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This study was an exploration into how college students with autism spectrum disorder identify and use support systems during the transition to higher education. In particular, this study explored how these students described their experiences within an online environment among their peers. The study used unobtrusive qualitative methods to collect and analyze data on online forum discussion posts from college students with autism spectrum disorder. Results indicated that students found their support systems in various ways. Many report using services provided by their Office of Disability Services, but students must be aware that these services exist first, and often must have a diagnosis to receive such supports. This study makes suggestions for higher education institutions to identify and promote their support services, both those that are accessible through Offices of Disability Services, and those that are available without diagnosis or disclosure.

Sperry, Sperry, and Miller (2018) aim to debunk what is called the 30-million-word gap by claiming that children from lower income households hear more speech than Hart and Risley (1995) reported. We address why the 30-million-word gap should not be abandoned, and the importance of retaining focus on the vital ingredient to language learning--quality speech directed to children rather than overheard speech, the focus of Sperry et al.'s argument. Three issues are addressed: Whether there is a language gap; the characteristics of speech that promote language development; and the importance of language in school achievement. There are serious risks to claims that low-income children, on average, hear sufficient, high-quality language relative to peers from higher income homes. [This article was published in "Child Development" (EJ1213901).]

The aim of this research is to develop a scale that prospective science teachers in the Education Faculties compare themselves to their peers according to the "Science field Teacher and Professional Skills" courses. For this reason, 25 items related to Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Science Experiments and Professional Skills courses were prepared. Scale forms prepared in 5 scaled Likert types were administered to 298 students enrolled in 2nd, 3rd and 4th years in two universities. Data were analyzed in SPSS 22.00 for Exploratory Factor Analysis (AFA) and in the Lisrel 8.8 statistics software for Confirmatory Factor Analysis (DFA). As a result of the AFA, the factor load is not determined as its own factor by subtracting 1 item from the contingent item and 1 item. The remaining 23 items, obtained from the Varimax analysis, resulted in 5 sub-dimensions including four field education and one occupational skill dimension. The total variance explained by the structure is 72.62% and the factor loadings range from 0.66 to 0.89. BMD value 0.89 Barttlet test significance level p<0.001. The reliability coefficient of the scale is Cronbach [alpha] = 0.91. The Gutman Split-Half and Spearman-Brown coefficients are also good for the scale and both coefficients are 0.92. According to the results of DFA, the compliance indices are quite good (RMSEA= 0.051, Chi-square= 387.75, df= 217 RMR= 0.04, CFI= 0.98, IFI= 0.98, RFI= 0.95, NFI= 0.96, NNFI). = 0.98, GFI = 0.90, AGFI = 0.87). According to these results, it may be said that this scale is a valid and reliable measurement tool that science teacher candidates can compare their knowledge and professional skills in this area with their peers. [The paper was orally presented in the XVIII. European Conference on Social and Behavioral Sciences Conference, Bucharest, Romania.]

The present study examined influences of sixth-grade student-reported parent educational involvement on early adolescent peer group affiliations at seventh and eighth grade. In addition, student gender and ethnicity were explored as possible moderators. Drawn from a large effectiveness trial, participants in this study were 5,802 early adolescents across 20 middle schools in the northwest region of the United States. Findings suggested that specifically parent's educational involvement in sixth grade predicted increases in positive peer affiliation, when controlling for a general score of parent monitoring practices. The relation between parent educational involvement and peer affiliation varied by student ethnicity but not by gender. Findings suggest the social benefits of parent's engagement with the school context on early adolescent development.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate whether there are elevated symptoms of anxiety or depression in children and adolescents (aged 2-18 years) who stutter, and to identify potential moderators of increased symptom severity. Method: We conducted a preregistered systematic review of databases and gray literature; 13 articles met criteria for inclusion. A meta-analysis using robust variance estimation was conducted with 11 cohort studies comparing symptoms of anxiety in children and adolescents who do and do not stutter. Twenty-six effect sizes from 11 studies contributed to the summary effect size for anxiety symptoms (851 participants). Meta-analysis of depression outcomes was not possible due to the small number of studies. Results: The summary effect size indicates that children and adolescents who stutter present with increased anxiety symptoms (g = 0.42) compared with nonstuttering peers. There were insufficient studies to robustly analyze depression symptoms, and qualitative review is provided. No significant between-groups differences were reported in any of the depression studies. Conclusions: Preliminary evidence indicates elevated symptoms of anxiety in some children and adolescents who stutter relative to peers. There was a tendency toward higher depression scores in this population, although reported between-groups differences did not reach statistical significance. These findings require replication in larger, preferably longitudinal studies that consider factors that may moderate risk. Nevertheless, our findings highlight a need for careful monitoring of mental health and well-being in young people who stutter.

