Middle Schools In China Research Articles

Research on Mathematics Extracurricular Activities in Middle School in China

Mathematics extracurricular activities are not only conducive to students’ all-round development, but also a beneficial supplement to the current classroom teaching. In this study, 30 pieces of literature on mathematics extracurricular activities in middle school from 1993 to 2022 were selected from the database of China Knowledge Network（CNKI) as the data source. This paper qualitatively analyzed the literature to summarize and sort out the previous research and found that: (1) Current domestic studies mainly focus on the following four aspects: classification, forms and content of mathematics extracurricular activities; organizing principles of mathematics extracurricular activities; issues needing attention in mathematics extracurricular activities; evaluation of mathematics extracurricular activities. (2) The forms of mathematics extracurricular activities are various, mainly including extracurricular mathematics groups, mathematics special lectures, etc. The principles of organizing mathematics extracurricular activities have been studied very thoroughly. Previous studies have mainly discussed the issues needing attention from activity implementation, content selection, students and teachers. There are few studies on the evaluation of mathematics extracurricular activities. (3) Researchers mainly collected data based on observation and experience, and some researchers draw conclusions based on theoretical speculation or teaching experience, lacking strict experimental verification. Therefore, future research needs to adopt more scientific research tools, expand the scope of research, increase verification research, and give more scientific and effective suggestions, to make this research more comprehensive, systematic and profound.

Violent Video Game Exposure and Problem Behaviors among Children and Adolescents: The Mediating Role of Deviant Peer Affiliation for Gender and Grade Differences.

Based on problem behavior theory, a mediation model for gender and grade differences is explored in this study. The study examined gender and grade differences in the effects of violent video games and deviant peer affiliation on problem behaviors among children and adolescents. A total of 2118 children and adolescents from four primary and middle schools in China (M age = 13.08, SD = 2.17) were surveyed using an anonymous questionnaire on basic information, exposure to violent video games, deviant peer affiliation, and problem behaviors. The results showed that exposure to violent video games significantly positively predicted problem behaviors, and deviant peer affiliation played a mediating role. Significant gender and grade differences were found in the mediating effect. This finding helps understand the individual differences in the influencing factors of problem behaviors. Further, it has important implications for interventions to reduce problem behaviors among children and adolescents.

How is circadian preference associated with cyber-victimization? A moderated mediation model of hostile recognition and online self-disclosure in Chinese early adolescent students.

Although circadian preference is widely accepted to be a risk factor in the increase of adolescents' negative experiences, little is known about its association with cyber-victimization. The current study sought to examine whether eveningness was significantly related to adolescents' negative experiences. We further examined in-victimization events and whether hostile recognition and online self-disclosure played a vital role in eveningness and adolescents' cyber-victimization. Study participants included 583 adolescents from four middle schools in China who completed questionnaires regarding their circadian preference, hostile recognition, online self-disclosure, and experience with cyber-victimization. Results indicated that adolescents with a high level of eveningness were more likely to experience cyber-victimization. Hostile recognition significantly mediated the relationship between eveningness and adolescents' cyber-victimization. Furthermore, online self-disclosure moderated the indirect relationship between eveningness and cyber-victimization. Specifically, the paths from eveningness to hostile recognition and from hostile recognition to cyber-victimization became strengthened when adolescents experienced high levels of online self-disclosure. The results imply that researchers should pay more attention to remote factors, such as adolescents' circadian preference and their relationship with cyber-victimization, to help them adapt to school requirements and reduce the frequency of victimization.

Peer discrimination toward rural migrant students and academic performance in urban China: A machine learning approach

Rural students migrating to cities in China encounter discrimination from their local peers, largely due to the institution known as Hukou. Using micro-level data from urban middle schools in China, we confirm that peer discrimination toward migrant students is negatively associated with the academic performance. We perform a simulation study using a novel machine learning technique to generate synthetic data where the bias in the original data is removed. Our finding shows the negative association disappears when students are exposed to a setting that mitigates discrimination. For policy implication, this study implies that practices to increase migrants' awareness of discrimination or reduce locals' unfavorable behavior would be helpful. Such practices should be multidimensional, with students, teachers, and schools.

