Classroom Social Environment Research Articles

THE MEDIATING EFFECT OF SCIENTIFIC EPISTEMOLOGICAL BELIEFS ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CLASSROOM SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT AND ADAPTIVE LEARNING ENGAGEMENT OF SCIENCE STUDENTS

This study explored the potential mediating impact of scientific epistemological beliefs on the correlation between the classroom social environment and adaptive learning in the field of science. The researcher used a quantitative non-experimental approach using a correlational technique. The study was conducted in seven selected public schools in Davao City where senior high school students are present. There were two hundred ninety (290) grade 12 student participants in total. The researcher applied the five Likert Scaling Method wherein the respondents will choose between 1 - 5, 4.20 - 5.00 is very high and 1.00 - 1.79 is very low. Also, ethical procedures were observed. The data that were gathered from the Level of Adaptive Learning Engagement of Science Students showed high levels. In addition, The Correlations between Classroom Social Environment and Scientific Epistemological Beliefs of Science Students, The Correlations between Adaptive Learning Engagement and Classroom Social Environment, and The Correlations between Scientific Epistemological Beliefs of Science Students and Adaptive Learning Engagement also showed positive correlations. Meanwhile, the Level of Classroom Social Environment and Level of Epistemological Beliefs was found to be moderate in level. Therefore, there is a significant effect of the Mediating Effect of Scientific Epistemological Beliefs, but student adaptive learning engagement emerges as a concern to address challenges like low achievement, disinterest, alienation, and high dropout rates.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/soc/0998/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

CLASSROOM SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT AND STUDENT ENGAGEMENT IN MATHEMATICS: A CORRELATIONAL STUDY

This study investigated the association between classroom social environment and student engagement in mathematics. It utilized the descriptive correlational and causal-comparative research design and applied the following statistical tools: mean, Pearson-r, independent T-test, and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). This investigation used an adapted, content-validated, and reliability-tested survey questionnaire. A proportional stratified random sampling technique was used to obtain a sample of 282 respondents from Manat National High School – Junior High School. The result of the study revealed that students often show high engagement with mathematics in emotional, social, and cognitive domains, with cognitive engagement peaking. The classroom social environment is favorable, with teachers providing support and mutual respect, even when performance goals are not as important. Moreover, the study revealed a significant correlation between engagement dimensions and classroom social environment, with a minor association between social environment quality and emotional and social engagement and a moderate correlation with cognitive engagement. The study found no significant differences in engagement based on sex and age, but observed substantial variation in engagement across different grade levels, suggesting that grade level significantly influences students’ mathematics engagement. Based on the findings, it was highly recommended that teachers use techniques like acknowledging student accomplishments, offering constructive criticism, and creating a friendly learning environment to promote healthy mathematical learning. They should also encourage group projects, peer tutoring, and engaging mathematical tasks to enhance critical thinking and problem-solving skills. A respectful classroom culture and tailored engagement strategies were also suggested. School administrators should also conduct professional development workshops for teachers.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/soc/0779/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

“Zero interaction”, ignoring and acts of omission in the school ecology: Peer ostracism from the perspective of involved adolescents

This study focuses on one type of excluding and isolating behaviour, the essence of which is the breakup of social interactions with a group member, which falls within the commonly accepted definition of ostracism. Based on interviews with 29 adolescents aged 12–18 (including 15 girls and 14 boys, all of whom were students in public schools without migrant backgrounds), an analysis of the content and typology of peer ostracism in school classrooms was conducted, emphasizing the perspective of those directly involved in the ostracism, i.e., the perpetrators. Three main dimensions and behavioural aspects related to ostracism emerged from the data: “Avoidance (Zero Interaction)”, “Expulsion from Group” and “Complete Ostracism”. The results indicate that the identified forms of ostracism rarely occur in a pure form, and are most often carried out in combination with non-verbal acts of overt exclusion. Furthermore, peer ostracism in group-class communities, which is consensual and chronic in nature, may reflect a distinct variant that qualifies for independent study. The paper also discusses directions for future research and actions to improve the social classroom environment.

THE CLASSROOM SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT ROLES AND TEACHER'S ATTITUDE TOWARD WRITING SKILLS IN THE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF THE MALAY LANGUAGE

This research aimed to examine the associations among classroom social environment roles, teachers' attitudes toward Malay writing skills in teaching and learning, and the potential influence of age and teaching experience. Employing a survey approach, data collection was facilitated through an online questionnaire via Google Forms. The study encompassed a sample of 140 Malay language teachers from the Bangi Zone National School. Data analysis was conducted using Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) version 27.0, encompassing both descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation, percentage) and inferential statistics (one-way ANOVA test and Pearson Correlation). The findings of this study indicate a notably high level of classroom social environment roles and teacher attitudes. Significant differences were observed in the classroom social environment concerning age, yet no significant variations emerged in teacher attitudes based on age, classroom social environment roles, or teaching experience. Importantly, a positive and significant relationship was established between classroom social environment roles and teachers' attitudes toward Malay writing skills in teaching and learning. This research carries implications for Malay language teachers, student teachers, the educational community, and the Malaysian Ministry of Education. It highlights the importance of incorporating elements focused on classroom management and the promotion of a positive classroom atmosphere within professional development programs. Teachers and school leaders are encouraged to strategize and actively maintain conducive social environments to enhance the effectiveness of teaching and learning in Malay writing skills.

Factors Influencing EFL Pre-service Teachers’ Experience in Classroom Management

<p class="05IsiAbstrak"><span lang="EN-US">Classroom management has been of interest for decades. EFL Pre-service teachers at IAIN Syekh Nurjati Cirebon had experiences in teaching practices and classroom management. They had completed teaching practices at formal school for two months. This quantitative research employed factor analysis to determine the research variables that affect classroom management. The variables of classroom management involved in this study are discipline, organization of the lesson, interaction during the lesson, teacher-student personal communication, and psychological and social classroom environment. The findings show that the KMO Measure of Sampling Adequacy (MSA) number is 0.800. Because the value is 0.800 (> 0.5), it means that all factors influence EFL pre-service teachers’ experience in classroom management. This study highlights discipline as the main factors contributing to classroom management. This study also highlights the role of the university in preparing pre-service teachers to be ready for their future teaching practice. </span></p>

How Teacher and Student Leader Collaboration Contribute to Learning

The collaboration between teacher and student leader as a possible factor contributing to learning outcomes remains under-researched. To understand the combined efforts of teachers and student leaders toward attaining teaching outcomes, this paper addresses the following questions: What are the value-added dimensions of the teacher toward achieving learning outcomes? How do student leader activities contribute to the achievement of learning outcomes? Without making any claim to tight causal relationships, this paper argues that the effective involvement of student leaders in the teaching process has considerable effects on learning. These effects do not only revolve around student development (for example leadership skills, and citizenship awareness in terms of rights, duties, and responsibilities), but also on the teaching and learning output (Heck, & Hallinger, 1999). Undeniably a common acceptance is that the teacher is permanently the leader while students are mere followers, who do not share teaching and learning behavior when it comes to the exhibition of power and authority within the classroom social environment. Nevertheless, this research reveals how collaboration between teachers and student leaders may improve students’ academic outcomes.

Classroom Social Dynamics and Supportive Learning Environment in Public Elementary Schools

Public elementary schools are currently dealing with variety of classroom concerns such as pupils’ academic difficulties, behavioral issues, social problems, and emotional difficulties. These can be resolved by providing an environment supportive to learning in classroom social dynamics. These dynamics pertain to how students, teachers, and the learning environment interact and relate to one another. These may be affected by teachers' influence and social influence. A descriptive-correlational type of research was used in this study to describe the relationship of supportive learning environment and classroom social dynamics as to teachers’ influence and social influence with 115 Grade Six pupil-respondents in five public elementary schools in San Antonio District in academic year 2022-2023. The research made-survey questionnaire was used for gathering data with some concepts adapted and modified. Pearson-Product-Moment-Correlation-Coefficient revealed that social influence in terms of conformity, expectation, compliance and obedience is significantly related to supportive learning environment as to pupils’ academic performance, engagement, self-regulation and self-resiliency. Likewise, teachers’ influence in terms of referent, expert and reward were also found significantly related to supportive learning environment. However, teachers’ legitimate influence was found to be significantly related to pupils’ engagement and self-regulation only, while teachers’ coercive influence was found out to have no relationship with a supportive learning environment.

