Designing a Narrative-Based Video Game for Adolescents Coping with a Parent's Cancer.

本研究は、英語学習者である日本人大学生を対象に自由記述式のアンケートを実施し、大学入学前の中学校と高等学校の６年間に、どのような要因で英語学習の動機づけが高まったのか、また減衰したのかを探索することによって、英語学習に関する動機づけを行う方策についての示唆を得ることを目的とする。最初に、先行研究に基づいて動機を高める要因と減衰させる要因をまとめる。次に、これらの要因と動機の変容について探究しようとした先行研究を概観し、研究方法上の問題点を指摘する。先行研究の問題点を克服するために本研究は計画された。 In recent research on L2 learning motivation, there have been an increasing number of studies on motivators (e.g., Cheng & Dörnyei, 2007; Guilloteaux & Dörnyei, 2008; Sugita & Takeuchi, 2010) and demotivators (e.g., Kikuchi & Sakai, 2009; Sakai & Kikuchi, 2009) in the classroom. Although findings from these studies give general guidelines to language teachers, it has been argued that the motivators and demotivators vary in different contexts and that learner motivation fluctuates (Hayashi, 2005; Miura, 2010; Sawyer, 2007; Shoaib & Dörnyei, 2005). This study was aimed at understanding the changes in motivation among Japanese learners of English during their 6 years of high school. Based on a survey of 199 college students taking an English language teaching certificate class in the spring semesters of 2006, 2007, and 2008, the general pattern of changes as well as reasons for change were investigated. In a questionnaire adapted from Sawyer (2007), participants were asked to reflect on their level of motivation at the beginning and end of the school year during their 6 years of high school and rate the level on a 5-point Likert scale (0: completely demotivated, 1: fairly demotivated, 2: a bit motivated, 3: fairly motivated, 4: completely motivated). They were also asked to write why their motivation became higher or lower. The two research questions posed for this study were “When do Japanese learners of English experience motivators and demotivators in their six years of study in high schools?” and “What are motivators and demotivators experienced during those times?” Through an analysis of the changes in motivation, it was found that the level of participants’ motivation generally went down from the end of the 1st year of junior high school to the beginning of the 2nd year, from the end of the 3rd year of junior high to the 1st year of high school, and from the beginning of the 1st year of senior high school to the end of that school year. The level of motivation generally went up from the end of the 2nd year of senior high school to the beginning of the 3rd year and from the beginning of the 3rd year to the end of that school year. Statistical significance was found between each pair (Bonferroni-adjusted significance level α = .0045). These findings confirm those of previous studies (Hayashi, 2005; Miura, 2010; Sawyer, 2007) which reported the general pattern of the motivational fluctuation of Japanese English learners. Apparently, goals such as success in entrance examinations for senior high schools and universities may be reasonable motivators for many Japanese learners of English. After achieving entrance to junior high school or senior high school, participants may have difficulty adjusting to the class instruction and find it demotivating for a while. Furthermore, it was found that various factors such as experiences of failure, teacher behavior, or the content of classes can be motivators or demotivators. By using reflective surveys, we were able to glimpse the complexities of learners’ motivation. Based on the findings from this study, we discuss the importance of reflecting on our daily teaching practice and call for research considering learners’ contexts in depth.

In this study, we investigated the relationship between high school students’ post-graduation career plans, college major choices and academic achievement. Drawing upon data from the first and second years of the Korean Education and Employment Panel II, we explored the relationship between students' post-graduation career plans, their choice of college major during the second year of high school, and their academic achievement in the third grade utilizing multiple regression approaches.
 The findings revealed a positive correlation between college aspiration during the second year of high school and higher academic achievement in the third year of high school. Students who set specific goals for college admission demonstrated a better academic performance compared to those who did not. Conversely, no statistically significant relationship is observed between college major choices during the second year of high school and their academic achievement in the third 3rd year of high school.
 Based on these results, it is confirmed that the aspiration to pursue college among high school students is positively related to academic achievement, serving as a motivating factor for individuals. Therefore, the findings of this study underscores the significance of goal-setting during the high school years, thereby the importance of career education and counseling. The findings of this research also have policy implications, highlighting the need to prioritize goal-setting among high school students and provide adequate support for students’ career development.

This study was conducted to explore the key predictors of change in sense of community during adolescence, to classify latent classes of sense of community changes, and to test the impact of key predictors on classification of latent classes. To this end, SEMforest was applied to KELS 2013 data from 3rd to 8th wave to derive the key predictors of changes in sense of community during middle school and high school, and discontinuous piecewise latent class growth analysis was utilized using a three-step approach. The results were as follows. First, as a result of SEMforest, five student-related variables were found to be common to both the middle and high school years, and two student-related variables were selected differentially for each of the middle and high school years. Additionally, one parental-related variable was derived to be common to both middle and high school years, and two parental-related variables were selected discriminatively for each of the middle and high school years. Second, three latent classes in sense of community during adolescence were identified: low-level decline (22.2%), middle-level gain-decline (52.0%), and high-level gain-decline (25.8%). Third, self-concept (academic and social), rule observance, multicultural acceptance (relationship with multicultural neighbors/friends), and volunteerism awareness were found to have a significant effect on classifying latent classes in both the middle and high school years. Finally, based on the main results, educational implications for fostering a sense of community among adolescents were discussed.

Objectives The financial burden of raising children is a societal concern in Japan. Since the 2009 Cabinet Office survey on child-rearing costs, which was conducted online, a few comprehensive assessments of the total cost of raising children in Japanese households have been subsequently conducted. This study aimed to estimate both annual and cumulative child-rearing costs from birth to age 18, categorizing expenses by preschool, elementary school, junior high school, and high school years, and examine changes in expenditure since 2009.Methods A web-based survey on child-rearing expenses was conducted in November 2024, targeting mothers with children aged 0-18 years, who had their first child in Japan. Child-rearing costs were assessed across 13 expenditure categories, ensuring comparability with the Cabinet Office survey. The mean and standard deviation (SD) of annual costs were calculated for each category across schooling years, excluding extreme values exceeding three SDs. The total annual cost was derived by summing categorized expenditures. The results were compared with those of the 2009 Cabinet Office survey to evaluate cost trends over time.Results In total, 6408 responses were collected, including 4166 valid responses. The total estimated expenditure for raising a child from birth through the third year of high school was approximately JPY 25,701,956. When excluding savings and insurance, the cost was approximately JPY 21,727,154. Annual child-rearing expenses tended to increase with the age of the child, with a pronounced increase observed in educational costs during the transitions to junior high and high schools. The cumulative cost from birth through the third year of junior high school was JPY 18,995,250 in the 2009 survey and JPY 19,530,626 in the present study.Conclusion This study revealed that households with lower incomes tend to allocate a higher proportion of their income to living expenses and that the financial burden on these households is particularly high during the high school years and during transitions to new educational stages, such as entry into junior high or high schools. Developing economic support programs for households raising children should be guided by data, including the expenditure patterns identified in this study.

Japan has been one of the leading countries in both computer graphics production and research. In this report, we provide an overview of computer graphics education in Japan today, and conclude with types of job possibilities for Japanese students in the computer graphics industry.We begin with the Japanese education system in general. The Japanese education system is controlled by the Ministry of Education. Six years of elementary school and three years of junior high school are mandatory education, which allows all children to be equally educated. Three years of high school and above are considered as optional education. However, the majority of children will enter high school, and many will pursue higher education. The Ministry of Education has installed personal computers in most of the public elementary and junior high schools. However, in many cases, teachers lack computer literacy. It is very unusual to find computer graphics education taking place below the high school level, although there are some exceptions. The Japanese education system for higher education can be broken down into three categories: graduate level, four-year undergraduate level and two-year junior college level. In addition, there are specialized schools that offer certificates in specific areas.College exchange programs are not common in Japan. For example, art students in an art school are not able to take computer graphics courses offered at another university. It is also difficult for a student in one department to take courses in another department. The lack of cross-disciplinary education is a problem for computer graphics because the subject requires fundamental understanding in both art and design and computer science.

The potential mediating role of career-related parenting practice in the association between parental career expectation and adolescents’ career development remains understudied, especially the likely transactional dynamics inherent within such links. This study utilized three-annual-wave data from 3196 Chinese adolescents across the high school years ( Mage = 15.55 years old, SD = .44; 52.8% girls at Wave 1) to address such gaps. Results of cross-lagged structural equational modeling analyses demonstrated reciprocal associations between parental career expectation and career adaptability consistently across three high school years; and career-related parental support served as a mediator in such associations, net of a series of covariates. However, no associations of career ambivalence with parental career expectation across the high school years emerged. Such findings highlighted the dynamic nature of the associations among parental career expectation, career-related parenting practice, and adolescents’ career developmental outcomes. Implications for future research and practice were discussed.

ABSTRACTTransitions can have a profound impact on the person, their environment, and their occupations. Entering high school is a transition that has implications not only for the adolescent, but also for their family members. A greater understanding from an occupation perspective of how people and groups adapt to life transitions of one person is critical to understanding transition. The study objective was to gain an in-depth understanding of the lived experiences of parents whose adolescent child had recently transitioned into high school. This included exploring the parents’ experiences of transition on their role, routines and occupations when their child is in transition. This descriptive phenomenological study used semi-structured interviews to collect data from five mothers with a child in his or her first year of public high school in Vancouver, Canada and surrounding areas. Four themes were identified: 1) Venturing into the Known and Unknown, 2) Navigating Changing Occupational Demands, 3) Redesigning Parent-Child Communication, and 4) Collective Transition. This study demonstrates how this transition influences a change and has the potential to disrupt mothers’ routines and occupations (including family co-occupations). This study highlights the theme of meaningful connections in the study of occupation, and contributes to a growing body of evidence on life transitions by exploring the lived experience of a predictable life transition on roles, routines, and occupations of mothers with a child in his or her first year of high school.

The Early High School (ECHS) is an initiative sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to increase the number of under- represented populations in higher education by allowing students to earn an Associate's degree or up to two years of college credit by the time they graduate from high school. A previous qualitative study examined transition experiences of students in their senior year. The current study was conducted at a large Midwestern ECHS where students take one to three college classes during their first two years of high school (freshman and sophomore years) and full college course loads during their last two years (junior and senior years) of high school. The transition between the sophomore and junior year is the most difficult for many of the students. Therefore, there is a need to understand persistence of these students beyond the sophomore year and through to graduation. The authors developed the Q sample based upon the aforementioned qualitative study. Statements from within the six categories that emerged from that study were used to balance the Q sample. The purpose of this study is to investigate ECHS students' views of their high school experience with the goal of determining which perspectives lead to persistence between the students' sophomore and junior years and what views best represent college-ready beyond typical academic criteria, such as ACT scores, for this and other similar programs. Further planned research will both present longitudinal findings following from this initial study and seek to replicate the perspectives found here. For this study, 42 students that were at the rank of high school sophomore and junior at the end of the 2011- 2012 academic year sorted 51 statements that pertained to their experiences and perspectives of being an ECHS student. The study found two factors: College Ready and Academically Immature. Implications of these results are discussed.

This project is a palimpsest of resonances and recollections springing from my core questioning around how young adolescent girls see themselves in the future and how the experience of elective subject selection in the middle years of schooling plays into their imaginings. The journeying I take runs along rhizomatic intensities inspired by the writing of Gilles Deleuze (1990, 1993, 2002) and Deleuze with his co-writer Felix Guattari (1986, 1987). Their work, and also the poetic writing of Helene Cixous (1993, 1997, 2010a), has provoked me towards understandings of re-presentation in educational research and has encouraged me to experiment with ways I can re-present my re-presentations differently. Involving the data-stories of thirteen girls who were interviewed and invited to complete drawings on two, three or four occasions between their second and final years of high school and first year out of school, the project takes up Deleuze and Guattari’s (1987) notions of ‘becoming’ from students attending two very different Australian non-government schools. The first is ‘Wilton College’, an economically and socially privileged girls’ school which aims to propel students to university. The second is ‘Australis School’, a co-educational, performing arts school which offers regular school matriculation as well as semi-professional performing arts training. I explore ways Deleuzo-Guattarian notions of becomings, rhizomes and lines of flight are brought into language in these contexts so as to allow me to engage, more insightfully, with the students as they tell stories about who (and how) they see themselves becoming in the future. A line of flight stemming from my own becoming-researcher, a notion I reference as becoming-my-self-researcher, is another line I explore; one triggered by my experience of writing a - but more emphatically this - thesis. The trembling rhizomatic lines of thesis writing contribute significantly to my interest in re-thinking the (this) thesis text through an entanglement in the messiness of research as I seize the opportunity to consider my own language an example of minor literature (Bogue, 1997; Deleuze & Guattari, 1986); a generative, generous and productive space of play. The texts traversing the space of this thesis include pictures the girls drew of themselves in the future; artworks by Australian women artists I first learnt about during my own high school years and to which I now re-respond; poetry I have constructed from interview transcripts and poetry which bursts from the thesis; memories of my own becoming which come flooding back; and an imaginary playscript through which a discussion on my thesis takes place. Alongside these texts is a style of writing concerned with experimenting with and experiencing the ‘and, and, and’ so often a part of Deleuzo-Guattarian studies. My writing comes from spaces where multiple readings are part of the ‘and, and, and’ data-scape and where my positionality as researcher is folded into a craftwork of fabric, stitches and pockets. The new surfaces to which I adhere, and which adhere to me (such as poetry-writer, such as image-reader), move into fluidity as my seasonal need for garments change. For example, as realised in Lines throughout this work, my literature collection, far from being a fixed and striated archival document, my literature moves me towards investigations into poetic writing, ballet and embodiment which are already suggesting new beginnings. This, then, is a thesis of multiples with thread-lines interlacing its different parts (sections) and stitching which tightens or relaxes allowing different notions, or undersides, to show. And, at times, as with tangles of threads, it can get messy. The central metaphors of folding, pockets, sewing, stitching, knitting, patchworking, quilting, creasing and weaving offer this thesis its ‘many interlacings [and] mixes’ (Deleuze & Guattari, 1987, p. 476); its colour, texture, embellishment and form. The thesis concludes as it opens, amidst the Deleuzo-Guattarian process of becoming, in spaces seeking to produce no particular finished item. ‘What is real’, Deleuze and Guattari (1987, p. 238) write, ‘is the becoming itself’ which helps to make sense of both the stories of the girls in my study and my own evolving becoming-my-self-researcher. Margaret Atwood (1998, p. 298), author of the novel Alias Grace, offers a beginning of sorts when she writes, ‘It’s only afterwards that it becomes anything like a story at all. When you are telling it, to yourself or to someone’, which offers a provocative place to be - and to begin.

This qualitative study considered the development of a commitment to antiracist activism among Black and Latinx adolescents (n = 50) over 4 years of high school. Four waves of interviews with participating adolescents were analysed using a critical consciousness framework to consider participants' descriptions of their developing commitment to antiracist activism and the factors contributing to this development. From these analyses emerged five different trajectories of adolescents' developing commitment to activism that included steady growth over 4 years of high school, more sudden growth in the final years of high school, steady growth in the beginning years of high school followed by subsequent disengagement, and, finally, students whose commitments remained consistently high or low throughout high school.

SummaryEducation in Japan is segmented into 6 years of elementary school, 3 years of junior high school, 3 years of high school, and 4 years of university, with elementary and junior high education compulsory. Polymer education in Japan starts at the elementary school level, where the iodine‐starch reaction is taught, typically as hands‐on, experimental lessons in a science class. At the high school level, the concepts of “polymers” and “polymerization” are taught in chemistry class but not in detail. Details are treated as optional subjects in the curriculum and are not included in university entrance exams; students generally do not choose to spend much time and efforts on subjects that are not applicable to the exams. Polymer science is taught as an independent subject or an area of organic chemistry or material science at the university level.

Objectives The purpose of this study is to examine the trend of changes in adolescents' physical activity using data on adolescents' physical activity over the past five years from the first year of middle school to the second year of high school. In addition, it is intended to provide basic data for improving healthy physical activity by checking how the participation time of adolescent survey participants who experienced the COVID-19 epidemic has changed. Methods This is a secondary analysis study using data from the ‘Korean Children and Youth Panel Survey 2018’. Analyses were conducted using descriptive statistics, frequency analysis, correlation analysis, and latent growth model analysis with the SPSS/AMOS 25 program. Results First, The average physical activity time of adolescents decreased each year from middle school to high school, but remained at similar levels during the first and second years of high school. Second, The physical activity during the first and second years of middle school showed the highest positive correlation, while the correlation between the first year of middle school and the second year of high school was the lowest. Third, the latent growth model analysis showed that a nonlinear change model was more appropriate than a linear change model for the trends in adolescent physical activity. Specifically, the decrease in average physical activity time was pronounced during the middle school years and became more gradual during the high school years. Lastly, the changes in physical activity before and after the COVID-19 pandemic were significant, and the reduced levels of physical activity persisted thereafter. Conclusions Changes in adolescent physical activity were related to transitions between school levels, with particularly rapid changes observed before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. This highlights the need for appropriate encouragement of physical activity tailored to the growth stages of adolescents and active measures to enhance physical activity levels that declined after the COVID-19 pandemic.

This study examined longitudinal changes in grit between general and vocational high school students in Daegu, from middle school through high school. Using data from the Daegu Education Longitudinal Study(2017-2021), we tracked students for five years, from their first year of middle school to their second year of high school. To analyze the developmental trajectory of grit, we employed a mixed design (split-plot design) with time points as the within-subject factor (5 levels) and high school type (general vs. vocational) as the between-subject factor. The findings revealed that students attending vocational high schools were more likely to face long-distance commuting challenges compared to their peers in general high schools, highlighting the need for commuting support policies and improvements in the educational environment of vocational high schools. Overall, students in Daegu exhibited a declining trend in grit over time, with general high school students showing a particularly sharp decrease during the second year of middle school. This underscores the importance of strengthening emotional support systems and regularly monitoring students' psychological well-being. In contrast, vocational high school students demonstrated a significant increase in perseverance of effort at the point of high school entry but experienced a decline to levels comparable to general high school students by their second year of high school. These findings emphasize the need for pre-admission career counseling tailored to students' aptitudes and interests, as well as stepwise goal-setting programs to sustain perseverance of effort over the long term. Furthermore, the consistency of interests, a component of grit, showed a consistent decline over time regardless of high school type. Given the theoretical ambiguity and issues with discriminant validity in this dimension, further in-depth research is needed.

Background: The interactions between behavior, environment and personal factors are the basis of the Social Cognitive Theory (Bandura, A. 1986. Social Foundations of Thought and Action. NJ: Prentice Halls). Within this theory, students’ behavior and motivation toward an activity is dependent on their feelings, thoughts and beliefs (Lodewyck and Pybus 2013. “Investigating Factors in the Retention of Students in High School Physical Education.” Journal of Teaching in Physical Education 32 (1): 61–77). Physical education can provide attractive contexts to promote students’ learning, but this depends on the teachers’ ability to offer them relevant educational experiences (Bailey, R. 2018. “Sport, Physical Education and Educational Worth.” Educational Review 70 (1): 51–66). Meaningful physical education is a pedagogical approach whose aim is to help teachers design significant experiences for all students (Beni, S., T. Fletcher, and D. Ní Chróinín. 2022. “‘It’s not a Linear Thing; There are a Lot of Intersecting Circles’: Factors Influencing Teachers’ Implementation of Meaningful Physical Education.” Teaching and Teacher Education 117: 103806). Physical education is a compulsory subject in Spain, but it is not included in the final year of high school. In 2018, one autonomous community decided to offer it as an elective subject in this course. Scholars and institutions claim for more hours of physical education. But, what about the students? Do they really want more? Purpose: The goal of the present study was to uncover the reasons why students selected, or not, physical education when it was included as an elective subject in their final year of high school. Participants and settings: A total of 795 year-13 students (17–18 years), enrolled in 13 different high schools participated. 444 (55.8%) had not selected physical education (61.71% females), while 351 (44.2%) did selected it (44.44% females). Convenience sampling was used to include participants, considering the possibilities of the researchers to access them. Research design: The study followed an ex post facto, transversal, prospective research design to gather data in a single time point (Cohen, L., K. Manion, and K. Morrison. 2011. Research Methods in Education. Routledge). Within this framework, a qualitative research design was selected to obtain rich, detailed, and heavily contextualized information from the source (Creswell, J. W. 2013. Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing among Five Approaches. Sage). The participants responded to an open-ended question 3–4 weeks after the beginning of the school year to ‘fully explain the reason(s) for (not) selecting physical education in the final year of high school’. The qualitative software package MAXQDA 11 was used to help with data administration. Results: The deep analysis of the participants’ responses produced five themes for not selecting physical education (from strong to weak): academic stress, negative experiences, out-of-school physical activity, timetable, and importance, and four themes for selecting it: grade point average, importance, sport, and positive experiences. Conclusions: Results indicate that many students would eliminate physical education from their timetables if they had the chance. In many cases, it does not provide meaningful experiences, which produces low domain value. If physical education wants to survive as an academic subject in the schools, it must listen to its students, and attend their demands.

We interviewed the disabled adults to establish how respite care can help disabled children to become independent. The participants’ respite care experiences began with “difficulties of receiving care from nonparent caregivers” in their elementary/junior high school years to “getting to know the worker(s) they could trust” and “making friends for life”. From their high school years onwards, respite care started to become the opportunity to “choose their caregivers”, “interact with their seniors with the same disabilities and build hopes for their own future” and “continue training towards their independence”. Furthermore, it transpired that the participants’ outlook on respite care reached the current status of “living with hope” via “understanding of and conflict with parents’ feelings” in their elementary to high school years and “emotional independence from parents” in their high school years. The study showed that disabled children could earn their abilities of “care management” and “social living” and build the chance of “independence from parents” through the use of respite care. This result points to the educative contribution of respite care to the development and independence of disabled children.