Socioeconomic status and students' science self-efficacy

The present study ascertains the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and students' science self-efficacy using data involving 509,182 15-year-old students and 17,678 school principals in 69 countries/regions who participated in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2015. Hierarchical linear modelling results show that, after controlling for science teachers' instructional practices (science class disciplinary climate, inquiry-based instruction, teachers' support, direct instruction, provision of feedback, instructional adaptation), school science resources and various student variables (gender, grade levels, type of school programme), SES was related to students' science self-efficacy in the majority of countries/regions (62–68 countries/regions, depending on the SES indicators used). Specifically, SES was related to students' science self-efficacy in a larger number of countries/regions when it was measured using home cultural resources, home educational resources or a composite indicator (economic, social and cultural status) than when it was measured using parental education levels or occupational status. In contrast, students' science self-efficacy was unrelated to the science teachers' instructional practices examined (except inquiry-based instruction) in most of the countries/regions. These results expand our understanding of students' science self-efficacy, as a type of learning motivation, from being a largely psychological attribute to one that is also influenced by social origins such as family SES. They imply that SES may have a larger influence on student achievement than we may have assumed if we include the indirect influence of SES on student achievement via students' self-efficacy.     

Socioeconomic status and infant nighttime sleep across the second year of life: The moderating role of infant attachment security

This study examined socioeconomic status (SES) and attachment security as predictors of infant nighttime sleep during the second year. Participants included 128 mothers (86% White) with infants (48.4% boys). Data collection took place between April, 2009 and February, 2014. At 12, 18, and 24 months, infant sleep was assessed via actigraphy and daily diaries, and attachment with the Attachment Q-Set. SES indicators included income-to-needs ratios and education. Lower SES predicted greater variability in sleep duration and later sleep timing only for less secure infants. Less secure attachment was associated with poorer sleep at both between- and within-person levels, especially when infants were 12 months of age. Results emphasize the complex interactive effects of environmental and relational factors on infant sleep.     

Intellectual realism: the role of children's interpretations of pictures and perceptual verbs

Intellectual realism refers to the tendency of young children to indicate incorrectly all that is present in an object array when asked to indicate only what they can see of it from a particular perspective. 3 experiments tested and confirmed the hypotheses that children's interpretation of (a) pictorial conventions and of (b) the expression "look like" may increase this tendency. The results of this and other studies suggest that young children's difficulties with adult pictorial conventions, with the wording of task instructions, and with the concept of a momentary, view-determined appearance can all lead to intellectual realism errors.     

Exploring school stress in middle childhood: interpretations,experiences, and coping

With increased academic and social challenges at school, middle childhood can be a particularly stressful time. The present study explored how a sample of children from a supportive learning environment interpreted, experienced and reported coping with everyday stress at school. Using a phenomenological approach, third graders attending an elementary school in the United States participated in semi-structured interviews in which they could discuss the nature of stress, stressful moments at school, and their responses to different situations. Despite nearly optimal learning conditions, child reports included a range of school stressors. Children’s interpretations of ‘stress’ seemed inextricably linked to their learning and social obstacles at school; those daily experiences were further linked to coping strategies. The discussion section emphasises the importance of understanding how children interpret and report stress and coping, and how pastoral care can support young students.     

Relational aggressive behaviour: the contributions of status stress and status goals

Relational aggression is a destructive behaviour that increases during adolescence. In order to develop effective interventions aimed to combat relational aggression, there is an urgent need to study what motivates this behaviour. This study investigates the association between status stress, status goals, and relational aggressive behaviour in a sample of 345 adolescents from Norwegian secondary schools. Structural equation modelling (SEM) is used as the statistical tool. The results showed that status goals were associated with both self- and peer-reported relational aggression. Status stress contributed significantly to explaining variation in self-reported relational aggression but not in peer-reported relational aggression. The possibility that self- and peer report may partly identify different relational aggressive peers with different characteristics is discussed. No significant gender differences emerged in the associations studied.     