Maximising the accuracy and learning of self and peer assessment activities in higher education requires instructors to make several design decisions, including whether the assessment process should be individual or collaborative, and, if collaborative, determining the number of members of each peer assessment team. In order to support this decision, a quasi-experiment was carried out in which 82 first-year students used three peer assessment modalities. A total of 1574 assessments were obtained. The accuracy of both the students' self-assessment and their peer assessment was measured. Results show that students' self-assessment significantly improved when groups of three were used, provided that those with the 20% poorest performances were excluded from the analysis. This suggests that collaborative peer assessment improves learning. Peer assessment scores were more accurate than self-assessment, regardless of the modality, and the accuracy improved with the number of assessments received. Instructors need to consider the trade-off between students' improved understanding, which favours peer assessment using groups of three, and a higher number of assessments, which, under time constraints, favours individual peer assessment.

Objectives: To examine college peer crowd affiliations and prosocial and risky behaviors (academic, sexual, drug, and alcohol related risks) as well as to investigate gender as a moderator of these relations. Participants: 527 students at a public university in the Midwest in Fall 2018 (M age = 19.67, SD = 1.84). Method: Students' peer crowd affiliations were reported using an online survey. Four peer crowd dimensions were confirmed using Factor Analysis: Social (popular partiers and Greek organization members), Athletic, Arts/Diverse (students identifying strongly with a countercultural group, their race/ethnic group, and/or performing arts); and Scholastic (academic achievement and leadership). Results: Social crowd affiliations positively predicted all risk-related behaviors. Social and Scholastic affiliations positively predicted prosocial behaviors. Finally, gender significantly moderated the relations between peer crowd affiliations and risk and prosociality. Conclusions: These findings demonstrate that peer crowd affiliation and gender are important when promoting positive behaviors on campus.

This study examined how a group of Korean international students enrolled in a writing class in a United States business programme navigated their literacy practices through the use of KakaoTalk, a social networking application for smartphones. On the basis of 29 student interviews and a detailed narrative of one focal student's activities in KakaoTalk group sessions, the study aimed to elucidate the less studied feature of literacy studies: the social networking methods that students mobilise to make meaning of their school literacy activities collaboratively and individually. The study findings suggest that students' identities and literacy performances shape one another through the intersection of local and global forces. Theories of identity and the Korean concept of "in-maek" offer important insights into the dynamic interchange of students' social and literacy practices and identities. This study provides insights into the influence of such identity work on students' academic experiences and the development of a curriculum for a business programme writing class.

The number of first-generation students on college campuses is rising, comprising 20% of new incoming students in higher education. First-generation college students (FGCS) do not access mental health treatment at the same rate as their non-first generation college student (NFGCS) peers and are at higher risk for leaving college early. The current study examines FGCS' presenting concerns for college counseling centers, their use of treatment, and degree of change relative to NFGCS through treatment. A sample of 7,160 students seeking individual counseling were selected from the 2012-2013 Center for Collegiate Mental Health (CCMH), a practitioner-research dataset, representing over 52 participating counseling centers. FGCS reported higher anxiety, academic concerns, and hostility but lower alcohol use concerns at first session, a similar number of therapy sessions, and greater change in hostility and eating concerns over a longer duration in treatment than NFGCS. Implications and future directions for this research are also discussed.

This study explored the effects of technology-mediated task-based language teaching (TMTBLT) in an English as a foreign language (EFL) writing course on students' descriptive writing performance. A quasi-experiment was conducted. Students in two writing courses were recruited and randomly assigned to an experimental or control group. The participants in the experimental group were engaged in the technology-mediated writing task of transforming their descriptive writing assignment, in which they introduced local tourist attractions, into videos to exchange online with foreign virtual peers. A mixed-methods research approach was adopted to analyze the data collected from participants' compositions and self-reflections. The results revealed that TMTBLT was effective in developing EFL students' descriptive writing proficiency. In addition to improving their writing, the students enjoyed participating in the task and used multiple skills. The implications of this study for TMTBLT in EFL writing teaching practices are also discussed.

Productive Failure is an instructional approach in which students engage in problem-solving attempts prior to instruction. The Productive Failure approach has been found to be more supportive for conceptual knowledge acquisition during subsequent instruction compared to a direct-instruction condition in which students receive instruction first followed by problem solving. Failing at problem-solving attempts prior to instruction is considered to prepare students to better understand the concepts underlying the problem. However, it is an open question whether students need to fail themselves to be effectively prepared for subsequent instruction. We therefore compared the effectiveness of two alternative preparatory activities: Students either engaged in problem-solving attempts themselves or were shown problem-solving attempts of another student. This experimental variation allows to show the necessity of own failure for the effectiveness of the PF approach. The results indicated that the two conditions were equally effective at preparing students for subsequent instruction.

This study is one of the first evaluations of independent (i.e., self-guided) practice in math in a developing country. We randomly assigned 4,461 students in grades 4-7 in "unaided" private schools across seven Indian cities who were using a computer-assisted learning software to: (a) a control group, in which they moved from one unit to the next upon completion; or (b) a treatment group, in which they had to complete practice exercises before progressing to the next topic. After six months, the additional practice had a precisely estimated null effect on the math achievement of the average student. However, treatment students with low initial performance outperformed their control counterparts by 0.14 standard deviations (SDs). Our results suggest that independent practice may help private-school students from relatively well-off families in need of catching up with their peers.

Peer reporting, defined as a lateral control effort by reporting witnessed academic dishonesty, is one method used to foster academic integrity. However, most students refrain from reporting. This study portrays the process of peer reporting intention based on an ethical decision-making perspective in two types of academic dishonesty (exam cheating and plagiarism) through mediation analysis. The variables were ethical awareness, ethical judgment, and peer reporting intention. The instruments used were the ethical awareness scale, the Moral Equity scale, and the peer reporting intention scale. The participants in this study were 228 students aged between 17 and 23 who attend an Indonesian university. The results of the study indicate that ethical judgment acts as a significant mediator between ethical awareness and peer reporting intention of plagiarism witness, but not between ethical awareness and peer reporting intention of exam cheating witness. Students witnessing academic dishonesty of any kind need to align their judgment and their intention to report by believing that peer reporting of academic dishonesty is an act that is fair, just, morally right, and acceptable. Additionally, lecturers and educational institutions need to encourage peer reporting of all types of academic dishonesty among students through clear and firm regulations; for example, by emphasising the responsibility of witnesses to report and by providing a safe and adequate reporting channel.

This research describes the rules and ways of forming playgroups in the children's peer culture. The data were obtained through observation by videoing children's activities in various play situations. The data were analysed through ethnographic thick description by using microanalysis and participation framework. The analysis was focused on who could participate in play and what kind of behaviours inhibit participation. In addition, children's actions in order to get in play activities were observed as a part of the children's peer culture. To become included, four various methods were noticed: (1) Prowling the play activities; (2) Nonverbal communication; (3) Abstaining from critiquing; and (4) Showing enthusiasm and worming one's way to play with a toy. Furthermore, tattlers, emotionally incompetent, or dominating children were not accepted in play activities. This research provides information and increases understanding about children's behaviours and how to guide their emotional skills development.

Attending university can present a host of challenges for undergraduate students and the mental health of students has increasingly become a concern as students struggle to meet the demands of new academic and social expectations. Despite several studies assessing the effects of being kind on well-being, there remains a dearth of research identifying how students understand and enact kindness. The aims of this study were to integrate a kindness assignment into undergraduate coursework, to explore how students define and enact kindness, and to examine how being kind impacted students' perceptions of themselves, their peers, and their campus. Students were asked to complete a series of five kind acts and administered a series of pre- and post-assignment measures and open-ended prompts. Consistent with our hypotheses, participants who completed at least 3 of the 5 planned acts of kindness reported significantly higher scores on measures of in-person kindness (d = 0.46, p = 0.04) and peer connectedness (d = 0.46, p = 0.04). Participants did not, however, report significantly higher scores on measures of self-perceived online kindness (d = 0.12, p = 0.59) or on their perception of the kindness of their campus community (d = 0.09, p = 0.68). Participants in this study planned a total of 492 acts, which were coded using content analysis. The salient themes in kind acts were "Helping Others," "Giving," "Demonstrating Appreciation," and "Communicating." This study demonstrated that a curriculum-based kindness intervention was well received by students and resulted in students performing varied acts of kindness that positively impacted their self-ratings of kindness and peer connectedness.

Aotearoa New Zealand is home to diverse ethnic groups. Discussions with students about their own cultural identity are important to recognise and include our diverse student communities within schools. For adolescents, developing their identity, inclusive of their culture, is fundamental at a time when these young people are striving to figure out who they are. When students feel that schools recognise and welcome their culture and identity, they are more likely to engage their whole selves in academic tasks. This article reports on a small qualitative research study involving 10 Asian secondary school students. The findings demonstrate students' valuing access to cultural activities, highlighting the critical influence of language, food, cultural ornaments, and upholding the familiar traditions of their culture; all of which contribute positively to students' cultural identity and wellbeing. The article outlines suggestions for practical application of their views for teachers and school communities are included.

Although the effectiveness of computer-mediated collaborative writing (CMCW) is confirmed by many recent studies, only a few have investigated whether linguistic knowledge and writing skills learned through collaboration can be internalized and transferred to individual writing. This study uses a pre-and post-test design to investigate the impact of CMCW in a classroom setting on Chinese EFL learners' development of writing skills and linguistic knowledge. Participants included 135 non-native English speakers with intermediate or advanced language proficiency and 45 native English speakers. They completed two online writing tasks in dyad or individually over eight weeks. The influences of task type, dyadic type and language proficiency were measured by gain scores on writing complexity, accuracy, fluency, and overall individual writing performance. Findings indicate that intermediate learners had higher gains than advanced learners, and that task type, dyadic type and language proficiency significantly support improvement in overall writing performance and fluency, but not accuracy and complexity. This study confirms the benefits of CMCW on language learning, suggests directions for future research, and offers practical applications for EFL writing teachers.

Background: The question of how best to support children who are refugees to resettle and thrive in a new country is important and complex. One of the many challenges experienced by such children is disrupted education. It is widely recognised that a sense of belonging and integration within a new school and community are key to enhancing children's chances of achieving their potential. Tutoring programmes, where tutors work one-to-one with tutees, can offer a form of support in this regard. Purpose: Set within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, this study sought to explore experiences of tutors involved in a pilot project in Scotland for primary schoolchildren from a refugee community. The home-based, online tutoring project focused on building confidence and a sense of belonging in order to support achievement in school. Methods: Participants were 18 tutors who had taken part in the pilot project. Semi-structured questionnaires were used to gather rich data about the tutors' experiences of working with the children from the refugee community. Data were analysed qualitatively, using a reflexive thematic analytical approach. Findings: Tutors believed that relationships between tutor and child were essential to success. Personalisation appeared key to building confidence and helping children progress. Tutors spent time getting to know their tutee and took care to let their tutee get to know them as a person, as a way of bringing down barriers and helping the child connect. Tutors reported that they needed knowledge of the local curriculum, liaison with class teachers and understanding of the refugee community. They described the peer support network as invaluable for sharing knowledge. Although each worked with a different child, tutors learned from and assisted each other through their support network, sharing resources and ideas. Conclusion: The study highlights the value of a professional learning community, particularly when tutors are working in isolation. It also draws attention to the importance of training for tutors taking on such roles, including support with the pastoral aspects of working with a child, such as the personalisation and relationship-building that was of such significance in this study.

Through a 48-item questionnaire shared via social media, 546 participants from 47 American States reported on their children's (ages 0-8) play activities during early social distancing efforts as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analysis. Results from the questionnaire indicate participants took social distancing guidelines seriously by keeping children at home and away from other children during the period of social distancing, thus affecting play behaviours. The study's findings are significant in that they document some parents' perspectives of their children's play during a unique period in American history. The authors discuss implications for parent and child play behaviours including the need for more unstructured play time, realities of parents working from home with children present, and the effects of children having a lack of access to peers to play with for sociodramatic and symbolic play. Recommendations for future research are provided.

Peer collaboration in small groups has increasingly been recognized as an instructional technique that promotes interactive skills, socialization, learning and achievement across a range of subjects and disciplines. The study aims to measure Saudi female EFL learners' attitudes toward the effectiveness of cooperative learning (CL) and its impact on their social and academic skills. In the present study, the researchers utilized a quantitative research tool to collect data from the participants. A 25-item Likert-scale opinionnaire was designed with closed-ended statements to measure five variables laid down by Johnson et al. tabulated into five sections. The survey was administered to 100 Saudi female EFL learners at undergraduate level to measure their attitudes toward the effectiveness of CL. The findings of the study indicate that CL enhances EFL learners' social skills, maximizes inter-group relations, mastery of the course content and academic achievement. It further develops EFL learners' individual and group accountability, leadership qualities and decision-making power. It is assumed that EFL learners' cognitive faculties can be activated and optimum results can be obtained if this interactive strategy is implemented in a structured pattern with a properly designed rubric focusing on the five essential components of CL.

The present research aimed to examine the serial multiple mediation role of deviant peer affiliation and victimization in the link between violent video game playing and bullying in a low-income neighborhood. A sample of 378 early adolescents between 12 and 14 years of age (M = 13.24, SD = 0.65) was recruited from three public middle schools in a low-income urban neighborhood in west Turkey. Participants completed self-report measures of violent video game playing, deviant peer affiliation, victimization, and bullying. Specific and total indirect effects were estimated using AMOS user-defined estimands. Results indicated that violent video game playing was directly and positively associated with early adolescents' bullying. Additionally, deviant peer affiliation and victimization sequentially mediated the relationship between violent video game playing and bullying. Findings provide a novel comprehensive model of how violent video game playing can be linked with early adolescents' bullying through serial mechanisms in low-income neighborhoods.

This paper discusses how primary school students, who are writing together in the context of inquiry learning, explicitly orient to knowing of oneself and others within the peer group. Using Conversation Analysis, we disclose the conversational functions of assertions holding 'I know', 'you know' and 'we know'. First, students position themselves as knowledgeable, to (i) express a preannouncement of a proposal, (ii) respond to a request for information and (iii) reinforce an assertion with use of an evidential. Second, students claim equal epistemic access, as a response to an action that conveys epistemic authority of a peer. Third, students indicate shared knowledge with other participants, to (i) pursue agreement, (ii) check the epistemic status of a co-participant, (iii) reject a proposal for grounds of relevance and (iv) mark shared, newfound knowledge. The different practices are discussed in terms of epistemics in conversation and dialogic writing.

Purpose: This paper aims to explore the experience of working with different conceptualisations of participation and participatory practice. This is done through an examination of the involvement of a technology company within a multinational, 3-years participatory research project involving 13 partners and over 200 disabled people. Design/methodology/approach: This paper provides a case study, narrative account of a range of activities undertaken within the project, presenting a rare and much-needed explicit insight into the emergence of participatory ways of working and the reasoning and tensions behind them. Findings: Through the case study gaze of one of the technology companies involved, it explicates the underpinning processes of the participatory approach and how these challenged the notions of various partners. Originality/value: This paper shows how engaging in meaningfully participatory research creates profound institutional challenges for technology developers. The subsequent need to make hard decisions and compromises throughout disrupts traditional ways of working and anticipated outcomes. However, it also reveals opportunities for delivering unanticipated and transformative outcomes, highlighting the need for greater flexibility in funding research that aims to be participatory.

Universities are facing a difficult challenge in supporting good mental health whilst striving to enhance academic performance. The present study aimed to specifically investigate the relationship between attitudinal and personality constructs that are associated with wellbeing and to explore their association with student academic outcomes. Two-hundred and six undergraduate students were recruited and were given questionnaires measuring mindfulness, self-compassion, resiliency, procrastination, consideration of future consequences, self-criticism and social comparison. At the end of the academic year, the researchers accessed their academic records and documented their academic performance. Results indicated that there are strong, clear associations between better academic performance and higher resiliency, mindfulness, self-compassion and consideration of future consequences, and negative associations to procrastination. We concluded that there is a clear gain to be had in academic performance through enhancing these elements using appropriate interventions which are user friendly, affordable and can be embedded into existing student learning and support to reinforce adaptive coping and life skills.

The association between children's social-status within their peer-group and their prosociality was examined among fourth and sixth graders (N = 276), using sociometric nominations, and actual sharing with a fellow in-group member, or a member of an out-group. Results show an overall increase in sharing with age, and an overall correlation between children's social status among peers and their sharing behavior--however, across both age groups, this association was significant only in the in-group condition, not when the recipient child was an out-group member. Specifically, less accepted children behaved in a less prosocial manner only toward in-group members, not toward out-group ones. This suggests that situational factors and characteristics of the prospective recipient play an important part in the degree to which less socially accepted children are willing to act prosocially.

Background/Context: There is currently a dearth of research on Asian American civic engagement broadly, and the scholarship on Asian American youth is even more limited. The lack of research contributes to opacity in understanding how Asian Americans fit into the civic landscape. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: This study offers a window into the civic engagement experiences of a group of Asian American youth and differentiates the motivations that initiated their civic engagement from the motivations that sustained it. The research questions are: (a) How do these Asian American adolescents describe the motivations behind their civic engagement? (b) How do they make choices among different kinds of civic engagement? (c) What do they describe as the impact of their civic engagement? Research Design: Participants in this study were 14 highly engaged Asian American youth, 16 to 18 years of age, from a small city in the Northeast. I conducted semistructured interviews with the participants, examining their descriptions of civic involvement. Knowledge of youth civic engagement has tended to emanate from survey studies that count and categorize civic participation as opposed to investigating youth's own meaning-making of their civic activities. Thus, to answer the "why" of civic participation, I took a grounded theory approach to explore youth's own constructions of what motivated their civic involvement. Findings/Results: Participants initiated civic involvement with instrumental motivations to "look good for college" and socialize with friends, whereas continuing civic engagement was supported by a deep relational commitment to teenage colleagues in their civic endeavors, a sense of self-efficacy engendered through complex civic work, and pride in making a tangible impact on their community. Asian American youth in this study demonstrated sophisticated capabilities as civic actors and sustained their civic engagement through organizations that scaffolded the development of such capabilities. Conclusions/Recommendations: Participants' experiences illustrate how civic engagement motivations can change. While individuals were the unit of analysis in this study, participants' experiences point strongly to the integral role of organizations in supporting continued, rather than intermittent, civic engagement. Specifically, organizations can support youth in continuing their civic involvement in the long term by facilitating conditions for young people to build deep relationships in furtherance of common goals and appealing to identities that can be bolstered through civic participation.

In this study, dormitory room and social group assignment data from a college are used to investigate peer effects on college students' decisions to switch majors. Results reveal strong evidence of such peer effects at both the room and the social group level. Most notably, at the room level, the dense concentration of same-major roommates deters students from switching majors; having one or two same-major roommates has no significant effect on major switching, indicating strong nonlinearity of peer effects at the room level. Such nonlinearity is not observed among social group members. Results also reveal evidence that students' choices of new majors are affected by peers' majors. Peers are more likely to choose the same destination majors than nonpeers. In choosing their new majors, students do not necessarily follow their peers indiscriminately. Their decisions seem to be influenced more by short-term academic requirements than by long-term job prospects. Finally, peer effects on major switching and major choices are stronger at the dormitory room level than at the social group level in most cases.

The purpose of this study was to examine the role of self-esteem as mediator in the relationships between perceived parental acceptance/involvement, perceived peer social support, sense of school belonging and resilience in adolescents attending schools located in low socioeconomic districts. The sample of the study consisted of 1312 high school students (673 female, 639 male) between the ages of 13 to 19 (M = 15.67, SD = 1.18). Structural equation modeling was conducted to test the hypothesized model. Results showed that perceived parental acceptance/involvement, perceived peer social support, sense of school belonging and self-esteem were positive and significant predictors of resilience. Furthermore, self-esteem partially mediated the association between perceived parental acceptance/involvement, perceived peer social support, sense of school belonging and resilience. The proposed model explained 33% of the variance in resilience. Overall, findings contributed to the understanding of the simultaneous influence of multilevel resources in adolescent resilience.

Support and engagement with the First Amendment among high school students is at a high level; however, little is known regarding the ways high school students learn about the First Amendment. This study examines what sources students learn about the First Amendment from, and if some sources are considered more valuable than others. This study focuses on three primary possible First Amendment sources: parents, classes, and media. This issue is examined through a survey of high school students. The study indicates that classes are the most frequent, and most valuable, source of First Amendment knowledge.

Youth victimization and aggression are common in adolescents' everday lives. This study examines relations between youth cognition and reasoning around bullying and possible responses to bullying, peer nominations related to youth roles in the bullying ecology and self-report experiences of perceived racial discrimination using latent class analyses. Participants included 6th (n = 423) and 9th (n = 392) grade adolescents in the United States (49.1% female). Five distinct classes emerged: Typical, Uninvolved, Challengers, Experiences Discrimination, and Experiences Discrimination and Involved. Furthermore, participants in these classes reasoned about the acceptability of youth aggression and about their likelihood of different responses to youth aggression in distinct ways. Findings document that the Challengers class was most likely to judge the aggression as wrong and the least likely to indicate that they would not respond if they observed aggression. Furthermore, both classes of youth who reported experiencing discrimination judged the aggression as more acceptable.

We examined the development of children's positive and negative attitudes toward other-gender peers over 1 year, and explored the longitudinal social consequences of holding positive or negative attitudes on the beholder of these attitudes. Participants were 206 second graders (Mage = 7.18 yrs, SD = .56, 50% girls) and 206 fourth graders (M[subscript age] = 9.10 yrs, SD = 0.66, 44.2% girls) from diverse ethnic racial backgrounds (54.6% White; 17.2% Latinx, 4.4% Black, 5.3% Asian, 2.9% Native American, .7% Pacific Islander, 13.1% other) with average household income ranged from $51,000 to $75,000, and they were assessed in 2 consecutive years. Developmental change was assessed using latent change score analysis, which showed that positive other-gender attitudes increased over time (for boys) whereas negative other-gender attitudes decreased for everyone. Path analyses showed that both positive and negative other-gender attitudes predicted children's perceptions of stressful other-gender interactions and their inclusion expectancies by other-gender peers longitudinally, controlling for same-gender attitudes. We also examined the extent to which the predicted relation between attitudes and inclusion expectancies was mediated by children's perceptions of stressful experiences with other-gender peers. We found that the extent of mediation varied by the type of attitudes and by children's age. Overall, findings contributed to the understanding of the development of children's other-gender attitudes, and underscored the consequences of these attitudes for the beholder of attitudes. This work also sheds light on the discussion of intervention strategies aimed at improving children's gender-based intergroup relations.

The article examines issues related to peer interactions and group joining in upper secondary schools in Finland. The study elaborates on how young people describe students who are left out/excluded or who remain outside the social networks. The study also elucidates on how a student can join the group. The research is motivated by the current educational ethos, which emphasizes inclusion and tolerance. The data were collected from an upper secondary school and vocational and technical institute. The students were asked to recall the prior high school year and write an essay on the topic. A total of 49 students wrote about their memories. The data were analyzed using inductive content analysis, and the study found that students are either excluded or included due to the social skills they possess. Those who do not exhibit the same approach to being in a group will stay on the sidelines. The essays also described factors that connect students, such as hobbies and leisure activities. Similarity in many external factors (e.g., the family's economic situation) unites students. Contrary to expectations, young people described themselves, and not just others, as outsiders.

The key aim of this study is to explore the perceptions of English as foreign language (EFL) teachers about peer observation as a tool for professional development that is implemented in an English Language Institute of a Saudi Arabian university. This paper reviews literature on peer observation to develop a conceptual and theoretical understanding of peer observation systems in different contexts. It utilizes a mix-method approach and applies a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews as data collection tools. Questionnaire is used to get information about EFL teachers' perceptions whereas semi-structured interviews provide an insight into their practices in the form of peer observation and future amendments for PD. The participants share their lived experiences who consider the current practice of peer observation a consistent professional challenge due to several factors, i.e. their lack of autonomy in deciding about the peers, trust deficit between administration and EFL teachers, rarely held pre-observation conferences due to the loads of teaching hours, observers' insufficient training and qualifications in conducting PO, and the element of threat and insecurity. Based on the findings, recommendations are made to improve the existing peer observation system for the benefit of the EFL teachers, English language learners and the institute.

The importance of peer relationships among teenagers makes them form peer groups. Peer groups are children or adolescents with the same age or maturity level. Peer interactions of the same age play a unique role among adolescents. The purpose of this study is to see the effect of peer groups on the self-esteem of Lampung and Java students. The research method used ex-post facto research with 40 research students of Grade XI SMK Negeri Talangpadang Lampung Lesson Year 2016/2017 consisting of 20 students of Lampung tribe and 20 students of Java tribe. The instrument used is a questionnaire of peer groups and self-esteem questionnaires. Data analysis technique used is a parametric statistic with regression analysis. The results showed that there is a significant influence among peer groups on student self-esteem. Peer groups contributed 34.9% of students' self-esteem, while the remaining 65.1% were influenced by other factors.

Purpose: This study was carried out to examine the relationships between teachers' opinions on the political behaviors used by school principals and their perceptions of their coworkers' social loafing practices. Research Methods: A correlational survey model was used in the study. The population of the study consists of 1948 primary school teachers. The sample of the study consists of 652 primary school teachers. Findings: Teachers' opinions on school principles' use of idealized effect, praise and legitimization behaviors is reported to be at the level of "I agree," but for exchange and pressure behaviors their opinions were at the level of "I neither agree nor disagree." It is found that teachers' perceptions coworker social loafing are low. Legitimization and pressure behaviors respectively are statistically significant predictors of teachers' perceptions of their coworkers' social loafing. Implications for Research and Practice: Political behaviors used by school principals can be examined through qualitative or mixed methods to obtain detailed information. In order to reduce the social loafing in a given educational organization to minimum, studies can be conducted to determine which precautions should be taken and how motivation levels of teachers can be increased in collaborative work In order to decrease negative results arising from social loafing in educational organizations, it can be suggested that school principals should use legitimization behavior more and pressure behavior less.

The "invisible hand" is a metaphor that refers to teachers' impact on the classroom peer ecology. Although teachers have the capacity to organize the classroom environment and activities in ways that contribute to students' social experiences, their contributions are often overlooked in research on students' peer relations and the development of social interventions. To address this, researchers have begun to focus on clarifying strategies to manage classroom social dynamics. The goal of this article is to consider potential contributions of this perspective for understanding the social experiences of students with disabilities and to explore associated implications for the delivery of classroom-focused interventions to support their adaptation. Conceptual foundations of classroom social dynamics management and empirical research on the peer relationships of students with disabilities are outlined and the potential of the concept of the "invisible hand" is discussed in relation to other social support interventions for students with disabilities.

Research on the characteristics shown by children who cyberbully others is scarce. The objective of this research is to know the variables that predict the involvement of youngsters in cyberbullying perpetration. The current study examined the relation between socio-cognitive and emotional variables and cyberbullying perpetration. It examined the cyberbullies' beliefs about moral disengagement towards cyberbullying. It tested also the social support and emotional reactions to cyberbullying with the aim of understanding their association with cyberbullying perpetration. A number of 1,062 teenagers (54% girls) between 12 and 19 years old (M = 15.20, SD = 1.91), from six public secondary schools in Castilla-La Mancha (Spain), participated in the study. Results suggest that students who engage in cyberbullying perpetration have higher levels of cyberbullying victimization and bullying aggression when compared with their peers who do not engage in cyberbullying. The findings show that socio-cognitive and emotional variables are important to understand individual differences in engagement in cyberbullying. Result of regressions indicated that perpetration of cyberbullying was positively associated with cyberbullying victimization, bullying aggression, moral disengagement towards cyberbullying, social support and satisfaction expression. In contrast, perpetration of cyberbullying was not associated with negative emotions. Gender and age did not play a significant role in the prediction on perpetration of cyberbullying. Future research should continue to examine predictive factors associated with cyberbullying perpetration.

Mainland China and Taiwan have a homogenous macroculture, but a heterogenous microculture. To understand the acculturation of students from mainland China to Taiwan, the present study applies Berry's (1997) two-dimensional model of acculturation, together with the concept of cultural types as its analytical framework, using focus group interviews to analyze different directions of acculturation among students from mainland China in Taiwan. The results show that regarding personal values, due to Taiwan's restrictions on students from mainland China and the fact that they must eventually return to their place of origin, the acculturation of students from mainland China mainly takes the "separation/segregation" mode. Regarding peer selection, due to differences between individuals in their interpersonal choices, they may adopt "separation/segregation" or "integration" modes. Regarding the period of residence in Taiwan, as students from mainland China spend longer in Taiwan, they tend more towards "integration." However, when teachers show greater contempt for the culture of mainland China, the acculturation of students from mainland China tends toward the "separation/segregation" mode.

Friendship and peer groups are important to youth. However, adults in afterschool programs and other youth-serving community-based organizations often either ignore peer relationships or deem them detrimental to desired youth outcomes. What would it mean to consider young people's friendships in a different light? How can this important element of their experience support positive youth outcomes? One possibility is the cultivation of critical friendships. The term "critical friendship" has been used in teacher professional learning communities for at least 20 years. Critical friendship offers a new perspective on youth relationships. An exploration of how youth participants in a community-based organization developed their own critical friendships can push adults engaged in youth work to create conditions that support positive peer relationships.

The nature and significance of students' informal peer feedback networks is an under-explored area. This paper offers the findings of a longitudinal investigation of the informal peer feedback networks of a cohort of student teachers [n = 105] across the three years of a UK primary education degree programme. It tracked the dynamic nature of these networks through the use of Social Network Analysis and gained qualitative insights into the significance of informal peer feedback through diaries and interviews of a smaller student group [n = 12]. The research found that students were actively engaged in informal peer feedback networks from their first year of study. Where some students found strength within feedback 'cliques', others preferred the fluidity of relationships that were based upon identified needs and changing circumstances. The inter-connections between students' personal (ego) networks offered access to information flow across and beyond the cohort. Identified levels of informal peer feedback ranged from proof-reading aspects of assignment completion to the development of conceptual understanding that drew upon shared analysis of tutor feedback, assignment briefs and assessment criteria. While aspects of informal peer feedback built upon examples from tutor-led scenarios, trust and reciprocity were fundamental to the success of these informal peer feedback relationships.

Peer moderation has been used as a beneficial strategy in asynchronous online discussions to assist student learning performance. However, most studies in peer-moderated asynchronous online discussions (PMAOD) have focused only on learning effectiveness and perceptions of students rather than on students' knowledge dimensions and cognitive processing patterns. This study combined quantitative content analysis (QCA) and lag sequential analysis (LSA) to explore student knowledge dimensions and cognitive processing patterns in PMAOD. The participants were 84 students in an undergraduate blended course from University Putra Malaysia (UPM), Malaysia. The Revised Bloom Taxonomy (RBT) was used as the codification scheme to code the discussion transcripts of participants assigned the role of peer moderators in a reciprocal manner over seven weeks. Behavioural distributions and patterns of high- and low-quality discussion groups were compared. Results showed that students were primarily sharing knowledge dimensions and cognitive processes of metacognition and understanding, respectively. Additionally, it was found that there was a modest proportion of off-topic discussions. Nonetheless, by means of LSA, it was found that PMAOD exhibited a certain degree of self-sustainability in knowledge and cognitive process behaviours, with the exceptions of "procedural knowledge" and the cognitive process of "applying" and, in terms of diversity in knowledge dimension and cognitive processing, high-quality discussion groups outperformed low-quality groups.

In structuring and providing leadership for learning community programs, learning community coordinators must address myriad issues and situations in order to create an experience that aids student learning and success. All types of students participate in learning communities, including students with psychiatric/ psychological disabilities; however, learning community coordinators may not proactively consider ways of addressing the needs of this particular student population. This qualitative study explored the experiences of learning community coordinators working with students with psychiatric/psychological disabilities within the specific context of the learning community and sought to identify successes, challenges, and recommendations for working with these students. Participants highlighted the value of student self disclosure, the benefits of utilizing peer mentors, colleague challenges, successes they experienced working with students with psychiatric/psychological disabilities, and recommendations for other learning community coordinators.

This paper discusses the key role of social and emotional learning programmes for children with Learning Disability (LD). The first part of the paper discusses the difficulties students with learning disability may encounter in their education, such as issues related to peer group acceptance, friendship and social isolation, low self-efficacy and self-esteem, and externalized and internalized behavior problems. The relationship between social and emotional learning programmes and learning disability is then discussed, underlining the benefits of social and emotional learning for students with LD. The paper concludes by highlighting the need for universal social and emotional learning as a vehicle for the academic and social inclusion of students with LD.

Pre-service teacher identity research has directed limited attention to the construction and development of professional teacher identity through narrative interaction. An analysis of narrative interactions among pre-service teachers in the present study explored the ways in which they negotiated emotional flux in the process of training to become a teacher. Overall, findings show that emotional flux and identity change are connected, and hidden "emotional rules" are embedded in the teaching practicum. The pre-service teachers' negative emotions gradually escalated due to contextual constraints, hierarchical structures, and lack of support from their mentors. This escalation diminished the development of their teacher identity. However, increasing recognition and progress by their students can stimulate preservice teachers to perceive their assumed roles and reconstruct professional identity. Within the context of exploring this interconnection between teacher emotions and teacher identity, the present study argues that narrative interaction can complement existing knowledge on the subject.