What teachers say and do to support students' autonomy during a learning activity.

Teachers with an autonomy-supportive style rely on different instructional behaviors to motivate their students than do teachers with a controlling style. In the present investigation, the authors tested which of these instructional behaviors actually correlated positively or negatively with students' autonomy. The authors used Deci, Spiegel, Ryan, Koestner, & Kauffman's (1982) teacher-student laboratory paradigm to randomly assign 72 pairs of same-sex preservice teachers into the role of either teacher or student. From videotapes of the 10-min instructional episode, raters scored 11 hypothesized autonomy-supportive behaviors and 10 hypothesized controlling behaviors. Correlational analyses confirmed that students perceived the functional significance of 8 instructional behaviors as autonomy supports and 6 instructional behaviors as autonomy thwarts. The discussion focuses on the interpretation and classroom implications of these data. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's autonomy and perceived control in learning: A model of motivation and achievement in Taiwan.

A model of motivation and achievement was tested with data from 50 teachers and 806 Grade 4-6 students in Taiwan. Autonomy as a construct was shown to have ecological validity in Chinese children. The proposed model fit the data well, showing that maternal involvement and autonomy support, as well as teachers' autonomy support, are important for children's autonomy and perceived control. Without the mediation of perceived control, autonomy had a small negative effect on performance; controlling for perceived control, external motivation orientation was a positive predictor for Chinese children's effort and performance. The teachers' reported motivating style, as construed in Western research, does not correspond with Chinese children's perceptions of their teachers nor does it have any relationship with their motivation measures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Investigating preservice teachers' professional growth in self-regulated learning environments.

Educational reforms have suggested that the ability to self-regulate learning is essential for teachers' professional growth during their entire career as well as for their ability to promote these processes among students. This study observed teachers' professional growth along 3 dimensions: self-regulated learning (SRL) in pedagogical context, pedagogical knowledge, and perceptions of teaching and learning. The authors examined 194 preservice teachers' professional growth in 4 learning environments: e-learning (EL) and face-to-face (F2F) learning, either supported by SRL (EL + SRL; F2F + SRL) or unsupported by SRL (EL; F2F). SRL support was based on the IMPROVE metacognitive self-questioning method (B. Kramarski & Z. R. Mevarech, 2003). Mixed quantitative and qualitative analyses showed that preservice teachers in both supported SRL conditions outperformed their unsupported peers on all professional growth measures. Moreover, EL + SRL teachers exhibited the highest SRL ability (cognition, metacognition, motivation), pedagogical knowledge (designing a learning unit), and student-centered learning perceptions (self-construction of knowledge). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Home schooling and teaching style: Comparing the motivating styles of home school and public school teachers.

The rapidly growing number of home schooled children in America creates a need for educators to understand the instructional dynamics of home schooling. The authors focus on the motivating styles teachers adopt in home school and public school contexts. Results showed that religiously motivated home educators embraced a relatively more controlling style than did public school teachers. Gender (being male) and frequent church attendance further predicted a preference to motivate children in controlling ways, irrespective of school context. The results illuminate the ideological roots underlying teachers' motivating styles, show that an adherence to a preinstruction agenda explains why teachers adopt a controlling style, and highlight the need for home school researchers to assess children's motivational development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Can self-determination theory explain what underlies the productive, satisfying learning experiences of collectivistically oriented Korean students?

Recognizing recent criticisms concerning the cross-cultural generalizability of self-determination theory (SDT), the authors tested the SDT view that high school students in collectivistically oriented South Korea benefit from classroom experiences of autonomy support and psychological need satisfaction. In Study 1, experiences of autonomy, competence, and relatedness underlaid Korean students’ most satisfying learning experiences, and experiences of low autonomy and low competence underlaid their least satisfying learning experiences. In Study 2, psychological need satisfaction experiences were associated with productive (achievement and engagement) and satisfying (intrinsic motivation and proneness to negative affect) student outcomes. Study 3 replicated and extended Study 2’s structural equation modeling findings by showing that the hypothesized model explained students’ positive outcomes even after controlling for cultural and parental influences, including the collectivistic value orientation. Study 4 replicated the earlier cross-sectional findings with a semester-long prospective 3-wave design. The authors discuss how the findings support the motivation theory’s cross-cultural generalizability. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of student motivation and the principal's values on teacher directiveness.