The roles of gratitude and mindfulness between cyberbullying perpetration and depression among children in rural China: A moderated mediation model.

Previous literature suggests that gratitude and mindfulness-based intervention could effectively abate stressful life events, while the associations with cyberbullying perpetration have not been investigated. Little is known about the mechanisms of this association, especially for children who lack sufficient parental protection. The current study aimed to examine the roles of mindfulness and gratitude in the relationship between cyberbullying perpetration and depression among children and adolescents. This study employed data from a school-based survey conducted in 2018, in which 1298 students aged 9-16 years were randomly selected from three elementary and middle schools in China. The moderated mediation effects of gratitude and mindfulness on the relationship between cyberbullying perpetration and depression were examined through PROCESS model. Results showed that mindfulness mediated the relationship between cyberbullying perpetration and depression, while gratitude moderated and weakened the relationship. The findings may offer insights into the awareness and intervention programs regarding positive psychological mechanisms to reduce cyberbullying perpetration among children and adolescents in China.

Do classroom teachers matter for academic achievement of students? Evidence from random assignment of students to teachers in China

ABSTRACT In China’s middle schools, each class is assigned both subject teachers who only instruct students on specific course and one classroom teacher who not only teaches in class but also provides out-class-support. This study evaluates whether classroom teachers are more effective than subject teachers in improving students’ academic performance. To examine the causal effect of the classroom teacher, I take the advantage of data that students are randomly assigned to classes in middle schools in China and exploit the within-teacher variation given a teacher acting as a classroom teacher for his or her own class but also giving lectures to other class(es) as a subject teacher in one term in China. The findings show that a classroom teacher has a significant positive effect on the students’ test scores in his or her own class compared with other classes he or she teaches. I further investigate the possible mechanisms and find that classroom teachers tend to have more interactions with their own class both inside class and outside class beyond giving lectures than with other classes they teach. This study provides insights for understanding the effect of teacher support outside class on students’ academic outcomes.

Academic Anxiety, Self-Regulated Learning Ability, and Self-Esteem in Chinese Candidates for College Entrance Examination During the COVID-19 Outbreak: A Survey Study.

PurposeThe novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has become a challenge for adolescents in China. This study aimed to explore the relationship between academic anxiety and self-esteem in Chinese candidates preparing for the college entrance examination during the COVID-19 pandemic and to examine the mechanism of mediating effect of self-regulated learning ability.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted among 293 college entrance examination candidates (including 170 females) from two middle schools in China using a voluntary, web-based, and anonymous questionnaire implemented via the Questionnaire Star app during COVID-19 prevalence in 2020.ResultsThis study found that 1) students in the high and low academic anxiety groups had different levels of self-regulated learning ability and self-esteem, 2) the academic anxiety, self-regulated learning ability, and self-esteem levels of students were significantly correlated and 3) after controlling the two independent variables of gender and subject type, academic anxiety had a significant negative predictive effect on self-esteem, and self-regulated learning ability played a mediating role between academic anxiety and self-esteem, where the mediating effect was 18.6%.ConclusionBased on the observations of the present study, self-regulated learning capacity was a mediator between academic anxiety and self-esteem. These findings suggest an underlying process by which low academic anxiety may increase self-esteem in candidates preparing for the college entrance examination by increasing self-regulated learning ability.

Existing Problems and Development Countermeasures of Biology Teaching in Rural Middle Schools

At present, with the rapid development of biology, the national basic education also pays more and more attention to the biology curriculum, updates the educational concept, and implements the curriculum reform, which has significantly improved the quality of biology teaching in middle school. However, due to the uneven distribution of educational resources between urban and rural areas, there is still a big gap in biology teaching between rural and urban areas. This paper mainly analyzes the main problems of biology teaching in rural middle schools through literature research and combined with the current teaching situation of several rural middle schools in Henan Province. The results show that the problems existing in biology teaching in rural middle schools mainly focus on three aspects: teachers, biology experiment teaching, and the development and utilization of biology curriculum resources. This paper aims to investigate and study the main problems existing in biology teaching in rural middle schools, and then put forward targeted development countermeasures to improve the quality of biology teaching in rural middle schools and narrow the teaching gap between urban and rural areas. Such as strengthening the construction of biology teachers and promoting teachers’ professional development, changing the concept of biological experiments,s and strengthening the construction of laboratories, on the basis of making full use of school resources, vigorously developing natural resources, and network resources. The number of rural middle schools in China is huge and the teaching situation is complex. Therefore, this study is not comprehensive. It is the problem of most rural schools, not all schools. Rural education is the weak point of Chinese education, and biology teaching is the weak point of rural education. Analyzing the existing main problems of biology teaching in rural middle schools and putting forward development countermeasures can not only enrich the theoretical research of rural education, but also provide reference for the teaching practice of rural teachers.

