ABSTRACT

When we observe how expert teachers behave, we find that they devote considerable time and effort to affective issues. For example, as Lepper and his colleagues report, expert human teachers include among their goals ‘first, to sustain and enhance their students’ motivation and interest in learning, . . . and second, to maintain their pupils’ feelings of self-esteem and self-efficacy, even in the face of difficult or impossible problems’ (Lepper, Aspinwall, Mumme, & Chabay, 1990, p. 219).