40 in-service and preservice teachers were Ss in a simulated organization study. They were led to believe that their principal valued either collaboration with students or control of students; they also interacted with a student who was either motivated or unmotivated to complete an assignment. Ss gave more rewards and higher grades to the motivated students and considered them more responsible than unmotivated students. Contrary to expectations, Ss tended to be more directive in their teaching of motivated as compared to unmotivated students. As expected, Ss with the control principal taught unmotivated students in a more directive manner than did Ss with the collaborative principal. Results support the argument that the values of colleagues can affect a teacher's efforts to control students and his/her commitment to the unilateral control of students. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Justice and utility in the classroom: An attributional analysis of the goals of teachers' punishment and intervention strategies.

There are a multitude of possible reactions that teachers can have toward students who fall below academic standards. Some of these reactions have utilitarian goals, whereas others are punitive. In this study, the authors investigated these reactions, as well as the situations that determine when these different strategies are likely to be used. Both undergraduates playing the role of teachers (Study 1) and actual high school teachers (Study 2) used attributional information in much the same way to guide their choice of responses to academic failure. Controllable causes of failure give rise to punitive and retributive strategies, whereas lack of controllability elicits utilitarian responses. The stability of the cause moderates teachers' responses to failing students. These attributionally guided interventions are mediated in part by inferences of responsibility, emotional reactions of anger and sympathy, and beliefs in the efficacy of the intervention. The implications of this model are discussed in terms of student motivation and classroom performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Middle class and marginal? Socioeconomic status, stigma, and self-regulation at an elite university.

In four studies, the authors investigated the proposal that in the context of an elite university, individuals from relatively lower socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds possess a stigmatized identity and, as such, experience (a) concerns regarding their academic fit and (b) self-regulatory depletion as a result of managing these concerns. Study 1, a correlational study, revealed the predicted associations between SES, concerns about academic fit, and self-regulatory strength. Results from Studies 2 and 3 suggested that self-presentation involving the academic domain is depleting for lower (but not higher) SES students: After a self-presentation task about academic achievement, lower SES students consumed more candy (Study 2) and exhibited poorer Stroop performance (Study 3) relative to their higher SES peers; in contrast, the groups did not differ after discussing a nonacademic topic (Study 3). Study 4 revealed the potential for eliminating the SES group difference in depletion via a social comparison manipulation. Taken together, these studies support the hypothesis that managing concerns about marginality can have deleterious consequences for self-regulatory resources. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of Interactional Justice on Egocentric Bias in Resource Allocation Decisions.

Three studies demonstrated that interactional justice was able to attenuate egocentric bias, i.e., the tendency to regard a larger share for oneself as fair. Study 1, an experimental study of negotiation, showed that fair interpersonal treatment led to a smaller egocentric bias, quicker settlements, and fewer stalemates. Study 2 showed that fair treatment was related to a smaller egocentric bias in a real-life context. University students were more willing to accept a higher tuition fee and less willing to cut the salary of their teachers if the interpersonal treatment received from the teachers was more positive. Study 3 showed experimentally that in support of fairness heuristic theory, when the fair interpersonal treatment received could be attributed externally, its attenuating effect on the egocentric bias disappeared. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of perceived barriers and relational support in the educational and vocational lives of urban high school students.

Drawing on developmental contextual theory, the authors examined the relationship of perceived barriers and support with school engagement and vocational attitudes among 9th-grade urban high school students in 2 studies. Study 1 (N=174) showed that both perceived barriers and perceived support from family kin were associated with youths' commitment to school and aspirations for success in their future careers. Study 2 (N=181) replicated and extended Study 1, demonstrating that perceived barriers, general perceptions of support, and kinship support were associated with behavioral and attitudinal indexes of school engagement, as well as with aspirations for career success, expectations for attaining career goals, and the importance of work in one's future. The findings contribute to efforts to identify individual and contextual factors relevant to the educational and vocational lives of urban minority youth. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Empathy gaps for social pain: Why people underestimate the pain of social suffering.

