Student-level Variables Research Articles

The structure of adult thinking: A network approach to (meta)cognitive processing

Complex cognitive processes have been broadly categorized into three general domains: first-order cognition (i.e., thinking directed to solve problems), metacognition (i.e., thinking about one's thinking during problem-solving), and epistemic cognition (i.e., thinking about the epistemic nature of problems and beliefs about criteria for knowledge justification). Few, if any studies, have empirically examined the conditional dependencies between a large inventory of components simultaneously. This paper aims to contribute the first set of preliminary explorations into the interrelationships between different thinking and reasoning components that represent key aspects of emerging adult cognitive processing using a psychological network approach. In two cross-sectional studies (combined N = 1496), data was collected from undergraduate students enrolled at a large public university. Scrutiny of the networks suggests that thinking dispositions and competency with probability are key bridges between metacognitive abilities and epistemic beliefs. Implications for instruction are discussed. Educational relevance statementIt remains a perennial aim of all education systems to improve the thinking and reasoning of students. But which complex cognitive processes are worthwhile targets, and how do they fit among the plethora of metacognitive, self-regulatory, and epistemological belief aspects of students? The present set of studies is the first to apply a network approach to a broad array of cognitive components to uncover the central student-level variables that can be targeted with instruction. Based on the findings of the two studies presented, instruction aimed at epistemic dispositions could potentially assist in the development of complex cognition because of their centrality to networks of effective reasoning processes.

School leadership fostering mental health in the times of crisis: synthesis of school principals' views and PISA 2022.

Administration and governance of schools including many complex processes like bureaucracy, teaching, and school improvement is responsibility school principals. They are like bridges between micro-level dynamics and macro-level policies. Additionally, Turkey has experienced crises like pandemic and natural disasters in the recent years. These crises negatively affect the mental health of school stakeholders. All of these issues require an effective leadership style. In these aspects, the current study aims to investigate school leadership fostering mental health in times of crises. The design of the study is mixed-method research in which both quantitative and qualitative paradigms are followed. The data sources of the study were school principals and PISA 2022 dataset. PISA 2022 data related to mental health were extracted from dataset. Semi-structured interview forms were administered to school principals. Data coming from interviews are analyzed within content analysis while Hierarchical Linear Modelling (HLM) was run for PISA 2022 data. In terms of student-level variables, the PISA 2022 results showed that stress resistance was positively related to sense of belonging, feeling safe, assertiveness, and emotional control whereas it was negatively related to being bullied and empathy. Considering school-level variables, educational leadership and school diversity and multicultural views predicted stress resistance significantly. The results related to qualitative part showed that themes of perception on crisis, the impact of crises, crisis management actions, mental health support, and ways to improve mental health were effective in leadership style. It is concluded that school leadership fostering mental health depends on holistic perspective and taking action.

Basic psychological needs to online engagement and achievement among first-year undergraduates

Empirical research has largely focused on either identifying online learner characteristics or best practices to support online learning in higher education settings. Yet gaps remain in our empirical understanding of which and to what extent certain factors influence online learning. This exploratory study sought to corroborate the influence of three student-level variables in Basic Psychological Needs (BPNs) of autonomy, competence, and relatedness among students as they participate in online higher education coursework. This study conducted multiple regression modelling on 159 cases of first-year undergraduate students to determine the extent to which the three variables relate to engagement and achievement in online coursework. Results present preliminary empirical evidence that the basic psychological need for autonomy relates to achievement in online coursework. However, the other basic psychological needs of competence and relatedness did not clearly relate with either engagement or achievement. Results in part affirm the claim that efforts to drive student achievement in online higher education coursework ought to embed elements that support student autonomy. And results support a position of nuance where BPNs influence specific dimensions rather than all dimensions of online higher education learning as a catch-all construct.

