A serious game-based social-psychological intervention to promote mathematics motivation: Effects and individual differences

This study aims to explore how industrial trainers’ techniques influence trainees’ (learners’) skills acquisition and the extent to which learner motivation mediates this relationship. The study employed a quantitative approach and a descriptive survey as the design. By simple random sampling, a sample of 270 engineering students from a university in Ghana was involved in the study. The random sample technique was used in the investigation. Data were obtained using a structured questionnaire, and a structural equation model (SEM) was used for data analysis. The results revealed that the relationship between Industrial Trainer’s Techniques and Trainee Motivation was statistically significant (p = 0.833) and shows that Industrial Trainer’s Techniques have a positive direct impact on Trainee motivation. Also, Industrial Trainer’s Techniques contribute to the acquisition of skills of the Trainee. The study found that Trainee Motivation mediates the relationship between Industrial Trainers’ Techniques and Trainee Skills Acquisition. The study suggested that, in order to guarantee the greatest possible acquisition of skills, customized training plans that take into consideration individual differences should be created.

The Elementary School Journal Volume 85, Number 5 ? 1985 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. 001 3-5984/85/8505-0008$0 1.00 Research on teaching has always been carried out under the assumption that what happens in classrooms influences students' learning. In the heyday of the research guided by the process-product paradigm (Dunkin & Biddle 1974), there were two central determinants of students' learning that teachers could manipulate. One was the teacher's behavior. The second was the

ABSTRACTHomework is a widely used educational practice, but the ways in which students approach it vary considerably and influence its effectiveness. Understanding these behavioral differences is crucial to designing effective and appropriate homework practices. The purpose of this study was to examine students’ homework behavior and determine its relationship with variables such as academic achievement, homework motivation, age, and gender. In the study, homework profiles of students were created on the basis of indicators of homework time, effort, and completion. The study was conducted among 642 middle school students. Data were collected on students’ homework behavior, homework motivation, and academic achievement in mathematics. In the study, four different homework profiles were identified using latent profile analysis: Full Participants, Consistent Completers, Low Effort Contributors, and Minimal Participants. The findings revealed significant differences in academic achievement and motivation across the identified homework profiles. Students in the Full Participants profile (high effort, completion, and time) demonstrated the highest levels of achievement and intrinsic motivation, whereas extrinsic motivation was more pronounced in the Low Effort Contributors profile (low effort, moderate time, low completion). These results suggest that students’ motivation and achievement are closely associated with their homework engagement patterns, particularly the levels of effort and completion. In addition, younger students were more likely to be in high‐engagement profiles, while older students tended to cluster in profiles characterized by lower homework engagement. Gender differences also emerged, with male students more frequently represented in both the highest (Full Participants) and lowest (Minimal Participants) profiles, and female students more commonly found in the Low Effort Contributors profile. The study emphasizes that teachers should consider individual differences in students when assigning homework.

Explaining individual differences in mathematical ability: Genes, cultures, personality, and cognition

A longitudinal examination of the relations between motivation, math achievement, and STEM career aspirations among Black students

Although research clearly demonstrates the importance of motivation in mathematics learning, relatively little is known about the developmental dynamics between different facets of mathematics motivation and performance, especially in the early years of schooling. In a longitudinal setting, we examined (1) how children's ability self-concept and intrinsic value in mathematics change over time during their first 3 years in school, (2) how those changes relate to each other and (3) how they connect with mathematics performance. The participants were 285 Finnish school-beginners (52.7% girls). Latent growth curve modelling was used to examine the developmental trajectories of children's ability self-concept and intrinsic value, and how those trajectories predicted later mathematics achievement (both mathematics test performance and teacher-rated grades), while controlling for previous mathematics performance and gender. The results showed significant decreases in children's ability self-concept and intrinsic value, but also significant individual differences in the trajectories. The strong dependency between the levels and changes in self-concept and intrinsic value led us to specify a factor-of-curves latent growth curve model, thus merging the trajectories of ability self-concept and intrinsic value into one common model. Subsequent results showed prior mathematics performance to predict change in children's mathematics motivation, and both the level and change in mathematics motivation to predict third-grade performance and teacher-rated grade. Our findings provide evidence for a developmental link between children's ability self-concept, intrinsic value and achievement. Achievement seems to enhance mathematics motivation, and positive motivation appears to support the further development of mathematics skills.