In 5 studies, the authors examined the hypothesis that people have systematically distorted beliefs about the pain of social suffering. By integrating research on empathy gaps for physical pain (Loewenstein, 1996) with social pain theory (MacDonald & Leary, 2005), the authors generated the hypothesis that people generally underestimate the severity of social pain (ostracism, shame, etc.)—a biased judgment that is only corrected when people actively experience social pain for themselves. Using a social exclusion manipulation, Studies 1–4 found that nonexcluded participants consistently underestimated the severity of social pain compared with excluded participants, who had a heightened appreciation for social pain. This empathy gap for social pain occurred when participants evaluated both the pain of others (interpersonal empathy gap) as well as the pain participants themselves experienced in the past (intrapersonal empathy gap). The authors argue that beliefs about social pain are important because they govern how people react to socially distressing events. In Study 5, middle school teachers were asked to evaluate policies regarding emotional bullying at school. This revealed that actively experiencing social pain heightened the estimated pain of emotional bullying, which in turn led teachers to recommend both more comprehensive treatment for bullied students and greater punishment for students who bully. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Understanding K–12 Engineering Outreach Programs

The United States relies on technology. To continue the development of new and the expansion of existing technologies requires a strong background in science, math, and engineering. Because students are falling behind in these areas, many universities are attempting to reverse this trend and attract more students to their engineering programs through outreach programs. These outreach efforts can take a variety of forms, with the simplest being the development of classroom and web-based materials. Outreach programs can also include professional development programs, engineering contests, on-campus activities, activities at schools, and the sponsorship of teaching fellows and service learning programs. Programs can be directed at preservice teachers, teachers, and/or students as well as specific groups such as females or minorities. The programs may occur throughout the school year or during summer vacations. Personnel presenting the outreach programs can include older K–12 students, teachers, college students, and/or university professors. Regardless of the mechanism, each outreach program has one common goal, to increase the interest that K–12 students have for math and science and, thus, engineering.     

Getting more from success: Standard raising as esteem maintenance.

In 4 studies, the authors tested the hypothesis that success prompts standard raising and that doing so helps maintain performance-related esteem by augmenting perceptions of competence. Study 1 showed that students raised examination standards following success in meeting them. In Study 2, professors who were recently promoted to tenure raised what they thought were the publication standards at their university, compared with the standards of their nonpromoted counterparts. Supporting the authors' esteem-maintenance account, participants in Study 3 reported that they would feel better meeting a high standard by a small margin than meeting a low standard by a large margin, and competence attributions mediated this relationship. Participants in Study 4 raised standards when their esteem was threatened but not when it was affirmed, also supporting an esteem-maintenance account. Alternative interpretations of standard raising, including goals for future improvement and initial standard lowering, were not supported in these studies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Tracking, grading, and student motivation: Using group composition and status to predict self-concept and interest in ninth-grade mathematics.

Assigning students to different classes on the basis of their achievement levels (tracking, streaming, or ability grouping) is an extensively used strategy with widely debated consequences. The authors developed a model of the effects of tracking on self-concept and interest that integrates the opposing predictions of "assimilation" and "contrast" effects, which specifies teacher-assigned grades as a major mediating variable, and tested it in 2 settings in which track level is clearly associated with different status-systematic tracking as a function of school type (Study 1, N = 14,341 German 9th-grade students) and separate streams within a comprehensive school system (Study 2, N = 3,243 German 9th-grade students). The results support predictions that students' math self-concept and math interest differ as a function of the achievement of their reference group, their own achievement, and their teacher-assigned grades. No systematic association between track level and math self-concept was found once individual student achievement, school-/stream-average achievement, and teacher-assigned grades were controlled. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Job resources boost work engagement, particularly when job demands are high.

This study of 805 Finnish teachers working in elementary, secondary, and vocational schools tested 2 interaction hypotheses. On the basis of the job demands-resources model, the authors predicted that job resources act as buffers and diminish the negative relationship between pupil misbehavior and work engagement. In addition, using conservation of resources theory, the authors hypothesized that job resources particularly influence work engagement when teachers are confronted with high levels of pupil misconduct. In line with these hypotheses, moderated structural equation modeling analyses resulted in 14 out of 18 possible 2-way interaction effects. In particular, supervisor support, innovativeness, appreciation, and organizational climate were important job resources that helped teachers cope with demanding interactions with students. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Clinical teachers as humanistic caregivers and educators: perceptions of senior clerks and second-year residents

BACKGROUND: The acquisition and nurturing of humanistic skills and attitudes constitute an important aim of medical education. In order to assess how conducive the physician-learning environment is to the acquisition of these skills, the authors determined the extent to which clinical teachers are perceived by their trainees as humanistic with patients and students, and they explored whether undergraduate and graduate students share the same perceptions. METHODS: A mail survey was conducted in 1994/95 of all senior clerks and second-year residents at Laval University, University of Montreal and University of Sherbrooke medical schools. Of 774 trainees, 259 senior clerks and 238 second-year residents returned the questionnaire, for an overall response rate of 64%. Students' perceptions of their teachers were measured on a 6-point Likert scale applied to statements about teachers' attitudes toward the patient (5 items) and toward the student (5 items). RESULTS: On average, only 46% of the senior clerks agreed that their teachers displayed the humanistic characteristics of interest. They were especially critical of their teachers' apparent lack of sensitivity, with as many as 3 out of 4 declaring that their teachers seemed to be unconcerned about how patients adapt psychologically to their illnesses (75% of clerks) and that their teachers did not try to understand students' difficulties (78%) or to support students who have difficulties (77%). Compared with the clerks, the second-year residents were significantly less critical, those with negative perceptions varying from 27% to 58%, 40% on average. Except for this difference, their pattern of responses from one item to another was similar. INTERPRETATION: This study suggests the existence of a substantial gap between what medical trainees are expected to learn and what they actually experience over the course of their training. Because such a gap could represent a significant barrier to the acquisition of important skills, more and urgent research is needed to understand better the factors influencing students' perceptions.     

Cultural competence as an ethical requirement: Introducing a new educational model.

Demographic data show a trend toward increasing racial and ethnic diversity among students in public schools, but the teaching population is projected to remain largely White and female. Without proper training, teachers will be ill equipped to meet the educational needs of these diverse students and run the risk of unwittingly perpetuating prevalent stereotypes and discriminatory practices about certain racial and ethnic groups. This preliminary study offers a theoretically driven model for training, the Racial and Ethical Sensitivity Training KIT (REST-KIT), which is designed to (a) increase preservice teachers' ability to recognize ethical dilemmas related to intolerance in schools and (b) provide preservice teachers with techniques and skills for handling these dilemmas. The REST-KIT is unique in that it ties cultural competence to ethical principles based on professional codes of ethics accepted by school professions and emphasizes that cultural competence is a professional requirement, not a personal choice. Pre- and posttests were given to ascertain the program's effectiveness. Both a self-report and a behavior-based measure indicated that participants showed more cultural competence after completing the workshop. Implications and directions for future research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Measuring and changing teachers' differential behavior as perceived by students and teachers.

Students' perceptions of their teachers' differential behavior were compared with the perceptions of the teachers themselves. Students and teachers agreed that the low achiever receives more learning support and less pressure than the high achiever. However, students reported that the high achiever receives more emotional support, whereas teachers reported giving more emotional support to the low achiever. A 2nd experiment consisted of an experimental intervention in which teachers were given feedback about the gaps between their own perceptions and those of their students in the emotional support domain. The teachers were divided into effective- and noneffective-feedback groups, according to the openness and receptiveness they were observed to express. Slight changes in differential emotional support were found 3 mo later for the teachers in the effective-feedback group. However, students and teachers framed the improvement in their pre-existing cognitive schemes. Thus, gaps between students' and teachers' perceptions were somewhat decreased, but they still presented contrasting perceptions of emotional support. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)