Effect of Home Economics Students’ Self-Efficacy and Perception of Teachers Social Learning Environment Management Practices on Their Interest in Integrated Science

Teachers and students spend considerable part of their days in school or classroom environment. Therefore, classroom has to be a pleasant place to go . It must be modern, secure and well-functioning surroundings for both students and teachers. Learning environment is valued but also analysed as an indicator of qualitative education. It is not only the aesthetic need why the appearance of the learning environment should be contemporary. But also, since the learning environment impacts considerably on knowledge acquisition and learning activities. Consequently, the result of this study will provide basis for researchers and administrators such as Heads of Science and Home Economics Departments who may be interested in studying about classroom social learning environment management practices in the context of Integrated science, especially regarding Home Economics students, in replicating the study at other geographical areas and also ensure the application of relevant management practices. Thus , the purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of Home Economics students’ perception of integrated science teachers’ management of the social learning environment and self-efficacy levels on their interest in Integrated Science. The research design employed in this study was the cross-sectional survey design. The study was carried out in the Eastern region of Ghana. The target population of this study was all Form Three and Two students who offered Home Economics as a programme in public Senior High Schools (SHS). Simple random sampling technique was used to select 513 students from 26 schools selected from each local government district of the Eastern region of Ghana to participate in this study. In this survey, questionnaires were the main instruments used to gather data. It was found that students self-efficacy levels were high. However, their interest levels in Integrated Science were found to be moderate. The results also showed that the students perceived the management of their social learning environment by the Integrated Science teachers very moderately. We therefore recommend that Integrated Science teachers in Eastern Region Senior High Schools handling Home Economics classes should improve their management of the social learning environment in order to raise students’ self-efficacy and subsequently, their interest levels. Keywords: Integrated Science, Home Economics, Social Learning Environment, Interest, Self-efficacy DOI: 10.7176/JEP/14-6-05 Publication date: February 28 th 2023

The classroom social environment in mixed secondary school classes: The role of ethnic classroom composition and classmates’ explicitly and implicitly measured ethnic attitudes

The ethnic classroom composition and classmates’ ethnic attitudes can affect how students experience their classroom social environment (CSE). Following the imbalance of power thesis and prior research on ethnic attitudes, this cross-sectional study examined if ethnic classroom composition (i.e., proportion of in-group and Herfindahl Index) and classmates’ explicitly and implicitly measured ethnic attitudes predicted secondary school students’ (Mage = 13.31 years; 58.1% female) classroom belonging, popularity and likability, classroom cohesion and conflict in mixed classes in the Netherlands. Differences between non-ethnic Dutch (n = 248) versus ethnic Dutch students (n = 141) were examined as well. Ethnic Dutch students report an overall more negative CSE than their non-ethnic Dutch classmates. Multilevel analyses indicated that a higher proportion of in-group peers affected non-ethnic Dutch students’ popularity and likability negatively. Moreover, classmates’ explicitly measured ethnic attitudes were predictive of student popularity while classmates’ implicitly measured ethnic attitudes were predictive of student likability. Finally, classmates implicitly measured ethnic attitudes moderated the effect of proportion in-group peers on students’ shared experience of classroom belonging. These results show that promoting classroom diversity is not enough to create a positive CSE for all students. Classmates’ ethnic attitudes are also important to consider.

The Effects of Situational and Contextual Variables on Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety: An Investigation of Pakistani Tertiary EFL Students’ Perceptions

Foreign language anxiety is a type of anxiety that is specific to language learning process. Anxiety can not only impact the language students’ negatively but it can also enforce them to give up their studied (Horwitz, 2017; Malik et al., 2020; Milan, 2019). In Pakistan, there is a lack of research in the field of language anxiety and the majority of language teachers and students are not fully cognizant of its existence and effects on language learning (Samad, 2014). Most of the previous studies have investigated anxiety from classroom perspective and there is a lack of studies exploring anxiety from outside of the classroom perspective (Marwan, 2017). Therefore, this study is an attempt to understand language learning anxiety by investigating it in relation to various contextual variables to contribute to the existing body of knowledge. This study explored 100 BS English students’ language anxiety at University of Baluchistan. It aimed to investigate Pakistani tertiary EFL students’ perceptions when speaking English in class and outside of class. The study employed both quantitative (questionnaire) and qualitative (semi-structured interview) tools to collects data. The findings clearly suggested that students experience more anxiety when speaking English in class than speaking English outside of class. The study suggests that a friendly and supportive teacher, gentle error correction, relaxed and social classroom environment and incorporation of activities that don’t require students to be singled out may alleviate students’ anxiety.

Effect of Classroom Management Techniques on Secondary Students' Performance in District Narowal

The study's objective was to determine how classroom management techniques affected secondary students' performance. The concept "classroom management" is typically used to refer to discipline and classroom control. The most contemporary term used by all teachers in place of "discipline and control" is "classroom management." It may come across as powerful. There are so many different classroom management techniques are found which are named as dealing with discipline inside and outside the classroom, teaching and learning dimension, interaction during the lesson, teacher-student personal communication, psychological and social classroom environment. The study was quantitative and descriptive design was used. All of the district Narowal's public secondary schools made up the population. Multistage sampling technique was used in this research. The instrument of the study were questionnaires. The findings shows that there was highly significant effect of classroom management techniques on students’ academic performance.

Classroom social environment of secondary schools: An evidence from Azad Jammu and Kashmir

The major objective of the study was to analyze the social classroom environment of secondary schools in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. This study was descriptive by nature, and a survey was conducted to collect the data. This study was delimited to the government female school teachers. The population of the study was all the teachers of Government Secondary schools of District Kotli. The researcher selected 204 through a simple random sampling technique. A questionnaire was developed for teachers to find out about the social environment of the classrooms. Data were collected personally by the second co-author of this study after testing its reliability and validity from the study sample. The collected data were analyzed by the SPSS software in terms of mean and standard deviation. Teachers play a vital role in the classrooms through their support, promoting mutual respect, promoting tasks, and cooperation with students in the classes to develop a learning environment.

Attributes of democratic culture as represented in young children’s drawings

Democratic culture refers to a set of values, attitudes, and practices shared by citizens and institutions, without which democracy cannot exist. Preschools and schools have a core role in teaching and transmitting democratic culture as they offer most children their early encounters with the public realm that provides social environments for democratic culture. The aim of this article is to increase knowledge on democratic education of young children and creative means to implement it. The core questions raised are: How do young children understand their classroom social environment and their own role in it? Which of the children’s understandings of their classroom social environment reflect attributes of democratic culture? The data include 125 children’s drawings and their linguistic explanations of them collected from schools that implemented the Cultural Literacy Learning Programme in Cyprus, Israel, Lithuania, Portugal, and the UK. The method used is data-driven content analysis, including qualitative categorizing of the data, quantification of its core features, and a reflexive interpretation of the contents of the drawings. The study reveals how children aged 5–6 are able to elaborate on the ideas, principles, and practices of democratic culture, including participation, collaboration, negotiation, dialogue, listening, and expressing one’s own opinions. The analysis of the data elicited five thematic categories of how children think about social life in their classroom, approach democratic culture, and understand their role in practising it in school. The categories were based on the children’s approach to rules; suggestions taking the action either alone or as a member of a group; and views of the purpose and beneficiary of this action. The analysis revealed how drawing with peers is a multimodal and dialogic process of learning democratic culture. Children engage in dialogic chains of thinking not only in verbal, but also in visual interaction. Since the ability to participate in a dialogue is seen as a core skill in democratic education, educators should better recognize visual dialogic chains of thinking as a way for students to familiarize themselves with and practise democratic culture. • Even very young children can elaborate on the principles and practices of democratic culture. • Drawing with peers is a dialogic process of learning democratic culture. • Young children’s understanding of democratic culture draws on different approaches to rules and agency.

Teacher support and the social classroom environment as predictors of student loneliness

This study examined the relationships between students’ perceptions of teacher support, the social classroom environment, school loneliness, and possible gender differences among 2099 first year upper secondary school students in Norway. Data were collected in the fall (t1) and spring (t2) of the school year. Results from structural equation modelling (SEM) analyses showed that perceived emotional and instrumental teacher support were directly related to students’ perceptions of the social classroom environment, and indirectly to student loneliness through the social classroom environment. While for boys, both types of teacher support were significantly related to these variables, only emotional teacher support was of significance to girls. The strongest contributing factor to students’ school loneliness was their perceptions of the social classroom environment. Some implications of this study are that a positive social classroom environment is an important safeguard against student loneliness, and that teachers can aid in preventing loneliness among students through facilitating a positive social environment in the class.

The VIP Partnership Programme in Norwegian Schools: An Assessment of Intervention Effects

ABSTRACT This study used a quasi-experimental design to evaluate the efficacy of the universal, school-based VIP-Makkerskap [VIP Partnership] programme. 1101 students in a test group and 734 students in a control group completed questionnaires one week (t1), ten weeks (t2), and six months (t3) after programme implementation. A one-way ANCOVA showed that at t2 and t3, students in the test group reported significantly higher social classroom environment scores than the control group, but the effect sizes were small (d = .10 and .09, respectively). Further analyses showed that five of the ten test schools accounted for the increase in the outcome variable from t1-t2. In these schools, a greater proportion of teachers had used the programme since its beginning in 2015, compared to the schools that did not report an increase. The results suggest that teachers' experience in using VIP Partnership is a key component of the programme's effectiveness.

