Mixed-sex Schools Research Articles

Computer Modeling for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Curriculum in Kenya: A Simulation-Based Approach to Science Education

Developed countries have appreciated the importance of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) for scientific and technological development. STEM subjects have been posting low results in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Examinations over the years and we have linked the deteriorating standards to the inappropriate teaching approaches that mainly tend to be teacher-centered and hence compromising the learner-centered approach. Due to the poor teaching methods, we ought to incorporate simulation in science education to foster good grades and this formed the basis of this research. Computation techniques have been applied in many subject areas in tertiary institutions with promising results that tend to be in agreement with experimental data. Our research is a quasi-experimental study and thus we have employed the Solomon-Four-Quasi-Experimental design that enabled us to involve a comparison between two computational groups and two control groups. The control groups served to reduce the influence of confounding variables and allowed us to test whether the pre-test had an effect on our objective. Purposive sampling technique was used to select three schools (A boy school, a girl school and a mixed sex school). Each school was expected to have a computer for simulation. The three schools were further split into four groups (single boy’s school, single girl’s school, boys from the mixed and girls from the mixed school). Each school provided the form one class and a total of 150 students participated. We taught the concept of the periodic table to all the students, the computational groups were taught using the simulations while the control groups were taught using the regular methodology. After we had taught for a period of one month, all the four groups were tested using a tool verified by Kurder-Richardson 21 Formula and the data analyzed using t-test, ANOVA and Origin 9.0. The results showed that the computation groups posted higher scores in the concept of the periodic table. This research points to the fact that there is an urgent need to re-design the teaching of Science, technology, Engineering and Mathematics fields, by incorporating computation techniques to enhance STEMs.

Early Puberty, School Context, and Delinquency Among South Korean Girls.

Compared with chronological age, criminologists have paid less attention to the biological sense of age typically expressed by pubertal development. Studies that have examined pubertal timing's effects on delinquency have almost exclusively been conducted in Western countries using mostly White samples. To our knowledge, no study has ever examined this issue in the Asian context. The current study is the first attempt to bridge this research gap by examining the association among menarcheal timing, the sex composition of schools, and delinquency in a representative sample of 1,108 ninth-grade girls in South Korea. The results show that significant association between early menarche and delinquency exists only in mixed-sex schools but not in all-girls schools. In addition, the significant linkage between early menarche and delinquency in mixed-sex schools is mediated by delinquent peer associations.

Academic Attitudes and Achievement in Students of Urban Public Single-Sex and Mixed-Sex High Schools

Publicly funded single-sex schooling (SSS) has proliferated in recent years and is touted as a remedy to gaps in academic attitudes and achievement, particularly for low-income students of color. Research on SSS is rife with limitations, stemming from selective admissions processes, selection effects related to socioeconomic status, a lack of ethnic diversity among students, and a neglect of boys’ schools. Addressing those concerns, the current study is a quasi-experimental investigation of the academic attitudes and achievement among 11th-grade low-income students of color enrolled in nonselective, urban neighborhood public single-sex and mixed-sex high schools. Students in SSS reported significantly more negative attitudes about English/reading compared to students in mixed-sex schools (MSS), while there were no differences in math or science attitudes. Data from standardized tests indicate that SSS was associated with poorer achievement among boys in reading and math but higher achievement among girls on math, science, reading, and writing.

Initiating change locally in bullying and aggression through the school environment (INCLUSIVE): study protocol for a cluster randomised controlled trial.

BackgroundSystematic reviews suggest that interventions that address school organisation are effective in reducing victimisation and bullying. We successfully piloted a school environment intervention modified from international studies to incorporate ‘restorative justice’ approaches. This trial aims to establish the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the INCLUSIVE intervention in reducing aggression and bullying in English secondary schools.MethodsDesign: cluster randomised trial.Participants: 40 state-supported secondary schools. Outcomes assessed among the cohort of students in year 8 (n = approximately 6,000) in intervention year 1.Intervention: INCLUSIVE is a school-led intervention which combines changes to the school environment with the promotion of social and emotional skills and restorative practices through: the formation of a school action group involving students and staff supported by an external facilitator to review local data on needs, determine priorities, and develop and implement an action plan for revising relevant school policies/rules and other actions to improve relationships at school and reduce aggression; staff training in restorative practices; and a new social and emotional skills curriculum. The intervention will be delivered by schools supported in the first two years by educational facilitators independent of the research team, with a third locally facilitated intervention year.Comparator: normal practice.Outcomes: primary: 2 primary outcomes at student level assessed at baseline and at 36 months: Aggressive behaviours in school: Edinburgh Study of Youth Transitions and Crime school misbehaviour subscale (ESYTC)Bullying and victimisation: Gatehouse Bullying Scale (GBS)Secondary outcomes assessed at baseline, 24 and 36 months will include measures relating to the economic evaluation, psychosocial outcomes in students and staff and school-level truancy and exclusion rates.Sample size: 20 schools per arm will provide 90% power to identify an effect size of 0.25 SD with a 5% significance level.Randomisation: eligible consenting schools will be randomised stratified for single sex versus mixed sex schools, school-level deprivation and measures of school attainment.DiscussionThe trial will be run by independent research and intervention teams and supervised by a Trial Steering Committee and a Data Monitoring Committee (DMC).Trial registrationCurrent Controlled Trials ISRCTN10751359 (Registered 11 March 2014)