Socioeconomic status, self-efficacy, and mathematics achievement in Australia: a secondary analysis

Previous studies have shown that both student and school socioeconomic status (SES) are strongly associated with student outcomes, but less is known about how these relationships may vary for different students, schools and nations. In this study we use a large international dataset to examine how student SES, school SES and self-efficacy are associated with mathematics performance among 15-year-old students in Australia. We found that increases in school SES are consistently associated with substantial increases in achievement in mathematics and this phenomenon holds for all groups, regardless of their individual SES. Furthermore, our findings show that the association of school SES with maths achievement persists even when subject-specific self-efficacy is taken into account. However, our findings also suggest modest differences among student groups disaggregated by these factors. In particular, the association between maths achievement and school SES appears moderately stronger for students with higher levels of self-efficacy compared with their peers with lower self-efficacy. Furthermore, among students with similar levels of self-efficacy, the association between maths achievement and school SES tends to be stronger for lower SES students than for their more privileged peers. From these findings, we highlight the importance of the Australian case for comparable systems of education, and provide a discussion of policy implications and strategies for mitigating the influence of school socioeconomic composition on academic achievement more generally.     

Socioeconomic trends in school bullying among Finnish adolescents from 2000 to 2015

Bullying at school has far-reaching impacts on adolescent well-being and health. The aim of this study was to examine trends in bullying at school according to socioeconomic adversities among Finnish adolescents from 2000 to 2015. A population-based school survey was conducted biennially among 14–16-year-old Finns between 2000 and 2015 (n = 761,278). Distributions for bullying, being bullied and socioeconomic adversities were calculated. Associations between bullying involvement, time and socioeconomic adversities were studied using binomial logistic regression with results shown by odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals. At the population level, the likelihoods of bullying and being bullied varied only slightly between 2000 and 2015. Bullying and being bullied were associated with socioeconomic adversities (low parental education, not living with both parents and parental unemployment in the past year). Unlike in the general population, the likelihoods of bullying and being bullied increased markedly among adolescents with most socioeconomic adversities. The increased socioeconomic differences in bullying involvement observed in this study add to the mounting evidence of polarization of adolescent health and well-being. Socioeconomic adversities should be considered in the prevention of bullying at school. In addition, socio-political measures are needed to decrease socioeconomic inequalities among Finnish adolescents.     

Exposure to school violence at school and mental health of victimized adolescents: The mediation role of social support

The purpose of the current study is to examine the mediation role of social support in the relationship between exposure to violence at school and mental health among adolescents within the framework of two structured models via structural equation model (SEM). The participants consist of a total of 1420 9th, 10th, and 11th grades high school students (54.5% girls and 45.5% boys). The students’ ages ranged from 14 to 18 years with a mean of 16.11 (SD = 0.91) for total sample. 38 percent of the participants are in the 9th grade, 34.1 percent are in the 10th grade, and 28 percent are in the 11th grade. Findings from both models indicated that social support mediated the relationships between exposure to violence and mental health among adolescents. Additionally, both models showed that the associations between exposure to violence, social support and mental health varied by gender. Contributions and implications of the current findings are discussed in detail.     

Reaching adolescents: a role for radio

The radio is a powerful means to reach adolescents and to address their concerns, particularly those that are not being addressed by their families or by the school curriculum. Proving this point is a radio program, "Sandhikhan" (Bengali for adolescence), which aired on national radio covering adolescent health issues, particularly reproductive health. The program's impact was the subject of a WBVHA survey among adolescent radio listeners in West Bengal. About 79% (369 individual listeners) of the respondents rated the radio program very good, with only a negligible 1% describing it as unnecessary. Only 21% of respondents listened to the program alone, with the majority listening in the company of friends, mothers, sisters, brothers, fathers, and other relatives. This suggested a wider group of listeners in addition to the program's primary target audience. Clearly, findings pointed to the effectiveness of teaching adolescent health on the air and the role that was played by WBVHA in developing healthy attitudes and habits among its young audience. The findings of the survey will provide the basis for producing educational materials on reproductive health for students as well as teachers.     