The research in question is the lack of interest, inattention, and passivity of students in carrying out mathematics activities and the unsatisfactory results of the tests. The purpose of this research was to increase the level of interest of students in mathematics and create motivation and interest in mathematics. The article is a method analysis type and to collect the contents of this research, school experiences and also a review of previous research were used. It is no secret to any of the mathematics activists in the field of education that many students are not interested in mathematics and have problems learning it. In this regard, this research has presented methods for creating motivation in learning mathematics based on the experiences of different schools. By conducting this research, I first identified the causes of students' lack of interest in mathematics and then, by benefiting from the points of view of teachers and parents, books and magazines, experiences, and innovative ways, increased students' interest in mathematics. For this purpose, by using various and modern teaching methods such as brainstorming, games and mathematics, making teaching aids, as well as implementing projects such as "I Can Do It" projects, "Idea from You" and "A Day in the Hands of Children" and using descriptive evaluation to solve group problems, student participation in the class was increased, and by creating a happy and friendly environment, the feeling of fatigue and monotony in the classroom was eliminated and the desired learning situation was provided. The results showed that accurately identifying the cause of lack of interest in mathematics and providing a combination of the above solutions made students interested in learning mathematical concepts. In the end, it was concluded that using various teaching methods, appropriate to the purpose of each lesson, providing functional activities to students according to individual differences, students' needs and interests and appropriate encouragement, strengthening visual and auditory memory, and cultivating learners' accuracy and attention in the form of purposeful games, has been very effective in increasing students' interest in mathematics and performing their functional activities.

Students' perceptions of instructional quality are among the most important criteria for evaluating teaching effectiveness. The present study evaluates different latent variable modeling approaches (confirmatory factor analysis, exploratory structural equation modeling, and bifactor modeling), which are used to describe these individual perceptions with respect to their factor structure, measurement invariance, and the relations to selected educational outcomes (achievement, self-concept, and motivation in mathematics). On the basis of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2012 large-scale data sets of Australia, Canada, and the USA (N = 26,746 students), we find support for the distinction between three factors of individual students' perceptions and full measurement invariance across countries for all modeling approaches. In this regard, bifactor exploratory structural equation modeling outperformed alternative approaches with respect to model fit. Our findings reveal significant relations to the educational outcomes. This study synthesizes different modeling approaches of individual students' perceptions of instructional quality and provides insights into the nature of these perceptions from an individual differences perspective. Implications for the measurement and modeling of individually perceived instructional quality are discussed.

Pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) is one form of teachers’ professional knowledge in subject teaching, and teachers’ rich PCK enables effective instruction and improves students’ academic performance. However, there has been limited research on the relationships of individual difference characteristics of teachers to PCK among in-service elementary school teachers. Therefore, in addition to the demographic variables (gender and years of teaching experience) and psychological variables (beliefs about teaching and learning and teacher efficacy) examined in previous studies, this study attempted to clarify whether motivation for teaching is related to PCK. We conducted a web survey of in-service elementary school teachers in Japan (n = 267). The results showed that the traditional beliefs that students are to be controlled by their teachers and indifference, which describes a state of lack of motivation to prepare for class, were negatively associated with two elements of mathematical PCK (knowledge of learners and knowledge of instruction). Furthermore, multiple regression analysis revealed that traditional beliefs about teaching and learning were negatively associated with the knowledge of learners and indifference to subject instruction with knowledge of instruction. This suggests that teachers’ motivation for teaching is related to PCK, in addition to the variables that have been previously examined.