The role of prosocial attitudes and academic achievement in peer networks in higher education

After the transition to university, students need to build a new peer network, which helps them to adapt to university life. This study investigated to what extent students’ prosocial attitudes and academic achievement facilitate the embeddedness in friendship and help-seeking networks, while taking structural network characteristics into account. Participants were 95 first-year bachelor’s degree students and were part of learning communities consisting of 12 students at a university in the Netherlands. Measures included student-reports of prosocial attitudes, peer nominations of friendship and help-seeking networks, and officially registered grades (GPA). Longitudinal social network analysis, stochastic actor-based modeling with the package RSiena, revealed that both students’ own prosocial attitudes and achievement played a role in their friendship formation, whereas only students’ own achievement made the formation of their help-seeking relationships more likely. When students were friends, it was more likely that they approached each other for help and vice versa. Similarity in achievement level contributed to relationship formation in friendship and help-seeking networks. Overall, the results underscore the importance of both student’ prosocial attitudes and achievement for their social adjustment (i.e., making friends) and only achievement for their academic adjustment (i.e., seeking help) during the first year of university within the context of small-scale teaching.

     

初中农村留守儿童学业求助的特点研究

采用学业求助问卷对188名留守儿童与209名非留守儿童进行测试,结果表明:农村留守儿童与非留守儿童在学业求助行为与求助对象上差异显著;农村留守儿童在执行性求助行为方面性别主效应显著,在回避性求助行为方面性别与年级交互效应显著。寄养儿童回避性求助行为得分显著高于非寄养儿童。     

中学生心理韧性与学业水平的关系研究

本研究致力于研究心理韧性的地区、性别和年级特点及其与学业水平的关系。采用问卷法对707名学生进行调查。结果表明:(1)在情绪控制、家庭支持、人际协助子量表,个人力、支持力分量表和总量表上均存在显著的地区差异。在人际协助子量表上,女生显著高于男生。在目标专注、积极认知和家庭支持子量表上,存在着显著的年级差异;(2)不同学业水平的学生心理韧性存在显著差异;(3)心理韧性总量表、分量表及其子量表与中学生的学业水平均成显著正相关;(4)积极认知和家庭支持子量表对学业水平有显著的预测性。     

Perceived parent goals and student goal orientations as predictors of seeking or not seeking help: Does age matter?

To study the contribution of perceived parent achievement goals to students' attitudes towards academic help seeking, 4th, 6th, 7th, and 9th grade students in Greece (n = 712) reported perceptions of their parents' achievement goals, personal achievement goal orientations, and help-seeking beliefs and intentions. Students' mastery goal orientation positively predicted their help-seeking attitudes (perceived benefits and intentions to seek help) and negatively predicted their help-seeking avoidance attitudes (perceived costs and intentions to avoid seeking help), whereas performance-avoidance orientation directly predicted their help-seeking avoidance attitudes. Multiple-group path analysis indicated that perceived parent goals predicted student help seeking and help avoidance attitudes through students' own achievement goal orientations. Further, the pattern of relations varied by grade level. Results are discussed in light of current theory and research on the developmental phases of parental influence on student motivation and self-regulated learning.     

The use of Peer Nominations as a Predictor of Academic Success in College

The peer nomination technique was investigated as a predictor of academic success among members of a college freshman class. The technique provided scores which were reliable and which were valid against a grade point ratio criterion. The peer nomination scores were shown to tap variance independent of SAT scores and, therefore, their applicability was suggested in academic counseling as a predictor which can be used to identify students who may face academic difficulties.     

Help-seeking tendencies during early adolescence: An examination of motivational correlates and consequences for achievement

The present study examined the motivational correlates and achievement consequences of students’ help-seeking tendencies during sixth grade (N = 217). Students’ grades were collected from school records at the beginning and end of the school year. Midway through the year students reported on their academic self-efficacy and social demonstration goals; teachers reported on students’ help-seeking tendencies. First quarter grades and academic self-efficacy were positively related to adaptive help seeking and negatively related to avoidant help seeking. In addition, a social demonstration-approach goal was negatively related to adaptive help seeking. Help-seeking tendencies predicted 3rd quarter grades, controlling for 1st quarter grades.     

初中生的自尊、同伴接纳与学业成绩的关系

对302名初中生的自尊及同伴接纳状况进行了调查,探讨初中生的自尊、同伴接纳与学业成绩的关系.结果显示,初中生的自尊发展存在年级差异,但不存在性别上的差异;初中生的自尊发展、同伴接纳与学业成绩都存在着密切的关系;初中生的自尊发展、同伴接纳对学业成绩有显著预测作用.     

Learners’ engagement online in peer help

ABSTRACT

Much is known about help seeking in face-to-face classrooms, but there is a limited understanding about how learners seek and provide help online. This study implemented a peer-help forum in an online technology course, and investigated students’ engagement in the forum, their perceptions, and the relationship between peer help and course performance. The findings suggested that students actively engaged in the peer help beyond the course requirements. Emerging themes are presented regarding the students’ online help-seeking and help-giving behaviors and their perceptions. In addition, help seeking was not significantly related to performance, but a significant interaction effect suggested that help seeking benefited the performance of a subgroup of the students – those who provided less help.     

School entrance age, social acceptance, and self-perceptions in kindergarten and 1st grade

Concerns about the effect of school entrance age have generally focused on academic achievement. The effect of school entrance age on the social acceptance and self-perceptions of kindergarten and 1st-grade students was examined in two studies. In Study 1, the social acceptance and competence of 476 children was assessed in kindergarten and first grade through peer nominations and ratings, teacher ratings, and report card grades. In Study 2, a subgroup of 116 students was interviewed in kindergarten and first grade to assess their perceptions of their school adjustment, loneliness at school, cognitive and physical competence, and peer and maternal acceptance. Few differences were found related to school entrance age. Teachers' ratings and peer nominations generally described initial social problems for the youngest children which were overcome by first grade. There were no differences in self-reported school adjustment, loneliness, perceptions of competence, or acceptance related to school entry age.     

A Critical Study in the Objective Measurement of Character

ABSTRACT

With a sample of 373 middle school students, the present longitudinal study examined the role of the classroom peer climate in mediating the relation between perceptions of classroom goal structures and academic help seeking among peers. Classroom goal structures were measured in the fall and classroom peer climate and help seeking among peers were assessed in the spring. Structural equation modeling indicated classroom mastery goal structure directly predicted desirable help-seeking behavior among peers (i.e., high adaptive help seeking and low expedient and avoidance of help seeking). A positive classroom peer climate mediated the effects of classroom mastery goal structure on expedient and avoidance of help seeking. A negative classroom peer climate mediated the effects of classroom performance goal structure on avoidance of help seeking. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

小学中低年级学生挫折来源及应付方式研究

本研究运用自己编制的挫折情境问卷和修订的挫折应付方式问卷,对600名中低年级学生进行研究,研究发现:（1）小学中低年级学生的挫折来源大小依次为在同学关系方面、家庭方面、学习方面、师生关系方面和生活方面,家庭方面存在年级差异;（2）小学生采取的挫折应付方式由多到少依次为:解决问题、求助、自责、幻想退避、合理化,结果表明小学中低年级学生具备一定的挫折应付能力,使用积极的挫折应付方式较多,但不同性别、年龄、居住地的小学中低年级学生在挫折应付方式上存在差异。建议应该关注农村小学生学习压力的缓解和疏导,重视城市低年级小学生抵御挫折能力的培养。     

Social network, interpersonal concerns and help-seeking in primary grade school children as a function of sex, performance and economic status

Three hundred thirty primary grade school children between 9 and 13 years of age participated in a study of their social network, interperonal concerns, and help-seeking behavior, as a function of sex, school performance and economic status. Girls showed more affective association and looked for help more readily than boys. Children with poor academic performance had difficulties in forming social relationships, were less sensitive of the social consequences of their behavior and enjoyed less support from friends, their immediate family and even animals. Results in general were most unfavorable for economically disadvantaged boys. Various strategies to counteract the negative effects of poor school performance are discussed.     

课堂环境对学业求助的影响研究述评

学业求助是一种非常重要的自我调控学习策略,学生在学业中遇到困难时如何去求助对其学业及社会化发展都有很大的影响。前人从课堂上的成就目标结构、课堂气氛及其他不同角度研究了课堂环境对学业求助的影响,这些研究对课堂教育有重要的启示作用。未来研究应该在扩展目标定向与学业求助的关系、重视学业求助的发展与干预研究、改进研究方法、扩展研究内容等方面有所突破,以促进学业求助研究的进一步发展与创新。     

Peer tutoring in algebra: A study in Middle school

Abstract

This study reports the academic benefits of peer tutoring in algebra for middle school students. A total of 380 students enrolled in grades 7^th and 8^th participated in the study. Two peer tutoring sessions took place during each week (10?weeks). Interactions between peers lasted 20 to 25?minutes for each session. The typology of tutoring was fixed and same-age. A pretest posttest with control group design was used. Statistical significant improvements were reported in the academic achievement variable after the implementation of the peer tutoring program for 7^th and 8^th grade courses separately and altogether. Over 87% of the students in the experimental group improved their marks. The overall effect size for the experience was reported to be medium (Hedge’s g?=?0.48). The main conclusion of this study is that fixed and same-age peer tutoring in algebra may be very beneficial for middle school students.     

Academic Functioning and Peer Influences: A Short‐Term Longitudinal Study of Network–Behavior Dynamics in Middle Adolescence

In this study, the associations between peer effects and academic functioning in middle adolescence (N = 342; 14–15 years old; 48% male) were investigated longitudinally. Similarity in achievement (grade point averages) and unexplained absences (truancy) was explained by both peer selection and peer influence, net of acceptance, and connectedness. Friendships were formed and maintained when adolescents had low levels of achievement or high levels of truancy. Friends influenced one another to increase rather than decrease in achievement and truancy. Moreover, friends’ popularity moderated peer influences in truancy in reciprocal friendships but not in unilateral friendships, whereas friends’ acceptance moderated peer influences in achievement in both unilateral and reciprocal friendships. The findings illustrate the dynamic interplay between peer effects and academic functioning.     

网络远程学习者学业求助行为的分析

网络远程学习者要想获得学业的成功,就需进行积极的学业求助来克服、解决所遇到的困难和挑战。该文阐述了网络远程学习者进行学业求助的途径和求助活动设计的理论基础,分析了学业求助的理论模型和潜在影响因素。     

Strategies for academic engagement perceived by Finnish sixth and eighth graders

This study explores strategies students use to construct their academic engagement in the social environment of school. The study is based on group interview data collected from 161 sixth (78) and eighth (83) grade students. Students reflected both engaging and disengaging episodes. Data were content analysed. The results show that students reported using only confirming strategies in teacher–student interaction. More diverse strategies were described in relation to peer interaction. The results indicated that simultaneously maintaining functional peer relations and engaging effectively in academic activities is a highly challenging task which requires strategic flexibility and self-regulative skills. In terms of the development of more engaging learning environments for students, our results suggest that more attention should be paid to creating positive opportunities to participate, in terms of both academic activities and peer interaction.     

Associations between peer‐perceived status and aggression in young adolescents

Different functions within different forms of aggression were examined in relation to peer‐perceived preference and popularity among middle school students. Two hundred and three 7th grade students were nominated by a subset of their grade mates based on indices of likeability, popularity, and aggressiveness. Both linear and curvilinear associations were examined. Lower peer preference, but higher popularity, was associated with increased levels of all types of aggression, supporting the need to differentiate the relationship between aggression and these two facets of peer status. Relational aggression was associated with both low and high levels of popularity. Overt aggression was related to low peer preference and, to a lesser degree, high peer preference. It appears that what separates low‐ and high‐status students is not the presence of aggression per se, but how effectively their displays of aggression achieve their social goals. Findings are discussed in respect to social dominance theory, and implications for practice are considered. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Learning support and academic achievement among Malaysian adolescents: the mediating role of student engagement

The aim of this study was to examine the associations between learning support, student engagement and academic achievement among adolescents. We also examined the extent to which affective, behavioural and cognitive engagement play a mediating role in students’ perceived learning support from parents, teachers and peers, and contribute to their academic achievement. Malaysian adolescents (aged 12–17 years, N = 2359) completed a self-administered questionnaire based on an adapted version of the Student Engagement And Learning Support Scale. Item and factor analyses were performed to ensure appropriate psychometric properties of the scales. Pearson correlation analysis identified the relationship between variables and structural equation modelling was conducted to identify the role of student engagement as a mediator between learning support and academic achievement. The study provides empirical support for the hypothesis that perceptions of learning support influence adolescents’ affective, behavioural and cognitive engagement in school in different ways, which in turn influences their academic achievement. Cognitive engagement seemed to be the best predictor of academic achievement and the strongest mediator for all three types of learning support. Behavioural engagement was negatively associated with academic achievement, and affective engagement did not have a direct relationship with academic achievement, although it contributed indirectly through cognitive and behavioural engagement. The results of this study provide a basis for policy makers to initiate prevention and intervention programs for increasing the quality of parent–child, teacher–student and peer–peer relationships which ultimately could lead to improved academic competence and outcomes.     

农村留守儿童学业求助的问题与策略

农村留守儿童是一个特殊的弱势群体,他们在学习中会遇到特殊的问题。研究发现,农村留守儿童的学业求助动机以外在动机为主,存在着假性求助现象。他们要求求助对象具有公平、友好、乐于助人的特征,而是否具备帮助他们解决问题的能力并不是选择求助对象的决定因素。他们求助的问题除知识、学习方法的问题外,还有学习情绪性问题,因此,参考同学的作业、情感倾诉就成为留守儿童独具特色的求助方式。