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The study delves into the behavioral shifts observed in "digital students" transitioning from distance to onsite learning during the Generation Z era, influenced significantly by the disruptive effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Technological advancements have reshaped students' perspectives, rendering educational and organizational engagements more accessible via platforms like video conferencing. However, the return to onsite learning has prompted a notable culture shock, leading to heightened levels of stress and anxiety among digital students. This research aims to examine the psychological ramifications of stress and anxiety on post-pandemic student attitudes toward extracurricular organizational intention. Employing the depression anxiety stress scale (DASS-42) and conducting multiple linear regression analysis on a sample of 420 respondents, the study reveals a significant negative impact of stress level (-35.6%) on students' intentions to engage in organizational activities. Additionally, anxiety levels contribute to a variation of -6.8%. These findings underscore the intricate relationship between psychological factors and student participation, underscoring the imperative to address stress and anxiety to foster robust involvement in campus organizational endeavors.

In the midst of the pandemic, this school district made a significant investment with recovery dollars to expand enrichment opportunities in art, music, and physical education for students in their K-8 schools. The hypothesis was increasing the quality and quantity of these opportunities, the school district would increase student engagement, lead to more empathetic and joyful learning environments, and create more time for teacher preparation and collaboration. There were a number of challenges in planning and implementation that district leaders and principals had to overcome in order to see this initiative come to fruition. Early results show some promising trends and anecdotes indicate that students are participating in extracurricular experiences that they never would have been exposed to without these opportunities.

Learner engagement, loosely defined as the extent of a student's cognitive and emotional investment in both academic and co-curricular activities, is argued to make a positive impact on both the student experience at university and student learning outcomes. Universities often implement co-curricular activities and programs to drive learner engagement, yet it continues to be the most lagging metric in nationwide student evaluations of higher education experience in Australia. This raises questions of how to design and deliver effective and engaging co-curricular programs, however, there is scant praxis-oriented knowledge available. This article draws on the experience of a team of academics in an Australian business school tasked with creating a co-curricular program to foster learner engagement amongst an undergraduate cohort. Drawing upon engagement data from 1 year of delivery, as well as a series of semi-structured long-form focus group discussions with participating students at varying stages of their learning journey, this article questions assumptions about learner engagement and co-curricular design and challenges the use of learner engagement as a metric for evaluating educators and educational institutions given the nature of students' relationship with their education.

Purpose: Internalizing conditions, such as anxiety and depression, and difficulties with developing and maintaining friendships are common among autistic children and adolescents. Participation in extracurricular activities may buffer against these challenges as they provide naturalistic opportunities to bring peers with shared interests and skills together. As such, the purpose of the current study was to examine associations between sport and club participation and (1) friendship success and (2) co-occurring anxiety and depression in a large sample of autistic youth. Methods: Secondary analysis was performed using data from the 2018-2019 National Survey of Children's Health. Participants were 562 autistic children (ages 6-11 years) and 818 autistic adolescents (ages 12-17 years). Within each age group, a series of binary logistic regression analyses were conducted. Results: Club participation was not associated with friendship or internalizing conditions. However, participation in sports was positively associated with friendship success among both children (OR = 2.07, p = 0.006) and adolescents (OR = 2.35, p = 0.001). Results also found that adolescents who participated in sports were 34% less likely to have diagnosis of depression (p = 0.048). Conclusion: Findings suggest that participation in sports may play a meaningful role in protecting against depression during adolescence and serve as a context for friendship development across childhood and adolescence. Future research should address barriers to extracurricular activity participation and identify the specific components of sports that are most beneficial to autistic youth to inform activity offerings and the development of interventions targeting friendship formation and mental health outcomes.

As a speech-language pathologist (SLP) who knew few d/Deaf people and had little knowledge of the Deaf community, Sara Burgan, co-author of this article, reports experiencing firsthand ways in which the field of speech-language pathology has promulgated areas of weakness in the education of SLP professionals, too often resulting in a mismatch in the skills we teach, the education we nurture, and the tools we use. She notes that a few interactions with Deaf people and the Deaf community piqued her interest and led her to work in a school for the deaf where her beliefs and practices were established and shaped by the Deaf community. She is grateful for her Deaf coworkers and friends who empowered her by sharing their experiences working with SLPs, both negative and positive. She also notes that she is part of the currently shifting mindsets within the broad field of speech-language pathology. Notably, write Burgan and co-author Amanda Connelly, the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) that originally supported an oral approach to deaf education is undergoing a change in perspective, and deaf-friendly resources and tools are becoming more available.

The purpose of this research was to investigate if the addition of extra credit affected the overall rate of attendance to synchronous lectures in an online asynchronous course, compared to courses in which no extra credit was offered. Further I investigated if the amount of extra credit made a difference to the rate of attendance. I collected data from 10 courses and found that offering low levels of extra credit led to more students attending lectures. This could lead to students having better interactions with peers and instructors, enjoying their classes more, and/or achieving better academic results.

Higher education arts programs are implementing experiential learning (EL) programs to address skills gaps and better prepare students for careers in an evolving arts industry. However, there is a dearth of research relating to EL in the arts. As a starting point, this research explores the supports and barriers that contribute to student participation in extracurricular EL programs. This mixed methods study employed interviews and a focus group with nine students at a Mid-Atlantic performing arts conservatory, accompanied by a brief demographic survey. The findings revealed a complex web of supports and barriers impacting students' awareness of, participation in, and applications to EL programs, including individual, social, programmatic, and systemic factors. The framework of this small-scale study may serve as a model and starting place for other institutions to understand their own unique audiences and settings moving forward.

Due to the predominance of test-oriented practice, one major challenge faced in Japanese high school classrooms is the lack of learning activities to develop higher order thinking. The purpose of this action research study was to explore an extracurricular blended learning program created to develop the higher order thinking of English language learners at a public high school in Japan. In this one-month program, 16 participants engaged in online synchronous and asynchronous activities, with English as a medium of instruction and communication, supported by in-person face-to-face sessions conducted in Japanese. Data were collected via asynchronous forums, a post-survey, and my observation notes. Results indicated that participants demonstrated higher order thinking to a certain extent overall in the forums; however, learner-learner interaction was not as highly activated as expected, mainly due to limited social interaction within the forums. These findings suggested that constructivist asynchronous forums can be used to develop the higher order thinking of English language learners in K-12 settings, with appropriate program design, instructor mediation, and content.

The relevance of science education and its individual, societal, and vocational dimensions is important issues for the modern learning and teaching process in many countries. These dimensions are considered based on the data obtained from 1541 Georgian students. The study was conducted within the frames of the international ROSES project. The structure analysis of the ROSES questionnaire was conducted to define scales and individual items, which then were processed accordingly and relevant conclusions were drawn. The study findings reveal that Georgian students from basic and secondary schools demonstrate motivation and interest in learning science, participate in extracurricular activities, use social media for study aims, are concerned about environmental problems, and consider science classes interesting. However, the levels of interest, motivation, and positive attitudes are not high and the correlations between them are weak. The study shows that the vocational and societal dimensions of the relevance of science education are relatively better represented in our sample, but the individual dimension lags behind. Both structural and content findings might serve educators from similar contexts.

Worldwide trends suggest we are witnessing a global "campus mental health crisis" (Andersen, Holm, & Côté, 2021). According to the most recent US National College Health Assessment, over the course of a typical month, 29% of students chronically experience high levels of stress, 42% experience stress that negatively impacts their performance or progress towards their degree, and 66% feel hopeless (National College Health Assessment, 2022a). Study reviews in various countries indicate that the prevalence of students meeting criteria for a mental health disorder is alarmingly high (e.g., 25% depressive disorder, Sheldon et al., 2021). Accordingly, students' demand for mental health services has reached new heights (Xiao et al., 2017). While this rise in psychological distress and help-seeking behavior is likely in part due to decreased mental health stigma (Lipson, Lattie, & Eisenberg, 2019), postsecondary students are also believed to be facing unprecedented challenges. Ensuring that colleges and universities procure learning environments that prioritize emerging adults' wellbeing has thus become necessary.

This study aimed at investigating the impact of story-based extracurricular tasks on enhancing the speaking skills of EFL learners. The parameters of grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary, and fluency were examined. A pre-test/post-test one shot case study design was adopted. A sample of 20 students, enrolled in the common first year program at Jouf University, Saudi Arabia, participated in the study. The results showed that learners' speaking skills improved due to the use of the story-based extracurricular tasks. Findings also showed that the highest improvement in students' speaking skills was in pronunciation, followed by vocabulary, and then, grammar. Fluency was the least improved skill. The study recommends the incorporation of story-based extracurricular tasks in EFL programs for enhancing speaking skills. Educators should choose culturally relevant stories that correspond to the learners' proficiency level. They should involve students in conversations and arguments about the stories, prompting them to examine the themes and implicit messages. This study also recommends to use other resources such as language games, quizzes, and dramatization for enhancing speaking skills of EFL learners.

The COVID-19 pandemic forced universities into emergency remote learning. For universities situated in a country where internet connectivity prices are high, network coverage is low, and most students live in rural areas, this presented a unique set of problems. One of the issues is that traditional orientations were face-to-face for first-time entering students (FTENs) at universities, and they had to be moved online due to lockdown restrictions and the desire to save the academic year. For the university concerned, this presented challenges in accessing students due to their low digital literacy skills and infrastructure limitations. The study employed a quantitative exploratory research approach to assess whether WhatsApp, a low-cost communication tool offering features like affordable data bundles, group creation, and accessibility, could facilitate student engagement and support during the COVID-19 lockdown at a rural university campus. The aim was to investigate if utilizing WhatsApp could foster a sense of belonging among students, potentially mitigating dropout rates and preventing students from falling behind. The hypothesis posited a positive correlation between using WhatsApp for academic support and student retention, ultimately leading to enhanced success rates. The study used the 'Academic Dropout Wheel, a theoretical framework developed by Naaman (2021), which identifies key factors contributing to academic dropout and provides strategies for intervention. The results of a quantitative questionnaire on 181 of the 2022 cohort of FTENS at the campus revealed that students felt more at ease, had a feeling of belonging and ownership of the university, and knew where to ask for help through the effective use of WhatsApp. This paper concludes that if professionally managed, WhatsApp can be an effective tool to facilitate continued adjustment and integration of FTENs into the university.

This qualitative study employs interviews to explore the process of computing identity development and maintenance among Latina undergraduate students, beginning from their experiences in introductory computing courses and extending beyond. The findings shed light on the significant influence of factors such as peer and faculty recognition, engagement in identity-based extracurricular organizations, and familial and community relationships on the formation of students' computing identities and their determination to persist in the field. These insights highlight the multifaceted nature of computing identity development for Latina students and provide valuable knowledge for promoting inclusivity and support in computing education.

Extracurricular learning plays a key role in shaping students' interest in (not only) biology. The research examined which extracurricular areas related to biology can make biology more attractive for the participating Finnish and Czech students. A 5-point Likert scale questionnaire was administered to 178 Finnish and 195 Czech 9th-grade lower-secondary school students. Cronbach's alpha, Varimax rotation and Mann-Whitney U-test were performed. Factor analysis identified 7 areas: Family trips, My career, Biology lessons, Healthy lifestyle, Institutions, Nature-related hobbies, and Information sources. For Czech, hobbies related to nature and family trips are significant contributors to fostering interest in biology, and an informal educational environment is crucial for cultivating a lasting relationship with biology. For Finns, biology classes and career orientation have a more significant influence on students, demonstrating the effectiveness of formal educational strategies in increasing students' interest in biology. Increasing interest in biology among the students observed in both sociocultural environments is significantly influenced by family involvement and the use of information sources. Further research should explore how specific ECA can support the connection between family and school environments and their impact on students' interest and engagement in biology lessons.

This research delves into analyzing and comprehending humanistic attitudes within the management framework of the Youth Red Cross (PMR) organization at Madrasah Tsanawiyah Negeri Palopo. Employing a qualitative approach, data is gathered through interviews, observations, and subsequent analysis. The study encompasses various stakeholders: the Headmaster of MTsN Palopo serves as an informant to provide an overview of the school, while administrators relay information regarding the school's general profile. Facilitators from the Indonesian Red Cross (Palang Merah Indonesia) and participating teachers offer insights into activity implementation. Additionally, interviews with active student participants, including core committee members and department heads, capture their perspectives on activity execution. Findings reveal the pivotal role of humanism in PMR organization management. Members demonstrate a profound concern for fellow students' welfare, evidenced by humanitarian activities like social action and first aid training. Management ethos within the PMR organization also champions humanistic principles. Student leaders focus on service-oriented leadership and meticulous time management from planning to empowering PMR members to actively engage in altruistic endeavors. Humanistic values underpin the ethos of PMR organization management, fostering an environment conducive to leadership cultivation, first aid proficiency, and altruism. Central to this ethos is the ethos of caring for fellow members and students, laying a robust foundation for PMR activities and management steeped in human values. This environment not only supports leadership development but also emphasizes first aid training and mutual assistance, all centered on fostering humanistic values.

Purpose -- Balochistan, which makes up roughly 44 percent of Pakistan's total land area, is home to 6 percent of the nation's inhabitants. Due to long distances and low population density, service delivery is particularly challenging. The province's educational services are impacted by natural disasters like earthquakes, floods, droughts, and migration. Disaster risk reduction is a widely recognized concept that emphasizes appropriate education to lower an individual's personal, familial, and communal vulnerability. The role of the school is crucial in Disaster Risk Reducation (DRR) education. As a result, the study's goal was to explore the approaches adopted for the inclusion of DDR through teaching in classroom and school activities. Methodology -- A focus group discussion with three groups of Pakistan studies and Geography teachers was conducted that consisted of 10 male and 14 female members. Findings -- Findings demonstrate that the current textbook continues to teach students less about disaster risk reduction; teachers include knowledge from their personal experience in planning lessons about DRR. School assemblies, child clubs and activities designed by school management, and social organizations play a prominent role in DRR education. Further, the role of teachers and school management was identified in psycho-social support during disasters and pandemics. Significance -- The study concludes that in addition to extracurricular activities and the teacher's role, prior disaster experience, school, and social organization played a significant role in DRR education in rural Balochistan. The study results will assist curriculum developers, policymakers, and education leadership in developing more effective school disaster management plans. The results will also clarify how schools and teachers can close the knowledge gap in disaster preparedness education. Organizations working on disaster risk education and education in emergencies will also benefit from additional research to respond to the need readily and effectively.

Even though working with data is as important as coding for understanding and dealing with complex problems across multiple fields, it has received very little attention in the context of Computational Thinking. This paper discusses an approach for bridging the gap between Computational Thinking with Data Science by employing and studying classification as a higher-order thinking process that connects the two. To achieve that, we designed and developed an online constructionist gaming tool called SorBET which integrates coding and database design enabling students to interpret, organize, and analyze data through game play and game design. The paper presents and discusses the results of a pilot study that aimed to investigate the data practices secondary students develop through playing and modifying SorBET games, and to determine the impact of game modding on student critical engagement with CT. According to the results, students developed and used certain data practices such as data interpretation and data model design to become better players or to design an interesting classification game. Moreover, game modding process motivated students to question the original games' content, leading them to develop a critical stance towards the game data model and representations.

The main goal of this paper is to suggest a combination of data analyses -- notably generalized additive models, time-series clustering methodology, visual methods for significance testing and qualitative analyses -- that relate to Complex Dynamic Systems Theory (CDST). To this end, we report on findings from a larger project conducted in a bilingual (pre)primary school in Switzerland, aiming to elucidate the complex ways that L2 English development emerges over time in 45 children who received German/English bilingual instruction over a period of eight years (age 5-12) in combination with emerging extracurricular exposure to English. The results reveal that increased extracurricular activities in English are particularly noticeable during periods of rapid development, but the effects seem temporally limited to the end stages of testing and strongly hinge on the cluster in question (i.e., learners with trajectorial similarities). We relate the findings to the "authenticity gap" between English inside and outside of school, as clusters who perceive a discrepancy between in- and out-of-school encounters with English also show rapid development that is characterized by increased English exposure during extracurricular activities. Methodological implications of adopting non-linear models, which can model complex dynamic relationships in order to better reconcile generalizability, variability, and individuality, are discussed.

The twenty-eight item Sense of Online Community Scale was completed by 293 online students at a midsized southeastern United States university to ascertain community importance and activities associated with its formation and maintenance on the program and institutional level. A large majority of these students believed that a sense of community was important and that a sense of belonging, affiliation, and trust were valuable for community formation. Participants also believed that program and institutional activities, both academic and social, played key roles in community formation. However, academic activities (e.g., advising, program milestones, writing centers, library support) were rated as more influential than social activities (e.g., get-togethers, online games, institution sporting events). When demographic characteristics were considered, non-White participants rated their sense of affiliation with their program/institution higher than White participants. Participants who lived within a one-hour commute to campus (51% of our sample) rated institutional social activities higher than those who lived farther out. Doctoral students rated program activities as more conducive to community formation than masters, and graduate certificate students and undergraduate students rated affiliation to their program/institution higher than master's and graduate certificate students.

The inclusion of jazz ensembles within extra-curricular instrumental music programs in secondary schools in Australia has grown exponentially in the past two decades. Despite this growth, there is a deficiency of specialist teacher training in jazz education and pedagogy in Australian tertiary institution instrumental music courses. This lack of specialist training in jazz pedagogy has left many music educators, especially early career instrumental music teachers, underprepared and underequipped to teach jazz programs successfully in their junior and secondary school settings. This article aims to synthesise and contextualise some of the key literature in jazz pedagogy and jazz ensemble rehearsal techniques for early career teachers, or those with little or no background in jazz. The topics discussed in this article include roles of instrumentation, rehearsal and performance set-ups, rehearsal techniques, the role of the jazz director, directed student listening, jazz style, language and articulation, improvisation, and repertoire. The aim is to equip instrumental music teachers with an introductory knowledge, reference to further literature, and practical examples to maximise the proficiency and potential of their jazz ensembles in junior and secondary school music programs.

As students transitioned back to on-campus classes, challenges affecting occupational balance (OB) and temporal satisfaction with life (TSWL) influenced their overall health and well-being. This study aimed to assess OB and TSWL among 171 occupational therapy (OT) students in the Philippines and examine the correlation between them. Participants completed the Occupational Balance Questionnaire (OBQ11) and the Temporal Satisfaction with Life Scale (TSWLS). The mean OBQ11 score was 16.71 ± 6.87, with a median score of 17. Based on this median score, nearly half of students 43.90% (n = 75) were classified as having low OB. The TSWLS scores indicated that students were neutral regarding past life satisfaction (M = 20.85, SD = 6.98), slightly satisfied with present life (M = 22.86, SD = 6.05), and satisfied with future life (M = 26.63, SD = 4.90). Significant positive correlations were found between OB and TSWL scores. These findings suggest that while OT students are heavily engaged in academic occupations, they may lack sufficient non-academic activities, leading to an occupational imbalance. The time dedicated to academic tasks impacts their ability to achieve OB and participate in diverse activities. Given the direct beneficial effects of OB on health, promoting balanced participation in both academic and non-academic occupations is crucial. Future research should explore strategies to enhance nonacademic engagement and examine the long-term impacts of balanced occupational participation on student well-being.

An important measure of the success of a tertiary education programme is the attributes that graduates possess at the completion of their studies. Universities have sought to address this issue by developing formal curriculum and programmes such as internships and work-integrated learning. However, little is known about how university-based extracurricular activities contribute to graduate attributes. The purpose of this study is to explore participation in extracurricular activities from a student perspective. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 22 student leaders of university-based sporting, social and academic clubs. Data collection and analysis were guided by a qualitative approach to thematic analysis. The findings indicate that students developed a range of graduate attributes in areas such as such as leadership, teamwork, communication and resilience. The theory, communities of practice, is used to interpret the participants' experiences which was found to coalesce around their social interactions and relations. The study concludes with several recommendations for universities to create greater opportunities for their students to participate in extracurricular activities.

Participation in Organised Extracurricular Social Activities (OESA) can provide positive outcomes for children. This study investigated whether children aged 4 to 12 years diagnosed with autism differ in their OESA participation and experience compared to neurotypical peers. Parents of autistic children (n = 35) and those of neurotypical peers (n = 171) responded to questions that asked them to reflect on their child's participation and experiences in OESAs. Parents of autistic children reported significantly less OESA participation compared to parents of neurotypical children. Additionally, when evaluating factors that facilitated OESA participation, parents of autistic children rated their child's individual abilities and behaviour, the OESA's features, and the social environment less positively, compared to parents of neurotypical children. OESA participation and experiences differ for autistic and neurotypical children. This study identifies factors that can be adjusted to mitigate this difference.

Nowadays, discussing global environmental issues has become regularly included in STEM-based higher education, emphasizing the importance of the youth in finding "ad hoc" solutions for the climate crisis. One of the most commonly applied strategies is promoting sustainable choices among students, especially linked to their lifestyle choices, or implementing small changes to aim for large-scale cumulative effects. Herein, a learning and research activity designed for undergraduate students is presented, aimed at raising their awareness of a less discussed type of global warming contributors, namely greenhouse gases (GHGs), being a fundamental example of gaseous waste produced at universities as part of STEM education programs. In this extracurricular project, a multidisciplinary group of students performed a series of real-time measurements of exemplary GHGs emissions during the chemistry-oriented practical courses taken by their peers. As a result, qualitative and quantitative information about the gaseous waste produced in the student laboratories was obtained and linked to various laboratory activities, raising student consciousness about the frequently neglected gases produced in the laboratory that also contribute to the environmental crisis. This research activity enables students to apply analytical chemistry to evaluate their own chemical footprint in the laboratory. Furthermore, this project aims to illustrate the importance of engaging students in extracurricular learning and research activities.

Most studies have explored how information and communication technology (ICT) factors impact adolescents' schooling, but often ignore the potential influences on their well-being; no research has further scrutinized the moderating role of self-regulated learning (SRL) as a multi-dimensional combination, that is, different types of SRL learners. This cross-cultural study simultaneously scrutinized how distinct outside-of-school ICT factors influenced adolescents' digital reading and multi-dimensional well-being. It also took a person-centered approach to identify different types of SRL learners and examined whether the influences varied across the learner types. Data were based on 10,527 students in 308 schools from one East Asian region and one Western country participating in Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018. Multivariate multiple regression analysis revealed that overall, outside-of-school ICT factors impacted adolescents' digital reading and well-being differently, which also varied across cultures. Latent profile analysis detected culturally-mixed four profiles of SRL learners: High Profile (high in all indicators), Metacognitive Profile (in-between, optimal metacognition), Cognitive Profile (in-between, optimal cognition), and Low Profile (all low). It was the relatively weaker SRL learners in the East but the stronger SRL learners in the West that were particularly susceptible to the influences, either in a beneficial or detrimental way. Moreover, the cognitive, eudemonic, emotional and social dimensions of adolescents' well-being were all affected by ICT factors, without recurring trends in patterns. The findings provide implications to strictly monitor and guide adolescents' Internet use to enhance their academic and subjective well-being.

Youth development programs offer flexible environments for healing and positive identity development for youth facing discrimination and oppression. Programs often occur in out-of-school time (OST), a context that is clearly positioned in tandem with the education system to create complex relationships that lead to challenges in OST spaces. Youth development programs occurring in OST settings have the potential for resisting or replicating oppressive practices toward youth occurring in the education system. This article highlights a youth participatory action research (YPAR) project within an OST program using photovoice, field trips, and arts-based strategies. Eleven youth participated in the project over the course of nine months. Thematic content analysis of weekly photovoice and critical consciousness resulted in a primary theme of peeling back the layers. This theme encompassed the evolution of youth understanding the interconnectedness between their individual-level experiences of racism and broader community and systems-level inputs. This article describes critical consciousness development of OST youth participants through intentional engagement in critical dialogue, experiential field trips, and reflective art making.

Developing student employability is a key strategy within institutions of higher education, particularly for students in creative industries where labour market supply has outpaced employer demand. Existing literature shows that activities that promote communities of practice offer clear employability benefits for students. However, such activities are often centred within university curriculum or driven by career development units with limited student engagement. This article considers an alternative approach, an academically-supported career community delivered as an extracurricular activity within an arts and cultural management graduate program at the University of Melbourne. Drawing on program metrics and an anonymous survey of participants in the program's pilot iteration, we find evidence of a flexible career community built around the intelligent career theory tenets of "knowing how" and "knowing whom," in which participants experienced positive and discipline-specific impacts related to employability and increased self-confidence in approaching the arts and cultural labour market.

Background: Individual and collective prosocial competence can be fostered through high-quality interactions with program staff in out-of-school time environments. Objective: We explored whether the social-emotional competencies of teachers working in an out-of-school STEM program infused with social emotional learning content were associated with school children's prosocial behavior, community engagement, and peer problems and whether these associations were moderated by social justice teaching beliefs and child gender. Method: Participants were 126 students (72 male). Forty-one were White, 40 were Black, 34 were Latine, and 11 were Asian and most of them were third graders (M[subscript age] = 8.11 years). Teachers rated their emotional competence, commitment to social emotional learning, and social justice teaching beliefs. They also provided ratings of children's prosocial behavior and peer problems. Students provided ratings of their community engagement. Results: Teachers' emotional competence was negatively associated with prosocial behavior, but only when their social justice teaching beliefs were low. However, teachers' commitment to social emotional learning was positively related to prosocial behavior. Teachers' emotional competence was associated positively with peer problems, but only for girls, and was also related positively to community engagement. Conclusions: Results demonstrate associations between STEM teachers' social emotional learning competencies and social justice teaching beliefs in the development of students' prosocial competence and community engagement and provide directions for future research.

In recent decades, Onkwehón:we (Indigenous) education has been a burgeoning area of study and practice in primary, secondary, and post-secondary schools in Canada. One of the more significant contributions to this growth in recent years has been the findings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada and its 94 Calls to Action. Central to the journey of reconciliation is understanding of the experiences of Onkwehón:we people and their perspectives on various things. Given that spirituality and associated ceremonial observances are important to many Onkwehón:we communities and have been explored in a number of schools and universities, their inclusion in academic and non-academic school programming merits exploration. This essay explores the importance of Onkwehón:we spirituality, its role in the reconciliatory journey, and the value of enabling schools to partner with Indigenous peoples to aid in its dissemination.

Observation is the throughline and synthesizing catalyst of the leadership learning framework (LLF). Observation serves as both a stimulus and clarifier through which all other LLF elements come together. This article explores the literature on both intentional and unintentional observational learning and how learners are socialized. Leadership educators should consider how observation of leadership influences students' perception of leading before arriving in the learning space and how they can intentionally imbed observational learning within curricular and extracurricular experiences with special attention given to access and representation.

Engaging in extracurricular activities is known to affect both cognitive and non-cognitive outcomes, but there is social inequality in access to these activities. In this study, we examine the role of extracurricular activities in moderating the relationships between secondary school students' social background and their cognitive and non-cognitive outcomes. Secondly, we examine variations in these relationships among three European cities that represent different educational systems in managing student heterogeneity. Based on the study findings, the effects of extracurricular activities on academic outcomes varied with regard to measured skills and the city of study. Extracurricular activities were related to enhanced interpersonal skills in all cities studied. However, in Turku and Ghent, extracurricular activities buffered the socio-economic gradient in interpersonal skills, whereas in Barcelona, such activities increased it. Rather surprisingly, in all cities, engaging in extracurricular activities magnified the effect of socio-economic status on cognitive skills.

Becoming a healthcare professional is a complex process, where learning occurs in various ways. This study explores an extracurricular learning approach, called the Social Health Bridge-Building Programme, designed to address health inequities. Student volunteers accompany persons in a socially vulnerable situation to healthcare appointments. Operating outside the realms of health education, the programme intends to provide an alternative road to training healthcare students to become capable of engaging with diverse populations, and reducing barriers to healthcare access. Based on an ethnographic fieldwork, using interviews and participant observation ("walking along") as methods, the aim of the study was to explore the learning processes and learning outcomes associated with bridge-building, as experienced by students. Our findings show that this extracurricular learning complemented the formal curriculum, and bridged the gap from theoretical knowledge to practice and to real persons, preparing students for their future roles. The particular positioning of walking alongside or sitting beside persons made the invisible visible, enabling student volunteers to see the variety of persons in need of bridge-building, ways of living in a socially vulnerable situation, inequity in health, and see the persons, beyond initial impression, fostering a deeper understanding and empathy among the students. Learning outcomes included communicational, relational, and observations skills, and a more comprehensive grasp of the healthcare system's complexity. We conclude that a non-governmental organization, independent of the healthcare system, may have found a novel way of providing extracurricular learning about health inequity to students. Demonstrating how the Social Health Bridge-Building Programme complements formal curricula, the concept could be applicable in other settings.

This article reports youths´ interests and concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic by analyzing what Argentine students aged 12 to 18 years expressed within the 2020 edition of TED-Ed Clubs, an extracurricular school program aimed at developing and communicating an idea following a TED-talk format. Based on video recordings of a random sample of 100 students´ talks, we identified six recurring themes: 'current social affairs' such as gender equality and social media; 'Interpersonal relationships', focusing on adolescents´ bonds with peers and adults; 'rethinking lifestyles' such as the importance of developing healthy habits; 'sharing passions' typically describing activities about which they felt passionate, such as sports; 'self-discovery', which addressed introspective insights; and 'Pandemic' when referring to the current health crisis. In all cases, students aimed to engage and inspire their audience to reflect and act upon these issues. Results speak of the value of creating learning environments at school for youth voices to be acknowledged.

Informal science activities occurring at various non-traditional learning sites present a pivotal model for involving youths in the science learning process. The dynamic landscape of emerging technologies has prompted the exploration of innovative methodologies to bolster and refine informal science education. However, the expanse of this field and its attendant complexities has led to a lack of empirical evidence on the subject matter necessitating further research. This paper presents the findings of a systematic literature review, spanning the years 2017 to 2022, focusing on empirical inquiries into the deployment and impact of digital tools and technologies on the cognitive, affective, and behavioral dimensions of student learning. The investigation pertains specifically to unconstrained, extracurricular learning environments, encompassing science centers and museums and outdoor locations. A methodical search of renowned electronic databases, including ACM Digital Library, ERIC, Google Scholar, Sage, and Web of Science, supplemented by rigorous cross-referencing, yielded a corpus of seventeen (n = 17) relevant studies. These were subjected to a thorough qualitative content analysis. A diverse array of scientific concepts was found to have been investigated using hardware-based, software-based, or mixed approaches. Notably, augmented reality (AR) emerges as a preeminent focal point within the purview of digital interfaces explored by researchers. The synthesis of findings underscores the affirmative influence of digital tools and technologies on pivotal facets such as engagement, motivation, attitude towards science, and comprehension of scientific principles. In culmination, this study delineates prospective research focus for future studies in informal science education.

Spatial thinking permeates much of our lives and is an asset when solving problems involving well-structured visual information or imagining solutions in physical or digital space. However, an estimated three million US school children have spatial talents that go unrecognized because of the tools commonly used for identification of academic talent. For decades, educational and psychological research has explored the range of spatial thinking skills that are demanded by many career fields, including science, engineering, and mathematics. Spatial thinking has been found to be particularly important to early mathematical thinking. In this article, we explore what spatial thinking entails, where it is important in the curriculum, and how we can begin to develop spatial literacy and identify spatial talents in our K-12 classrooms.

Admission to selective colleges has grown more competitive, yielding student bodies that are unrepresentative of the U.S. population. Admission officers report using sorting (e.g., GPA, standardized tests) and concertedly cultivated (e.g., extracurricular activities) and ascriptive status (e.g., whether an applicant identifies as a member of a racially minoritized group) criteria to make decisions. Using latent class analysis, we identified three groupings of institutions based on the admission criteria they claim to value. Public institutions largely practiced a "coarse sieve" approach that relied on sorting criteria. Some private institutions practiced "fine sieve" admissions by emphasizing concertedly cultivated and ascriptive status criteria. A few privates employed the "double sieve" that combined sorting and concertedly cultivated criteria. Results illuminate the shape of the admissions sieve, identifying institutional contexts that inform the admissions practices selective colleges claim to use.

Validation of ideas are of paramount importance in STEM fields. Learning and converting ideas into practical application is the main purpose of technical education. Aviation is a highly safety sensitive field where confusion and mistakes are not acceptable. This brings serious challenges for academia that provides higher education in this field. A yearlong observation of the reflective practices was done at an Australian university while teaching aviation students to analyse outcomes of reflection on teaching and learning. Reflection provides a powerful opportunity to a teacher in improving teaching qualities and to identify training needs for enhancing teaching capabilities.

Limited research has explored the experiences of nonbinary college students. Using a national sample of college students from the American College Health Association-National College Health Assessment (ACHA-NCHA), we compared experiences of college students in terms of their campus safety, mental health, and involvement in extracurricular activities. Results reveal complexities of nonbinary students' experiences. Nonbinary students reported feeling less safe on and around campus and were more likely to be verbally threatened, stalked, and sexually assaulted than their peers. In terms of mental health indicators, nonbinary students reported significantly worse outcomes than their peers. Nonbinary students were also significantly less likely to be involved in extracurricular activities. Among nonbinary students, Black nonbinary students reported less safety, higher stress, and greater suicidality than White nonbinary students, and multiracial nonbinary students were more likely to be stalked than their White nonbinary peers. In terms of campus involvement, multiracial nonbinary students were more likely to volunteer than White nonbinary students. On the whole, this study suggests that nonbinary college students' experiences differ from their peers' in terms of greater reports of victimization, poorer mental health, and less involvement on campus, with important racial differences. Those who work with college students should ensure that their services support and affirm nonbinary identities and should work to push back on superficial changes that do not address the racist, cis-heteropatriarchal conditions that give rise to such outcomes.

This study explored the experiences of seven first-year university students in Johannesburg, South Africa. Recognising storytelling as a lens to reveal identity, this study focused on student experience narratives as a tool to better understand their transition from school to university. It examined the narrated experiences of these students as a means to reveal their student identities. The qualitative study utilised a case study design type to address the research question: "What do first-year students' transition narratives reveal about their emerging student identities?" This paper focuses on a thematic analysis that was used as a tool to analyse participants' narrated experiences. The analysis resulted in five broad themes, namely that student identities in their first-year journeys were formed and influenced by interpersonal experiences, intrapersonal experiences, pre-commencement institutional experiences, experiences of formal learning, and learning experiences beyond the classroom. Despite encountering multiple challenges in their new environment, the students derived benefit through capitalising on their personal strengths as tools to adjust to the demands of their new institution. These tools were crucial resources used by participants to adjust to and ultimately flourish in their first year.

In this article we present our findings regarding of providing online educational activities, delivered by six adults, during 13 weeks (first semester 2020) to 15 children aging from 5 to 7 (the Beaver scouts), on a non-formal education context. The activities combined guided play and problem-based learning activities. Our research objective was to analyzed the method followed, uncovering the dynamics the drove the activities and the consequences. We followed an action research approach in order to understand the feedback loops present in the delivery of online educational activities. The data was collected from the minutes of the meetings, the activities' plans and the notes taken from observations of the online activities and notes taken during the debriefing activities. We analyzed the data by means of a systemic analysis. Our findings are: 1) The diversification of activities (physical, artistic, and social) provided by the leaders and the parent´s support and participation fostered the children engagement and motivation to learn. 2) The continuous improvement of the teach and learning techniques and the right use of IT tools, facilitated the communication and the delivery of meaningful online activities.

This study aims to reveal the situation of pre-service teachers in terms of having 21st century skills and their opinions on faculties of education in terms of enabling them to acquire these skills. In the study, which was designed as an explanatory mixed method, 621 pre-service teachers and 26 pre-service teachers were included in the quantitative and qualitative dimensions, respectively. To collect the data, the "Multidimensional 21st Century Skills Scale" and the "Semi-Structured Interview Form" were used. In the analysis of quantitative data, descriptive statistics, an independent sample T-test, an ANOVA test, and the Scheffe test were used. In the analysis of qualitative data, content analysis was used. In the quantitative aspect of the study, it was concluded that the 21st century skills of the pre-service teachers were at a high level. In the qualitative dimension of the study, it was obtained that pre-service teachers had learning and innovation skills, knowledge, media and technology skills, life and career skills; they thought that teachers, parents, academicians, the individual himself or herself, and bureaucrats were responsible for enabling them to acquire 21st century skills; there were strengths of faculties of education in enabling them to acquire 21st century skills.

Music and the arts are of growing interest in promoting success in school and psychological development of young people in general. However, there are few studies focused on the relationship between music and, more specifically on school engagement of vulnerable students. Thus, this exploratory study aims to understand the perceived impact of student participation in a school percussion group on school engagement. The research followed a qualitative methodology through individual semi-structured interviews. Six pupils aged between eleven and fifteen, two teachers of these pupils and two of the percussion group facilitators took part in the study. The results reveal a positive impact perceived by the participants arising from participation in the percussion group, with emphasis on the behavioural dimension of school engagement. Considering the relation between school engagement and learning processes, promoting school engagement through musical activities could be an innovative strategy to promote school success.