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Early pedagogical experiences are known to influence teaching career choice, yet research on their relations with motivational beliefs remains limited. Applying the FIT-Choice model, we investigated how the amount and type of early pedagogical experiences relate to career motivations in a diverse, urban sample of teacher education students (N = 901). ANOVAs and multigroup path analyses revealed smaller effects of socialization on motivational beliefs and larger effects of intrinsic value on career choice satisfaction and planned persistence for participants with lead teaching experience. Findings illuminate how types of teaching experience are differentially associated with career motivations among teacher trainees. • Both amount and type of pedagogical experiences were associated with teaching career motivations in a diverse urban sample. • Years of experience was positively associated with favorable motivational beliefs. • Participants with lead teaching experience vs. support or no experience had differential relations in the FIT-Choice model. • Lead teaching experience was associated with less favorable motivational beliefs. • Intrinsic value was especially important for planned persistence and satisfaction for those with lead teaching experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Providing students with a rationale, or explanation of why learning content may be useful, can enhance motivation, but it remains unclear whether the source of the rationale moderates the effect. Accordingly, this study used a randomized experimental-control design to compare the effects of instructor and peer rationales on 59 undergraduates’ motivation and achievement in an online course. Both peer and instructor rationales positively influenced students’ interest in and perceived utility value of upcoming course content in the short term, but only peer rationales increased students’ applied knowledge and final grades at the end of the semester. Unexpectedly, peer rationales also decreased students’ relatedness to instructors. Qualitative results suggest that peer rationales may influence achievement by way of identification processes, while instructor rationales focus students’ attention on content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two studies were conducted to examine kindergarten students' perceptions of technology use in the classroom, and the effects of receiving immediate feedback versus no feedback while using this technology on their attitudes, emotions, engagement, and learning outcomes in the context of literacy skills development. To assess students' perceptions of technology use in the classroom, structured interviews were conducted. Students then used various tablet applications (apps) that provided or did not provide feedback across various literacy tasks. A repeated measures design was used for both studies. In Study 1, 31 students (16 girls) were interviewed and tested over two sessions in April (8th month of school). In Study 2, a new sample of 33 students (16 girls) was interviewed and tested in two sessions in October (2nd month) and again in two sessions in April. Analysis of interviews revealed that students enjoyed receiving positive feedback, but did not like the negative feedback they received when their answers were incorrect. Analyses of quantitative data revealed that, for Study 1, technology-mediated feedback resulted in lower levels of enjoyment but higher levels of achievement compared to when no feedback was provided. For Study 2, technology-mediated feedback resulted in more boredom and less engagement in October compared to when no feedback was given. By April, however, feedback resulted in less boredom and higher levels of achievement compared to no feedback. Theoretical and pedagogical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this field experiment was to understand whether fifth and sixth-grade students were able to write about the usefulness and relevance of what they were learning in their science class through self-generated reflections and to examine the impacts of this activity on students’ value, utility value, and interest for science. Analysis of students’ essays revealed in the self-generated reflection condition students connected what they were learning to their lives significantly more than the control condition. Linguistically, student essays did not differ between the two conditions, except for cognitive processing. Self-reflecting increased students’ utility value but not value nor interest. Self-efficacy did not moderate these relations. Implications for extending self-generated utility value and broader social-psychological interventions for early adolescent students are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study focuses on the relationship between teachers' emotions, their instructional behavior, and students' emotions in class. 149 students (55% female, M age = 15.63 years) rated their teachers' emotions (joy, anger, anxiety) and instructional behavior, as well as their own emotions in an experience-sampling study across an average of 15 lessons in four different subject domains. Intraindividual, multilevel regression analyses revealed that perceived teachers' emotions and instructional behavior significantly predicted students' emotions. Results suggest that teachers' emotions are as important for students' emotions as teachers' instructional behavior. Theoretical implications for crossover theory and practical recommendations for teachers are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of epistemic beliefs and knowledge representations in cognitive and metacognitive processing when learning about physics concepts through text. Specifically, we manipulated the representation of physics concepts in texts about Newtonian mechanics and explored how these texts interacted with individuals’ epistemic beliefs to facilitate or constrain learning. Results revealed that when individuals’ epistemic beliefs were consistent with the knowledge representations in their assigned texts, they performed better on various measures of learning (use of processing strategies, text recall, and changes in misconceptions) than when their epistemic beliefs were inconsistent with the knowledge representations. These results have implications for how researchers conceptualize epistemic beliefs and support contemporary views regarding the context sensitivity of individuals’ epistemic beliefs. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]