Body-esteem of pupils who attended single-sex versus mixed-sex schools: A cross-sectional study of intrasexual competition and peer victimization

In intrasexual competition (competition for reproductive resources), bullying can be viewed as a tool to devalue competitors, gain a high status and a powerful, dominant position in the peer group which may lead to beneficial gains such as access to potential romantic partners. This study investigated the relationship between intrasexual competition, bullying victimization and body-esteem, in single-sex versus mixed-sex schools. 420 participants completed a body-esteem scale, a retrospective bullying questionnaire, and intrasexual competition scales. Our results showed that relational victimization was associated with low body-esteem for both females and males. Females in single-sex schools experienced higher intrasexual competition which in turn was associated with their body-esteem directly and indirectly via relational victimization. In males, intrasexual competition was indirectly associated with body-esteem via relational victimization. Interventions to improve body esteem may focus on reducing intrasexual competition and peer victimization.

The influence of averageness on judgments of facial attractiveness: No own-age or own-sex advantage among children attending single-sex schools

We examined how recent biased face experience affects the influence of averageness on judgments of facial attractiveness among 8- and 9-year-old children attending a girls’ school, a boys’ school, and a mixed-sex school. We presented pairs of individual faces in which one face was transformed 50% toward its group average, whereas the other face was transformed 50% away from that average. Across blocks, the faces varied in age (adult, 9-year-old, or 5-year-old) and sex (male or female). We expected that averageness might influence attractiveness judgments more strongly for same-age faces and, for children attending single-sex schools, same-sex faces of that age because their prototype(s) should be best tuned to the faces they see most frequently. Averageness influenced children’s judgments of attractiveness, but the strength of the influence was not modulated by the age of the face, nor did the effects of sex of face differ across schools. Recent biased experience might not have affected the results because of similarities between the average faces of different ages and sexes and/or because a minimum level of experience with a particular group of faces may be adequate for the formation of a veridical prototype and its influence on judgments of attractiveness. The results suggest that averageness affects children’s judgments of the attractiveness of the faces they encounter in everyday life regardless of age or sex of face.

Girls and science education in Mauritius: a study of science class practices and their effects on girls

Background: The population of Mauritius consists of 52% females and scientific literacy is seen to be of vital importance for all young people if they are to be sufficiently equipped to meet the challenges of a fast changing world. Previous research shows, however, that science is not popular among girls. This paper explores one of many reasons why few girls opt for science subjects after compulsory schooling.Purpose: This study investigated the approaches to teaching in four science classrooms in Mauritius, with particular emphases on the preferences of girls as they learn science.Sample: A total of 20 student interviews and 16 teacher interviews were conducted in four schools in Mauritius. The four mixed-faith schools comprised two all-girl schools (one state, one fee-paying), and two mixed-sex schools (one state, one fee-paying), within urban, suburban and rural situations.Design and method: 80 non-participant lessons were observed, of which 60 were science lessons while the remaining 20 non-science lessons were in economics, accounts and commerce. Group interviews with five pupils in each of the four schools were conducted and 16 individual interviews with teachers in the four schools gave an insight into the pedagogic approaches used for the teaching and learning of science.Results: Transmissive approaches to teaching, giving little opportunity for collaborative or activity-based learning, were found to be the most important factors in alienating the girls from science.Conclusions: There need to be radical changes in approaches to teaching to retain young girls’ interest in the sciences.

Peer Culture and Body Image Concern Among Australian Adolescent Girls: A Hierarchical Linear Modelling Analysis

Peers may influence the body image concerns and disordered eating behaviours of adolescent girls through the creation of appearance cultures within friendship cliques. The present study investigates the role of friendship cliques and school gender composition in impacting upon adolescent girls’ body image concern and disordered eating behaviours, using hierarchical linear modelling (HLM), a statistical procedure employed in the analysis of nested data. A sample of 156 girls was drawn from four private schools located in the capital city of Western Australia (one single-sex school and three mixed-sex schools). Eighty students from the single-sex school and 76 female students from the mixed-sex schools, comprising 35 friendship cliques, completed questionnaires assessing body image, disordered eating, and a range of variables that have previously been associated with body image concern and disordered eating, including appearance-based social comparison, frequency of appearance-based conversation, appearance-based criticism, friends’ concern with thinness, media influence and media pressure. Hierarchical linear modelling analyses found that friendship cliques in all-girls schools exhibited similar levels of body image concern and dieting behaviours, with various peer and other media influence variables accounting for these similarities. Friendship cliques in mixed-sex schools were not found to be similar with regard to body image concern or disordered eating. These findings support the notion that friendship groups can be an important source of influence on the body image concerns of adolescent girls in single-sex schools, and show that both individual and friendship clique level measures of attitudes and behaviours make independent contributions to the prediction of these body image concerns.

Victimization and Gender Identity in Single-Sex and Mixed-Sex Schools: Examining Contextual Variations in Pressure to Conform to Gender Norms

Contextual variations in the association between gender role conformity and victimization were studied in fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grade girls (N = 469) from same- and mixed-sex schools located in lower middle class neighborhoods in two cities (Bogota and Barranquilla) in Colombia. Self-report questionnaires were used to measure peer victimization (i.e., when a child is the target of negative actions from her/his peers) and gender identity. We hypothesized a negative relationship between typicality and peer victimization in that more gender typical children would be less victimized. We also expected to find a stronger association between gender typicality and victimization in contexts with higher levels of pressure to conform to gender norms. Results indicated that the girls in the single-sex schools endorsed significantly higher levels of gender typicality and felt pressure to conform to gender norms than the girls in the mixed-sex schools. The girls in the mixed-sex schools reported significantly higher levels of peer victimization. Girls in the same-sex schools reported lower levels of peer victimization in classrooms with high levels of perceived pressure to conform to gender norms. Multilevel modeling revealed that gender typicality was negatively associated with peer victimization among the girls in the same-sex schools and was uncorrelated with victimization in the mixed-sex school. These findings add to the database indicating that peers relationships are affected by gender and that the effects of gender are moderated by group composition.

Variables that influence junior secondary school students‟ attitude to agricultural science - implications for youths‟ participation in agricultural development

The positive relationship between the rate of learning, attitude to and achievement in science has been documented in literature. It is therefore pertinent to assess the variables that tend to influence students’ attitude to Agricultural Science. The study assessed the influence of gender, location of school and sex composition of schools on students’ attitude to Agricultural Science. The population of study included all Junior Secondary 3 students (about 720) from 16 public Junior Secondary Schools in Umuahia Local Government Area of Abia State. Multistage (stratified and cluster) sampling techniques was employed to select a sample of 254 students. Data for the research were collected through a 32-item “Attitude to Agricultural Science Scales” that was developed by the researcher. Three research questions guided the study while 3 null hypotheses were tested. Descriptive (means) and inferential (z-test) statistical techniques were used to analyze data The results of data analyses revealed that i. sex influence students’ attitude to Agricultural science even as females exhibited a more positive attitude to Agriculture than males. However, the differences in mean attitude to Agricultural science by male and female students do not differ significantly. ii. Location of school influence students’ attitude to agricultural science. Students from rural areas exhibit a more favourable attitude to Agricultural science than their counterparts from urban areas. The differences are statistically significant at 0.05 levels. iii. School type influence students’ attitude to Agricultural science. Boys and girls from single sex schools showed more positive attitude to Agriculture than their colleagues from mixed sex schools. Differences observed are statistically significant at 0.05 levels. It was recommended that efforts be geared towards implementation of intervention programmes that will sustain and improve students’ attitude to Agricultural Science, especially in mixed-sex and urban schools where attitudes to Agriculture are at low ebbs. Provision of adequate number of Agricultural science teachers, science laboratory materials and practical Agriculture school farms will serve as catalysts for boosting students’ attitude to the subject. Successful implementation of the UBE Agricultural Science curriculum hinges on these. Science teachers and Counsellors should frequently use attitude to Agricultural Science Scales because they provide valuable data for monitoring and predicting learners’ achievement and career choices.

Eating problems in Irish children and adolescence - EPICA.

To examine eating concerns in a cohort of Irish adolescents. Students from a stratified random sample of post primary schools were screened using the EAT-26, the EDI-III and a study specific questionnaire. A total of 3,031 students (mean age 14.74, range 12-19) enrolled in the study. The majority of respondents felt popular (91%), happy (75.2%) and perceived themselves to have a good quality of life (86.8%). Despite this, 32% of females dieted, 29.4% were dissatisfied with their bodies, and 10.8% scored above 20 on the EAT-26. Adolescents always on a diet reported a lower quality of life (QoL) X2(16, N=2,961) =144.43, p <.000, perceived themselves to be less popular X2(15, N=2,963) =53.26, p <.000 and less academically able X2(16, N=2,297) =43.96, p<.000, than those who never dieted. Comparing EPICA values to published norms, Irish males had significantly lower EAT scores, females had comparable total EAT-26 scores but significantly lower levels of dieting and higher levels of bulimic features and oral control. Girls in mixed schools had higher rates of body dissatisfaction F (1,2855) = 16.61, p <.001 and drive for thinness F (1,2860) = 11.78, p <.005 than girls attending same sex schools. Weight and body image concerns were high among Irish adolescents, especially females, with higher than expected levels of bulimia and oral control scores on the EAT but lower scores on the dieting subscale. Females attending mixed sex schools appear most at risk of eating pathology.

Context-Dependent Victimization and Aggression: Differences Between All-Girl and Mixed-Sex Schools

Contextual differences in the association between different forms of aggressive behavior and victimization were studied with a sample of 197 boys and 149 girls from mixed-sex schools and in 336 girls from all-girl schools ( M = 10.21 years of age) in two cities in Colombia. Results showed that boys generally engage in more physical than relational aggression, whereas girls engage in more relational than physical aggression. Among boys, the association between aggression and victimization was significant only for the measure of relational aggression, whereas, for girls, victimization was significantly correlated only with physical aggression. This latter association was found to be significantly stronger for girls from the all-girl schools than for the girls from the mixed-sex schools. These findings are discussed in terms of how mixed-sex and same-sex groups, as different forms of peer context, affect the social dynamics related to the association between aggression and victimization.

Adolescents’ preferences for sexual dimorphism are influenced by relative exposure to male and female faces

Exposure to a particular population of faces can increase ratings of the normality and attractiveness of similar-looking faces. Such exposure can also refine the perceived boundaries of that face population, such that other faces are more readily perceived as dissimilar. We predicted that relatively less exposure to opposite-sex faces, as experienced by children at single-sex compared with mixed-sex schools, would decrease ratings of the attractiveness of sexual dimorphism in opposite-sex faces (that is, boys at single-sex schools would show a decreased preference for feminised faces, and girls at single-sex schools would show a decreased preference for masculinised faces). Consistent with this prediction, girls at single-sex compared with mixed-sex schools demonstrated significantly stronger preferences for facial femininity in both male and female faces. Boys at single-sex compared with mixed-sex schools demonstrated marginally stronger preferences for facial masculinity in male faces, but did not differ in their ratings of female faces. These effects were attenuated among some single-sex school pupils by the presence of adolescent opposite-sex siblings. These data add to the evidence that long-term exposure to a particular face population can influence judgements of other faces, and contribute to our understanding of the factors leading to individual differences in face preferences.

Gender Differences in Communication Patterns of Females in Single-Sex and Mixed-Sex Schools in Nnewi Education Zone

This study examined gender differences in communication patterns of females in single-sex and mixed-sex schools. The design of the study was an ex-post facto design. Two research questions and one hypothesis guided the study. All the population of 218 senior secondary II female students was used for the study which is an indication that no sampling technique was adopted. Data for the study were collected using a checklist. To analyse the data collected, frequency tables, percentage and chi-square were used. The result showed that the dominant communication patterns of females in single-sex school include appropriate gestures, correct grammar, fluency, staying on topic, talkativeness, politeness, use of no slang, loudness, emotionality, use of no tag questions and cooperative/supportive attributes. The same is applicable in mixed sex school, but with a slight difference in the area of soft spokenness. The result of the hypothesis revealed that school-type influences female students communication patterns significantly which implies that the communication patters of a female student sometimes depends on whether she is in a single-sex school or mixed sex school. Based on the findings, recommendations were made. African Research Review Vol. 2 (3) 2008: pp. 103-115

Using play therapy in schools: The teacher’s role

This small, qualitative study examined Irish primary school teachers’ readiness to become involved in non-directive play therapy. Six teachers from a mixed sex school participated. Experiential data, gathered using a focus group and semi-structured interviews, were interpreted from a social constructionist perspective, with grounded theory employed for data analysis. Non-directive play therapy appeared compatible with teachers’ present understanding of child therapy. Their understanding, in turn, seemed conducive to their involvement in systemic play therapy interventions. This suggests that through play therapy educational psychologists can further enhance teachers’ roles as key adults in children’s school lives. Practice implications for educational psychologists include facilitating teachers’ in-depth understanding of social, emotional and behavioural difficulties, thus enhancing their use of therapeutic concepts with children. Implications for school play therapy referrals are discussed.

Evidence for social role in a dolphin social network

Social animals have to take into consideration the behaviour of conspecifics when making decisions to go by their daily lives. These decisions affect their fitness and there is therefore an evolutionary pressure to try making the right choices. In many instances individuals will make their own choices and the behaviour of the group will be a democratic integration of everyone’s decision. However, in some instances it can be advantageous to follow the choice of a few individuals in the group if they have more information regarding the situation that has arisen. Here I provide early evidence that decisions about shifts in activity states in a population of bottlenose dolphin follow such a decision-making process. This unshared consensus is mediated by a non-vocal signal, which can be communicated globally within the dolphin school. These signals are emitted by individuals that tend to have more information about the behaviour of potential competitors because of their position in the social network. I hypothesise that this decision-making process emerged from the social structure of the population and the need to maintain mixed-sex schools.

Gender Context of Schooling and Levels of Stress among Early Adolescent Pupils

In present analysis, an attempt is made to identify perceived social support mechanisms through which the gender composition of the school may influence pupils’ stress responses. Use was made of data from 68 academically oriented secondary schools in Flanders, Belgium. Of these schools, 25 were mixed-sex schools and 43 were single-sex schools (21 girls’ and 22 boys’ schools). Respondents (3,370 girls and 3,057 boys) were 3rd-year students, ages 14 and 15. A multilevel analysis (Hierarchical Linear Modeling) was performed adjusting for parental socioeconomic status (SES), parental support, academic performance, curriculum enrollment, school mean SES, sense of belonging in school, and quality of teacher-pupil relationships. Results show that early adolescent girls in single-sex schools experience lower levels of stress than coeducational schoolgirls do and that this effect is largely accounted for by sense of belonging.

Smoking and drinking among 15–16-year-old girls: do male peers have an influence?

During adolescence, people tend to begin drinking alcohol and become involved in the culture that surrounds it. To compare the influence of peer relationships among females in mixed-sex schools versus single-sex schools on cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption. A cross-sectional study was carried out in four schools. The information was collected by means of a questionnaire. Two hundred and forty-eight questionnaires were completed. Of those questioned in single-sex schools, 34% had smoked a cigarette compared with 61% in mixed-sex schools (p < 0.005). The lifetime prevalence of alcohol consumption in mixed-sex schools was 88% compared with 73% in single-sex schools (p < 0.005). This study suggests that females in mixed-sex schools have a tendency to have earlier exposure to smoking and alcohol consumption than girls of the same age in single-sex schools.

Gender and Competition at a Young Age

Gender gaps may be observed in a variety of economic and social environments. One of the possible determining factors is that men are more competitive than women and so, when the competitiveness of the environment increases, the performance of men increases relative to that of women. We test this hypothesis in a field study conducted with 9-year old children, running on a track. They first run alone and then in pairs over a short distance with different gender composition of the pairs. The results support the hypothesis that performance in competition varies according to gender. When children ran alone, there was no difference in performance. In competition boys, but not girls, improved their performance. This finding relates to the discussion regarding single sex schools: the outcomes of examinations in a mixed sex school can show a gender gap in favor of boys, even when this gap does not reflect actual abilities. Girls who are as talented as boys will end up performing worse just because they are not as competitive, and will not achieve as high scores in examinations as boys.

‘Well—are girls like boys, then?’: genre and the gender divide in school stories

This paper addresses the issue of genre and gender in twentieth-century British school stories, exploring whether the sex of the characters is of itself divisive enough to make girls’ school stories and boys’ school stories separate genres. The similarities as well as the differences are addressed, and the paper looks at whether the sex of the characters is the sole obvious difference between the stories, and if so, whether this is a large enough difference in and of itself to make girls’ and boys’ school stories parts of separate genres. It addresses the arguments of previous critics, as well as taking into account mixed-sex school series and their unique place in the world of school stories. This paper looks in particular at the following school story series: the Chalet School series by Elinor M. Brent-Dyer; the Dimsie series by Dorita Fairlie Bruce; the Billy Bunter series by Frank Richards; the Malory Towers series by Enid Blyton; the Jennings series by Anthony Buckeridge; the Naughtiest Girl series by Enid Blyton; the Trebizon series by Anne Digby; and the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling.