This qualitative case study investigated how computational models can help students engage in scientific practice and influence their emotional, epistemic, and conceptual aspects. Twenty-four sixth-graders were guided to conduct scientific practices as they predicted and modified the computational models on food web using StarLogo Nova. Three…

Social cognitive career theory (SCCT) and the theories of reasoned action and planned behaviour (TRAPB) have both guided studies seeking to explain students' intentions and decisions related to future science engagement. The purpose of this study was to simultaneously validate measures for these two social psychological models and closely examine…

Recent studies have suggested that quality of delivery matters to achieve better student outcomes in the context of school interventions. However, studies rarely measure quality of delivery and test its association with students' outcomes, perhaps due to lack of clarity regarding how to measure it. Here, we offer recommendations on how to select…

Children continuously engage in developing theories about how the world works as they inquire through play and interactions with others. In this study, we investigated children's in-process thinking in the form of working theories about language as they participated in engagements around dual language picturebooks in an afterschool club. Our…

Physical education in elementary education usually provides children's first contact with sports. According to the trans-contextual model of motivation, physical education teachers can positively influence children's beliefs toward and actual leisure time physical activity behavior. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of a dance-based…

The few studies about whether parents' implicit theories about ability (ITs) predict their children's academic success and relevant parental behavior have produced mixed results. In response, research suggested that parents' ITs might be more important in contexts that make children's intellectual potential salient. Therefore, we investigated the…

This study used self-determination theory to provide a better understanding of learner motivation in a physical education program. Students participated in a sports unit with choice in activities, equipment, partners, and competition as opposed to a traditional teacher-led activity unit. The objective was to determine differences in motivation and…

Research has identified characteristics of professional development programmes (PDPs) that are important for accomplishing change in teachers' practice and student achievement. However, these characteristics do not predict and guarantee the outcomes of a specific PDP. In the present study the authors investigated whether the expectancy-value…

In this systematic literature review, we examined the theoretical frameworks, construct operationalisation, and quantitative results as they relate to student motivation and science achievement in TIMSS studies. Our synthesis of findings derived from an international dataset present notable value in that the patterns identified regarding the…

Student autonomy is a much discussed topic in educational practice and research. In this study, primary school teachers reported what they do to support the autonomy of their students and students mentioned how they perceived autonomy in the classroom. From the findings of a focus group, consisting of 10 teachers from the upper years, six aspects…

Carol Dweck's Mindset Theory suggests that a teacher who has a growth mindset believes that a student's basic qualities are things you can cultivate through effort. Dweck's theory explains that by applying a growth mindset towards children, they begin to change the way they take on challenges in their education (Dweck, 2006). One way that…

A total of 114 3rd- and 6th-graders from a suburban elementary school participated in a study examining the influence of implicit self-theories on rated creativity in the domains of art and literature in a quasi-experiment. Creativity was measured via the Consensual Assessment Technique. Participants were divided into two groups and received…

Language is the way students and teachers communicate in the science classroom, but language of science is not always the language children and adults use in their everyday life. As Michaels, Shouse, and Schweingruber put it, "In science, words are often given specific meanings that may be different from or more precise than their everyday…

This study relied on motivational models derived from self-determination theory to explain how garden-based science activities can contribute to minority students' motivation and learning in science class and academic identity in science. Participants were 105 sixth-grade students from primarily low-SES families at two diverse urban schools.…

This chapter situates fraction learning within the integrated theory of numerical development. We argue that the understanding of numerical magnitudes for whole numbers as well as for fractions is critical to fraction learning in particular and mathematics achievement more generally. Results from the Delaware Longitudinal Study, which examined…