A Hierarchical Linear Models Approach to Explaining Reflective Thinking Skill Through Problem Solving

The purpose of this study is to identify the student and teacher level factors that explain the reflective thinking skills through problem solving of elementary school pupils. The research was conducted in public elementary schools in three Van districts: Pekyolu, Tuşba, and Edremit. The study's sample consists of 52 mathematics teachers and 1126 elementary school pupils. "Participant Information Form," "Reflective Thinking Ability Through Problem Solving Scale," and "Mathematics Problem Solving Attitude Scale" are data gathering tools for pupils. Teachers' data was gathered using the "Participant Information Form," the "Reflective Thinking Tendency Scale for Teachers and Preservice Teachers," and the "Scale for Learner Autonomy Support." According to the results, it is found that the 90 % of variance in dependent variable can be explained by student level variables. Teacher level variables could explain 10% of outcome variance. The gender of students, receiving private tuition, book reading frequency, time devoted to studying mathematics, and attitude through problem solving are significant factors that can predict the dependent variable. Moreover, students' reflective thinking ability can be significantly influenced by teacher-level factors, such as teachers' knowledge of problem-solving steps and their tendency for reflective thinking. The authors recommend education or seminars that develop teachers’ reflective thinking tendency and problem-solving courses be provided in mathematics teaching undergraduate programs. Students should be supported in gaining reading habit and activities that have positive impact on the students’ problem-solving attitude.

Student engagement in a differentiated higher education system in Ethiopia: a multilevel analysis

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine effects of classroom-level and student-level factors on student engagement in the context of a higher education system vertically differentiated into research, applied and comprehensive university types.Design/methodology/approachThe study used a cross-sectional multilevel design to explain student engagement based on class and student variables. Specifically, the study collects data from 656 students and 61 randomly selected teachers at both levels and uses multilevel modeling to explain relationship patterns.FindingsThe results show that institutions vary significantly in student engagement scores. In addition, while a significant variation is found at the student and classroom level, the effects of academic achievement, instructional quality, teaching experience and teacher qualifications on student engagement vary across classrooms in institutions. However, the interaction effect of classroom and student-level variables on student engagement remains non-significant.Originality/valueThe main contribution of this lies in the explanation of student engagement using classroom and student level factors in a vertically differentiated higher education system using multilevel modeling. Student engagement varied in classrooms research universities applied and comprehensive universities.

Exploring school factors of academic achievement in Macau: The application of educational data mining in Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2016 assessment

International large-scale assessments, provide structured and static data, and due to their extensive databases, they can be considered as a valuable resource for Big Data in Education. In this paper, we propose an educational data mining approach to detect and analyze factors linked to academic performance in Macau schools using data from the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2016. We conducted a secondary data analysis based on a set of socioeconomic, process, and outcome variables from PIRLS and other sources, and built decision trees to obtain a predictive model of school performance. By doing so, we were able to identify the school and student-level variables that are most significant in predicting student performance in Macau. These findings will be useful for informing educational policy decisions and shedding light on the causes of poor performance in Macau schools. Overall, our study highlights the potential of educational data mining approaches in analyzing large-scale assessment data and generating insights for educational research and practice.

How Collective Efficacy Mediates the Association between Principal Instructional Leadership and Teacher Self-Efficacy: Findings from a Meta-Analytic Structural Equation Modeling (MASEM) Study.

Principal instructional leadership (PIL) is significant for school effectiveness due to its direct and indirect influences on school-, teacher-, and student-level variables. A considerable number of studies have provided persuasive evidence that PIL is associated with both collective efficacy (CEF) and teacher self-efficacy (TSEF), two significant variables to sustain the quality of instruction. These studies were conducted with a variety of participants from various contexts. The current study aims to investigate the association between PIL and TSEF, and the mediating role of CEF in this association using meta-analytical structural equation modeling (MASEM). This analysis was conducted using the correlation values obtained from 26 studies focusing on their relationship and included data from a population of 19.584 participants from around the world, thus providing a more generalizable perspective on these variables. The results indicated that PIL was correlated with both CEF and TSEF, and the combined influence of PIL and CEF on TSEF was 31%. The study findings also showed that the scales used to measure PIL could produce different results regarding these relationships, while gender did not have a significant effect. These results suggest significant implications for researchers, policymakers, and practitioners to sustain school effectiveness in the fast-changing context of schools in the twenty-first century.

The effects of self-esteem and parental phubbing on adolescent internet addiction and the moderating role of the classroom environment: a hierarchical linear model analysis

BackgroundWith the advent of the new media era, the understanding of adolescent internet addiction needs to be enriched. It is also necessary to distinguish the related factors of adolescent internet addiction at different levels to clarify the mechanisms of this phenomenon.MethodsThis study used hierarchical linear model analysis to explore the effects of student-level factors and school-level factors on adolescent internet addiction, along with cross-level moderating effects. A total of 1,912 students between the 4th and 8th grades in China participated in the study. Participants completed the Self-Esteem Scale, Parents Phubbing Scale, Classroom Environment Scale, and the Diagnostic Questionnaire of Internet Addiction.ResultsCorrelational analyses revealed that internet addiction was found to be negatively correlated with both self-esteem and the teacher-student relationship (p < 0.01), while father phubbing, mother phubbing, and learning burden were shown to positively correlate with internet addiction (p < 0.01). Hierarchical linear model analysis suggested that student-level variables, including self-esteem, and mother phubbing, were significant predictors of internet addiction (β = −0.077, p < 0.001 and β = 0.028, p < 0.01, respectively). At the school level, learning burden significantly and negatively predicted internet addiction (β = 0.073, p < 0.05). Furthermore, the relationship between self-esteem and internet addiction was significantly moderated by learning burden (β = −0.007, p < 0.05). Meanwhile, the teacher-student relationship also had a significant moderating effect on the association between mother phubbing and internet addiction (β = −0.005, p < 0.01).ConclusionsThis study revealed the relationships between self-esteem, parental phubbing, and classroom environment with adolescent internet addiction, and these findings could provide insights into reducing adolescent internet addiction from the perspective of individuals, families, and schools.

Examination of response time effort in TIMSS 2019: Comparison of Singapore and Türkiye

In this paper, it is aimed to evaluate different aspects of students' response time to items in the mathematics test and their test effort as an indicator of test motivation with the help of some variables at the item and student levels. The data consists of 4th-grade Singapore and Turkish students participating in the TIMSS 2019. Response time was examined in terms of item difficulties, content and cognitive domains of the items in the mathematics test self-efficacy for computer use, home resources for learning, confident in mathematics, like learning mathematics, and gender variables at the student level. In the study, it was determined that all variables considered at the item level affected the response time of the students in both countries. It was concluded that the amount of variance explained by the student-level variables in the response time varied for each the country. Another finding of the study showed that the cognitive level of the items positively related to the mean response time. Both Turkish and Singaporean students took longer to respond to data domain items compared to number and measurement and geometry domain items. Additionally, based on the criterion that the response time effort index was less than .8, rapid-guessing behavior, and therefore low motivation, was observed below 1% for both samples. Besides, we observed that Turkish and Singaporean students were likely to have rapid guessing behavior when an item in the reasoning domain became increasingly difficult. A similar result was identified in the data content domain, especially for Turkish graders.

A Multilevel Analysis of Factors Influencing School Bullying in 15-Year-Old Students

School bullying causes serious impacts on adolescents' physical and mental health. Few studies have explored the various factors influencing bullying by combining different levels of data. Based on the database of four Chinese provinces and cities of the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) in 2018, this study used a multilevel analysis model that combined school-level variables and student-level variables to explore the influencing factors of students being bullied. Students' gender, grade repetition, truancy and arriving late for class, economic, social, and cultural status (ESCS), teacher support, and parent support had significant explanatory power on school bullying on the student-level; on the school-level, school discipline atmosphere and competitive atmosphere among students had significant impacts on school bullying. Boys, students who have repeated grades, truancy and arriving late for class, and students with lower ESCS suffer from more severe school bullying. When developing school bullying interventions, teachers and parents should pay more attention to those students and provide more emotional support and encouragement to them. Meanwhile, students in schools with a lower discipline atmosphere and a higher level of competitive atmosphere experience greater levels of bullying, and schools should create more positive and friendly environments to prevent bullying events.

An Analysis of the Relationship between Primary School Fourth-Grade Students’ Writing Performance, and Student and Class Variables

This study aims to examine the writing performance of primary school fourth-grade students in relation to the student-level variables (writing, reading comprehension, self-regulation-based writing, writing motivation, and writing anxiety) and classroom-level (teacher) variables (knowledge of text-writing instruction and text-writing instruction self-efficacy beliefs). The data were collected from Zonguldak, Turkey in 2019-2020 academic year. The study used a correlation research method consisting of 734 fourth-grade students at primary school and 31 classroom teachers. The data collection tools included the Story Text and Informative Text Assessment Analytical Rubric, Writing Achievement Test, Reading Comprehension Test, Self-Regulation-Based Writing Scale, Writing Motivation Scale, Writing Anxiety Scale, and Text-Writing Instruction Form for Classroom Teachers, and Text-Writing Instruction Self-Efficacy Beliefs Scale. A two-level Hierarchical Linear Modelling (HLM) analysis was performed on the data. The results showed that students’ writing knowledge, reading comprehension level, and self-regulation-based writing skills play a significant role in their writing performance. The student-level variables examined in this study account for the text-writing performance of students by 24%. The study presents the results based on the findings and recommendations based on the results.

Factors influencing teachers’ grading standards in mathematics

ABSTRACT National assessments can be used to explore the strictness of teachers in grading students by comparing student grades to their scores on standardised tests. Several factors influence teacher-given grades, including student gender, school type, geographical regions, and socioeconomic status. In this paper, we used data from the Italian institute INVALSI, responsible for the organisation of national mathematics assessments, to investigate how these factors influence teachers’ grading standards. We considered a sample of 36,589 Grade 13 Italian students from 2,062 classes at 990 high schools. The relationships between the variables were analysed using hierarchical linear modelling. The findings reveal that teacher-given grades are related to student-level variables (e.g. gender, socioeconomic status, and score on the INVALSI test) and school-level variables (e.g. school type and location). When the difference between teacher-assigned grades and scores on the INVALSI test was considered, only student gender, school type, and location accounted for the gap in student achievements. Therefore, student socioeconomic status has a lower influence on their performance on the INVALSI test, suggesting that using standardised assessments might improve equity in assessment.

Risk and protective factors for heavy episodic drinking among college students: Influence of mental health service use

Objective: This study was designed to assess the relationship between mental health service utilization and heavy episodic drinking (HED) after controlling for demographic and student-level variables. Participants: A national sample of college undergraduate respondents to the 2017–2018 Healthy Minds Study survey (n = 67,427). Methods: Hierarchical logistic regression entering all variables on a single step. Subsequent logistic regression was used to assess interactions between mental health service variables and select demographic and student level variables. Results: Twenty-two demographic and student-level variables were associated with current HED (9 protective and 11 risk factors). Current mental health therapy was associated with a lower risk of current HED while mental health medication use in the past 12 months (but not currently) was associated with a higher risk of HED. Conclusions: Findings provide guidance to college/university community professionals given the responsibility of designing and implementing programs for mitigation of alcohol misuse on their campus.

고등학생의 진로성숙도 영향요인 탐색

Objectives The purpose of this study is to comprehensively verify the factors influencing students' career maturity by exploring student characteristics and their sub-areas (planning for career, self-understanding of career) and career education and career guidance activities operated by schools. Methods Multi-level modeling(two-level) was applied to the 8th wave(2019, 11th grade) of data taken from Gyeonggi Education Panel Study(GEPS). Results First, It was found that career maturity differs between schools. Second, the student-level variables influencing career maturity included self-esteem, self-efficacy, social self-concept, school satisfaction, parent relations, peer relations, teacher relations, reading activities, and academic stress. Third, most of the policy projects and programs operated for career guidance at the school level did not significantly affect career maturity, but career counseling with career teacher was found to have a negative effect on career maturity and career planning. Fourth, this study confirmed the statically significant interaction effect between teacher relations and career concentration curriculum. Conclusions Based on the findings of the current study, directions and implications for improving career maturity of high school students and activating effective career education were discussed.

