Examining the effect of class size on classroom engagement and teacher–pupil interaction: Differences in relation to pupil prior attainment and primary vs. secondary schools

It is widely recognized that we need to know more about effects of class size on classroom interactions and pupil behavior. This paper extends research by comparing effects on pupil classroom engagement and teacher–pupil interaction, and examining if effects vary by pupil attainment level and between primary and secondary schools. Systematic observations were carried out on 686 pupils in 49 schools. Multilevel regression methods were used to examine relationships between class size and observation measures, controlling for potentially confounding factors like pupil attainment. At primary and secondary levels smaller classes led to pupils receiving more individual attention from teachers, and having more active interactions with them. Classroom engagement decreased in larger classes, but, contrary to expectation, this was particularly marked for lower attaining pupils at secondary level. Low attaining pupils can therefore benefit from smaller classes at secondary level in terms of more individual attention and facilitating engagement in learning.     

The effects of autonomy support on student engagement in peer assessment

Although peer assessment is widely implemented in higher education, not all students are highly engaged in it. To enhance student engagement in peer assessment, we designed and developed a web-based tool, autonomy-supportive peer assessment (ASPA), to support students’ need for autonomy when they conducted peer assessment. Students’ sense of autonomy, and their behavioral, emotional, and cognitive engagement in peer assessment were examined via interviews and surveys. We also examined students’ academic performances, including their improvement from initial to revised essays and the quality of feedback they provided. Survey results indicated that the ASPA group (1) experienced a slightly higher sense of autonomy than the non-ASPA group, and (2) spent much more time on each evaluation criterion than the non-ASPA group. Interviews suggested that both the ASPA and non-ASPA groups were engaged in peer assessment. However, there were no statistically significant differences between the two groups in behavioral, emotional, cognitive engagement, and academic performances.     

An investigative assessment of the need for individual learning support for a Y9 pupil with learning difficulties and ADHD

Abstract

R, a Y9 pupil with ADHD in a residential special school, KEYW ORDS is not managing to access the curriculum owing to his distractibility ADHD; and aggressive behaviour. Efforts to help him by adjusting prescribed individual medication are unsuccessful. Evidence is collected to assess his need for support; individual support as an alternative. Data are gathered through indi-residential vidual interviews, analysis of daily staff reports, and structured behav-school ioural observation. Analysis using a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches shows that R functions more successfully when individually supported by an adult, and suggests that the quality of his relationship with that person is also significant.     

Research staff and public engagement: a UK study

Public engagement plays an important role in the contemporary UK academy, and is promoted through initiatives such as Beacons of Public Engagement and research grant ‘Pathways to Impact’. Relatively little is known, however, about academic experiences of such engagement activities. This study focuses on one staff group, contract researchers, to explore the perceived challenges and opportunities of public engagement. Qualitative and quantitative data—from a web-based survey and three focus groups—are used to show that, while engagement activities are often seen as rewarding, the challenges involved in participating in them are profound. While researchers report practical needs, such as for logistical support or communication training, key barriers relate to the conditions of contract research more generally, and specifically to job insecurity, transiency, and lack of autonomy.     

The effect of context on student engagement in engineering

The self-belief, motivation, tendency to procrastinate and learning styles of engineering students are discussed. It is proposed that engineering has developed an idiom and a learning approach that favours the dominant client, i.e. men, while simultaneously undermining the self-efficacy and motivation of women. Thematic coherence and teaching within a context that is familiar to students have been shown previously to be effective approaches for engaging students and are extended here to utilise the common experiences of all students to initiate the learning cycle. These approaches are combined with a template for teaching that uses the 5Es (Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate and Evaluate) in order to render the fundamentals of engineering more accessible to all students. This methodology can be introduced by individual instructors, who will be rewarded by students who are more engaged, more motivated and more likely to give a higher rating to the instructor and the course.     

