Two ways teachers can develop greater harmonious passion

Background Passion is highly prized. The Dualistic Model of Passion provides a general roadmap for how people develop passion, at least under conditions in which they can freely schedule their daily activity, abandon activities they no longer value, and have flexible time to invest as they see fit. But teaching is a different, because many aspects of this activity are fixed and pre-set by circumstances. Recognizing this unique condition of classroom PE teaching, we designed the present investigation to test the merits of two antecedents teachers can utilize to develop greater (harmonious) passion—namely, participate in an autonomy-supportive teaching workshop (Study 1) and incorporate intrinsic instructional goals into their lesson plans (Study 2). Purpose The over-arching purpose was to investigate the potential of two malleable and personally controllable catalysts to greater harmonious teaching passion. Method Study 1 used a randomized control trial. We randomly assigned 104 Korean PE teachers to participate (or not) in an autonomy-supportive teaching (AST) workshop. PE teachers self-reported their harmonious and obsessive passion at the beginning, middle, and end of an academic year. Study 2 used a longitudinal research design and a sample that included both PE and non-PE teachers. These 134 secondary-grade level teachers self-reported their intrinsic instructional goals, autonomy-supportive teaching, and harmonious and obsessive passion across three waves. Results In Study 1, a repeated-measures ANCOVA showed that teachers in the experimental condition, compared to teachers in the control condition, showed a longitudinal increase in autonomy-supportive teaching and harmonious passion and a longitudinal decrease in obsessive passion. A mediation analysis confirmed that participants in the AST workshop experienced greater autonomy-supportive teaching that then explained their greater harmonious passion and lesser obsessive passion. In Study 2, a structural equation modeling analysis showed that adopting intrinsic instructional goals early in the year longitudinally increased harmonious passion (but did not decrease obsessive passion). A mediation analysis confirmed that teachers who more adopted intrinsic instructional goals experienced greater autonomy-supportive teaching that then explained their greater harmonious passion. Conclusion Teachers can gain personal control over their harmonious passion. They can do this through greater autonomy-supportive teaching. And teachers can become more autonomy supportive in two ways: Participate in an expert-provided professional development experience (Study 1) or incorporate intrinsic instructional goals into the delivery of their instruction (Study 2). Additional ways teachers can develop harmonious passion may be possible, so we encourage future research to continue this search with additional samples, such as sport coaches

Extending self-determination theory’s dual-process model to a new tripartite model to explain diminished functioning

In a three-study investigation, we pursued three purposes: (1) extend self-determination theory’s dual-process model to a new tripartite model—to recognize that environmental conditions sometimes render a psychological need dormant; (2) better explain adolescents’ diminished functioning; and (3) develop the Three States Questionnaire (TSQ). In Study 1, 402 high schoolers reported the satisfied, frustrated, and dormant state of their psychological needs (autonomy, competence, and relatedness) during classroom instruction to develop the TSQ. In Study 2, 320 high schoolers reported their satisfied, frustrated, and dormant states as well as 17 indicators of their effective, defiant, and diminished classroom functioning. The TSQ showed excellent psychometric properties, and the predictive power of the tripartite model was superior to that of the dual-process model in the prediction of all five indicators of diminished functioning (e.g., disengagement). In Study 3, 457 high schoolers’ perceived teachers’ motivating styles (supporting, controlling, and neglecting) predicted their three need states (satisfied, frustrated, and dormant), which predicted the quality of their classroom functioning (effective, defiant, and diminished). Overall, the dormant state was distinct from the other two states, it uniquely explained diminished functioning, and the tripartite model out-predicted the dual-process model

GD3 Accumulation in Cell Surface Lipid Rafts Prior to Mitochondrial Targeting Contributes to Amyloid-β-induced Apoptosis

Neuronal apoptosis induced by amyloid β-peptide (Aβ) plays an important role in the pathophysiology of Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, the molecular mechanism underlying Aβ-induced apoptosis remains undetermined. The disialoganglioside GD3 involves ceramide-, Fas- and TNF-α-mediated apoptosis in lymphoid cells and hepatocytes. Although the implication of GD3 has been suggested, the precise role of GD3 in Aβ-induced apoptosis is still unclear. Here, we investsigated the changes of GD3 metabolism and characterized the distribution and trafficking of GD3 during Aβ-induced apoptosis using human brain-derived TE671 cells. Extracellular Aβ-induced apoptosis in a mitochondrial-dependent manner. GD3 level was negligible in the basal condition. However, in response to extracellular Aβ, both the expression of GD3 synthase mRNA and the intracellular GD3 level were dramatically increased. Neosynthesized GD3 rapidly accumulated in cell surface lipid microdomains, and was then translocated to mitochondria to execute the apoptosis. Disruption of membrane lipid microdomains with methyl-β-cyclodextrin significantly prevented both GD3 accumulation in cell surface and Aβ-induced apoptosis. Our data suggest that rapidly accumulated GD3 in plasma membrane lipid microdomains prior to mitochondrial translocation is one of the key events in Aβ-induced apoptosis

Dual processes to explain longitudinal gains in physical education students' prosocial and antisocial behavior : Need satisfaction from autonomy support and need frustration from interpersonal control

