ELEMENTARY-SCHOOL PUPILS BELIEFS ABOUT PRACTICES FOR MOTIVATING PUPILS IN MATHEMATICS

Pupils in the second (N = 304) and fifth grades (N = 272) and their te achers (N = 35) rated the effectiveness of a variety of teacher strate gies for motivating pupils to learn maths. Factor analysis indicated t hat older pupils made finer distinctions among types of strategy than did younger pupils. Second-graders endorsed most strategies, while fif th-graders were more selective, rejecting evaluative praise (e.g.. 'Go od boy'), teacher attributions of failure to low effort and of success to high ability. Teachers' ratings differed from pupils' for many str ategies; there were no differences between teachers of second- and fif th-grade pupils. We discuss the implications Of these results for die view of pupils as educational theorists, and for teachers wishing to e ngage pupils in democratic negotiation of classroom practices.