“It will be hard because I will have to learn lots of English”: experiences of education for children newly arrived in Australia

Educational experiences during childhood are critically important for development, but migrant children often experience unique challenges. To ameliorate these, extra training in English language – such as provided by the intensive English language programme in South Australia (IELP) – is frequently offered to children taking on English as an additional language. The present study aimed to examine the experience of transition into mainstream classes for children in the IELP, particularly in relation to their overall well-being. As such, the study utilised interviews conducted with newly arrived children in Australia aged 5–13 who were enrolled in an IELP, with interviews conducted both pre- and post-transition into mainstream primary school classes. The findings indicate that most children felt anxious prior to transition, especially regarding speaking English, but were less concerned about this once entering their new class. Making friends was considered to be difficult, but easier when there were children with whom they were familiar from other contexts or if there was another child in the class with a shared cultural or linguistic background.     

A comparison between elemental and compound training of cues in retrospective revaluation

Associative learning theories assume that cue interaction and, specifically, retrospective revaluation occur only when the target cue is previously trained in compound with the to-be-revalued cue. However, there are recent demonstrations of retrospective revaluation in the absence of compound training (e.g., Matute &; Pineño, 1998a, 1998b). Nevertheless, it seems reasonable to assume that cue interaction should be stronger when the cues are trained together than when they are trained apart. In two experiments with humans, we directly compared compound and elemental training of cues. The results showed that retrospective revaluation in the elemental condition can be as strong as and, sometimes, stronger than that in the compound condition. This suggests that within-compound associations are not necessary for retrospective revaluation to occur and that these effects can possibly be best understood in the framework of general interference theory.     

The Association between Students’ Evaluation of Teaching and Grades

The results of a student evaluation of teaching instrument are analyzed for a semester of classes at a large collegiate business school, at both the graduate and undergraduate academic level. In particular, we concentrate on the relationship between responses to the instrument and student grades. The results show interesting differences, suggesting dissimilarities, especially for gender, academic level, and field. Our research suggests that academic administrators and others need be cautious when they use such data in evaluating teaching.     

Keep DRAGging ON: Is solving more problems in DragonBox 12+ associated with higher mathematical performance during the COVID-19 pandemic?

Prior research has shown that game-based learning tools, such as DragonBox 12+, support algebraic understanding and that students' in-game progress positively predicts their later performance. Using data from 253 seventh-graders (12–13 years old) who played DragonBox as a part of technology intervention, we examined (a) the relations between students' progress within DragonBox and their algebraic knowledge and general mathematics achievement, (b) the moderating effects of students' prior performance on these relations and (c) the potential factors associated with students' in-game progress. Among students with higher prior algebraic knowledge, higher in-game progress was related to higher algebraic knowledge after the intervention. Higher in-game progress was also associated with higher end-of-year mathematics achievement, and this association was stronger among students with lower prior mathematics achievement. Students' demographic characteristics, prior knowledge and prior achievement did not significantly predict in-game progress beyond the number of intervention sessions students completed. These findings advance research on how, for whom and in what contexts game-based interventions, such as DragonBox, support mathematical learning and have implications for practice using game-based technologies to supplement instruction.

Practitioner notes

What is already known about this topic

• DragonBox 12+ may support students' understanding of algebra but the findings are mixed.
• Students who solve more problems within math games tend to show higher performance after gameplay.
• Students' engagement with mathematics is often related to their prior math performance.

What this paper adds

• For students with higher prior algebraic knowledge, solving more problems in DragonBox 12+ is related to higher algebraic performance after gameplay.
• Students who make more in-game progress also have higher mathematics achievement, especially for students with lower prior achievement.
• Students who spend more time playing DragonBox 12+ make more in-game progress; their demographic, prior knowledge and prior achievement are not related to in-game progress.

Implications for practice and/or policy

• DragonBox 12+ can be beneficial as a supplement to algebra instruction for students with some understanding of algebra.
• DragonBox 12+ can engage students with mathematics across achievement levels.
• Dedicating time and encouraging students to play DragonBox 12+ may help them make more in-game progress, and in turn, support math learning.

     

Developmental patterns of children's shyness: Relations with physiological,emotional, and regulatory responses to being treated unfairly

The dysregulation of social fear has been widely studied in children's shyness, but we know little about how shy children regulate during unfair treatment. We first characterized developmental patterns of children's shyness (N = 304, n_girls = 153; 74% White, 26% Other) across 2 (M_age = 2.07), 3 (M_age = 3.08), 4 (M_age = 4.08), and 6 (M_age = 6.58) years of age. Data collection occurred from 2007 to 2014. At age 6, the high stable group had higher cardiac vagal withdrawal and lower expressed sadness and approach-related regulatory strategy than the low stable group when being treated unfairly. Although shy children may be more physiologically impacted by being treated unfairly, they may mask their sadness to signal appeasement.     

Navigating privacy tensions when responding to online aggression at postsecondary institutions

Postsecondary institutions have a legal responsibility to ensure that students have access to a safe learning environment. While institutions adopt policies and hire administrators to protect students from harm, many are underprepared to support students when these harmful incidents happen online. This is of increased concern now that online aggression is pervasive across universities worldwide. While faculty, administrators and students agree that online aggression is a significant issue and that institutions ought to provide prevention and response services, there is concern that these efforts might violate privacy norms. We used the theory of privacy as contextual integrity (CI) to explore the tensions that postsecondary students and staff perceive regarding student privacy when responding to incidents of online aggression. To do so, we conducted focus groups with undergraduate students and student affairs administrators from a Historically Black College and University (HBCU) in the Mid-Atlantic USA. Our analysis surfaced three considerations that inform students' and staff's decision to report an incident of online aggression: their closeness to the person making the post, their perception of the online post content as a real threat and their knowledge of an authority figure who could help resolve the situation. We used CI theory to explain how these considerations can inform institutional policy, practice and future research.

Practitioner notes

What is already known about this topic

• Online aggression is a pervasive issue at postsecondary institutions worldwide that can contribute to psychological, academic and developmental issues.
• Postsecondary students and staff are unsure of how to respond to incidents of online aggression.
• There is a gap in policies and procedures for responding to online aggression at postsecondary institutions.

What this paper adds

• A novel use of Nissenbaum's (2010) theory of contextual integrity to understand students' and staff's perceptions of privacy.
• Students' and staff's decisions to intervene or report an online aggression incident are determined by their relationship to the perpetrator, the severity of the social media post and their knowledge of who to tell on campus.
• Students and staff are reluctant to inform the police out of fear of violence against the perpetrator.

Implications for practice and/or policy

• Raise awareness about responding to online aggression incidents.
• Implement online bystander intervention training programs to increase awareness and self-efficacy to intervene in unclear situations.
• Develop clear policies regarding online aggression, as well as a trustworthy procedure for how to respond.