Social Anxiety and Subjective Quality of Life Among Chinese Left-Behind Children: The Mediating Role of Social Support.

The issue of left-behind children has become a key focus in China. In this study, we investigate the mediating role of social support between social anxiety and the subjective quality of life among left-behind children in China (N = 379, Mage = 13.65). A total of 710 junior high school students were recruited using clustering random sampling from five middle schools in China and investigated using the Social Anxiety Scale for Children, Social Support Rating Scale for Adolescents, and Inventory of Subjective Life Quality. The results show that social anxiety is negatively associated with social support and subjective quality of life, and social support is positively correlated with subjective quality of life. In addition, social support partially mediates the relationship between social anxiety and subjective quality of life. In conclusion, these findings provide new insights to improve the subjective quality of life of left-behind children. The focus should be on alleviating social anxiety and increasing social support in order to help left-behind children improve their subjective quality of life.

The Effects of Blended Learning on Foreign Language Learners’ Oral English Competence

Attainment of oral competence is an important goal for English teaching and learning in middle schools in China. However, the level of Chinese middle school students’ oral proficiency is in general less than satisfactory. To find a possible solution to this issue, this study empirically investigated the effect of blended learning on the development of foreign language learners’ oral English competence. Following the blended model and the four-step pedagogical method for teaching speaking (Wang, 2014), the experimental class, consisting of 46 junior middle school students, participated in this study and took a pretest, an immediate post-test, a delayed post-test, and an interview. Their test scores were compared with the control class which involved 45 junior middle school students receiving the traditional teaching method and following the same procedure. The results showed that the blended learning method had remarkable effect on the improvement of oral accuracy and fluency, but not complexity. In addition, the blended environment facilitates the encoding process of the input and the actualization of the transition from object- and other-regulation to self-regulation.

Sustainability Education in China: Lessons Learnt from the Teaching of Geography

Since its emergence, the concept of sustainability has been incorporated in geography education across the globe. China is no exception. As one of the pioneer countries in advocating environmental protection, the Chinese government has called for a paradigm shift in pedagogies in order to encourage students to effectively learn the concept and develop their ability to think in new ways, especially engaging themselves with contemporary worldviews. However, many teachers may feel that they are incapable of teaching sustainability. Therefore, it is important to examine whether subject teachers have the ability to implement sustainability education. To fill this research gap, the present research focused on a case study of an in-service Chinese geography teacher teaching sustainability in a junior middle school in China. In order to deeply understand his teaching, this research adopted the form of interviews, supplemented by the analysis of relevant teaching documents. The results indicated that the two themes taught in the seventh and eighth grades, respectively, involved mainly environmental sustainability with some connection to economic sustainability, but fell short of socio-cultural sustainability. This study calls for more sustainability elements in geography curriculums, particularly with the inclusion of socio-cultural sustainability. In this article, research and practical implications have been given.

Experimental Study on the Influence of “Active Campus” Plan on Physical Fitness and Sports Interest

The exploration of “Activity Campus” action plan for elementary and middle schools in China has been gradually prevailed, but the impact of this plan on students has not been clarified. Based on this, this study is to explores the impact of the "Activity Campus" action plan on students' physical fitness and sport learning interest through research in “Activity Campus” plan, and provides theoretical support for implementation of the “Activity Campus” plan. 164 fourth-grade students from Shandong Province participate in this experiment, 80 in the experimental group and 84 in the control group. The Primary School Students’ Sports Learning Interest Scale was used to investigate the changes in students' mental health and the Physical Health Test Standard was used to measure students' physical and health levels. The scale and measurement tools have high reliability. At the same time, using independent sample T test analyze the data before and after experiment by spss21.0. For physical fitness level, no significant difference between experimental group and control group in the BMI, 50-meter run, one-minute skipping rope, one-minute sit-ups, and total physical fitness scores before the experiment. After the experiment, the control group had significant differences in vital capacity, 50-meter running, one-minute sit-ups, and total physical fitness for sports learning interest, also no significant difference between experimental group and control group before experiment among the degree of sports participation, positive interest in sports learning, negative interest in sports learning, degree of autonomous learning, and total score in sports learning interest. After experiment, there were significant differences between experimental group and control group in all of above. The research results show that “Activity Campus” plan can effectively improve students' physical fitness and health in terms of speed, strength, endurance, and flexibility, and can effectively improve students' interest in participating in sports and their ability to learn independently. This shows that implementation of the “Activity Campus” action plan in China has certain practical significance.

An Analytic Research on Transmission of Traditional Chinese Culture Reflected in National Music Curriculum Standards and Textbooks for Middle Schools in China

The traditional Chinese culture occupies an important position in Chinese school education, reflecting its historical, cultural, and spiritual connotations, and laying an important foundation for the younger generation to identify and belong to the country. In order to ensure the important task of Chinese education, schools must integrate traditional Chinese culture into curriculum and teaching materials, cooperate with the national talent policy, implement education and teaching, and cultivate students with Chinese cultural qualities. This is a very important part of school education. In this context, this study combines traditional Chinese culture with music discipline and classifies them according to the content, educational goals, and ideological connotations of traditional culture. Combined with the specific situation of the implementation, this research, based on the nova classification, uses mapping as the main method to study the situation of traditional Chinese culture in the junior high school curriculum and teaching materials. By analyzing the situation of different types of traditional Chinese culture in courses and teaching materials, it is found that Chinese courses and teaching materials have a certain penetration and integration of different content of Chinese culture, but there are also some problems, such as the content is not comprehensive enough, and a relatively extensive abstraction is required, etc.

The General Theory of Crime Revisited: Comparing the Relative Effects of Parental Responsiveness and Parental Behavioral Control on Aggressive and Nonaggressive Antisocial Behavior in Adolescence

ABSTRACT Using data collected from middle schools in China in 2018, we extend the general theory of crime beyond its focus on low self-control as the leading cause of all crimes and compare the relative impact of parental behavioral control and parental responsiveness on adolescent antisocial behavior. We highlight the etiological distinctions between aggressive and nonaggressive antisocial behavior and find that maternal responsiveness reduces adolescents’ aggressive antisocial behavior through fostering students’ self-control and reduces nonaggressive antisocial behavior through boosting students’ self-esteem.

Effects of the Problem-Oriented Learning Model on Middle School Students' Computational Thinking Skills in a Python Course.

The rapid development of computers and technology affects modern daily life. Individuals in the digital age need to develop computational thinking (CT) skills. Existing studies have shown that programming teaching is conducive to cultivating students’ CT, and various learning models have different effects on the cultivation of CT. This study proposed a problem-oriented learning (POL) model that is closely related to programming and computational thinking. In all, 60 eighth-grade students from a middle school in China were divided into an experimental group (EG) which adopted the POL model, and a control group (CG) which adopted the lecture-and-practice (LAP) learning model. The results showed that the students who were instructed using the POL model performed better than those who were instructed using the LAP model on CT concepts, CT practices, and CT perspectives. Significant differences were found for CT concepts and CT perspectives, but not for CT practices. Findings have implications for teachers who wish to apply new learning models to facilitate students’ CT skills, and the study provides a reference case for CT training and Python programming teaching.

Parenting Styles, Depressive Symptoms, and Problematic Online Game Use in Adolescents: A Developmental Cascades Model.

Abundant empirical research has demonstrated the relationship between parenting style and adolescent problematic online game use (POGU), but the direction and underlying mechanism of this association remain unclear. Using a 1-year longitudinal design across three time points, the present study explored interrelations among parenting styles, depressive symptoms, and POGU from the theoretical perspective of the developmental cascade model and examined whether depressive symptoms mediate the relationship between parenting style and POGU. A sample of 1,041 children was recruited from two junior middle schools in China, of which 46.3% were boys. Results confirmed the cascade effects and showed that the reciprocal effect of parenting style, depressive symptoms, and POGU was significant, and parental control and POGU can predict each other via depressive symptoms. Knowledge regarding the direct and underlying mechanisms between parenting style, depressive symptoms, and POGU provides reference suggestions for the prevention and intervention of adolescent depressive symptoms and problematic online game use.

