Sketch and Speak : An Oral, Written, and Graphic Expository Strategy Intervention for Secondary Students

Purpose This clinical focus article describes an intervention to improve comprehension, retention, and expression of the ideas and language of expository texts. Sketch and Speak intervention links written, graphic, and oral learning strategies through a triadic process of noting an idea simply with written or pictographic notes, then saying it fully, and saying it again. This simple routine engages transformational and retrieval cognitive processes involved in active learning and information retention. We consider the evidence base from the psychological and educational literature and report research evidence with younger students with language-related learning disabilities. We explain how to use Sketch and Speak with students in the secondary grades and suggest how to coach students toward independent, self-regulated use. Conclusions Students in the secondary grades benefit from learning strategies that help them gain control over the ideas and language of informational texts. Sketch and Speak may be a helpful addition to the speech-language pathologist's repertoire for older students with language and learning difficulties.

THE NATURALISTIC CONCEPTUALIZATIONS ABOUT MORALITY OF SCHOOL AGED CHILDREN: AN EXPLORATORY INVESTIGATION

This study aimed to examine the naturalistic moral conceptualizations of school aged children with an exploratory investigation, notwithstanding any theoretical background. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 193 primary and secondary school students (Age range: 7-15 years) from different regions and cities in Turkey. Open-coded content analysis has been used to reveal the most frequent conceptualizations about being a good or bad child. Chi-Square analyses have been conducted to explore if any differences were evident among school periods (primary vs. secondary grades) and gender. The findings showed that children expressed their conceptualizations about being a good child through the concepts of helping others, helping family members, sharing, not saying bad words, listening to advice, respecting nature, being reliable, tolerant, and compassionate person. Thus, respect, benevolence, and being virtuous were essential moral conceptualizations. Similarly, concepts about maintaining healthy relationships were also evident for the conceptualizations of a bad child: physical harm, bullying, property damage, saying bad words, disobedience, and being disrespectful toward parents. Additionally, chi-square results demonstrated that being disrespectful was an important concept to describe the characteristics of a bad child, for boys rather than girls. Results mostly indicate that school aged children construct morality within the perspective of relationship regulation and social order. Keywords Morality, naturalistic conceptualizations, primary and secondary school children, relationality

Bored with school! Bored with life? Well-being characteristics associated with a school boredom mindset

Students’ experiences of boredom at school are receiving increased research attention. Most inquiries to date have focused on how often students experience boredom in classroom situations and in specific subject areas. Despite its frequency, limited research efforts have explored how students’ boredom experiences might inform positive education initiatives. This paper examines students’ school boredom experiences from a positive education lens through which school mental health professionals can evaluate students’ school boredom experiences systematically. We introduce the School Boredom Mindset (SBM) concept that identifies a subset of high-risk students expressing unfavorable school attitudes. A preliminary analysis of 2,331 California secondary (Grades 7-12) students’ responses on well-being indicators explored the SBM’s viability. The findings show that students with the strongest SBM reported substantially lower well-being than their peers. The discussion offers suggestions for future research needed to evaluate the SBM concept’s meaning and the value of its contribution to positive education. While this research moves forward, we provide practitioners with resources to better evaluate students’ boring feelings at school and consider its meaning within the broader effort of fostering thriving well-being

Science Curriculum Implementation in Educational Settings: A Case of Public Secondary Schools of Sukkur, Sindh

Many reforms have been taking place in the development and implementation of education curriculum across the globe to uplift the standard of education. In 2006, the Government of Pakistan had revised the science curriculum of secondary grades after few decades to meet the challenges of modern times. The current study has adopted a quantitative approach it the descriptive research design was used. The data was collected through a questionnaire. The reliability of the questionnaire was found to Cronbach alpha =0.723 which is reliable. The percentages, mean and standard deviation was calculated. The findings of the study revealed that the science curriculum could not be implemented properly due to the inclusion of extra topics in the science curriculum of secondary grade, time constraints and availability of laboratory equipment. This study recommends the syllabus should be condensed and extra topics from the syllabus must be removed.

