Effective Students and Families:The Importance of Individual Characteristics for Achievement in High School

The school careers in secondary education are influenced by individual and environmental characteristics. Using longitudinal data on 7,000 students from 450 classes in 150 schools in The Netherlands, we present results on the importance of student and family characteristics for achievement (text comprehension and mathematics combined in a multivariate multilevel model) in high school. The main question is: To what extent do characteristics at the individual level influence the achievement of students in the 3rd year of secondary education? In order to answer this question, we use a structure of concentric circles. The achievement of students on text comprehension and mathematics appears to be determined by both structural and cultural characteristics. Student characteristics account for more variance than family characteristics

Perceived Social Support and Early Adolescents’ Achievement: The Mediational Roles of Motivational Beliefs and Emotions

Although a bulk of literature shows that perceived social support (PSS) influences academic achievement, the mechanisms through which this effect operates received little empirical attention. The present study examined the multiple mediational effects of motivational beliefs (competence beliefs and subjective value) and emotions (anxiety and enjoyment) that may account for the empirical link between PSS (from parents, peers and teachers) and mathematics achievement. The participants of the study were 238 grade 7 students (average age = 13.2 years, girls = 54%, predominantly native Dutch middle class socioeconomic status). A bootstrap analysis (a relatively new technique for testing multiple mediation) revealed that the motivational beliefs and the emotions, jointly, partially mediated the effect of PSS on achievement. The proportion of the effects mediated, however, varied across the support sources from 55% to 75%. The findings lend support to the theoretical assumptions in the literature that supportive social relationships influence achievement through motivational and affective pathways

Evidence confirms an anthropic origin of Amazonian Dark Earths.

Arising from: Silva et al. Nature Communications https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-20184-2 (2021

Differences in gender in relation to mathematics in secondary education 1986-1987

School career in particular on mathematics / getting help with mathematics, homework / plans for occupational career, supposed consequences of choice for maths as final examination subject / image of mathematics, sex-role stereotypes / appreciation of mathematics, ability / evaluation of maths classes: behaviour of teacher, sex-role stereotypical opinions of teacher / motives to choose mathematics as a final examination subject / pre university students: choice between mathematics-A ( practical ) and -B ( theoretical ), advices from various persons around R., responsibility for results in mathematics / image of various follow-up training, schools and university training after the final examination / parents: child attitude to mathematics, child ability for maths and devotion to the subject / sex-role stereotypes in connection with mathematics / involvement of parents with child school career, initiatives of child to involve parents/ importance of mathematics to child. Background variables: basic characteristics/ household characteristics/ occupation/employment/ educatio

About the saliency of social comparison demensions

The saliency of social comparison dimensions, or dimensions of interpersonal perception is in this dissertation mainly a dependent variable. ... Zie: Summary

Applying social psychology to the classroom

Seconde édition de l'ouvrage.International audienc