Yi Yang , Ru-De Liu , Yi Ding , Jia Wang , Yanyan Chen , Hongjing Zhou , Xiantong Yang
{"title":"The influence of competitive and cooperative classroom climate on middle school students' academic help seeking","authors":"Yi Yang , Ru-De Liu , Yi Ding , Jia Wang , Yanyan Chen , Hongjing Zhou , Xiantong Yang","doi":"10.1016/j.lindif.2025.102647","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.lindif.2025.102647","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Educational researchers and practitioners focus on factors that promote self-regulated learning, including help seeking as a crucial strategy. This study explores how classroom climate influences middle school students' academic help seeking. It also examines the mediating role of help seeking threat and the moderating role of academic self-efficacy. Study 1 (<em>n</em> = 487) used questionnaires to examine variable associations. Three experimental vignette studies followed: Study 2 (<em>n</em> = 129) manipulated the independent variable, Study 3 (<em>n</em> = 172) manipulated both the independent variable and mediator, and Study 4 (<em>n</em> = 109) manipulated the mediator. The results showed that competitive classroom climate decreased adaptive help seeking and increased avoidance and expedient help seeking. Conversely, cooperative classroom climate exhibited the opposite patterns. Help seeking threats mediated these relationships, and academic self-efficacy buffered the negative effect of help seeking threat on help seeking behaviors. Our findings provide insights for fostering students' self-regulated learning.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48336,"journal":{"name":"Learning and Individual Differences","volume":"119 ","pages":"Article 102647"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-02-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143379396","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Maren Stahl Lerang , Tuomo E. Virtanen , Sigrun K. Ertesvåg , Trude Havik
{"title":"A piece of the puzzle to understand the association between instructional support and student engagement","authors":"Maren Stahl Lerang , Tuomo E. Virtanen , Sigrun K. Ertesvåg , Trude Havik","doi":"10.1016/j.lindif.2025.102634","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.lindif.2025.102634","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The aim of this study was to explore the variation in students' perceived instructional support and their behavioral and emotional engagement across three timepoints. The extent to which students' gender explained these associations and whether observed instructional support was associated with students' engagement were also investigated. The data included a sample of 1306 students (aged 10–15) and 79 teachers from 15 Norwegian public schools. Cross-classified multilevel modeling was applied to investigate these associations. The results revealed variation across the three timepoints in students' perceived instructional support and their behavioral and emotional engagement. Students' gender explained the association between students' perceived instructional support and behavioral engagement, with girls showing a stronger association. The study's results and practical implications are discussed, considering the importance of teachers' instructional support quality in enhancing students' engagement and learning.</div></div><div><h3>Educational relevance statement</h3><div>Students' engagement in tasks and schoolwork is important for their learning and developing. The results indicate that students' engagement varies with the quality of teachers' instructional support; thus, when teachers provide high-quality instructional support, students report high levels of engagement. Consequently, teachers will benefit from improving their instructional support quality to engage their students in learning activities. Teachers' instructional support is malleable and can, unlike individual and family factors, be improved by schools and teachers. Professional development for student engagement benefits from including instructional support.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48336,"journal":{"name":"Learning and Individual Differences","volume":"119 ","pages":"Article 102634"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-02-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143376976","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Charles Chiu Hung Yip , Xiangzi Ouyang , Eason Sai-Kit Yip , Christine Kong-Yan Tong , Terry Tin-Yau Wong
{"title":"Distinct roles of cognitive and mathematics skills in different levels of mathematics development","authors":"Charles Chiu Hung Yip , Xiangzi Ouyang , Eason Sai-Kit Yip , Christine Kong-Yan Tong , Terry Tin-Yau Wong","doi":"10.1016/j.lindif.2025.102645","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.lindif.2025.102645","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Mathematics development draws on various cognitive and mathematics skills, which may have distinct influence on students at different achievement levels. The current study explored how students' skill profiles contribute to their mathematics achievement levels. Two-hundred-and-seventy-two fourth graders completed assessments on various cognitive and mathematics abilities. Latent profile analysis identified four math achievement classes, namely, mathematics learning disability (MLD), average achievers, high achievers, and mathematical giftedness. Multinomial logistic regression further revealed that, compared to average achievers, students struggling with fraction magnitude understanding and number sentence construction in word problems are more likely to have MLD, students with better spatial skills and fraction magnitude understanding are more likely to be high achievers, and students with better arithmetic principle understanding are more likely to be mathematically gifted. The current findings illustrate the unique cognitive characteristics of students at different achievement levels, which allow practitioners to make level-specific adjustments to their teaching.</div></div><div><h3>Education relevance statement</h3><div>The current study identified four mathematics achievement classes and examined the skills that contributed to the cognitive profile of these ability groups. Our results revealed the critical skills that differentiated between these achievement groups. Notably, number sentence construction and fraction number line differentiated students with mathematics learning difficulties from average performers. Understanding of abstract arithmetic principles was also found to be the distinctive skill for the highest achievers. The findings informed assessment and subsequent intervention for learners at different mathematics achievement levels. Further research and educational practices (remediation, curriculum differentiation, acceleration) could be developed to tailor their unique learning needs.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48336,"journal":{"name":"Learning and Individual Differences","volume":"119 ","pages":"Article 102645"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-02-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143379394","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The trajectories of creativity development in childhood","authors":"Dorota M. Jankowska , Maciej Karwowski","doi":"10.1016/j.lindif.2025.102644","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.lindif.2025.102644","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>How does children's creativity change? Although this is a central question to the developmental studies of creativity, longitudinal investigations that follow the changes in various aspects of children's creative abilities are scarce. This study longitudinally examines the trajectories of the development of synthetic creative abilities in preschool (<em>N</em> = 194) and early school-age (<em>N</em> = 236) children. We also analyzed if this development was associated with changes in divergent thinking. Children solved the Test for Creative Thinking-Drawing Production (TCT-DP), a measure of synthetic creative abilities, either four (preschool children) or six times (primary school students), with sessions six months apart and the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT) (three times). Latent growth curve models demonstrated the increasing trend in synthetic creative abilities, yet there was also substantial variability in the rate and pattern of changes among participants. Latent mixture models revealed three trajectories of changes in synthetic creative abilities: (1) <em>low-beginning-moderate-growth trajectory</em>, whose synthetic creative abilities started low yet increased in time; (2) <em>medium-start-intensive-growth trajectory</em>, whose synthetic creative abilities increased substantially, and (3) <em>stable-high trajectory</em>, who scored high in synthetic creative abilities in the first wave and kept stable afterward. These trajectories tended to differ in their initial divergent thinking and the patterns of changes in fluency, flexibility, and originality. We discuss these differences in light of potential idiosyncrasies in creativity development and the possibility of integrating person-centered and dynamic approaches in the creativity literature.</div></div><div><h3>Educational relevance statement</h3><div>This research provides vital insights into the developmental trajectories of children's creative abilities in middle childhood. It reveals that children's creativity, especially their synthetic creative abilities, tends to increase as they grow older. Educators and curriculum developers can benefit from understanding these trajectories, as they highlight the significance of fostering creativity from a young age and adapting teaching methods according to individual variability. The differences between synthetic creative abilities and divergent thinking also suggest a need for tailored approaches in creativity-focused educational programs.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48336,"journal":{"name":"Learning and Individual Differences","volume":"119 ","pages":"Article 102644"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-02-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143350630","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Personality and the education process: Individual difference preferences for teacher, technology, testing, time and topic","authors":"Adrian Furnham","doi":"10.1016/j.lindif.2025.102637","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.lindif.2025.102637","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The present paper looks at the relationship between well-established personality traits and five different features of the educational process. Specifically, I explore the relationship between pupil Extraversion, Neuroticism, Openness, Agreeableness and Conscientiousness and personal preferences for <strong>Teacher</strong> (who the instructor is), <strong>Technology</strong> (the mode of instruction used), <strong>Testing</strong> (how the learning is evaluated), <strong>Time</strong> (the pace, length and time-of-day of the instruction period), and <strong>Topic</strong> (what is taught/discipline). There is a scattered literature on these topics which is briefly reviewed with a particular interest in how they relate to personality trait correlates. Evidence suggests the importance of understanding the role personality trait preferences in various educational choices and outcomes.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48336,"journal":{"name":"Learning and Individual Differences","volume":"119 ","pages":"Article 102637"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-02-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143372922","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Emilie J. Prast , Marian Hickendorff , Eva Van de Weijer-Bergsma
{"title":"High-achieving students in mathematics: A heterogeneous group","authors":"Emilie J. Prast , Marian Hickendorff , Eva Van de Weijer-Bergsma","doi":"10.1016/j.lindif.2025.102629","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.lindif.2025.102629","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Although high-achieving students in mathematics are often regarded as a homogeneous group, there may be differences within this group. This study used a person-centred approach to investigate quantitative and qualitative differences between 625 high-achieving students (top 20 %) of Grades 3–6 in the Netherlands. Latent profile analyses were conducted based on a range of cognitive (nonverbal intelligence, verbal working memory and visual-spatial working memory), motivational (interest, perceived competence, and anxiety), and mathematics achievement (general mathematics achievement and arithmetic fluency) measures. Per grade, two to four latent profiles emerged (e.g., in Grade 3: ‘relatively low on all variables’, ‘relatively uninterested very high achievers’ and ‘motivated’). While the variation on all variables was substantial, motivational variables contributed most to the distinction between the profiles. This heterogeneity among high-achievers implies that high-achieving students may have diverse educational needs to flourish and reach their full mathematical potential.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48336,"journal":{"name":"Learning and Individual Differences","volume":"119 ","pages":"Article 102629"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-02-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143331774","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Tomi Kärki , Hilma Halme , Minna Hannula-Sormunen , Erno Lehtinen , Jake McMullen
{"title":"Does multiplication always make bigger? Exploring individual differences in NanoRoboMath game play","authors":"Tomi Kärki , Hilma Halme , Minna Hannula-Sormunen , Erno Lehtinen , Jake McMullen","doi":"10.1016/j.lindif.2025.102643","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.lindif.2025.102643","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Many students tend to inappropriately apply natural-number-biased reasoning in fraction and decimal tasks, including believing multiplication always makes bigger and division makes smaller. In this study, we examined individual differences in the game play of NanoRoboMath, a digital game designed to improve students' rational number knowledge. Examining the game performance of 90 seventh grade students allowed us to find four player profiles that were connected to learning the effects of multiplicative operations. Students in the High profile used multiplication and division by numbers less than one more frequently and had stronger learning gains with operation knowledge results compared to Long play low gain profile. This suggests that the player profiles reflect some features of students' game play and performance that may be relevant for conceptual change processes of understanding the effects of multiplicative operations.</div></div><div><h3>Educational relevance and implications statement</h3><div>The present study provides novel insights into individual differences in students' performance while playing a game aimed at promoting conceptual knowledge of rational numbers. It manifests a relation between player profiles and learning gains. The study contributes to the design of game-based learning environments by suggesting that providing students with repeated opportunities to confront their prior misconceptions in game-based learning environments may be beneficial for supporting conceptual development. The study also indicates that there may be multiple ways to productively engage with educational games. This is valuable for educators in understanding how to employ game-based learning environments in their classrooms.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48336,"journal":{"name":"Learning and Individual Differences","volume":"119 ","pages":"Article 102643"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-02-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143331775","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Inequalities in adolescents' social, emotional, and behavioral skills: Differences across social categories and their intersections","authors":"Clemens M. Lechner , Julian Urban","doi":"10.1016/j.lindif.2024.102605","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.lindif.2024.102605","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper explores inequalities in adolescents' social, emotional, and behavioral skills. We examine whether skills vary by gender, parental education, immigrant background, school track—and their intersections. In two samples of German adolescents (age 14–20y; <em>N</em> = 3162), we fielded the Behavioral, Emotional, and Self-Regulatory Skills Inventory (BESSI), enabling a fine-grained assessment of 32 skill facets from five domains. Analyses revealed skill advantages for youth whose parents completed academic education and youth without immigrant background across most skills. Gender and school track had more varied effects mostly in favor of girls and adolescents attending academic tracks. Inequalities tended to be most pronounced for Innovation Skills. Intersectional analyses suggested that skill inequalities across intersectional strata (i.e., combinations of social categories) arose primarily from main effects of social categories, rather than intersectional interactions. We conclude that inequalities in SEB skills are small but systematic and unfold primarily as main effects.</div></div><div><h3>Educational relevance and implications</h3><div>Our research explored whether adolescents differ in their levels of social, emotional, and behavioral (SEB) skills depending on their gender, immigrant background, parents' education, and school track. We found that parents' education and immigrant background were the factors generating most consistent inequalities in SEB skills, with skill advantages for adolescents whose parents completed academic education and autochthonous adolescents across all skill domains and most skill facets, especially in Innovation Skills (e.g., information processing, creative skill, abstract thinking skill). Gender differences and, to a lesser extent, differences by school track were also present but more varied in terms of which subgroup showed skill advantages: On most skills, girls showed skill advantages over boys (with the exception of Emotional Resilience), as did and adolescents attending an academic school track over those attending a vocational track. We further established that inequalities in SEB skills mainly arise from the simple effects of the social categories, rather than through complex interactions among their intersections. Our findings constitute a step towards helping educators, policymakers, and researchers identify groups of adolescents who are at a heightened need of support in developing SEB skills. This may help in developing targeted interventions and policies aimed at fostering equitable development of SEB skills in the future. Addressing these inequalities is essential for reducing educational gaps and enhancing the academic success and wellbeing of all students.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48336,"journal":{"name":"Learning and Individual Differences","volume":"118 ","pages":"Article 102605"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143181142","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Dancing on an empty shore: Symbolic immortality, meaning, and being creative as doomsday approaches","authors":"James C. Kaufman","doi":"10.1016/j.lindif.2024.102607","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.lindif.2024.102607","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Why do we create? Most studies of creativity and motivation use the distinction between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Yet seeking meaning, often conceptualized as coherence, significance, and purpose, can be considered another type of motivation. People may create to achieve or maintain meaning; they may also be driven to leave behind a legacy to give them some type of symbolic immortality. In addition to creative works, such a legacy may be pursued through having children, spiritual or religious means, embracing nature, or moments of experiential transcendence. As a range of existential threats, from COVID-19 to climate change, cast doubt on the future of our species, how might younger and future generations shift their views on legacy and meaning – through acceptance and experiential appreciation, or through resistance and transformation? What are the best ways to continue to nurture creativity in the classroom with these shifts?</div></div><div><h3>Educational relevance and implications statement</h3><div>This paper synthesizes the research and theory on meaning in life, specifically the idea of symbolic immortality, motivation, and creativity. One emphasis in meaning literature is the idea of leaving a legacy behind; creative works are one such way (along with, for example, children). Post-Hiroshima, Lifton wondered if the idea of such a possible apocalyptic scenario might lead people to focus more on specific experiences, as opposed to accomplishments. Although research at the time did not support this idea, the modern world now has numerous existential threats and it is time to revisit this question – specifically, how might generational changes in views on symbolic immortality necessitate a shift in how we encourage students to want to be creative?</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48336,"journal":{"name":"Learning and Individual Differences","volume":"118 ","pages":"Article 102607"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143181143","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
John Jerrim , Luis Alejandro Lopez-Agudo , Sam Sims , Oscar David Marcenaro-Gutierrez
{"title":"Teaching for near transfer: Is maths instruction aimed at schema formation and abstraction associated with pupils' ability to answer unfamiliar maths questions?","authors":"John Jerrim , Luis Alejandro Lopez-Agudo , Sam Sims , Oscar David Marcenaro-Gutierrez","doi":"10.1016/j.lindif.2024.102609","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.lindif.2024.102609","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>There has long been interest in education on the issue of “transfer” – the extent to which students can apply what they have been taught in school to solve related but novel problems or tasks. More recently, attention in this literature has turned to understanding whether certain teaching approaches are more likely to lead to transfer, such as integrating new learning with existing knowledge and comparing multiple cases with the same underlying structure. Using data on 280,000 students in the 2019 TIMMS study, we investigate whether maths teaching that uses this approach is associated with primary students being able to solve mathematics problems that are not included on their country's national curriculum. We find no evidence that it does, which underlines the challenges involved in teaching for near, let alone far, transfer of academic skills.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48336,"journal":{"name":"Learning and Individual Differences","volume":"118 ","pages":"Article 102609"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143182849","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}