Temporal networks in collaborative learning: A case study

Social Network Analysis (SNA) has enabled researchers to understand and optimize the key dimensions of collaborative learning. A majority of SNA research has so far used static networks, ie, aggregated networks that compile interactions without considering when certain activities or relationships occurred. Compressing a temporal process by discarding time, however, may result in reductionist oversimplifications. In this study, we demonstrate the potentials of temporal networks in the analysis of online peer collaboration. In particular, we study: (1) social interactions by analysing learners' collaborative behaviour, part of a case study in which they worked on academic writing tasks, and (2) cognitive interactions through the analysis of students' self-regulated learning tactics. The study included 123 students and 2550 interactions. By using temporal networks, we show how to analyse the longitudinal evolution of a collaborative network visually and quantitatively. Correlation coefficients with grades, when calculated with time-respecting temporal measures of centrality, were more correlated with learning outcomes than traditional centrality measures. Using temporal networks to analyse the co-temporal and longitudinal development, reach, and diffusion patterns of students' learning tactics has provided novel insights into the complex dynamics of learning, not commonly offered through static networks.     

School Attachment: perspectives of low‐attached high school students

Attachment to school plays a vital role in the success or failure of today's middle and high school students. Many researchers identified attachment to school as contributing to student self‐esteem, motivation, effort, behaviour and academic achievement. However, definitions of school attachment have been varied and based largely upon observation of student behaviour. In an attempt to elucidate this definition, the construct of school attachment was examined from the perspective of students who were classified as low‐attached to school. Specifically, in‐depth, semi‐structured interviews of 10 students were conducted and analysed qualitatively. Results indicated that students who were low‐attached described their lives at school as lonely and isolated, and saw themselves as alienated from the school community. They perceived a low level of support and encouragement from the school personnel and from their peers. A broad understanding of school attachment as well as factors which contribute to students’ level of attachment, from the perspective of the low‐attached student, are included.     

Elementary School Children's Reasoning About Social Class: A Mixed‐Methods Study

The current study examined children's identification and reasoning about their subjective social status (SSS), their beliefs about social class groups (i.e., the poor, middle class, and rich), and the associations between the two. Study participants were 117 10‐ to 12‐year‐old children of diverse racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds attending a laboratory elementary school in Southern California. Results indicated that children's SSS ratings correlated with indicators of family socioeconomic status and were informed by material possessions, lifestyle characteristics, and social and societal comparisons. Children rated the poor as having fewer positive attributes and more negative attributes than the middle class, and fewer positive attributes than the rich. Lower SSS children held less positive attitudes toward the poor than children with middle SSS ratings.     

Access to education and political candidacy: Lessons from school openings in Sweden

How does availability of education affect who becomes a political representative? Theorists have pointed out that access to education is a key to a well-functioning democracy, but few empirical studies have examined how changes in the access to education influence the chances of becoming a politician. In this paper, we analyze the effects of a large series of school openings in Sweden during the early 20th century, which provided adolescents with better access to secondary education. We use administrative data pertaining to the entire Swedish population born between 1916 and 1945. According to our empirical results, the opening of a new lower secondary school in a municipality increased the baseline probability of running for political office by 10–20%, and the probability of holding office by 20–30%.     

Teaching high school science using image processing: A case study of implementation of computer technology

An in-depth case study of teachers' use of image processing (a state-of-the-art computer technology used by research scientists) in biology, earth science, and physics classes within one high school science department explored issues surrounding technology implementation. The study, conducted within a districtwide, schoolwide, and classroom context, explored four areas related to the teacher's adoption of image processing: (a) teachers' background with computers outside of instructional use, (b) teachers' attitudes toward educational technology and insights gained from their experience using computers within the science curriculum, (c) training and perceived influence of district and school administrators, and (d) teachers' classroom and computer lab practices. The following factors were deemed critical in teachers' decision to use or not use image processing with their students: (a) time to thoroughly explore and master the technology so they could use it with students to explore science concepts; (b) classroom management skills specific to technology use; (c) perception of the teaching value of the technology; (d) perception of the reasonableness of administrators' expectations for technology use; and (e) understanding of how to implement inquiry-based science teaching, independent of technology issues. These factors have implications for how to help teachers use computer technology to teach high school science. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 35: 297–327, 1998.     

