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Autobiographical memory supports three functions of remembering past, the self, social, and directive. Previous studies undertaken with adults recalling their play experiences have identified three aspects: the ages between 7 and 12 years are key; there are significant adults involved in the play and location that play talks place. This paper, drawing on an online questionnaire (n = 55), explores adult memories of attending an after-school club as a child between 1990 and 2010. A thematic analysis was undertaken on the responses from the fifty-five participants. The results from this study found adults had predominately positive memories of their time at the after-school club in respect of the activities that were on offer, the supervising adults, the food provided, and friendships made. One negative theme of boredom was identified. This study has implications for professional practice in after-school provision in supporting children's play.

The aim of this study was to find out if educational activities about friendship can lead to children's well-being, socialization and adaptation in the preschool setting according to parents' perceptions. It is generally accepted that there are strong links between subjective feelings of well-being and companionship (family solidarity and friendship). We gain happiness through our relationships with other people. The relationships in the early years of human life are significant in the development of a healthy and happy human being. A qualitative study using educational activities such as pretend play, drawings and a friend's party among parents, children and teachers was applied. Fifty-two Greek pre-school kids participated in the project. After the 2-month implementation project, 25 semi-structured interviews were carried out with volunteering parents whose children participated. Each was recorded and then transcribed verbatim. Ethical considerations included confidentiality, possibility to withdraw items and approval of both parents and municipal authorities. Interviews revealed that activities dedicated to friendship at the beginning of the school year, could direct to bonding among children, shorter adaptation period and a positive parents' attitude toward school and staff. Although parents were not actively involved in this curriculum, they were able to recognize changes on their children's well-being and adjustment. The importance of this educational program is highlighted in happy bonding among all and in involving parents in school life.

There is an increasing appreciation that, in order to prepare learners for success in life, they require a holistic education providing not only academic skills, but also psychosocial competencies (Zins & Elias, 2006). Outdoor adventure education (OAE) shows potential as a way of developing these life skills, which are not easy to incorporate into the school curriculum (Sibthorp & Jostad, 2014). The aim of this qualitative study was to explore the psychosocial outcomes and perceived value of a school-based OAE programme ("Journey") for adolescents in South Africa. Data from a convenience sample of 144 Grade 10 learners' post-"Journey" surveys, letters to the school principals and interviews with members of the focus groups (n = 20), were thematically analysed using template analysis. Applying the acronym, "FLOURISHING," the analysis suggests that while "Journey" was beneficial for the psychosocial development of most learners, not all perceived value from their experiences. We propose that positive psychosocial outcomes could be enhanced by adopting a strength-based approach to OAE. This study provides a unique sociocultural perspective, corroborating the beneficial effects of OAE and could have implications for pedagogical policy and practice within South Africa (SA) and further afield.

Africa is a potentially rich continent due to its considerably rich resources endowment. It is believed that if there is a synergy between these resources, that is if these resources are properly harnessed with a clear vision on the part of our leaders, there is the prospect of growth leading to the development of the continent. The basis of any meaningful development and the bedrock of a breakthrough whether in technology, industry, economy or communication in education. Therefore, language is also a good instrument of synergy toward growth. In African universities especially in Nigeria, dissemination of knowledge is done through bilingualism or multilingualism which is used to attain the broad goals of education. In a multilingual classroom, setting, students will commonly face difficulties in thinking in the largest language (English) because they are influenced by their native language and cultural patterns.

School change efforts often rely on formal organizational structures to support educator knowledge of new instructional practices. Rural districts face challenges accessing the resources necessary for robust structures, but informal relationships among educators are often strong. Using structuration theory as a lens, this paper examines the knowledge-building behaviors of educators in one rural school district regarding new instructional practices related to a recent initiative. A thematic analysis of interviews with a purposive sample of district educators reveals that, in the absence of robust formal supports, educator agency was critical for establishing informal knowledge-building structures that supported knowledge-sharing within district schools. These findings suggest that rural districts would benefit from attending to structures and routines that support social interaction in order to leverage educator agency during change implementation.

Crafting has occupied the hands and minds of women over many centuries providing vital connections with cultural skills and with community. While the COVID-19 pandemic has isolated women in their homes, it has also provided opportunities for women to reconnect to crafting through virtual spaces. This paper draws on a thematic analysis of a focus group interview examining the experiences of regional women participating in a crafting group and identifies the ways in which they used craft to support their wellbeing. Drawing on the concept of therapeutic landscapes, the paper highlights that connection in a virtual craft group supports lifelong learning and wellbeing, brings women together in support through a community of women's practice and facilitates opportunities for producing meaningful and commemorative quilting projects This finding has implications for a society experiencing unprecedented levels of stress, mental illness and anxiety about the future.

This paper focuses on the experience of international undergraduate students as they move into a university environment. Utilising a phenomenological approach with Schlossberg's Theory of Transition as the framework, data was collected through semi-structured interviews with 19 undergraduate students, all enrolled in one private university. The study found that their moving-in experiences were influenced by their aspirations, feelings and expectations. Conflicting emotions accompanied their departure from their home country: sorrow and anxiety versus excitement for their new life. Aided by a relatively smooth immigration process, the students moved on to experience memorable moments where friendships were formed and exploration of the surrounding areas was acculturated. Challenges faced include those of physical nature (weather and food), academic, and perhaps the most serious of which, psychosocial: in the form of homesickness and feeling of foreignness.

The aim of this research is to reveal the usability of moral letters, which are intellectual and literary products, as a resource in values education. The research was aimed considering the fact that different materials add excitement to the teaching environment, increase students' interest and motivation in the course, and increase academic success. The research was carried out in a qualitative design and the document analysis method was used. The data source of the research consist of the letters with philosophical content written by Lucius Annaeus Seneca to Lucilius, the Governor of Sicily at the time. Value Review Form, henceforth "VRF" prepared by the researcher was used to collect data from the aforementioned data source. The collected data were analyzed by using the Maxqda 18 qualitative data analysis program, and the content analysis method was used in the analysis of the data. As a result of the analysis process, meaningful word groups and sentence/ sentences were coded around the themes. As a result of the research, it was concluded that, moral letters can be used in the teaching of more than sixty different values that make life meaningful, keep societies and human generation alive, and organize and facilitate human relations. These values which are mentioned as the root values in the Turkish national education program and which all nations aim to see in their individuals include; "Justice", "friendship", "honesty", "self-control", "patience", "love", "respect", "responsibility", "patriotism", "helpfulness", are frequently used. Therefore these values are a wealthy resource that can be used in values education. In the suggestions section, suggestions were also made regarding the use of moral letters for values education inside and outside the school and including the value-content parts of these letters in the textbooks in the form of partial quotations following the purposes of the curriculum.

Given the crucial role of bystanders in combating bullying in schools, there is a need to understand the reasons why children may or may not intervene on behalf of a victimised peer. The aim of the present study was to explore the association between children's expectations of general peer reactions versus the reactions of their friends on three subtypes of victim support: consoling the victim, addressing the bully, and getting adult help. A sample of 630 students (297 girls; 333 boys, M[subscript age]=12.5) from three public secondary schools in Germany completed a 30-item questionnaire measuring expected peer reactions, expected friend reactions, past victim support experiences, and intentions to support victims. Results revealed the more influential role of expected reactions of friends over general peers in predicting victim support with expected negative consequences from friends reducing children's willingness to engage in victim helping, irrespective of the three sub-types of support studied. Expected negative outcomes from peers were also found to significantly affect students' intentions to approach a teacher for help. Boys were found to be more concerned about their friends' and peers' reactions to victim support than girls. The findings are discussed in relation to bystanders' willingness to offer victim support and associated practical implications for addressing the widespread problem of bullying in schools.

Since 1995 and until it apparently eased with the coming of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, ethnicity has become the dogmatic principle of the country for its social and political policies. Consequently, it has permeated through university campuses and affected relationships among students belonging to different ethnic groups. This study makes a micro-sociological ethnographic description and analysis of different "sites" of student interactions in curricular activities such as in classroom learning, extracurricular activities such as sporting, and service deliveries such as common residential compounds and dining halls at Addis Ababa University's Main Campus.

Perception of friendship quality has been shown to be a key ingredient for children's mental health, however, less is known about how the learning environment might impact these relations. This study investigated how children's perceptions of friendship quality are related to their mental health (i.e., satisfaction with life and depressive symptoms) and whether school goal structures are potential moderators for these relations in a sample of elementary school children. A sample of 423 fourth-grade students (M[subscript age] = 10.85, 46.33% boys) and their teachers (N = 24) participated in the study. Children filled out questionnaires assessing friendship quality, satisfaction with life, and depressive symptoms. Teachers completed a scale evaluating their perception of the school goal structures. Results indicated that children who reported high positive friendship quality were more satisfied with their lives, whereas children who reported high levels of negative friendship quality experienced lower levels of life satisfaction and higher levels of depressive symptoms. School mastery goal structures reported by teachers moderated the relation between children's perception of friendship quality and their depressive symptoms and life satisfaction. Further, school performance goal structures reported by teachers moderated the relation between children's perception of negative friendship quality and their depressive symptoms. The results seem to suggest that the effects of mastery goal structure are not always positive, whereas a performance goal structure might sometimes be beneficial for students' mental health.

Youth with disabilities may experience unequal patterns of social contact, compared to youth without disabilities. This study uses a nationally representative sample of youth (ages 15-19; N = 6,803) from the American Time Use Survey (2008-2019) to evaluate if and how social contact--defined as time spent with relatives and nonrelatives--differs by youth disability status. Outside the family context, youth with disabilities spent less time with nonrelatives compared to youth without disabilities. Lower social contact with nonrelatives was offset by increased social contact with relatives. Limited social contact outside a youth's family context has implications for adolescent development. Social contact, and family social contact specifically, may be important forms of developmental support for youth with disabilities.

Friendships contribute to positive social outcomes such as the promotion of prosocial behaviors and social well-being and can lead to an overall healthy quality of life. Despite the importance of friendships, little is known about how individuals without disabilities develop and maintain friendships with individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Using a phenomenological research design, the current study explored the lived experiences of 17 adults without disabilities who discussed the development and maintenance of their friendship with an individual with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and subsequently collaborative, open coding was used to identify codes and themes across participants. Three main themes emerged related to 1) factors that facilitated friendship development; 2) factors that contributed to friendship maintenance; and 3) impacts of the friendship for both individuals with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities. Implications of the results are discussed as well as future directions for research.

This study evaluated the association of autistic traits (RAADS-14) with academic and social outcomes among college students using data from an online survey (N = 2,736). In the academic domain, the total trait score and all subscale scores (mentalizing deficits, social anxiety, sensory reactivity) were associated with course failure and academic difficulties independent of an autism diagnosis; the total score and mentalizing deficits also predicted lower grade point average (GPA). In the social domain, the total trait score and subscale scores were associated with lower odds of having a confidant, lower friendship quality, and higher odds of social exclusion. Subgroup analyses revealed that autistic traits had more consistently negative associations with social outcomes for students without an autism diagnosis than for students with a diagnosis. Associations were also more often significant for women than men. These results support the development of programs and services for students with autistic traits regardless of diagnostic status.

Peer-mediated interventions (PMIs) offer substantial academic and social benefits to adolescents served under the special education categories of intellectual disability, autism, and multiple disabilities (i.e., intellectual and developmental disabilities [IDD]). However, limited attention has focused on the impact of PMI on participating peers without disabilities. This systematic review identified all experimental (e.g., single case, group experimental) and descriptive (e.g., qualitative, survey) studies addressing PMIs implemented at the secondary level with students with IDD. Among the 98 PMI studies that we identified in this review, 66 (67.3%) studies included some qualitative or quantitative measure of peer impact. Across these studies, the impact on peers was addressed in 10 different areas. This review provides new insights into the ways peer impact has been evaluated and how peers have been impacted by their PMI experience. Recommendations for research and practice aimed at addressing the benefits of involving peers without disabilities in these interventions are provided.

In the preschool period, children's friendships considered a crucial developmental task. Hence, it is critical to evaluate children's mental representations of friendships during this period. This study aims to evaluate the validity and reliability of the story completion protocol designed to evaluate preschool children's mental representations of their friendships in school settings for Turkish children. The Preschool Friendship Story Completion Task consists of six stories, one of which is warming. The stories were translated into Turkish by researchers and Turkish-English language experts, and expert opinion was taken for Turkish-English compatibility. Two pilot studies were conducted to evaluate children's participation in the task and following the instructions. Seventy children attending pre-school education institutions participated in the study. Children are asked to complete the unfinished stories presented through a scene and figures. The coders evaluated the video-recorded children's narratives using a detailed rating system. In addition, teachers evaluated the social skills and problem behaviors of children. The results affirmed that the friendship dimensions were conceptually related to each other and the inter-coder reliability was high. Furthermore, our findings indicate that the story completion method on the basis of the narratives of children is a comprehensive and developmentally appropriate way to assess children's friendships.

The purpose of this article is to share how two friends approach creativity in their professional lives in research and in the arts, and what we have learned through insights into places that impact this work. Our different approaches are reflected in our positionalities: one author is an emerging arts-informed researcher and university instructor, and the other author is a practising fine arts craftsperson and part-time faculty member. Our close friendship and ongoing conversations serve to connect our approaches to working with the arts, even as our attitudes to creativity and learning are demarcated. Relayed in the form of dialogue in response to guiding questions, this article is an expansive discussion of what work in the arts can look like, and how the interplay of creativity and place afford as-yet-untapped pathways of understanding that better suit contemporary conditions of life and study.

This qualitative study explored what support community college transfer students relied upon while transitioning to a 4-year university. Investigators examined experiences of 12 full-time degree-seeking students who previously attended a community college. Data included a series of three individual interviews with participants and reflective journals completed by six participants. Two primary agents of support were identified: academic advising and personal support. Participants emphasized active and implied support needs, types, and functions throughout the entire process. By understanding community college transfer students' needs, institutions (agent networks of support) can equip advisors and institutional staff (agents) with the information and resources (functions) that will assist students with a positive transition. We offer implications for advising training and opportunities for collaborative institutional partnerships.

In 2018, the author embarked on Master of Education research to investigate how mature adults were affected by regular participation in visual art classes. Visual art education is reported to have a positive effect on the cognition of mature adults in various contexts (Schindler et al., 2017; Wali et al., 2001), so this research investigates whether social participation in a structured, creative class in an everyday community setting could promote such change. For the study the author ran a series of art classes that concentrated on developing drawing, painting and design skills and culminated in each participant creating a painting of a person close to them. The findings fell into three main categories: changes in self-efficacy and self-concept, social bonding and growth, and educational outcomes.

Public libraries in Hamilton provide countless services to different users, particularly older immigrants. The library system proves to be an inclusive learning space, promoting lifelong learning for all. The paper explores the relationship between public library use, lifelong learning and community development. In addition, it demonstrates the function of the library in the provision of equal and universal access to information and learning. This paper focuses on a qualitative interview materials. In-depth interviews were conducted with 25 participants (13 females and 12 males) in six public libraries in Hamilton, Ontario. In addition, we interviewed six library staff in the six public libraries (three in the lower Hamilton and three in the suburban Mountain) and conducted observations of the day-today practices in the six public libraries. Purposive sampling was used to ensure diversity in library use. Using the grounded theory (GT) method, interviews were transcribed, coded, categorized, and analyzed using NVivo 10. The interviews explored the viewpoints of participants accessing public libraries in Hamilton. The findings reveal that public libraries are sources of educational, informational, and well-being -- providing lifelong learning through library activities and programs. Specifically, the acquisition of new skills and new friendship through the library space is a vibrant resource for developing the adult learner's capacity for social development in the community and the world at large. The study would be one of a kind to deploy library users' narrations for interrogating public library spaces as a tool for understanding spaces of lifelong learning in Ontario, Canada. It highlights the many ways in which social relationships through library use shape perception, attitude and learning. Different users of public libraries attain a sense of accomplishment for different reasons. This paper, therefore, calls for a policy approach in which the diverse experiences of public libraries are more widely recognized and nurtured.

With the increasing focus on the internationalization of higher education, universities are developing student mobility. This paper examines the challenges experienced by domestic and international students who adapt to a Russian English-medium instruction university. A mixed-method approach with interviews and surveys was utilized to specify, evaluate, and discuss the students' internationalization experiences in these educational settings. The results indicated that both groups of students mentioned different aspects of language barriers, friendship networks, and university social life as critical areas for adjustment. Domestic students avoid taking part in university social life, instead focusing on their academic performance, this fact probably rooted in the Russian approach to secondary education. The specific finding of the Russian educational landscape is a lack of differences between domestic and international students concerning academic integration. All of this suggests institutions to adopt more student-oriented adaptation mechanisms, informed by the concept of inclusion in education; these implications are discussed.

The main purpose of this study was to explore the predictive utility of demographic, social and lifestyle variables in psychological well-being. The participants were 410 pre-service teachers in Turkey. Three research instruments were utilized in the current study: Psychological Well-Being Scale, Lifestyle Inventory and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support. Both social support and lifestyle variables accounted for the additional variance in psychological well-being above and beyond the effects of demographic variables. Purpose in life was best predicted by being-married; lifestyle variables made the most contribution to autonomy; and social support-friend were found to be the best predictor of positive relations with others. It seems that demographic, social support and lifestyle variables play a differential role in psychological well-being.

Community is a foundational element in honors education. During the global pandemic, students reimagined ways to connect in order to build community and serve one another. Authors describe a virtual collaboration in transcription, where honors students gathered to participate in digital transcribe-a-thons. These informal groupings evolved into a transcribing club that met three times a week (collectively logging more than 1,600 hours) and transcribed over 16,000 historical documents. A study of participating transcribers reveals enhanced historical knowledge, skill building, and opportunities for relationships with students of varying interests and backgrounds despite edicts for social distancing. While a common feature of the club is a connection to something beyond the student, authors maintain that the experience of transcribing also brings a sense of connectedness with fellow honors students and the honors college. Authors provide student insight and outcomes as well as detailed instructions for honors practitioners seeking to introduce historical transcription to their students.

Each year, final year high school students choose the university that they would prefer to attend. Past studies have found that family, friends, course availability, university reputation, distances from home, and job prospects were factors affecting students' choice of university. However, the relative weight of these factors might have changed in the digital era; also, electronic word of mouth was ignored in the past. The purpose of this study was to identify the important factors affecting students' university choice. We distributed a questionnaire which was completed by 472 Form 6 secondary school students in Hong Kong. Conjoint analysis was used to simulate a real situation and what human beings would do: human being usually make up their mind using a few criteria at the same time. The contribution of the study is that it reveals that electronic word of mouth is the most influential factor, followed by peer influence and university reputation, in choosing a university.

Graduate students face a variety of stressors that relate to poor academic performance, lower completion rates, and high rates of depressive symptoms, anxiety, and stress. Student peers provide supports for coping with these stressors and succeeding academically. However, graduate students may find it difficult to form relationships with their peers. This mixed method social network analysis (MMSNA) examines graduate student perceptions of their peer relationships and the factors associated with peer friendships in a program that placed students in cohorts for the first semester of a two-year Master of Social Work program. Findings from three student focus groups include four main themes related to the cohort system and the tendency for students to gravitate to others who were similar to them (i.e., homophily). Focus group findings informed model specification for a curved exponential family model of student friendships at the end of the third semester of the program (N = 70) that identified correlates of student friendships including statistically significant direct and homophily effects for age, gender, and race/ethnicity. First-semester relationships and shared classes in subsequent semesters also increased the likelihood of friendships in the third semester. Findings emphasize the value of cohorts and a diverse student body for peer relationships.

This mixed method case study examined potential influences of social agents or immediate environments on individuals' metacognition. Via quantitative methodologies, 122 pre-service teachers' metacognition was measured by the Turkish Metacognitive Awareness Inventory, and metacognitive components did not show any variations across majors, locations of previous studies, the highest degree of education in the family, frequently communicated friends, and regions. Regression analyses revealed that friends were a significant predictor for metacognition. Also, focus group interviews were analyzed thematically via deductive codes regarding the theory of metacognition. Findings confirmed that friends may support individual metacognition at all levels, metacognitive knowledge, regulation, and experiences through cooperation, modeling, reflections, discussions, feedback, and peer evaluation. Pre-service teachers' engagement on the social media may also support their regulatory strategies due to models' task performances or by their reflecting upon those performances. Teachers and family may support metacognitive knowledge, specifically career goals via expectations, anecdotes, and experiences. On the other hand, schools and the Turkish culture may impose some limitations on the youth, and they may engage in reflection and self-questioning to manoeuvre negative experiences or conflicts. Thereby, cross-national and longitudinal studies are highly suggested to explicate the social foundations of metacognition.

The current study aims to reveal preschoolers' and first graders' perspectives of primary school. A qualitative research design was employed, and multiple sampling methods were used to retrieve the participants. The participants were 15 preschoolers with an average age of 69 months attending and 15 first graders with an average age of 80 months. A semi-structured interview form developed by the researchers was used for the data collection. The results showed that most preschoolers had some knowledge of primary school. Their views of primary school generally focused physical characteristics of the school, lessons and rules, and daily routines. First graders said that they were learning new things in primary school and that they felt happy when they started school. They also stated that they need friends in primary school to be happy and that it is important to listen to their teachers carefully. The biggest difference between preschool and primary school was the lessons. They also remarked that they need to play more games in primary school. [Paper presented at the International Basic Education Congress (Mugla, Turkey, October 23-27, 2019).]

Higher education provides a transformative experience for students, allowing the opportunity for continuous change and the development of skills needed to grow independently and interdependently with students around them. Similarly, higher education equips students with the tools to continue changing and flourishing after graduation. For many higher education institutions, residential life departments are tasked with the responsibility of fostering the holistic development of students living on-campus. Residential life departments provide transformational experiences for students, including the role of developing college friendships. Yet, when considering the traditionally held benefits of on-campus student housing, ambiguity exists among higher education administrators and researchers regarding the permanence and long-lasting impact of these friendships after a student leaves the institution. This study explored the structural and programmatic impact of on-campus housing at liberal arts colleges on the transition of student friendships into long term meaningful relationships post-graduation. Moreover, this study utilized a qualitative research approach to explore how the campus environment influenced long-term, meaningful relationships. Strange and Banning's (2015) campus ecology framework was used as the primary theoretical lens to understand the influences of physical, organizational, human aggregate, and constructed campus environments. [Note: The issue number (2) displayed on the first page of the PDF is incorrect. The correct issue number for this article is n3.]

Background/purpose: Anxiety is one of the most common mental health problems seen in children and adolescents. Based on this general framework, the first aim of the study is to reveal the prevalence of trait anxiety among adolescents and to determine whether this prevalence differs according to their gender. The second aim is to reveal whether adolescents' ineffective coping styles with stress, friend loyalty, and gender predict trait anxiety. Materials/methods: Data were collected from a total of 531 adolescents (318 females; 213 males). State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, Coping Strategies Scale in Stress Experiences, and the Friend Attachment Scale were used as data collection tools. Results: According to the findings, 18.3% of adolescents had a low level of anxiety, 65.2% were moderate, and 16.0% had a high level of anxiety. In terms of gender, 17.6% of females had a low level of anxiety, 62.3% were moderate, and 20.1% had a high level of anxiety. For the males, 18.3% had a low level of anxiety, 69.5% were moderate, and 11.3% had a high level of anxiety. This gender-based difference was shown to be significant. Another finding showed the adolescents' trait anxiety scores to be negatively correlated with friend attachment, and positive significant relationships revealed between ineffective coping styles. These variables and gender together explain 31.0% of the trait anxiety variance. Conclusion: The findings showed the trait anxiety of female adolescents to be higher than male adolescents. In addition, attention should be paid as to whether attachment to friends and ineffective coping methods with stress are used in research and treatment processes related to trait anxiety.

This study set out to explore English for academic purposes (EAP) student perceptions of their experiences at a university in western Canada. A qualitative approach was used, with 17 students completing a questionnaire toward the end of their EAP program, and one of those students taking part in an interview approximately one year later. Data from the questionnaires and interview were transcribed and descriptively coded, with the codes gathered into salient themes. Thematic analysis identified benefits related to developing academic writing and speaking skills, boosting confidence levels, fostering EAP friendships, providing a transition period, and learning about local culture. However, the analysis also revealed the need for improvements in overall teaching and learning experiences, reading and listening skills development, and sociocultural content. These findings point to the importance of conceptualizing EAP with a wide range of outcomes related to linguistic, academic, social, cultural, and personal growth to support students' additional language socialization in a postsecondary context. The findings also highlight areas for curriculum renewal and revision and underscore the role these programs can play in building on students' strengths as they develop their overall competence in an additional language to achieve the goals that matter to them.

Children's literature is potentially a starting point to present critical multicultural concepts to young learners. It may also be a medium through which historical and contemporary ideologies of society are encouraged in the young learners. This process may be viewed as a form of cultural hegemony when the choices of literature and reading materials for children are deliberately selective for content and themes. The study is based on a critical content and thematic analysis of 15 multicultural children's literature picturebooks. It aims to examine the social construction of culture, characters, and literary genres through the process of critical multicultural analysis. Code categories through content analysis of selected children's literature picturebooks were formed by both directed and conventional content analysis. These code categories include content with a social justice/equity issue, themes involving inclusivity, discovering new worlds/other cultures, language/ethnicity/religion diversity, and multidimensional characters from minority or marginalised groups. This process provides insight into counter-cultural hegemonic elements in many forms of multicultural literature. Implications are discussed in terms of culturally responsive practice and multicultural education. These multicultural and picturebook narratives provide windows to society, informing readers and learners about diverse cultural experiences.

Towards the end of the first COVID-19 lockdown in early 2020, in Aotearoa New Zealand, the authors conducted a small-scale study to gain insight into children's responses to the pandemic restrictions. As it was not possible to interview children ourselves, we recruited parents to read a set of digital stories about a toy bear in lockdown to their children and to record the ensuing conversations. The recorded conversations were returned to the authors to be transcribed and analysed. One intriguing finding was the strength of children's feelings of loss in regard to their friendship groups, despite the fact that the lockdowns enabled them to spend more time with their immediate families. This article examines the phenomenon of the importance of peer-orientation over family-orientation as it appeared in the data. Hegemonic thinking and attachment theory are used to further explore this phenomenon and discuss how the current educational trends towards personal independence over family bonds might have led to some of the feelings of loss and anxiety highlighted in the data.

This study investigated the effects of complex problem-solving activities involving children's literature on students' critical thinking dispositions and English production. Thirty-one sixth-grade students were given lessons over a seven-week period. Various types of data were analyzed qualitatively, and the results of a critical thinking disposition test were analyzed quantitatively. Results were as follows: First, the critical thinking dispositions test revealed positive changes in open-mindedness, independence, objectivity, and inquisitiveness. The highest score was found for open-mindedness. The largest increase in score was for independence and objectivity. Second, changes in critical thinking dispositions enriched children's English production. Open-mindedness helped with spoken language production as it encouraged students to share their opinions freely. Independence was mainly expressed in writing form in which students could question and evaluate the text. Greater objectivity was applied to spoken and written language production as the subjects were able to recognize the importance of evidence. Inquisitiveness affected children's writing as it drove them to write down the results of their own research.

This paper aims on revealing the perceptions of 5-6-year-old Turkish and Syrian children sharing the same classroom environment in a preschool education institution by use of metaphors. The study was designed in the phenomenology pattern, one of the qualitative research methods, and conducted with 34 Turkish and 22 Syrian children in the 5-6 age group who receive education in the same kindergarten. The study data were obtained through a semi-structured open-ended form and the content analysis method was used in the assessment of the data. The examination of the study data indicates that Turkish and Syrian children expressed several common metaphors such as 'tree, mother, sky, game, toy, playing, cat, mirror, dog'. However, children attributed different meanings to the metaphors they expressed in common. On the other hand, the study determines that Syrian children created more metaphors with positive meanings compared to Turkish children. The study has a very significant purpose in terms of understanding how the preschool-age children of Syrian families living in Turkey perceive their friends in the schools they attend, and how Turkish children perceive these immigrant children in their classes from the perspectives of both sides. Understanding the perceptions of Syrian immigrant children and Turkish children about each other is critical in terms of guiding educators, decision-makers, and policymakers in order to prevent unfavourable behaviours in schools where children study together, create a positive classroom-school climate, and support an intercultural approach for social peace.

Social integration (SI) plays a critical role in doctoral students' success. However, SI experiences could differ depending on the characteristics of students and their programmes. The study investigates differences in the SI of doctoral students at Russian universities and identifies the main groups at risk who have more difficulties with SI. To achieve this, the study utilized data from a cross-institutional online survey of doctoral students conducted in 2021 on behalf of the Russian Ministry of Science and Higher Education. A total of 4,454 doctoral students from 249 universities responded to the survey. Findings from the study indicate international students were less socially integrated in terms of having more friends and having problems interacting with others, either in person or remotely. Generally, no clear and significant difference was observed between their experiences and all aspects of social integration analysed in the study. Secondly, international doctoral students (IDS) are divided into groups (groups with low SI scores and groups with high SI scores) and compared them in terms of their subjective assessment of their chances for defence during the normative period of their studies and their overall satisfaction with the doctoral programme. The results for both variables revealed significant differences between IDS and varying degrees of SI. Significantly, the IDS group with a higher SI score reported high chances of defending their dissertation within the normative period of five years. The study concludes by suggesting that that activities that foster informal communication should be implemented and standardized within all departments in Russian universities to properly absorb all doctoral students into the social and academic cultures of their universities.

In spring 2020, many U.S. colleges and universities rapidly shifted to online instruction and implemented social distancing policies to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. Students experienced unprecedented disruption of their interpersonal academic and social networks due to the loss of physical proximity. We used egocentric network analysis and latent profile analysis with survey data from April 2020 and conducted follow-up interviews in September 2020 to examine some of the pandemic's immediate effects on student interpersonal network change. We found the disappearance of interpersonal network patterns featuring coworkers and academic ties, as well as reductions in students' overall number of connections and the role diversity of their networks. Results suggest potential ongoing reduction of peer academic relationships, implying that institutional personnel may need to pay particular attention to academic connections in online spaces and to regenerating students' academic networks when on-campus physical spaces may again be used to support learning.

Each year, a significant number of students from the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius seek higher education opportunities abroad. Yet, limited research exists on these students' expectations, preferences, and experiences in their academic and non-academic university settings overseas. This quantitative study investigates the experiences of Mauritian degree-seeking students at universities in Australia and the United Kingdom, which have been two of the most preferred destination countries for these students over the years. Precisely, this research examines associations between overall university satisfaction and various aspects of the student experience in the arrival, learning, living, and support services environment. Analyses reveal that a number of satisfaction variables were important to students, namely the opportunity to make friends on campus, the availability of social activities and facilities, internet access and IT support, and chaplaincy or multi-faith provision. Implications for international educators, university administrators, and guidance counsellors are discussed.

This is a qualitative study that explored the experiences of friendship formation of Omani international students at a university in New Zealand. Semi-structured interviews were employed to collect data from 12 Omani participants and data were analysed using thematic analysis. Utilising Bochner et al.'s (1977) Functional Model, the study found that Omani students were generally satisfied with how they were developing friendships with co-national and international students but revealed dissatisfaction concerning forming friendships with New Zealand students. The perceptions of Omani students revealed six factors that influenced their formation of intercultural friendships: (1) willingness to establish intercultural friendships; (2) frequent communication and social interaction; (3) English language proficiency; (4) capability to engage with host nationals; (5) cultural differences; and (6) personality traits. The data suggest that host-national contact is lacking and that international students prefer to contact co-national and multinational friends, which indicates that highly supportive co-national and international social ties significantly predominate. Higher-education providers in New Zealand and receiving countries addressing one cohort of international students will find these findings particularly useful.

It is known that the use of technology to support individualization and motivation in education programs for hearing-impaired individuals has positive results. This research aims to reveal the views of teachers, students, and parents to develop the social activities of hearing-impaired students by supporting them with technology. This research was conducted with the phenomenology pattern, one of the qualitative research designs. Data were collected through semi-structured interview forms prepared separately for teachers, students, and parents. The participants of the study consisted of 20 primary school teachers, 20 hearing-impaired primary school students, and 20 parents of hearing-impaired students, who were working in various primary schools in Kazakhstan in the 2022-2023 academic year. As a result of the research, the majority of the participants believed the communication problems mostly faced by students with hearing impairment outweighed the psychological and school problems. The majority of the participants stated that the students were willing to participate in social activities if they were supported.

Establishing social networks can be extremely challenging when international students, particularly those of color, move to a new academic and social environment. We examine the perceptions of social networks among first-year international students of color and how these networks affect their experiences at a predominantly White institution (PWI). This study illuminates participants' relationships with U.S. domestic students and the power of language, culture, and shared experiences through a longitudinal narrative inquiry. Implications for practice and recommendations for future research are described in-depth for practitioners.

Mind Mapping can be used in any discipline as a tool for learning and organizing information. Mind Maps can be created as a group as a means of supporting brainstorming or individually to generate ideas. The aim of the present study was to explore preschool children's and teacher trainees' conceptions of school, friendship, and play through Mind Maps. A phenomenological approach was employed. The participants were 18 preschoolers (M = 65.33 months; 11 girls and 7 boys) and 12 preschool teacher trainees (M = 21.31 years; 10 females and 2 males). The children and the teacher trainees constructed three Mind Maps as a group and each group's Mind Maps were evaluated with a rubric. The results revealed that the children can be as successful as adults in Mind Mapping. The children used drawings more often compared to the teacher trainees. The children and the teacher trainees had similar scores on the Mind Maps for school and friendship. With respect to school, it is evident that teachers and physical environment were quite important to children. For friendship, it seems that the children tend to talk about play and the common activities they do with friends whereas the teacher trainees referred to more abstract and emotional aspects of friendship as expected. Lastly, the children and the teacher trainees' conceptions of play seemed to differ significantly, and the children did not include digital play in their Mind Maps unlike the teacher trainees who referred to digital play with many associations.

Using a biopsychosocial framework, our study examines the biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors associated with depression among a cross-sectional sample of undergraduate international students (N = 712) attending 28 U.S. colleges and universities. Consistent with hypotheses, regression analysis reveals that self-esteem, life satisfaction, and coping self-efficacy are negatively associated with depressive symptoms, and that ethnic minority status, perceived discrimination, and financial concerns are positively associated with depressive symptoms. Contrary to predictions, age, optimism, friendships, and school belonging are not significant predictors, and perseverance predicted increases depression in this sample. The novel findings highlight adaptation issues among international undergraduate students and suggest preventive measures and interventions against depression for university administrators and counselors.

The success of the inclusion of students with disabilities substantially depends on the collaboration of various social agents, including non-disabled peers, who play a substantial role in the lives of students with disabilities. Peers, as social agent, are responsible for the creation of a favourable social environment, in which one of the key factors is a positive acceptance. This research examined the reality of interactions between non-disabled students and their acceptance to peers with disabilities. A qualitative research approach was employed using interviews with nine special education teachers. An overall positive attitudes were reported with non-disabled peers being reported as positive and welcoming to including students with disabilities in the same schools and classrooms. The teachers' responses also indicated that interactions between both student groups are generally positive and teachers believed that this has helped in facilitating the inclusion of students with disabilities.

Poor academic performance is challenging for students, parents, and teachers. This cross-sectional study aimed to determine the factors associated with the poor academic performance of 661 undergraduate students who scored CGPA [less than or equal to]2.5 from a selected private university of Dhaka City, Bangladesh, using a simple random sampling technique. Data were collected using a pretested and self-administered questionnaire. Of the study participants, male preponderance (88.4%) was found, and 77.9% of them selected the study programs by themselves. Poor academic performance was found significantly correlated with irregular class attendance (p=0.003), father's low education level (p<0.003), partial family cooperation (p=0.020), use of social media (p=0.006), and excessive time spent for gossiping (p=0.030). There is a need for implementing an appropriate counseling strategy to follow up the academic performance of the poor performing students.