We used the dual-process model within the self-determination theory explanatory framework to explain how physical education (PE) teachers’ motivating styles and students’ psychological needs explain longitudinal changes in the prosocial and antisocial behavior PE students direct at their classmates. Using a longitudinal research design, 1,006 middle and high school students (55% female) from 32 different secondary school classrooms completed the same questionnaire at the beginning, middle, and end of a semester. Multilevel structural equation modeling analyses showed that early-semester perceived autonomy support predicted a midsemester increase in need satisfaction, which predicted a late-semester increase in prosocial behavior, and also that early-semester perceived teacher control predicted a midsemester increase in need frustration, which predicted a late-semester increase in antisocial behavior (i.e., dual-process effects). In addition, students’ early-semester high prosocial behavior and low antisocial behavior both predicted a midsemester increase in perceived teacher-provided autonomy support (i.e., reciprocal effects). Overall, these findings highlight the important longitudinal interdependencies among perceived PE teacher autonomy support, need satisfaction, and prosocial behavior as well as the important longitudinal interdependencies among perceived PE teacher control, need frustration, and antisocial behavior

Cluster Randomized Control Trial to Reduce Peer Victimization : An Autonomy-Supportive Teaching Intervention Changes the Classroom Ethos to Support Defending Bystanders

Peer victimization is a worldwide crisis unresolved by 50 years of research and intervention. We capitalized on recent methodological advances and integrated self-determination theory with a social–ecological perspective. We provided teachers with a professional development experience to establish a highly supportive classroom climate that enabled the emergence of pro-victim student bystanders during bullying episodes. In our longitudinal cluster randomized control trial, we randomly assigned 24 teachers (15 men, 9 women; 19 middle school, 5 high school; 32.8 years old, 6.7 years of experience) in 48 classrooms to the autonomy-supportive teaching (AST) workshop (24 classrooms) or the no-intervention control (24 classrooms). Their 1,178 students (age: M = 13.7, SD = 1.5; range = 11–18) reported their perceived teacher autonomy support; perceived classmates’ autonomy support; adoption of the defender role; and peer victimization at the beginning, middle, and end of an 18-week semester. A doubly latent multilevel structural equation model with follow-up mediation tests showed that experimental-group teachers created a substantially more supportive classroom climate, leading student bystanders to embrace the defender role. This classroom-wide (L2) emergence of pro-victim peer bystanders led to sharply reduced victimization (effect size = −.40). Unlike largely unsuccessful past interventions that focused mainly on individual students, our randomized control trial intervention substantially reduced bullying and victimization. Focusing on individual students is likely to be ineffective (even counterproductive) without first changing the normative climate that reinforces bullying. Accordingly, our intervention focused on the classroom teacher. In the classrooms of these teachers, bystanders supported the victims because the classroom climate supported the bystanders

The teacher benefits from giving autonomy support during physical education instruction

Recognizing that students benefit when they receive autonomy-supportive teaching, the current study tested the parallel hypothesis that teachers themselves would benefit from giving autonomy support. Twenty-seven elementary, middle, and high school physical education teachers (20 males, 7 females) were randomly assigned either to participate in an autonomy-supportive intervention program (experimental group) or to teach their physical education course with their existing style (control group) within a three-wave longitudinal research design. Manipulation checks showed that the intervention was successful, as students perceived and raters scored teachers in the experimental group as displaying a more autonomy-supportive and less controlling motivating style. In the main analyses, ANCOVA-based repeated-measures analyses showed large and consistent benefits for teachers in the experimental group, including greater teaching motivation (psychological need satisfaction, autonomous motivation, and intrinsic goals), teaching skill (teaching efficacy), and teaching well-being (vitality, job satisfaction, and lesser emotional and physical exhaustion). These findings show that giving autonomy support benefits teachers in much the same way that receiving it benefits their students

The Teacher Benefits From Giving Autonomy Support During Physical Education Instruction

Recognizing that students benefit when they receive autonomy-supportive teaching, the current study tested the parallel hypothesis that teachers themselves would benefit from giving autonomy support. Twenty-seven elementary, middle, and high school physical education teachers (20 males, 7 females) were randomly assigned either to participate in an autonomy-supportive intervention program (experimental group) or to teach their physical education course with their existing style (control group) within a three-wave longitudinal research design. Manipulation checks showed that the intervention was successful, as students perceived and raters scored teachers in the experimental group as displaying a more autonomy-supportive and less controlling motivating style. In the main analyses, ANCOVA-based repeated-measures analyses showed large and consistent benefits for teachers in the experimental group, including greater teaching motivation (psychological need satisfaction, autonomous motivation, and intrinsic goals), teaching skill (teaching efficacy), and teaching well-being (vitality, job satisfaction, and lesser emotional and physical exhaustion). These findings show that giving autonomy support benefits teachers in much the same way that receiving it benefits their students

Longitudinal reciprocal effects of agentic engagement and autonomy support : Between- and within-person perspectives

Autonomy-supportive teachers energize students’ agency and initiative. However, few studies consider whether agentically engaged students energize more autonomy-supporting teachers. We asked 2,908 middle and high school students in physical education courses to report their agentic engagement and the autonomy supportiveness of their teachers. Data were collected at four time points over one academic year. We tested two reciprocal effects models relating student perceptions of autonomy-supportive teaching and their agentic engagement: a between-person cross-lag-panel model (CLPM) and a within-person CLPM with random intercept. Both models supported the bidirectional reciprocal relations between perceived autonomy-supportive teaching and agentic engagement. Based on student perceptions, prior agentic engagement led to increased autonomy-supportive teaching and prior autonomy-supportive teaching led to greater agentic engagement. We discuss the practical implications of these findings for classroom research and recommend teachers to inform students early in the school year that they will welcome students’ input and initiatives. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved