Development and application of a five-tier diagnostic test to assess misconceptions on Life cycle of cells among senior high school students in Mainland China

Systematic review and meta-analysis of published prevalence of scoliosis among primary and middle school students in Mainland China. To evaluate the prevalence of scoliosis among primary and middle school students in Mainland China. There is substantial uncertainty regarding the prevalence of scoliosis in Mainland China among the primary and middle school students. We conducted a systematic review aiming to describe the prevalence of scoliosis in Mainland China. We systematically reviewed the published epidemiological studies or reports on the prevalence of scoliosis in Chinese cities. Scopus, PubMed, WanFang Database, CNKI, China National Science and Technology Digital Library, and WeiPu Database were searched for studies reporting a prevalence estimate for scoliosis in primary and middle school students. Meta-analyses were performed to estimate the pooled prevalence of scoliosis by STATA 12.0. Subgroup analyses were conducted according to the sex, age, and geographical area. A total of 38 articles, including 697,043 patients, were eligible for inclusion in this review. Meta-analyses revealed the prevalence of scoliosis to be 1.02% (95% [confidence interval] CI, 0.85-1.18) among the primary and middle school students in Mainland China. The female to male ratio was 1.54 (95% CI, 1.35-1.74; P < 0.001). According to the subgroup analysis by different ages, the prevalence of scoliosis increased from 0.73% (95% CI, 0.55-0.90) to 1.14% (95% CI, 0.86-1.42). Meta-analyses showed that the prevalence of scoliosis in Mainland China was 1.02% among the primary and middle school students. The prevalence of scoliosis in females was higher than in males and the ratio was 1.54. As they grew older, the prevalence of scoliosis increased in the students.

This study designed and validated the Engineering Thinking Assessment Scale (ETAS) to assess the engineering thinking of senior high school students in mainland China and to explore the correlation between their self-efficacy in different engineering thinking elements and their practical performance. The ETAS, comprising 28 items, was designed through four phases: defining dimensions, designing, pilot testing, and final assessment. Each item includes two tiers: the emotional tendency tier, measuring self-efficacy, and the practical performance tier, assessing actual application in engineering projects. A study with 510 students (485 valid responses) confirmed the scale's strong reliability and validity. While most students demonstrated above-average engineering thinking, higher self-efficacy did not consistently translate to better performance. Notably, 10 engineering thinking elements showed weak correlations (0.2 &amp;lt; |r| &amp;lt; 0.3) between self-efficacy and performance, indicating confidence without effective application. This study offers a detailed evaluation of engineering thinking abilities, highlighting gaps between perceived and actual competency in specific engineering elements.

Development and Application of a Five-Tier Diagnostic Test to Assess Misconceptions on Respiration and Photosynthesis among Senior High School Students in Mainland China

This study aimed to quantitatively determine the sociocultural adaptation profiles of ethnic minority senior high school students in mainland China. A large-scale questionnaire survey of 1873 Grade 12 students from 31 interior ethnic boarding schools throughout China was conducted. Through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, the underlying structure of the sociocultural adaptation questionnaire was uncovered as consisting of three domains and six factors: General adaptation (daily life and school management), academic adaption (learning strategies and learning self-efficacy), and interaction adaptation (interethnic contact and cultural identity). By performing latent class analysis, four distinct sociocultural adaptation profiles of students were distinguished: The well-adapted group (28.0%), the general adaptation group (31.0%), the interaction adaptation group (24.4%), and the maladaptation group (16.6%). The results of chi-squared and variance analyses showed that the sociocultural adaptation profiles of ethnic minority senior high school students were significantly related to sociodemographic variables, such as ethnicity, class organization, hometown location, and family socioeconomic status. These profiles can be used to evaluate changes in ethnic minority students’ sociocultural adaptation and will contribute to the perfection of the ethnic minority boarding school system and the ultimate realization of inclusive and equitable quality education in China.

Impact of a positive youth development program on junior high school students in mainland China: A pioneer study

Student engagement mattered a lot in student development across different domains. Researchers have attempted to facilitate it through either implementing interventions or examining influencing factors. This study explores how students’ self-determination is related to their engagement, by administering the AIR and the Student Engagement Scale to 214 deaf or hard-of-hearing (DHH) school students in mainland China. Results showed that participants with higher levels of self-determination scored higher on student engagement, while those with lower levels scored lower. This research pioneers in exploring the relationships between self-determination and student engagement among DHH school students in mainland China. However, all the DHH participants are educated in secondary schools for the deaf. This research employed senior students majoring in sign language instead of professional interpreters to administer the inventories, which may have influenced the results. This research indicated that university/school administrators, counsellors and teachers may provide more opportunities in or after class for students to handle tasks that require freedom and independence, or by encourage students to deal with more complex and less structured activities. DHH students may actively learn new things or assimilating surrounding information, which may help them to deal successfully with engagement tasks, and consequently increase their engagement.

The prevalence of sufficient physical activity among primary and high school students in Mainland China: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

This study investigates the learning situation of senior high school students in mainland China about acquisition of transferred negation of English sentence structure. Through translation test and questionnaire investigation, a survey is made about this language learning phenomenon among 173 students. From the study it is found that students mainly have problems with the typical kind of transferred negation sentences, the negation caused by the predicative in the matrix clause, the negation of because-clause, the negation of infinitive structure or the objective complements and so on. The language foundation of English has no direct relation to whether students are familiar with transferred negation structure. There exists a very clear difference between students from different schools for some sentences and students from the same class tend to make mistakes in the same kind of transferred negation sentences. Female students have an advantage over male students in the translation test. Some factors like the habits of Chinese expression have great effects on students’ understanding of the structure.

With the rapid development of Chinas economy, the exchanges between China and the outside world are becoming increasingly close, and the exchanges in education are no exception. More and more Chinese families choose to send their children to study abroad, and China has become the largest source of international students in the world. However, for a long time, the difficulty of applying for prestigious universities has increased year by year, and the problems such as the increase in living costs still exist objectively. In order to fully understand the real reasons why high school students choose to study abroad, as well as the fundamental reasons why the number of Chinese students choose to study abroad is not decreasing but increasing during the epidemic period, this study is based on Otterbachs push-pull theory, and adopts literature analysis and interview method to conduct case analysis. The research objects are overseas undergraduate students and international high school students in mainland China. Through the research, it is found that the social causes of Chinese high school students choosing to study abroad mainly stem from two factors: different education systems and students surrounding environment.

Psychological disorders have become increasingly prevalent [Liang, 2021]. Among 875 cases, 33.03% of high school students in Mainland China possess some psychological problems [Liang, 2021]. Research has shown that successful musical engagement positively affects physical, social, educational, cognitive, and emotional health [Wang (2022).]. Unfortunately, Chinese teenagers aren't thoroughly studied the connection between musical training and mental health [Pang et al. (2017)]. Also, no statistically significant association between music playing and psychological well-being is seen in previous research [Wesseldijk et al. (2019)]. So, this study investigates how time spent practicing musical instruments influences the intensity of jitteriness among high school teenagers (15~18 years old) to provide insights about mental health-directed musical education in mainland China. A web-based, cross-sectional survey was conducted with a convenience and snowball sample of 200 teenagers from mainland China across 11 provinces. Models were conducted hierarchically using linear regression. In the univariate model, time spent practicing musical instruments weekly was associated negatively with the intensity of jitteriness (β=-0.151, p-value=0.033). In the multivariant model, participants' time spent practicing musical instruments per week was significantly and negatively associated with the intensity of jitteriness (β=-0.312, p-value=0.001), adjusted for confounding variables: total time spent on playing musical instruments, positive emotion intensity, negative emotion intensity (other than jittery), and age. The model was built using simple linear regression with r2=0.267. This study shows a significant negative association between weekly time spent practicing musical instruments and the intensity of negative emotions.

This study used structural equation modeling to examine the relationships of family socioeconomic status (SES), parent–adolescent conflict, and filial piety to family functioning among middle school and high school students in mainland China. A total of 2,341 students (1,218 girls and 1,096 boys; mean age = 15.42) completed the Chinese Family Assessment Instrument, Family Status Survey, Parent–adolescent Conflict Scale, and Filial Piety Scale. The main results showed that: (a) family SES, parent–adolescent conflict, and filial piety were significantly linked to family functioning; (b) parent–adolescent conflict and filial piety contributed more to family functioning than family SES; (c) parent–adolescent conflict mediated the relationship between reciprocal filial piety and family functioning. The results promote understanding of family processes that influence the relationships between family SES, parent–adolescent conflict, filial piety, and family functioning among middle school and high school adolescents in mainland China.

Objectives: Based on 859 student diaries, the present study evaluated a positive youth development program entitled “Tin Ka Ping (TKP) Positive Adolescent Training through Holistic Social programs (P.A.T.H.S.) ” project implemented in mainland China during the 2015–2016 academic year. Method: To understand the perceived effectiveness of the students, the study analyzed quantitative as well as qualitative data derived from the student diaries. Results: The students held very positive views toward the program and the implementers. The narratives of the students also showed that they perceived improvement in the intrapersonal, interpersonal, familial, and societal domains after joining the program. Conclusion: In conjunction with the subjective outcome evaluation findings, the present findings suggest that the “TKP P.A.T.H.S.” project is able to promote holistic development of secondary school students in mainland China.

The authors would like to make the following corrections to the published paper [...]

This paper reviews selected literature published since 2000 to explore the increasing concern among scholars and educators in Mainland China, regarding the phenomenon of “dumb English” among secondary school students. Existing research primarily analyses the main causes of “dumb English” from the perspectives of deficiencies in English teaching in rural areas, the absence of native language culture in English instruction, deviations in students’ focus during oral English training, and psychological factors, etc. Corresponding strategies have been proposed to address these issues. Future research could focus on adjusting and optimizing the traditional English teaching models and evaluation systems in secondary school classrooms.

Teacher feedback occurs in almost every lesson and is increasingly seen as a key factor in student performance. How do students, as the recipients of feedback, perceive teacher feedback? This study aimed to investigate middle and high school students perception of teacher feedback practices in mathematics. Survey data were collected from 1,087 students (647 middle school students and 440 high school students) in three schools in mainland China. The results indicated that middle school students viewed feedback perceptions more positively than high school students, with boys reporting higher levels of feedback perceptions than girls. Further, implications for future research are discussed.