The effect of authentic m-learning activities on student engagement and motivation

Authentic collaborative m-learning activities were designed, developed and implemented for a computer networking course. The effect of the activities on student engagement and motivation were analyzed using a mixed method research design. Moreover, the effect of the iterative design of the content and instructional process of authentic m-learning activities on students' engagement and motivation were analyzed in the study. The activities were implemented for two consecutive semesters and were modified based on the findings from the first semester. Student engagement survey and motivation questionnaire were used to collect quantitative data, student interview protocol was used to collect qualitative data for further investigation. The findings from the first semester indicated that the engagement categories “personal development” and “satisfaction from the course” had the highest mean scores. In the second semester, the highest mean score belonged to the “personal development” category, followed by “collaborative learning.” Comparison of the results from two semesters revealed that the improvements in the content of the activities and instructional process increased the “collaboration” among students as well as their “interaction with instructor.” Paired sample t-tests revealed a difference in indicators of student motivation within groups in both semesters. Analysis of the interview data showed that students perceived the authentic activities as an appropriate tool for enhancement in “communication” and “collaboration” opportunities.     

Effects of social and individual school self-concepts on school engagement during adolescence

European Journal of Psychology of Education - While school self-concept is an important facilitator of a student’s school engagement, previous studies rarely investigated whether it may also...     

The effect of primary education teachers on the formation of pupil citizenship

Decreasing levels of civic participation and political engagement are generating an interest in citizenship and citizenship education. New forms of citizenship education which go beyond traditional instruction on political institutions are being sought, such as “democratic citizenship education”, “education of, for and through democracy” and “teaching democracy”. One area which has been little investigated is primary school teachers and citizenship education. This article reports on questionnaire‐based research among Slovak teachers that shows great variety in the focus of citizenship education. Teachers emphasised national pride as well as multicultural, global, regional and human rights aspects and the common good of an entity. The connections between teacher focus on citizenship education, the curricular framework, models of citizenship education and generational differences are all discussed.     

Social engagement, attention and competence of preschoolers with hearing loss

The social engagement, social attention skills and social competence of 10 hearing preschoolers and 10 preschoolers with hearing loss were investigated during free play in inclusive oral kindergarten settings using a three-level hierarchical model. When comparing the types of opportunities, at the first level, the children with hearing loss created significantly fewer opportunities through visual regard and interaction. At the second level, for social attention skills, this group scored significantly higher on distractibility, and significantly lower on alert, sustained and focused attention. For the third level, social competence, no statistically significant differences were found between the two groups. Discriminant Function Analysis showed that the function that discriminated maximally between the two groups of participants was composed only of amount of interaction at Level 1. Children scoring highly on this function were also more likely to have the ability to focus their attention and manage divided attention, to be reciprocal, and to demonstrate mutuality and problem-solving skills with peers.     

The effect of egruleg versus ruleg and teacher-centredness versus student-centredness on pupil gain and satisfaction

Concerning the course construction project Engineering Design, a decision had to be made about the instructional procedures of the seminar stage of the course. In order to come to this decision in a more justifiable way an experiment was designed to compare four instructional procedures (viz. a teacher-centred egruleg-, a student-centred egruleg-, a teacher-centred ruleg-, and a student-centred ruleg procedure) on cognitive pupil gain and satisfaction. For testing the hypotheses an analysis of variance design was used. Twelve groups of ca. 20 students were divided into the four cells of a 2×2 factorial design with one completely nested factor.The results of the experiment have shown that there are no differences between the procedures as to pupil gain and satisfaction. However, differences were found between the separate student groups (nested factor), irrespective of the instructional procedures. A plausible explanation seems to be the effect of interaction between instructional procedures, teachers and students.Translated from the Dutch by Mrs. Rommes-Ruyters.     

