Rural Middle School Students Research Articles

Cultivation of Chinese Study Habits of Rural Middle School Students

The cultivation of Chinese learning habits among rural secondary school students is crucial to improving their academic performance and language proficiency. By establishing a favorable learning atmosphere, stimulating students’ interest in learning, and providing effective teaching methods and resources, rural secondary school students can be helped to better master Chinese language knowledge. In order to comprehensively promote rural secondary school students’ Chinese language learning, educators should focus on cultivating students’ independent learning abilities, encouraging diversified forms of teaching and learning, as well as strengthening teacher-student interaction and cooperation. These initiatives will help improve students’ language proficiency and overall academic performance.

Enhancing Social and Emotional Competencies in Rural Middle School Students: A Cluster-Randomized Study on Character Playbook

Enhancing Social and Emotional Competencies in Rural Middle School Students: A Cluster-Randomized Study on Character Playbook

Continue using or gathering dust? A mixed method research on the factors influencing the continuous use intention for an AI-powered adaptive learning system for rural middle school students

This paper investigates the factors influencing the continuous use intention of AI-powered adaptive learning systems among rural middle school students in China. Employing a mixed-method approach, this study integrates Technology Acceptance Model 3 with empirical data collected from rural middle schools in western China. The main contributions of this study include identifying key determinants of usage intention, such as computer self-efficacy, perceived enjoyment, system quality, and the perception of feedback. The findings provide insights into enhancing rural education through AI and suggest strategies for developing more effective and engaging adaptive learning systems. This research not only fills a significant gap in the understanding of AI in education but also offers practical implications for educators and policymakers aiming to improve learning outcomes in rural settings.

Evaluating Digital Proficiency: A Study on Online and Face-to-Face Educational Engagement Among Rural Middle School Students in Republic of Moldova.

Evaluating Digital Proficiency: A Study on Online and Face-to-Face Educational Engagement Among Rural Middle School Students in Republic of Moldova.

农村初中生英语学习愉悦、焦虑及无聊情绪与英语成绩的关系研究

Based on the perspective of positive psychology, this article explores the status quo of students’ English learning enjoyment, anxiety and boredom in a rural middle school by investigating 203 participants in Grade two. From the data analysis, conclusions are drawn as follow: (1) Students experience a higher level of English learning enjoyment but lower levels of anxiety and boredom, while English learning anxiety is higher than boredom. (2) There is a significant gender difference in English learning anxiety, while there is insignificant difference between enjoyment and boredom. (3) There is a negative relationship between English learning enjoyment and anxiety, between English learning enjoyment and boredom and there is a positive relationship between English learning enjoyment and students’ academic achievements, and a negative relationship between English learning anxiety, boredom and students’ academic achievements. This study explores the relationship between foreign language learning emotions and foreign language academic achievements, which could further enrich studies of second language acquisition and the emotions of rural middle school students.

The impact of poverty stigma on computer and information literacy among China's rural students

Rural middle school students often experience significant educational disparities compared to their urban peers, particularly in developing computer skills and computer and information literacy (CIL). However, there has been insufficient research on the impact of poverty stigma on their CIL development. To address this literature gap, this research examines the influence of poverty stigma and self-efficacy on CIL performance among rural eighth graders in two studies. Guided by the social cognitive theory and labeling theory, Study 1 (n1 = 2783) analyzes the mediating effects of family socioeconomic status and self-efficacy on CIL, while Study 2 (n2 = 2153) investigates the mediating effects of perceived poverty stigma at the dimensions of social stigma and self-stigma on CIL. The results suggest that poverty, family socioeconomic status, and computer use at school positively affect CIL, with self-efficacy mediating the relationship between them. While students from low-resourced families do not perceive social stigma as directly impacting their CIL, self-stigma plays a mediating role between perceived social stigma and CIL. These findings have significant implications for educators seeking to improve CIL in the digital age, emphasizing the importance of increasing computer access at school for better educational outcomes.

Study on the Optimization Strategies of English Graded Reading in Rural Junior High Schools

Abstract: In order to better improve the reading ability of rural students and promote the development of junior high school English in rural areas, this paper describes the importance of graded reading in English teaching in rural areas, and tries to analyze the problems and deficiencies in junior high school English reading teaching from the perspectives of students, teachers and society. The main problems are that rural students lack a correct understanding of English learning, teachers lack graded reading teaching skills, and the teaching facilities in rural schools are poor. Based on this, this paper suggests that students should change their perceptions of English learning psychologically, teachers should master the skills of English graded reading and schools should provide a good English reading environment. This study finds that in rural English reading teaching, teachers need to take into account the cognitive ability of rural middle school students, the awareness of multi-level reading teaching and the teaching facilities of rural middle school. On the basis of teachers􀆳 awareness of multi-level reading teaching, reading materials suitable for students􀆳 multi-level reading are selected and the existing teaching reading materials and teaching facilities are used to pay attention to students􀆳 subjective initiative in class and extracurricular reading and stimulate students􀆳 interest in reading, so as to promote the gradual improvement of students􀆳 reading ability.

Unplugged K-12 AI Learning: Exploring Representation and Reasoning with a Facial Recognition Game

With the growing prevalence of AI, the need for K-12 AI education is becoming more crucial, which is prompting active research in developing engaging and age-appropriate AI learning activities. Efforts are underway, such as those by the AI4K12 initiative, to establish guidelines for organizing K- 12 AI education; however, effective instructional resources are needed by educators. In this paper, we describe our work to design, develop, and implement an unplugged activity centered on facial recognition technology for middle school students. Facial recognition is integrated into a wide range of applications throughout daily life, which makes it a familiar and engaging tool for students and an effective medium for conveying AI concepts. Our unplugged activity, “Guess Whose Face,” is designed as a board game that focuses on Representation and Reasoning from AI4K12’s 5 Big Ideas in AI. The game is crafted to enable students to develop AI competencies naturally through physical interaction. In the game, one student uses tracing paper to extract facial features from a familiar face shown on a card, such as a cartoon character or celebrity, and then other students try to guess the identity of the hidden face. We discuss details of the game, its iterative refinement, and initial findings from piloting the activity during a summer camp for rural middle school students.

The influence of lifestyle habits on levels of depression among rural middle school students in Northeastern China.

Depression rates among adolescents have risen dramatically over the past decade. Therefore, preventing depression among adolescents is particularly important. Differences in lifestyle habits may play a role in depression. This study aimed to explore the influence of living habits on depression levels among rural middle school students in Northeast China and to provide a theoretical basis for developing interventions to reduce depression levels in middle school students. A total of 296 middle school students aged 13-15 years from Benxi City, Northeast China completed the anthropometric measurements, Physical Activity Scale-3 (PARS-3), and the Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS). Their average screen time in the most recent week, parents' education level, and monthly family income were collected through a questionnaire. Females had higher depression scores than males (41.0 ± 6.9 vs. 37.9 ± 8.0). Physical activity (β = -0.38, t = -7.06, P < 0.01), family income (β = -0.20, t = -4.07, P < 0.01), screen time (β = 0.16, t = 3.34, P < 0.01), age (β = 0.15, t = 3.16, P < 0.01), sex (β = -0.13, t = -2.74, P < 0.01), and sleep quality (β = -0.08, t = -1.87, P < 0.01) are important factors related to depression levels. The preliminary analysis results showed that among middle school students in rural Northeast China, the depression level of females was significantly higher than that of males. Poor quality sleep, low levels of physical activity, low household income, and long screen time were positively associated with depression. Therefore, strengthening physical activity, improving sleep quality, and reducing screen time are of clinical relevance in preventing and reducing depression.

Associations between health promotion behaviors and multidimensional health among Chinese middle-school students—a study focusing on gender differences

Adolescence is a crucial period for establishing lifelong healthy behaviors, and unhealthy habits developed during adolescence can increase the risk of chronic diseases in adulthood. However, few is on the relationships between health promotion behaviors and multidimensional health in Chinese middle-school students, focusing on identifying gender-specific differences. This study employed a non-experimental, correlational design using online surveys to collect data from 179 middle-school students and 103 teachers. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS v20, including ordinal logistic regression analysis, Chi-square tests and t-tests. The results indicate that approximately 43.7% of middle-school teachers perceive that rural students as having effective health promotion behaviors. Female students demonstrated higher levels of health promotion behaviors than males, with significant gender differences observed in health responsibility behavior (p = 0.011) and interpersonal relationships (p = 0.025). However, no gender differences were found in the multidimensional health of rural middle-school students. Both male and female students showed concerning levels of physical health, with only 38.2% of males and 37.78% of females rated as good or excellent. Notably, life appreciation behavior was identified as the only significant predictor of multidimensional health among these students, indicating that higher scores in this domain correlate with better health. Health educators and policymakers are advised to account for gender differences in the development and delivery of health promotion initiatives aimed at adolescents, with a particular emphasis on fostering life appreciation. Interventions focused on these aspects may offer substantial potential in diminishing health risks in adulthood and enhancing overall lifelong well-being.

Latent classes of health risk behaviors and their relationship with self-control among rural secondary school students in Guizhou Province

To understand the potential categories of health risk Guizhou Province. From November to December 2021, 4452 rural students in middle school students with average age of(13.5±1.6) years were selected from Guizhou Province by multi-stage stratified random cluster sampling method.1505(33.8%) students in the first grade, 1958(44.0%) students in the second grade and 989(22.2%) students in the third grade. There were 2295 boys(51.5%) and 2157 girls(48.5%). Basic information questionnaire, health risk behavior questionnaire and self-control scale were used for questionnaire survey. Latent category analysis was used to explore the potential categories of health risk behaviors, and disordered multiple classification logistic regression analysis was used to explore the relationship between potential categories and self-control. The health risk behaviors of rural middle school students in Guizhou Province could be divided into four potential categories: low risk group(71.4%), medium risk group(11.6%), sub-high risk group(5.2%) and high risk group(10.7%). There were statistically significant differences in the distribution characteristics of potential categories of junior middle school students with different gender, grade, nationality, only child, accommodation, stay-behind, academic performance, academic pressure, peer relationship, parent-child relationship, teacher-student relationship and domestic violence(P&lt;0.05 or P&lt;0.01). Taking the low-risk group as the reference group, the highest self-control scores were in the medium risk group(OR=1.049, 95%CI 1.040-1.058), the sub-high risk group(OR=1.098, 95%CI 1.083-1.113), and the high risk group(OR=1.077, 95%CI 1.066-1.087). The latent characteristics of health risk behavior of rural junior middle school students in Guizhou Province are obvious. Improving self-control ability can reduce the occurrence of medium risk group, sub-high risk group and high risk group.

The Digital Divide and Gender Disparity: A Study of Rural Students in the Republic of Moldova

The current paper investigates gender disparities in digital competence among N=1526 rural middle school students from the Republic of Moldova by employing the Youth Digital Skills Indicator (yDSI). While prior research has highlighted gender&amp;#39;s role in digital exclusion, recent studies in both developed and developing countries suggest narrowing gender gaps. Similarly, the current study findings reveal no statistically significant gender differences in Information Navigation and Processing, Communication and Interaction, and Problem-Solving. However, significant disparities emerge in Digital Content Creation [t(1425) = 4.20, p = .000] and Safety [t(1421) = 2.49, p = .000], favoring girls. Boys&amp;#39; lower scores in digital safety warrant further investigation due to potential implications for their exposure to digital threats. These findings underscore the evolving landscape of gender-related digital skills in Moldovan rural middle schools. Keywords: digital divide; gender; online education; digital inequalities; social stratification

A theoretically based STEM talent development program that bridges excellence gaps.

The pipeline of highly trained STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) professionals has narrowed in recent decades, forcing society to re-examine how schools are discovering and developing STEM talent. Of particular concern is the finding that rural students attend post-secondary schools at lower rates than their urban counterparts, and when they do attend, they are less likely to graduate from STEM programs. One reason may be that they are not prepared for advanced STEM coursework because they lack access to essential STEM talent-development programs in middle or high school. This creates excellence gaps, which exacerbate the narrowing STEM pipeline to the workforce. To address this, we formed a university-school partnership to develop an outside-of-school STEM talent development program, called STEM Excellence, for rural middle-school students who attend under-resourced schools. The aim of STEM Excellence was to increase students' achievement and aspirations while empowering their teachers to develop local STEM programs grounded in developmental psychology theories. STEM Excellence integrated the Talent Development Megamodel Principles of ability, domains of talent, opportunity, and psychosocial variables. STEM Excellence also recognized the interplay of multiple person-environment systems as presented in the Bioecological Systems Model.

Effects of Multimodal Listening Instruction on Listening Performance of Rural Middle School Students from East China

To overcome the key factors affecting the instruction of English listening is of vital importance for English teaching in rural middle schools. In this study, we conduct a quasi-experiment following the multimodal instruction model to explore the effectiveness of the multimodal instruction model. Firstly, the research adopts a mixed research method to extract the key factors that have influence on the English listening level of rural middle school students. Then, taking into consideration the influencing factors, a multimodal listening instruction model is designed for instruction experiments. The study, then, collects data via questionnaire survey and conducts statistic analysis to analyze the results of listening tests after instruction experiments. The results show that the multimodal listening instruction model can effectively stimulate students to improve their English listening ability, and its effectiveness on detailed information comprehension is greater than that on inference question. The results of the study can guide rural middle school English teachers to give priority to the use of multimodal listening instruction mode in listening details, and help students effectively improve listening effects.

혼합교육 모델하에 학습동기가 중학생의 학습 몰입에 미치는 영향 요인 복합 연구 - 농촌 중학교 음악 수업 교육을 중심으로 -

The blended teaching model is the core practice field where information technology can enable the balanced development of urban and rural education. However, on how the blended teaching model affects rural middle school students

The role of trauma and positive youth development in polysubstance use among rural middle school students: a latent class analysis

BackgroundRural youth often begin developing polysubstance use and other risk behaviors during middle school. However, little polysubstance use research focuses on rural middle school youth. Our research uses Latent Class Analysis to understand existing patterns of rural middle school polysubstance use and risk and protective factors associated with polysubstance use.MethodsWe used survey data from a rural middle school pregnancy prevention program (N = 2,708). The survey included measures of demographics, lifetime substance use, trauma (adverse childhood experiences and bullying victimization) and aspects of youth development (parent communication on drugs and alcohol, parent connectedness and school connectedness). We used latent class analysis to produce participant polysubstance use profiles and multinomial regression to examine associations between polysubstance use, demographics, trauma and aspects of youth development.ResultsWe categorized our participants into four latent classes. Our analysis classified 2.2% of participants as Regular Polysubstance users, 6.9% as Polysubstance experimenters, 19% as Vape + Alcohol experimenters and 71.9% as Non-Users. More adverse childhood experiences were associated with greater risk of polysubstance use and experimentation. Bullying was positively associated with greater risk of vape and alcohol experimentation. Higher reported parental and school connectedness were associated with lower risk of high frequency polysubstance use. Higher reported school connection was also associated with lower risk of polysubstance experimentation.ConclusionRural substance use prevention programs should begin during middle school, as polysubstance use development is common among rural middle schoolers. These programs should be trauma informed and focus on connectedness as a modifiable factor to reduce risk of polysubstance use development.Trial registrationThis article does not report results of a health care intervention on human participants.

Early Adolescents Demonstrate Peer-Network Homophily in Political Attitudes and Values

Research on political homophily has almost exclusively focused on adults, and little is known about whether political homophily is present early in life when political attitudes are forming and friendship networks are rapidly changing. We examined political homophily using a social network approach with rural middle school students (N = 213; mean age = 12.5 years; 57% female) from a remote U.S. community. Preregistered analyses indicated that early adolescents were more likely to spend time with people who shared similar political attitudes and values. These effects were most consistent for right-wing authoritarianism, patriotism, and anti-immigration attitudes. Our results show that political homophily is evident at an early age when young people are forming their political beliefs and making decisions about their friendships, suggesting that peer political-attitude socialization may emerge early in life.

Stuck in the middle school rut: can anything improve academic achievement in rural Chinese middle schools?

ABSTRACT Academic achievement in middle schools in rural China remains poor for many students. This study examines whether programmes and interventions can improve academic achievement by reviewing rigorous experimental evaluations of nine programmes (11 interventions) on 47,480 rural middle school students in China. The results find none of the interventions improved academic achievement. Moreover, we find no evidence for heterogeneous treatment effects by student gender, age or previous academic achievement. These results may be due in part to the academically-demanding nature of the middle school curriculum, which is applied universally to students with varying levels of cognitive ability.

Research on Scaffolding Instruction Strategies for English Writing Teaching of Rural Junior Middle School Students in China

In the teaching process of English composition writing of rural junior middle school students, there are some common cases that students "don't know how to start, the composition structure is not clear, the vocabulary sentence pattern is scanty and improper ". In view of these problems in teaching, this paper introduces scaffolding teaching strategy, designs the vocabulary sentence structure, writing frame, online interactive frame and other strategies to assist students in English writing based on the practice of English writing teaching. Through scaffolding teaching practice, the strategy and process of applying teaching scaffold to specific learning situation are explored. The results show that :(1) Scaffolding teaching ability can improve the English writing level of rural junior high school students, but also improve the learning interest of English writing in the process of learning;(2) Scaffolding teaching should not only pay attention to the process of knowledge construction, but also pay attention to the cultivation of students' interest in English learning to promote the development of learners' English writing ability.

乡村中学生学习注意稳定性的静观心育干预随机对照研究

乡村中学生学习注意稳定性的静观心育干预随机对照研究