Techniques of mastering the emotional component of the content of foreign-language education

The problem for the research. Due to the focus of foreign-language education on the moral perfection of a younger personality and the development of a student’s creative abilities, many researchers consider that the structure of its content should include not only the “intellectual”, but also the emotional component. In this regard, the problem of developing an appropriate activity component that would contribute to the realization of reserves of such content and the appropriation of the cultural heritage of humanity by schoolchildren is becoming more and more urgent. Methods of investigation. The study involved students at the primary (grades 1–4), secondary (grades 5–7), high (grades 8–9) and subject-oriented (grades 10–11) levels of school foreign-language education. These are 138 students of schools in Kirov, Kirov Region, Izhevsk and the urban district “Lesnoy” (Russian Federation). In the experimental work foreign-language text material of emotional content was used, as well as the techniques of mastering the emotional component of the content of foreign-language education as a unit of emotional activity component of foreign-language education. The results were processed using methods of mathematical statistics (dispersion, standard deviation, Fisher’s criterion). The findings of the study. Identify statistically significant differences in the initial and final indicators of students with a vertical form of control at the significance level of p = 0.05. Thus, the indices of the Fisher criterion in assessing the results of mastering the “intellectual” unit and the emotional component of the content of foreign-language education by students of the junior stage were 1.89/1 and 1.3/1, respectively. At the middle stage, they were as follows: 2.47/1 (for the “intellectual” unit) and 1.5/1 (for the emotional component); at the high stage – 1.7/1 and 1.0022/1; at the profile-oriented one – 2.36/1 and 1.08/1. Conclusions. The results of the control experiment confirmed the feasibility of introducing techniques of mastering the emotional component of the content of foreign-language education in the mass practice of secondary schools. These data are of a fundamental nature on the way to the of a student as an intercultural language personality.

Modeling Causal Relationships Among Giftedness Structure Variables

The present research aimed at identifying the interrelationships between cognitive, meta-cognitive, and extra-cognitive abilities, and exploring the paths of causal relationships between the constituent variables of the model, as well as verifying the suitability of the structural model with its various components in the interpretation of giftedness. The research sample consisted of (130) male and female students in secondary grades one and two in Technology and Sciences School for gifted in Cairo (STEM Egypt), (32) female students, and (98) male students. The sample's aged between (15-17) years with an average of 15.87 years and a standard deviation of 1.13 degree. The instruments of the study were applied on them after checking their psychometric properties. These tools were: Raven's Progressive Matrices test (Abu Hatab, 1977), and Torrance creative thinking test (photo B) (Sulaiman & Abu Hatab, 1976), as well as a computerized battery that includes a computerized task specific metacognitive skills test, and a computerized Extra-cognitive abilities scale. The research concluded that there is a high impact of meta-cognitive abilities on cognitive abilities, except achievement, and high impact of extra-cognitive abilities on meta-cognitive skills. The results also showed the relevance of the proposed model with its variables in the interpretation of giftedness structure. Keywords: giftedness structure model, developmental cognitive theory of giftedness, meta cognitive abilities, extra-cognitive abilities.

Geographical differentiation in access to higher education in Sweden

Using Bourdieu’s Theory of Practice, this study examines the practices of Swedish students when entering higher education. Logistic regression is used to examine relationships between the educational resources and geographical origins of students born 1973–1982 (N = 382,198) and 1) their probability of migration when entering higher education and 2) the type of institution they entered. The results indicate that students’ practices differ by geographical origin, suggesting that students use migration in different ways to access higher education. For example, the students with the highest probability of migration are students originating from rural areas with high upper-secondary grades and students from large urban areas with low grades. Implications for expanding access to higher education while also creating sustainable communities are discussed.

Secondary teachers' perspectives on sustaining growth mindset concepts in instruction

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore perspectives of secondary (9–12) teachers on how to sustain growth mindset concepts within instructional practices as well as identifying barriers to sustainment.Design/methodology/approachThis study employed an exploratory case study to obtain the lived experiences of participants. An inductive analysis process was utilized on the data collected through structured interviews and a semi-structured focus group.FindingsFour major themes emerged from an in-depth analysis process: embed growth mindset practices in daily classroom instruction, communicate verbal affirmations and implement growth mindset learning tasks, allow students to experience academic successes and failures and teachers should receive continual support.Research limitations/implicationsThe study was limited to secondary grades (9–12). Therefore, it is recommended to expand the study to grades K-8.Originality/valueDue to a gap in the literature, this study provided insights into sustaining an innovative psychological approach, growth mindset, within academic instruction. Growth mindset concepts have been supported through the work of seminal researcher Carol Dweck and other prevalent educational researchers (e.g. Robert Marzano) to provide teachers with effective classroom instructional practices that can academically progress students.