The role of motivation between perceived teacher support and student engagement in science class

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to investigate the relationships among the middle school students’ perceptions of science teacher support, students’ motivation and students’ engagement in learning science. Student motivation was addressed with task value and academic self-concept while student engagement included aspects of agentic, behavioural, emotional and cognitive engagement. In the study, survey method was used and the data were collected though previously validated self-report questionnaires. Valid data were obtained from 1006 middle school students enrolled in one of the nine public schools in Turkey. The path analysis revealed that perceived science teacher’s support positively predicted students’ task value and academic self-concept in science. Furthermore, students who reported high levels of task value and academic self-concept showed higher levels of engagement in science. Accordingly, it seems important for science teachers to listen to the students, behave fairly and help them to solve their problems in order to motivate them for learning science and increase their engagement in science class.     

Focusing attention on the individual in identification of gifted black students

Despite efforts to desegregate and promote equal opportunity, Black students have a minimal role in gifted programs. Efforts to improve this situation must begin with a focus on the individual student. Classroom teachers need assistance from gifted and talented coordinators with nomination procedures. Information regarding standardized tests, perceptions of low achievement, and the characteristics of Black achievers is essential for improving nomination. The second step to increasing minority participation in gifted programs is to implement a multi‐criteria assessment profile. Compiled by the gifted and talented coordinator with the continued assistance of the classroom teacher, this profile should include a case study documenting gifted characteristics, family background information, and peer evaluations. Standardized test scores may play a minor role. Successful identification of gifted Black students depends on a thorough examination of the individual.     

Distance teaching: innovation,individual concerns and staff development

A great deal of attention has been paid to the development of instructional materials appropriate to distance teaching. In contrast, problems concerning the development of academic staff in this area have been largely neglected. There seems to be no obvious reason for this omission, as for many academics the production of materials for distance teaching is an entirely novel experience. In other words it is an innovation, which, as such, is likely to have significant effects on individuals. An example of the likely effects of innovation on individuals may be found in the ‘Concerns‐Based Adoption Model’ (CBAM), originally developed by Gene Hall and his associates in the University of Texas.

It follows that any attempt to significantly develop materials for distance teaching must be related to the individuals involved in the innovation. This article explores this relationship through consideration of a staff development model based on the levels of concern of participants and the requirements of sound instructional design.     

The effect of stimulus complexity on infant visual attention and habituation.

Infant visual attention and habituation were examined with a procedure providing independent assessment of an infant's latency of orienting to a pattern (attention getting) and his subsequent fixation of that pattern (attention holding). 18 male and 18 female, 17-week-old infants were given 2 trials with a red circle, 16 trials with either a 2 times 2, 8 times 8, or 24 times 24 checkerboard pattern, then 2 more red-circle trials. The major results were that habituation occurred in fixation time with males habituating more than females, and that a general decrease occurred in latency with females selectively increasing or decreasing their latency depending upon the pattern they had previously seen. These results indicated the necessity of separating attention-getting from attention-holding measures and that both sexes remembered something about the visual patterns but demonstrated that memory differently.     

The effect of performance support and training on performer attitudes

While training has been a proven and heavily relied on intervention to impart job‐enabling information to performers, its ability to have a positive effect on job performance has been demonstrated to diminish over time. One intervention that has been adopted by performance technologists to provide ongoing support is an electronic performance support system (EPSS). The study presented here examined the effect of EPSS and training on user attitudes. Results revealed that participants receiving only EPSS and those receiving training and EPSS had significantly higher attitudes than participants who received only training. Recommendations on how to best combine and implement these performance interventions based on these data are discussed.     

Teacher support and academic engagement among EFL learners: The role of positive academic emotions

Academic engagement and teacher support, as two important factors in education, have been largely neglected in the research literature of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) and applied linguistics. Given the facilitative role of positive emotions in learning processes, this study aimed to examine their mediating role in the relationship between teacher support and academic engagement among Iranian EFL learners. The participants were 435 EFL freshmen randomly selected via multi-stage cluster sampling. The data were collected through previously validated measures. The results of structural equation modelling showed that perceived teacher support could directly and positively affect academic engagement. Additionally, positive emotions mediated the relationship between teacher support and academic engagement. Finally, some important implications and suggestions for further research are presented.