The Influence of Bullying Behavior on Depression in Middle School Students: A Moderated Mediating Effect

This research aims to explore the relationship between bullying and depression in middle school students, and to investigate the role of loneliness and self-esteem. A cluster sampling method was used to sample 554 students from a middle school in China, and OBVQ, CES-D-10, UCLA-6, and SES were used to measure bullying, depression, loneliness, and self-esteem. The results found that bullying behavior can significantly positively predict students’ depression, and loneliness is an intermediary variable in this path; at the same time, when loneliness transforms into depression, it is regulated by the self-esteem level of students, and there is a moderated mediating effect.

Friendship network formation in Chinese middle schools: Patterns of inequality and homophily

Previous studies on adolescent friendship network formation emphasize the roles played by individual characteristics, structural opportunities, and endogenous tie formation processes. This study extends previous studies in three major aspects: 1) developing and testing theories of status differential (i.e., friendship ties are more likely to run from low status subjects to high status subjects than vice versa) and differential homophily (i.e., homophily is stronger between high status subjects than between low status subjects) through modeling tie-mixing effects of individual characteristics, 2) including qualitative analyses to elaborate selected mechanisms, and 3) comparing selected friendship patterns between China and the U.S. The extended framework is applied to analyzing survey data obtained from 4,094 students in six middle schools in China. The results show that friendship ties are unevenly distributed by individual characteristics (status differential is confirmed for five of the seven characteristics examined), there is significant tie homophily (stronger homophily among high status subjects than among low status subjects is observed for five of the seven characteristics examined with three of them being statistically significant), and endogenous tie formation processes such as reciprocity, transitivity, and preferential attachment are strongly present. Although some of these patterns are common to both China and the U.S., there are also notable differences between the two. Lastly, I discuss the implications and limitations of this study.

Profiles of Poor Decoders, Poor Comprehenders, and Typically Developing Readers in Adolescents Learning English as a Second Language

This study examined (a) the identification of various reading groups across languages in Chinese (L1) adolescents learning English as a second language (ESL), in terms of their word-reading and reading comprehension skills, (b) overlap in reading group membership across languages, and (c) the performance of the various reading groups on reading-related language comprehension measures in English. The participants were 246 eighth-grade students from an English-immersion program in a middle school in China. Latent profile analysis identified three reading groups in each language: (a) a typically developing reader group with average or above-average word-reading and reading comprehension, (b) a group with poor decoding/word-reading skills and weak reading comprehension, and (c) a group with poor reading comprehension in the absence of poor decoding/word reading. The overlap in profile characteristics across languages for typically developing readers and poor decoders was high (about 68% for typically developing readers and 54% for poor decoders), whereas the overlap for being poor comprehenders in each language was moderate (about 37%). Furthermore, poor decoders in either language performed more poorly than the typically developing and poor comprehender groups on word reading in the other language, while poor comprehenders in either language performed more poorly than the typically developing and poor decoder groups on reading comprehension in the other language. The comparison of the reading groups’ performance on English reading-related language comprehension measures showed that poor comprehenders and poor decoders performed worse than typically developing readers. Implications for identification and instruction of ESL children with reading difficulties are discussed.

Disabled Peers and Student Performance: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from China

This paper analyzes the academic peer influence of disabled students in the classroom, exploiting the random student–classroom assignment within middle schools in China. We show that the share of disabled students in a class has a significant negative impact on the academic achievement of their non-disabled classmates. This adverse influence remains largely stable over time when the classroom composition stays constant. We further find that the social spillovers of disabled students are attributable to their disability status rather than to their disability-correlated characteristics. An investigation into the mechanisms shows that disabled children lead to worsened learning environment and increased social interactions of their classmates with disruptive peers at school. There is no evidence that disabled children impair the learning efforts or the educational aspirations of non-disabled students in the same classroom.