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A partner's competence should logically favor cooperative learning. However, research in cooperative learning has shown that a partner's competence may or may not activate a threatening social comparison and yields dual effects: It is beneficial when students work on complementary information while it is detrimental when students work on identical information. Two studies conducted at elementary school (study 1 with 24 fourth graders working on encyclopedic texts, and study 2 with 28 fifth graders working on argumentative texts) replicated that interaction: Information distribution (complementary vs. identical information) moderated the relationship between partner's competence and pupils' learning outcomes. The relation between partner's competence and students' performances was positive when working on complementary information, but negative when working on identical information. A third study confirmed that working on identical information led to a competitive social comparison whereas complementary information reinforced the pupils' cooperation perception. Contributions to cooperative learning research are discussed in terms of the competitive comparisons that may arise during cooperative learning at elementary school.

This study has two main goals: (a) to compare whether objective and self-reported PA levels, and motivational regulations were similar among European adolescents with different cultural norms, and (b), to analyse whether the associations between those motivational regulations towards objective and self-reported PA levels vary across Spanish and French cultures. Data were collected from 637 adolescents (50.9% Spanish, 40.8% girls). Participants completed questionnaires on motivational variables and subjective PA. Objective PA was assessed by accelerometer. Data were analysed by structural equation modelling and invariance tests. Cross-country differences were found in objective PA levels and motivational factors, with Spanish obtaining higher values than French adolescents. Association of motivational factors with PA was similar regardless of the cultural origin of subjects. This study reinforces the premises of SDT according to cross-country validity. Intervention strategies should focus on encouraging the most self-determined motivational forms regardless of the culture of origin.

Background: There are two approaches to the differential examination of school motivation. The first is to examine motivation towards specific school subjects (between school subject differentiation). The second is to examine school motivation as a multidimensional concept that varies in terms of not only intensity but also quality (within school subject differentiation). These two differential approaches have led to important discoveries and provided a better understanding of student motivational dynamics. However, little research has combined these two approaches. Aims: This study examines young elementary students' motivations across school subjects (writing, reading, and maths) from the stance of self-determination theory. First, we tested whether children self-report different levels of intrinsic, identified, and controlled motivation towards specific school subjects. Second, we verified whether children self-report differentiated types of motivation across school subjects. Sample: Participants were 425 French-Canadian children (225 girls, 200 boys) from three elementary schools. Children were in Grades 1 (N=121), 2 (N=126), and 3 (N=178). Results: Results show that, for a given school subject, young elementary students self-report different levels of intrinsic, identified, and controlled motivation. Results also indicate that children self-report different levels of motivation types across school subjects. Our findings also show that most differentiation effects increase across grades. Some gender effects were also observed. Conclusion: These results highlight the importance of distinguishing among types of school motivation towards specific school subjects in the early elementary years.

Previous studies in education have inspected the relations between students' autonomous versus controlled motivation and relevant outcomes. In most of those studies a global index of self-determined motivation was created. The purpose of this article was to examine (a) how the different types of motivation proposed by Self-Determination Theory combine into distinct profiles as identified by cluster analysis and (b) the links between those profiles and objective criteria of achievement. In Study 1, motivation toward physical education was assessed at the beginning of a 10-week gymnastics teaching cycle, and performance was assessed at the end of the cycle among a sample of high school students (N = 210). Study 2 (N = 215) extended Study 1 by controlling students' initial performance, measuring the effort they exerted and recording their grades. Cluster analyses revealed three motivational profiles: self-determined, non-self-determined, and moderate levels of both types of motivation. Path analysis showed that the self-determined profile was related to the highest achievement. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for the assessment of students' motivation and the consequences of motivational profiles for educational outcomes. (Contains 4 tables and 4 figures.)

In sport/exercise contexts, individuals use the performances of others to evaluate their own competence. In big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLPE) in educational settings, academic self-concept is positively predicted by one’s academic achievement but negatively predicted by the average achievement of others in one’s school or class. Participation in programs for academically gifted students leads to lower self-concept. In apparently the first test of the BFLPE in the physical domain, multilevel models of responses by 405 participants in 20 gymnastics classes supported these predictions. Gymnastics self-concept was positively predicted by individual gymnastics skills, but negatively predicted by class-average gymnastics skills. The size of this negative BFLPE grew larger during the 10-week training program (as participants had more exposure to the relative performances of others in their class), but did not vary as a function of gender, age, or initial gymnastics skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]