일반고 고등학생 진로성숙도 영향요인에 대한 다층모형 분석

The purpose of this study is to identify student and school-level factors that affect the career maturity of general high school students in Seoul, and explore the effect of teachers' perceptions and attitudes, using data from SELS(9th year). For achieving the research purpose, multi-level analysis was applied. The findings indicate that among the student-level variables, participation in career activities, career activity satisfaction, and recognition of college admission information have a significant effect on career maturity. Among the school-level variables, all of the variables related to the operation of the career guidance program do not significantly affect career maturity, and it is confirmed that only the number of career information sources used by teachers has a negative effect on student career maturity. Also, it is found that the interaction between students' career activity satisfaction and teachers' perception of college admission guidance, students' recognition of college admission information, and teachers' recognition of CESSR has a significant effect on career maturity. Based on the results, this study suggests that it is necessary to develop a “consumer-centered” program with a practical effect to increase student satisfaction and use appropriate information to improve the systematic career education guidance method and develop an organic link between teachers and students' recognition of career guidance.

Student and School Factor’s Influencing the Mathematics Achievement: An HLM Analysis of Indonesian Data in TIMSS 2015

Indonesia continues to participate in Trends in International Mathematics and Science Studies (TIMSS) to increase understanding of academic performance in mathematics and science. This study aims to examine the determinants of the mathematics achievement of fourth-grade students in Indonesia from student-level variables and school-level variables. Two-level hierarchical linear modeling was used to analyze data of 4025 students from 230 schools in Indonesia who had participated in the TIMSS 2015 study. The result indicated schools resource shortage has a negative direct effect on mathematics performance, while literacy and numeracy skill when the student enters the school has a positive direct effect. In student level, home resources, parents' education, self-efficacy and students' interest in mathematics have a positive direct effect. The model also revealed a cross-level interaction between school level and student level. It is the economic background of student in one school that had a moderating effect on home resource toward mathematics performance. Variance explained from students and school levels were 17% and 44%, whereas total variance explained were 28%. The results were sizeable to make some recommendation for policy consideration which social economic background and affective characteristics of students are the main determinants of mathematics performance among Indonesian Students.

Supporting undergraduate students\u2019 developing water literacy during a global pandemic: a longitudinal study

To prepare students to address water-related challenges, undergraduate STEM education must provide them with opportunities to learn and reason about water issues. Water in Society is an introductory-level, innovative, and interdisciplinary undergraduate course offered annually at a large midwestern university. The course focuses on both disciplinary concepts and civic engagement, and is designed around a variety of interactive, research-based practices to support students’ learning, engagement with authentic data, scientific models and modeling, and collaboration and learning among peers. This study aims to evaluate, “how have student outcomes and perceptions changed over five years of the course?”. The results are based on data from students (n = 326) in five consecutive years of the course, during which time the course transitioned from a face-to-face model to fully asynchronous online model due, in part, to impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The particularly rapid and abrupt transition between 2020 and 2021 in response to COVID-19 led to many course changes, including modes of communication between instructors and students and opportunities for collaboration. Here, multiple measures are used to evaluate students’ learning about water concepts, model-based reasoning about socio-hydrologic systems, and perceptions of the course across all five years. By the end of each iteration of the course, students improved their knowledge of hydrologic concepts, independent of the course format or other student-level variables. However, results also show that students’ performance on complex socio-hydrologic systems modeling tasks, as well as their overall satisfaction with the course, decreased in Year 5 when the course was fully online. Results provide insight into efforts to move undergraduate STEM courses online and specific evidence of the COVID-19 pandemic’s impacts on undergraduate STEM teaching and learning about water.