School belonging and math attitudes among high school students in advanced math

This study used the Trends in International Math Science (TIMSS) 2015 Advanced data from nine countries to examine the relationship between students’ sense of school belonging and their attitudes towards mathematics, and the extent to which student gender moderated these relationships. Results showed that students’ sense of school belonging emerged as a statistically significant, positive predictor of students’ liking and valuing of mathematics. For most countries, no significant moderating effect of student gender was observed. However, among Portuguese students, the relationship between students’ sense of school belonging and each attitude measure was stronger for males than for females.     

The role of the school climate in high school students’ mental health and identity formation: A South Australian study

The well‐documented increase in student mental health issues in Australia and growing recognition of the need for education to play a part in students’ identity formation prompted this study. The research reported in this article sought to identify specific elements of the school climate that were likely to influence the interplay of adolescent health and development and students’ identity formation. The aim was two‐fold. First, the study examined the relationships between students’ perceptions of the school climate and self‐reports of wellbeing, resilience and moral identity; and, second, the interrelationships between the three outcome variables were explored. Two surveys, one to assess students’ perceptions of features of the school climate, and another to assess students’ wellbeing, resilience and moral identity, were administered to 618 Year 11 students from 15 independent schools in South Australia. Structural equation modelling was used to investigate hypothesised relationships between students’ perceptions of their school climate and self‐reports of wellbeing, resilience and moral identity. Our results indicated statistically significant and positive relationships between school‐climate factors and each of the three outcome variables. Further, indirect relationships (mediated largely by resilience) were found between school‐climate factors and students’ wellbeing. Our findings could be used to guide schools in building tangible, purposeful environments that engender well‐balanced, positive, resilient citizens with strong moral identities.     

Exemplary in teaching outside school: a case study of Open School in Denmark

Learning Environments Research - Changes in learning environments are pivotal when schools and local organizations embark on educational partnerships. Local organisations offer specialized...     

高中综合学习课程开发的实践研究

本文在三年的教学实践和综合课程开发理论学习的基础上 ,运用具体实例分析了综合学习课程的三个特点 ,介绍了综合学习课程的模块化“混合式”课程组织方式及其特点 ,以及综合学习的主要方式。     

Gender discourse in an Arab-Muslim high school in Israel: Ethnographic case study

Although the school constitutes a key cultural arena for the production and reproduction of gender identities, few studies have addressed gender discourse in educational institutions in developing societies. Such studies are especially sparse in Arab society in Israel. This study goes some way to addressing what is often absent from many sociological portrayals of young pupils and schools, since it uses the words of the teachers and students to clarify the construction of gender discourse in an Arab high school in Israel. It points to activities considered to be gendered; identifying distinctions between the sexes (if they exist) in the staff’s and students’ perceptions of educational experiences at school; and examining to what extent school authority is seen as masculine and whether the school promotes debate and socialization for equality between the sexes. The research employed an inductive methodology including ethnographic data-collection techniques: observations, focus group interviews of students and in-depth personal interviews with school role-holders. Findings indicate that a covert learning program influences gender construction in the Arab school, a program intended to maintain the existing hegemonic social hierarchy. Patriarchal control of the adolescents’ agenda appears weakened and a generation gap separates teachers from students. Voices of students and younger staff advocate deconstruction of the traditional structure and norms of Arab society, suggesting a new agenda, promoting egalitarian discourse, and new personal and collective identities. Conclusions are drawn concerning the school’s role in the deconstruction of the existing male hegemony, the promotion of gender equity. The paper provides ethnographic insights concerning the Arab high school in Israel, pointing up a need for empathetic educator-student dialogue, that will promote egalitarian perceptions and practices, listen to the voice of the younger generation and challenge residual social norms of Arab Muslim society. The findings indicate that a more open gender discourse could offer symbolic resources and/or practical tools to enhance the every-day implementation of equity in the school. The paper also suggests some new research directions.     