Classroom Social Environment as Student Emotions' Antecedent: Mediating Role of Achievement Goals

In line with assumptions made by the control-value theory of academic emotions, it was hypothesized that the association between the classroom social environment, in terms of students’ perceptions of their teachers’ interpersonal behaviour, and students’ academic emotions was partially mediated by students’ achievement goals. The present study applied multilevel structural equation modelling on questionnaire data from a sample of 2000 Chinese secondary school students. As assumed, achievement goals partially mediated the association between the classroom social environment and student emotions. Further, results indicated that the classroom social environment was more closely associated with student emotions than student goals were. The findings of this study add to the understanding of the antecedents of students’ emotions in class.

Implementation of a program based on mindfulness for the reduction of aggressiveness in the classroom

Classroom aggressiveness is emerging at an ever earlier stage and is more common in Secondary Education. The objective of the present work is to evaluate the effectiveness of a mindfulness-based intervention on variables related to classroom social environment in early adolescence. Eighty three students aged 11–13 were distributed into three groups: control group, intervention without practice (mindfulness intervention in the classroom) and intervention with practice (mindfulness in the class and meditation practice at home). Mindfulness in the class and practice at home intervention improved classroom social environment and impulsivity self-regulation with respect to the other groups. This type of intervention in early adolescence reveals different effects. When practice at home is encouraged it contributes to achieve greater classroom benefits. These preliminary findings are promising and mindfulness intervention plus practices at home should be considered as an implement to reduce school violence.

Learning achievement goal theory and teaching students legal problem solving

ABSTRACT This article examines achievement goal theory and how it describes student approaches to learning. It adopts the 2 × 2 achievement goal framework and examines how mastery goal achievement orientation in students fosters better quality, deep learning and leads to better outcomes. It then explores how a mastery goal achievement approach in students can be encouraged through the use of scaffolding instruction. It looks at the use of scaffolding instruction in two particular contexts: creating a supportive classroom social environment and setting classroom and assessment tasks which are appropriately challenging in the context of setting legal problem questions. It examines the empirical evidence that encouraging mastery goal achievement approaches in students using these two methods can improve their deep learning and also their results. It also gives examples of the author’s own experience of using scaffolding instruction to improve students’ results, in particular as regards teaching legal problem-solving to business school students with no prior knowledge of the law or legal problem-solving.

Implementación de un programa basado en mindfulness para la reducción de la agresividad en el aula

Classroom aggressiveness is emerging at an ever earlier stage and is more common in Secondary Education. The objective of the present work is to evaluate the effectiveness of a mindfulness-based intervention on variables related to classroom social environment in early adolescence. Eighty three students aged 11-13 were distributed into three groups: control group, intervention without practice (mindfulness intervention in the classroom) and intervention with practice (mindfulness in the class and meditation practice at home). Mindfulness in the class and practice at home intervention improved classroom social environment and impulsivity self-regulation with respect to the other groups. This type of intervention in early adolescence reveals different effects. When practice at home is encouraged it contributes to achieve greater classroom benefits. These preliminary findings are promising and mindfulness intervention plus practices at home should be considered as an implement to reduce school violence.

Educational placement and achievement motivation of students with special educational needs

The present study investigated how the educational placement in special education schools or regular schools is related to the achievement motivation of students with special educational needs (SEN). Furthermore, we examined whether the classroom social environment (i.e., class-average achievement and social support) explains potential placement differences. We compared the academic self-concept and enjoyment of learning of SEN students in special education schools (n = 420) and regular schools (n = 678) at the end of 4th grade. In line with social comparison theory, SEN students in special education schools reported higher academic self-concepts and enjoyment of learning than their peers in regular schools. Examining underlying mechanisms, class-average achievement was negatively related to SEN students’ academic self-concept and enjoyment of learning. In contrast, individually perceived social support by classmates—but not class-average social support—was positively associated with SEN students’ achievement motivation. After controlling for individual and class-average achievement, no relationship between SEN students’ educational placement and achievement motivation was found. Results indicate that social comparisons with classmates may result in placement differences in SEN students' academic self-concept and enjoyment of learning.