes remain highly unequal within and across nations. Students' mindsets--their beliefs about whether intellectual abilities can be developed--have been identified as a potential lever for making adolescents' academic outcomes more equitable. Recent research, however, suggests that intervention programs aimed at changing students'…

Intervention programs designed to improve literacy skills also produce unintended outcomes that sustain a deficit view around some students. The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions about learning of a group of 12-14-year-old Australian students assigned to a reading intervention class. The article reports on data collected from…

Although physical activity may provide a means for adolescents to improve their physical appearance and subsequently lessen body-related concerns, the fear of being negatively evaluated by others can act as a barrier to physical activity. Moreover, environments where people are constantly looked at and evaluated--such as physical education…

Improvement in self-concept may facilitate improvement in other areas such as learning and achievement. If the self-concept is formed through experiences with the environment, interactions with significant others, and attributions of one's own behavior, then the classroom atmosphere may be influential in the development of a positive or negative…

Describes two cases where an elementary school teacher's behavior influenced a student to either pursue or avoid math. Reviews the tenets of attribution theory, and theories regarding autonomous learning behaviors in relation to these cases. Discusses ways teachers can help students develop beneficial and useful attributions about mathematics…

The purpose of this study was to compare the measured locus of control of preschool and primary children to their observed behaviors in two educational circumstances requiring interactions with adults. The findings are discussed briefly. (Author/KC)

Explored the relationship between children's internal or external locus of control orientation and their attitude toward school and self-concept as learners in school. Results support the premise that students with an internal locus of control will favor open-space schools; while students with an external locus of control will favor traditional…

Classroom climate has often been labeled the "hidden curriculum." The positive or negative interpersonal communication between teacher and student influences student self-concept and academic performance. Teachers should be committed to the enrichment of the curriculum through the tenets of humanism and the creation of a positive classroom…

The purpose of this study was to determine whether children with differing cognitive abilities can benefit from differing educational environments. The investigation was specifically concerned with two questions: (1) Are there differences in the mathematics achievement between children with an internal or external locus of control in both open and…

To determine whether the open classroom environment produces a higher degree of internal locus of control than the traditional classroom, 200 seventh-grade students, matched for sex, socioeconomic status, academic achievement, and intelligence, were assigned to either open or traditional classrooms. It was hypothesized that both high and low…

Research has shown that girls and boys begin at equal levels of performance in mathematics and science, but that during the middle school years differences have been observed in both science achievement and science attitudes of males and females. It appears that once science becomes an option for females, they often do not select science…

Motivation is widely believed to be a critical component of the learning process in the elementary classroom, but educational research has failed to substantiate this belief. To investigate interrelationships among selected motivational variables, demographic, motivational and achievement characteristics of 400 elementary school students in Grades…

This final report summarizes the purpose, procedures, and results of a study, initiated in 1980, which investigated the interrelationships among motivational variables related to 423 fourth through sixth grade students' sense of efficacy in the classroom, or classroom motivation. Sense of efficacy was initially defined as a student's perception of…

A review of more than 500 empirical studies conducted since 1970 on the achievement of Mexican Americans identified prior claims supported and/or refuted by data, isolated promising hypotheses for further investigation or educational implementation, and made recommendations for improvement of schooling, school-home relations, and teacher…