中学生的宽恕倾向及其与学校适应感的关系

对643名中学生的测查结果表明,中文版中学生宽恕倾向量表包括宽恕他人、积极自我宽恕和消极自我宽恕三个较为清晰的维度,其克伦巴赫α系数依次为0.81、0.63和0.67,各分量表得分和攻击性得分间存在显著的关联,中学生宽恕倾向的年龄和性别差异均不显著。宽恕倾向和学校适应感之间均存在明显的关联,它对学校适应感的解释率为30%。     

Social preference choices in late elementary school: Within and across group nominations

This study examined the social preference nominations (i.e., “liked most” and “liked least”) in relation to peer group and classroom social dynamics in a sample of 622 fifth graders from 11 schools in a southeastern state. Liked most and liked least nominations were given to a small concentration of students within classrooms. The top five nominees for liked most and liked least tended to be in peer groups and associated with at least one classmate who shared their position as a top nominee. The majority of liked most nominations in a classroom were made toward members inside the nominator's group, whereas the majority of liked least nominations were made toward peers outside one's group. Students in the same peer group were more likely to nominate the same peers as liked most than were students who did not affiliate together. In contrast, the concordance for liked least nominations was moderate at both the peer‐group and classroom level. Implications for school‐based social interventions are discussed. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Stimulating transition to postconventional morality: The pickering high school study

Over a four-month period, a class of Grade 11 students were involved in discussion of ethical problems and principles at a postconventional level (as defined by Lawrence Kohlberg). At the beginning and the end of the period, these students used very little postconventional thinking. However, one year later they exhibited a significant usage of post-conventional moral thinking, in comparison with a control group that remained unchanged throughout.

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Résumé Pendant quatre mois, les élèves d'une classe de onzième année ont participé à la discussion de problèmes et de principes de moralité au niveau post-classique (selon la définition de Lawrence Kohlberg). Au début et à la fin de cette période, ces étudiants ont exprimé peu de réflexions post-classiques. Un an plus tard, cependant, ils manifestaient une nette attitude fondée sur des principes de morale post-classique alors que l'attitude d'un groupe-témoin n'avait subi aucune modification pendant la même période.

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The authors wish to express their sincerest gratitude for the very willing cooperation and assistance of Mr. Malcolm Mitchell, head of history at Pickering High School, of Mr. Kettle, the then principal, and other members of staff, and of the students involved in the study, particularly those in the experimental class.     

Funding at-risk compensatory programs: An urban high school case study

A Texas urban high school with a 98 percent minority student enrollment was selected to conduct a micro-finance analysis on site-based at-risk per pupil costs. A process was developed to define site-based state compensatory education (SCE) and to account for all students receiving direct and indirect state compensatory education services. Program costs data were analyzed to develop a relationship between full-time equivalent (FTE) state categorical program costs and regular education program costs. At-risk student background characteristics were defined using a parent home survey, conducted with a sample of twenty at-risk students and twenty regular education students. The data revealed that 68 percent of the students exhibited one or more of the state-defined at-risk variables; the highest program costs produced the highest achievement: and based on student backgroud characteristics, all of the students, including regular funded students, were at risk.     

架起初、高中化学学习的桥梁,用好高一新教材

上海市二期课改高、初中化学新教材在全市相继全面推开使用之后,高、初中化学教学的衔接问题在教学第一线矛盾凸现.本文在调查研究的基础上,对问题产生的原因进行了分析,以上海市普陀区的教学实践为例介绍了四项行之有效、提高教学质量的对策供大家参考.     

School to work transitions in Europe: choice and constraints

Starting from the assumption that school to work transitions constitute not only the end goal but also an integral part of educational trajectories, this article reconstructs the narratives of the decision-making processes of young people at the end of lower secondary education, namely the ways in which decision-making is referred to, the temporal horizons in which transitional decisions are embedded, the criteria of decision-making, the actors they mentioned and obviously also the relationship between structural constraints and individual choice, both in explicit references and emerging from interpretative analysis. A special analysis considers the decision-making of disadvantaged youth and the way in which it evolves differently in five European countries, focussing on the questions of whether and to what extent school succeeds in combating social inequality.     

School context,achievement motivation,and academic engagement: A longitudinal study of school engagement using a multidimensional perspective

This longitudinal study adopts a multidimensional perspective to examine the relationships between middle school students' perceptions of the school environment (structure support, provision of choice, teaching for relevance, teacher and peer emotional support), achievement motivation (academic self-concept and subjective task value), and school engagement (behavioral, emotional, and cognitive engagement). Participants were from an ethnically diverse, urban sample of 1157 adolescents. The findings indicated that student perceptions of distinct aspects of the school environment contributed differentially to the three types of school engagement. In addition, these associations were fully or partially mediated by achievement motivation. Specifically, student perceptions of the school environment influenced their achievement motivation and in turn influenced all three types of school engagement, although in different ways. Moderation effects of gender, ethnicity, and academic ability were also discussed.