Popis: |
Educational Psychology research has noted the similarities between conceptual change and persuasion. Though some researchers (e.g. Murphy & Alexander, 2004) have cut across literatures to make the case for serious scholarly dialogue on persuasion in classrooms, many facets of persuasion in the classroom remain to be explored. The present investigation (N = 633) explores the link between the persuasive characteristics of teachers (i.e. teacher affinity and teacher credibility) and student gains in knowledge and valuing of learning about HIV and pregnancy prevention across classrooms. Results marshaled evidence for the role of persuasive characteristics in producing conceptual change in students. Above and beyond individual background characteristics, teacher credibility was positively related to increases in knowledge across classrooms, whereas teacher affinity was positively related to increases valuing of learning across classrooms. Future directions and implications for practice are discussed. |