Socioeconomic status and receptive vocabulary development: Replication of the parental investment model with Chilean preschoolers and their families

Drawing on the first wave of data from the Chilean Longitudinal Study for Early Childhood the current study examined the relation between family socioeconomic status (SES) and children's receptive Spanish vocabulary, and whether these relations were mediated by physical features of the home environment, parent–child interactions, and participation in center-based child care. The results of path analyses (n = 1589) estimating direct and indirect effects of SES on children's receptive vocabulary test scores provided evidence of partial mediation through indices of standard of living and parents’ level of cognitive and linguistic stimulation in the home. This study is among the first to replicate with a non-U.S. sample, a well-established linkage among SES, family-level conditions and processes, and young children's language outcomes.     

Reflective practice: origins and interpretations

The idea of reflection is central to the theory and practice of learning – especially learning which is grounded in past or current experience. This paper proposes a working definition of reflection and reviews its origins and recent developments. The author also provides an account of ‘critical reflection’, including its rationale and characteristics, and argues for its particular suitability in the practice of action learning.     

论“墨”在水墨画中的地位和作用

从艺述自律的范筹而言,"墨"在中国水墨画中有重要的地位和作用。要强调水墨画的独立性和持续发展性,强调个人风格要有独创性,增强民族自信,反映时代精神。     

Socioeconomic and language minority classroom composition and individual reading achievement: The mediating role of instructional quality

In this study, we investigated effects of socioeconomic and language minority classroom composition on students' reading achievement and explored the mediating role of central features of instructional quality, namely focus on language, student-oriented climate, and structured classroom management. Analyses were based on data collected from 352 German ninth-grade classrooms across two measurement points (t₁, t₂) in a multilevel framework. We found socioeconomic composition to be related to individual reading achievement at t₂ after accounting for the corresponding baseline assessment at t₁. However, the proportion of German language learners had no additional effect on reading achievement. Our results also suggest that the effect of the socioeconomic composition on achievement may be mediated partially by the teacher's focus on language during instruction. We conclude that more attention has to be paid to providing equal opportunities to all students in language classes.     

Sleep and the body mass index and overweight status of children and adolescents

Associations between sleep and the body mass index (BMI) and overweight status of children and adolescents were estimated using longitudinal data from a nationally representative sample of 2,281 children aged 3–12 years at baseline. Controlling for baseline BMI, children who slept less, went to bed later, or got up earlier at the time of the first assessment had higher BMIs 5 years later and were more likely to be overweight. Child age moderated the relationship between bedtime and BMI. In addition, the study reports nationally representative data on the sleep habits of American children aged 3–18 years. This study underscores the likely importance of sleep on children's physical health and suggests that sleep is important for understanding childhood weight problems.     

An integrated model of decision-making in health contexts: the role of science education in health education

Health education is to foster health literacy, informed decision-making and to promote health behaviour. To date, there are several models that seek to explain health behaviour (e.g. the Theory of Planned Behaviour or the Health Belief Model). These models include motivational factors (expectancies and values) that play a role in decision-making in health contexts. In this theoretical paper, it is argued that none of these models makes consequent use of expectancy-value pairs. It is further argued that in order to make these models fruitful for science education and for informed decision-making, models should systematically incorporate knowledge as part of the decision-making process. To fill this gap, this theoretical paper introduces The Integrated Model of Decision-Making in Health Contexts. This model includes three types of knowledge (system health knowledge, action-related health knowledge and effectiveness health knowledge) as influencing factors for motivational factors (perceived health threat, attitude towards health action, attitude towards health outcome and subjective norm) that are formed of expectancy-value pairs and lead to decisions. The model’s potential for health education in science education as well as research implications is discussed.     

The role of the teacher with substance-abusing adolescents in secondary schools

Before choosing to become involved with students who currently are abusing psychoactive substances, teachers must consider not only the potential consequences and payoffs to them professionally, but also what specifically they can do to help adolescents. This article presents some of the philosophical problems, and suggests potential solutions of how to relate to students who engage in potentially self-destructive, drug-related behavior. There is a need for teachers to become quasi-counselors and consultants, since they are the first line of defense against substance use and abuse.