Reading enhancements for students with autism spectrum disorder: A matched randomized pilot experimental study

BackgroundFor students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), improving reading comprehension is critical for increasing both their opportunities for successful postsecondary experiences including attending college and obtaining meaningful employment. The purpose of this pilot study was to investigate the effects of a multicomponent reading intervention on the vocabulary and reading outcomes of middle grade students with ASD. MethodWe conducted a matched randomized pilot experimental study for students with ASD in grades 3–8 (N = 28) identified by their district personnel as having reading difficulties (i.e., not passing state reading test). An independent researcher matched participants according to symptom severity and reading fluency and then randomly assigned a member of each pair to treatment or comparison condition. Participants in treatment condition were provided 1:1 instruction for 23–30 sessions (M = 27) of 30 min each four to five days per week. Instructional components included (a) vocabulary instruction; (b) fluency with text, and (c) reading comprehension. In this pilot study, data were analyzed using repeated measures multilevel models in HLM 7. Due to the associated low statistical power to detect effects, the small sample size, and the exploratory nature of the study, we selected an alpha level of 0.10. Data were modeled as student-level variables classifying students based on their ASD symptomology from mild (level 1) to severe (level 3). ResultsThe multicomponent intervention was associated with significant gains in WJ-PC scores of 22.62 (se = 8.19, df = 3, p = .070) for students at GARS severity level 1. Significant gains favoring the intervention were also detected on vocabulary score of 10.19 (se = 2.78, df = 3, p = .035) and for students rated at GARS severity level 1 and for students rated at GARS severity level 2 [vocabulary score 5.46 (se = 1.60, df = 3, p = .042)]. Significant effects were not detected for scores on a standardized measure of reading and fluency (TOSREC), and a researcher-developed measure of reading comprehension. ConclusionsThis pilot study shows enough promise to warrant future studies employing larger sample sizes and fully powered randomized control trial (RCT) studies. Although growth is modest and appears to be limited to participants who are in the mid to higher range of the autism spectrum, considering the large percentage of students with ASD in the mid to higher range, this study contributes to the development of evidence-based practices. We interpret the findings as having implications for future research with larger sample sizes and in providing initial guidance on instruction for consideration by practitioners.

Latinx Parents, Latinx Students, and In-School Suspension: A Quantitative Study of School Discipline

ABSTRACT Over the last several decades, “zero-tolerance” policies have been implemented by federal, state, and local educational systems, which have altered the culture of learning. A consequence of this “tough on education” culture is what some scholars have called the “school-to-prison-pipeline” which disproportionately impacts students of color. By using a national representative sample of Latinx students from the National Center for Education Statistics’ (NCES) High School Longitudinal Study (HSLS), and intersectionality as a theoretical framework, this paper examines the relative impact of parent-level variables, student-level variables, and key demographics on in-school suspension. That relationship is further interrogated separately for Latinx students below and above the Federal poverty line. Findings indicate that Latinx males living in poverty and Latinx students who are above the poverty line, who attend public schools, are more likely to receive in-school suspension. This suggests that structural inequities of discriminatory practices might play a larger role in secondary schools’ disciplinary procedures.

How does Information and Communications Technology Influence Turkish Students’ Science Achievement?

This study aims to evaluate the science achievements of Turkish students based on 2018 PISA data both according to Information and Communications Technology (ICT) variables of student and school levels. With a relational research model, regression analysis was used to measure the variance factors affecting science achievement. Also, two-level Hierarchical Linear Modelling (HLM) analysis was used to add school-level analysis. According to the results, it can be said that student-level ICT variables explain approximately 20% of the total variance in science success of students. The positive determinants are ICT resources, subject-related ICT use during lessons, and perceived ICT competence. The negative determinants are the use of ICT at school in general, ICT use as social interaction, and ICT use outside of school.