Education Commons^™

Peers' Academic Coping As A Resource For Academic Engagement And Motivational Resilience In The First Year Of Middle School, Daniel Lee Grimes

Dissertations and Theses

Beginning middle school is a difficult transition for many young adolescents. Academic coping skills and the ability to exhibit motivational resilience in the face of potential academic adversity can contribute to the success with which students navigate this transition. Students' peer group affiliations are known to have the ability to contribute positively to students' academic engagement, motivation, and achievement at this time. The current study explores the potential of a student's peer group members' use of eleven ways of academic coping to affect the change in student academic engagement over the course of the first year of middle school. Data …

The Role Of Teacher Autonomy Support Across The Transition To Middle School: Its Components, Reach, And Developmental Effects, Julia Sara Dancis

Dissertations and Theses

Building upon self-determination theory, this study sought to ascertain the reach of teacher autonomy support beyond its well-documented impact on student autonomy and engagement to include student competence and relatedness, as well as to parse apart specific teacher behaviors that comprise autonomy support (i.e., respect, choice, relevance, coercion) and their unique influences on the multiple motivational outcomes, surrounding the transition to middle school. These questions were examined using information from 224 fifth graders, 339 sixth graders, and 345 seventh graders attending elementary and middle schools in a predominantly Caucasian working and middle class school district.

Regression analyses, predicting change in …

Student Motivation Profiles As A Diagnostic Tool To Help Teachers Provide Targeted Support, Cailin Tricia Currie

Dissertations and Theses

Research has demonstrated that academic engagement is an important resource for students, promoting their learning and achievement. Less well documented is the possibility that students' classroom engagement may also be a valuable resource for their teachers, capable of influencing how teachers treat their students over time. The current study sought to examine the relationship between student motivation and teacher behavior to better understand how teachers perceive and respond to their students' classroom motivation and whether these motivational states contain diagnostic information about the types of supports students may need in order to be engaged, enthusiastic learners. The observable manifestations of …