Public Secondary Students Research Articles

Interdependence of Critical Thinking and Active Participation in Constructivist Learning for Public Secondary Students

The interdependence appertaining to critical thinking and active participation of students in classrooms is a hallmark of 21st-century modern pedagogies. This research, as a case study of public schools in Karachi, has explored teachers’ perceptions, engagement, and cultivation of critical thinking skills, as well as the possible challenges encountered by teachers in fostering critical thinking through active participation. The research utilized qualitative data gathered through interview guides administered to teachers of a public school in Karachi. To validate research, FGD was also conducted with 6 teachers of the same school. The findings of the research indicate the reasons for the lack of active participation and cultivation of critical thinking among students. Parental involvement, lack of resources, language barrier, lack of continuous professional development (CPD), Negligence of Government in providing resources and poor educational policies are the themes that emerged from interviews. This research is significant in exploring the hindrances in the implementation of modern pedagogies that can pave the way for global discourses. Moreover, by exploring teachers’ perceptions, this study triggers an investigation of students' and parents’ perceptions regarding active participation in classes and accepting modern pedagogies.

Exposure to violent video and aggressive behavior among Public Secondary Students, Kwara State, Nigeria

Aggressive behavior is a range of acts that result in physical and psychological harm to the perpetrator, and other students, thus hindering learning activities. This study investigated the relationship between exposure to violent videos and aggressive behavior among public secondary students in Kwara State, Nigeria. The survey method with a correlational design was adopted. A total sample of 381 participants was involved using the stratified random sampling technique. A research-designed questionnaire titled Exposure to Violent Videos and Aggressive Behaviour Questionnaire (EVABQ) was used to collect the data. Pearson’s product-moment correlation and t-test statistics were used to analyze the hypotheses. Results revealed a positive relationship between exposure to violent videos and aggressive behavior. The results showed statistically significant differences in exposure to violent videos and aggressive behavior among public secondary students based on gender and age. Male respondents were more exposed to violent videos and had more aggressive behavior than females. In contrast, students below 15 years old were more exposed to violent videos and exhibited aggressive behavior than 15 years and above. Therefore, school counselors should sensitize public secondary students to the influence of exposure to violent videos on aggressive behavior, especially among males and students below 15 years old.

Factors Affecting the Career Choices of Graduating Public Secondary Students in Ligao City Division, Ligao City, Philippines

The purpose of the study was to determine the career choices of graduating public secondary students in Ligao City Division, Ligao City, Philippines, and the factors affecting their career choices. This study identified respondents with focused variables on career choices and the factors affecting career choices. The study expanded career choices in different aspects. This study utilized a questionnaire checklist that facilitated the data-gathering through sampling. The findings revealed that out of 976 secondary students, they interested in Tourism and Culinary Arts(18%), Education and Business (17%), Engineering (16%), Science and Technology and in Medical and Health Care (9%), Arts and Design (6%), and Communication and Information Services and Technical Courses (4%). The career choices of the graduating secondary students are influenced by a family (90%), personal interest (77%), and career opportunities(57%), higher education (51%), and the school where they are presently enrolled (49%). The study concludes that the graduating secondary students are interested in the following career choices in descending order: Tourism and Culinary Arts, Education, Business, Engineering, Science and Technology, Medical and Health Care, Arts and Design, Communication and Information Services, and Technical Courses. Results of this study may serve individuals who are involved in teaching or managing secondary schools in terms of strengthening the curriculum and instructions to provide career needs of graduates.

Existence of the Essential Features of the Function Concept in Public Secondary Students’ Definitions

This paper aims to explore the existence of the essential features of the function concept in public secondary students’ definitions of it across grade-level of the scientific and humanities tracks. A sample of 465 secondary students was chosen from 5 public secondary schools located in Beirut. The findings of the study showed that secondary students in the different grade levels lack a thorough conceptualization of what is a function. For instance, the majority of them failed to give definitions that reflect the essential features of the concept. The relation feature was the most one noticed in students’ definitions. Compartmentalization phenomenon was observed where even the students who succeeded to state the uniqueness property, were not truly aware of it and seemed not to consult this property when presented with non-examples of function.

Cuestionario de Riesgo de Autolesión (CRA): propiedades psicométricas y resultados en una muestra de adolescentes

La autolesión tiene una alta frecuencia en adolescentes, por lo que son necesarios instrumentos adecuados para su medición y acciones preventivas. El objetivo de este estudio fue elaborar un instrumento válido y confiable que explorara la presencia de autolesión y aspectos muy poco abordados, como dificultad para dejar de lesionarse y el factor de riesgo denominado contagio social. De una muestra total (N = 629) no probabilística se obtuvo una muestra con distribución normal con N = 241 estudiantes de secundarias públicas del sur de la Ciudad de México, 89 hombres y 152 mujeres, con M = 12.37 años (DE = 2.28) y rango de 11-15 años. Los ítems del instrumento se elaboraron con base en la literatura y se sometieron a procedimientos de validación de contenido (evaluación de expertos), laboratorios cognoscitivos (para asegurar comprensión/significado de los ítems), validez de constructo, análisis factorial exploratorio (AFE) y confirmatorio (AFC), y consistencia interna (coeficientes alpha y omega). El AFC proyectó un modelo con tres factores (frecuencia, efecto adictivo y contagio social) con índices de bondad de ajuste adecuados y consistencia interna aceptable (alpha y omega = 0.94). Los resultados indican que el cuestionario es útil para evaluar aspectos relevantes de la autolesión; se discute la necesidad de complementar la información con entrevistas y de ahondar en el contagio social y la intención de autolesionarse.

Antecedents of adolescent initiation into stages of drug use: A developmental analysis

The social psychological antecedents of entry into three sequential stages of adolescent drug use, hard liquor, marihuana, and other illicit drugs, are examined in a cohort of high school students in which the population at risk for initiation into each stage could be clearly specified. The analyses are based on a two-wave panel sample of New York State public secondary students and subsamples of matched adolescent-parent and adolescent-best schoolfriend dyads. Each of four clusters of predictor variables, parental influences, peer influences, adolescent involvement in various behaviors, and adolescent beliefs and values, and single predictors within each cluster assume differential importance for each stage of drug behavior. Prior involvement in a variety of activities, such as minor delinquency and use of cigarettes, beer, and wine are most important for hard liquor use. Adolescents' beliefs and values favorable to the use of marihuana and association with marihuana-using peers are the strongest predictors of initiation into marihuana. Poor relations with parents, feelings of depression, and exposure to drug-using peers are most important for initiation into illicit drugs other than marihuana.