Upper-secondary School Students Research Articles

IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON ADOLESCENTS LEARNING IN DISTRICT QUETTA

In recent years, the usage of social media has been drastically increased, particularly among teenagers and students in upper secondary schools. Nevertheless, the majority are well aware of general use about the purpose, how help learning process and even the authentication of the knowledge is verified. The study examines how social media impact on various stages of teen age learning in district Quetta, Baluchistan. A quantitative research design was used with the sample of 200 adolescents 1 stages through questionnaire tool, the study looks at how people use social networking sites in general, how they learn, and how much time they spend on them. A descriptive analysis and a multiple liner regression were used to investigate the data. According to the findings of the study, the majority of stage one adolescents use social media for learning objectives, whereas stage three adolescents use it mostly for general purposes. This study is significant to help educational Leadership, Parents, administrators and teachers and parents to accept that, how the social media is helpful in learning process. The research also offers suggestions for making social media use more effective and helpful for teenage learning.

Enhancing Students’ Attitudes in Learning 3-Dimension Geometry using GeoGebra

Using technology for learning geometry has been found to have a positive impact on students’ skills and attitudes. GeoGebra software is effective in encouraging teachers to employ technology as a supporting tool to improve student potential in their learning of mathematics. However, GeoGebra software has not yet been formally introduced into the teaching and learning of mathematics in Rwanda. This research aimed to ascertain Rwandan upper secondary school students’ attitudes when learning geometry with GeoGebra. A total of 84 participants from four schools were purposively sampled and categorized into two quasi-experimental design groups. A group of 44 students was the control group, and 40 students formed an experimental group. Attitude scales were administered to both groups pre and post intervention. Students in the control group were taught geometry in the traditional way, and students in the experimental group studied 3D geometry using GeoGebra software as a supporting tool. To collect data, we used a standardized attitude scale. The results reveal a statistically significant difference between the groups and, therefore, confirm the effectiveness of GeoGebra in improving students' attitudes when learning 3-D geometry. However, a correlation analysis did not find a high correlation between students' performance and attitude. Based on the results, the researchers recommended integrating GeoGebra software at different levels of education in Rwanda, in mathematics curricula generally, and in geometry in particular.

Upper Secondary School Students’ Design of Arguments in Essays

This article explores how arguments are made in student essays through the use of writing and visual resources. The data set comprises 54 essays with a passing grade from students in their final year of upper secondary school in Sweden. The data is analysed using a multimodal approach to knowledge representation on arguments in essays, involving analysis of textual composition and content in both written text and visual resources. The study gives an insight into how students design essays in relation to academic requirements, how their arguments realise epistemological commitments, and what affordances are given through the use of writing and visual resources. The results reveal that academic argumentation varies considerably between the essays. There is an overrepresentation of written and declarative knowledge in the essays, where the arguments are grounded in various web-based sources, and visualisations are used for making conceptualisation and classification more salient in writing. Both written and visual resources offer affordances in the making of arguments on the bases of the modes for communication. This article concludes that there are many high demands of knowledge defined for the task of preparing for higher education, which are not easily represented in the students’ arguments in essays.

Successful in Sports but Worse in School? Adolescent Student-Athletes’ Development of Scholastic Performances

Studies have evaluated the effectiveness of dual career (DC) support services among student-athletes by examining scholastic performances. These studies investigated self-reported grades student-athletes or focused on career choices student-athletes made after leaving school. Most of these studies examined scholastic performances cross-sectionally among lower secondary school student-athletes or student-athletes in higher education. The present longitudinal field study in a quasi-experimental design aims to evaluate the development of scholastic performances among upper secondary school students aged 16–19 by using standardized scholastic assessments and grade points in the subject English over a course of 3–4 years. A sample of 159 students (54.4% females) at three German Elite Sport Schools (ESS) and three comprehensive schools participated in the study. The sample was split into six groups according to three criteria: (1) students’ athletic engagement, (2) school type attendance, and (3) usage of DC support services in secondary school. Repeated-measurement analyses of variance were conducted in order to evaluate the impact of the three previously mentioned criteria as well as their interaction on the development of scholastic performances. Findings indicated that the development of English performance levels differ among the six groups.

The Mediating and Buffering Effect of Creativity on the Relationship Between Sense of Place and Academic Achievement in Geography.

PurposeThis study explored the relationship between sense of place and academic achievement in geography and used a mediation model to verify the mediating role of creativity in this relationship.MethodsA total of 1,037 upper secondary school students were surveyed using the Sense of Place Scale, the Innovative Behavior Scale, and their geography test scores. SPSS (version 26.0) was used for descriptive statistical analysis and correlation analysis. The PROCESS plug-in (version 4.0) was used to test the mediating effect of creativity.Results(1) The correlation analysis showed that sense of place has a positive effect on academic achievement in geography and is related to creativity. Moreover, creativity exerts a positive effect on academic achievement in geography (2). The results of mediation analysis indicated that creativity plays mediating and buffering roles in the relationship between sense of place and academic achievement in geography after controlling for gender and residential address. The direct and indirect effects accounted for 65.708 and 34.292% of the total effect, respectively.ConclusionsThe results indicated that sense of place affected not only academic achievement in geography directly but also creativity indirectly. This conclusion provides certain ideas for the development of geography curriculums. Since academic achievement in geography is related to both sense of place and creativity, it is necessary to pay more attention to integrating sense of place in geography education and to foster creativity in curriculum development and teaching of geography.

The cross-cultural validation of the technology-enhanced social constructivist learning environment questionnaire in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region

This study’s primary aim is to validate a research instrument in Iraqi Kurdistan middle and secondary schools to explore learners’ perspectives concerning social constructivist learning environments and e-learning outcomes. The research instrument was updated and devised based on Aldridge, Fraser, Taylor, and Chen's (Aldridge et al., International Journal of Science Education 22:37–55, 2000) Constructivist Learning Environment (CLES) Survey. Additionally, it also contains two newly developed rating scales that have been taken from Luckay and Laugksch (Luckay and Laugksch, Research in Science Education 45:1–22, 2015), and a perceived e-learning outcomes scale adopted from Sultan, Woods, and Koo (Sultan et al., Educational Technology and Society 14:149–163, 2011). The instrument included seven prominent social constructivist learning dimensions and plus perceived e-learning outcomes, namely: Respect for Difference, Learner Investigation, Critical Voice, Learner Negotiation, Individual Relevance, Shared Control, Uncertainty and Perceived e-Learning Outcomes. For this study, empirical data were gathered from 1289 upper primary and secondary school students in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region. The research instrument possessed factor structure, discriminant validity, and internal consistency reliability based on the results of data analysis. Consequently, the validity and reliability of Arabic language and Kurdish language versions of the survey were verified. Hence, the principal data are sufficient for additional empirical research involving path model evaluation in order to discern any correlations between the variables included in the research model.

INTERACTION EFFECT OF GENDER, ACROSS SCHOOL-TYPE ON UPPER-SECONDARY STUDENTS’ DEVELOPMENT OF EXPERIMENTAL REASONING ON ORGANIC QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS

Chemical tests (qualitative analysis) on functional groups may improve students’ understanding of basic concepts about the structure of organic compounds and their reactivity. However, upper-secondary school students have difficulties in learning organic qualitative analysis. This research has studied whether the gender of students and school-type affect development of experimental reasoning on organic qualitative analysis. From three school-types, 50.2% males and 49.8% females were sampled through a multistage sampling procedure and participated in a cross-sectional survey. Data from 263 students were collected with the aid of diagnostic test on knowledge of organic qualitative analysis. A two-way between-groups ANOVA and independent-samples t-test were used to analyse the data. It was found no interaction effect of gender and school-type on students’ development of experimental reasoning on organic qualitative analysis. Keywords: gender and school-type, interaction effect, organic qualitative analysis, performance of students

The Importance of Teacher-Student Relationship for Distance Learning During Covid-19 Pandemic

Online education has become mandatory in all countries since the Covid-19 pandemic. In order to provide practical inspiration for schools to improve online learning and teaching efficacy, and satisfaction, we explored the distance learning experience of 427 upper secondary school students in Italy. Rather than focusing on the relevance of digital tools and abilities, as most e-learning studies do, we focused on the function and influence of the teacher-student relationship and how online learning affects that connection. The study’s findings revealed that even if the technology was the central focus of upgrading the educational system, the satisfaction for the Distal Learning education is heavily based on teachers’ ability to maintain a high-quality relationship. Indeed, the quality of the relationship is a far better predictor of student satisfaction, with online education satisfaction having substantially higher coefficients than technology satisfaction, even controlling for both teachers’ and students’ technological knowledge. We also found a significant moderating effect in the interaction between quality of the relationship and technology satisfaction, implying that when students are satisfied with the technology used in online education, a high-quality relationship with teachers can boost satisfaction.

Language Politeness on Social Networks among Upper Secondary Students: An Analysis of Politeness Principles

Linguistic politeness can be translated through the choice of a good word and the way it is spoken in a particular situation based on its purpose, such as greeting, asking, directing, or influencing. This study analyses language politeness on social media sites among upper secondary school students using Leech's (1983) Politeness Principle. The research instruments were derived from social media sites, such as Whatsapp and Facebook. The study also used qualitative methods, namely observation and questionnaires, to obtain data. During the field study, interviews and the distribution of questionnaires to respondents online were conducted to obtain the primary data. The study involved 60 male and female upper secondary school students from SMK Senawang and SMK Seri Pagi, located in Seremban, Negeri Sembilan, as respondents. The findings showed that in social media conversations, upper secondary school students most often showed a maximum use of politeness at 33.13%, a maximum use of agreement at 24.23% and a maximum use of humility at 42.64%. The strategic use of linguistic politeness in face-to-face and online conversations is based on the six maxims (maxim of politeness, maxim of kindness, maxim of support, maxim of agreement, maxim of humility and maxim of sympathy) found in Leech's Politeness Principle (1983). This Principle is found to help identify language politeness strategies in speakers who are upper secondary school students.

Exploring Students’ Self-Efficacy and Anxiety Towards Mathematics Problem Solving During Open and Distance Learning (ODL)

Although mathematics is seen as a crucial precursor to success in modern society, many students still struggle with real mathematical fear. They feel anxious when they engage in solving mathematical problems, especially in the last two years when the learning environment has changed due to the epidemic. One of the affective factors that can influence mathematical anxiety is the beliefs of students about their own ability to resolve issues called self-efficacy. The aim of this research is to explore student self-efficacy and anxiety in solving math problems among high school students during open and distance learning (ODL). The research used a quantitative analytical approach. A survey of 138 students was carried out on forms 1 and 4 at one of the secondary schools in Kota Bharu, Kelantan. The survey follows Diana May's Mathematical Questionnaire on SelfEffectiveness and Anxiety (MSEAQ). The data were analyzed in SPSS using descriptive statistics, an independent sample t-test, and a simple linear regression. The results showed that descriptive statistics had a lower level of self-efficacy and a higher level of mathematical anxiety among Form 1 and Form 4 students. An independent sample t-test revealed no significant difference between lower and upper secondary school students in self-efficacy and anxiety towards mathematics problem solving which means that lower and upper secondary school students can have the same level of mathematics self-efficacy and anxiety. Simple linear regression shows a moderately significant negative linear relationship between mathematics self-efficacy and anxiety. This paper presents an overview of students' self-efficacy and anxiety toward math subjects during secondary school.

Research on the use of videogames: effects on students of secondary upper schools of Udine territory

From the researches carried out in literature it appears how gaming is a behaviour in continuous evolution andexpansion (Mauceri & Di Censi, 2020) and is widespread in the entire population, particularly among teenagers.The present paper is the result of a multi-professional and inter-sectorial research carried out and shared with operators of the health service Azienda Sanitaria Universitaria Friuli Centrale (ASUFC), teachers of the Regional SchoolOffice (Uff. VI), the Provincial Student Council (CPS) of Udine and with a professional educator.One of the targets of this research was to analyse the feelings and beliefs of players regarding the use of videogamesand this was done in March 2021 through a questionnaire. 596 students of upper secondary schools of Udine territoryjoined this survey and to reach the target four videoplayer profiles have been outlined taking into account the playtime: the occasional player (N = 61; 10.2%) who uses the videogames for maximum 30 minutes per day, the habitualplayer – mild (N=57; 9.6%) between 30 minutes and 1 hour, the habitual player – moderate (N=250, 41.9%) between1 and 4 hours and the severe player (N=71, 11.9%) between 4 and more than 6 hours. The analysis of the repliesdemonstrates how all statements (21), following the chi-squared test, have a statistically important difference with respect to the profiles, except for two. It appears how the severe players run more often into potential experiences of riskof addiction or trouble, and they prefer to play instead of going out with friends, sometime also stopping friendshiprelations and feeling a higher desire to going on playing at the end of the session, also forgoing some hours of sleep.The research group, taking into consideration the spreading of the behaviour of severe players (11.9%), would deemuseful to plan and carry out future interventions aimed at encouraging the technological health since the first classesof upper secondary schools, in order to allow the students the acquainted use of technologies and gaming activitiesand to prevent the relative risks coming from the massive and improper use of these tools and actions.

Teaching Informatics to Adults of Vocational Schools during the Pandemic: Students’ Views and the Role of Neuroeducation

The COVID-19 pandemic has had an extremely significant impact on the educational process. The need to continue the educational practice, albeit the restrictions imposed in movement, led to a change in the way students participate and learn, as well as in the way educators teach and communicate. The aim of the present research study was to record the perspectives and views of adult students of evening upper secondary schools of the informatics sector, in relation to the challenges, experiences and learning involvement in the online courses. The study was conducted using a questionnaire with open-ended questions given to all students of an evening vocational upper secondary school in a semi-urban island region. The findings show that the way students are taught, the distractions and responsibilities of the students as well as their feelings concerning the pandemic, were the major challenges they faced. Those challenges affected both their involvement and learning experiences from the educational process. Finally, it seems that the low interaction among students and educators, the technical difficulties, and the lack of a structured learning framework have had an impact on the effectiveness of online education, according to educational neuroscience principles.

Do welfare counsellors help at-risk upper secondary school students?

Counselling is considered to be an important policy tool to prevent early school leaving, yet little is known about the effect of counselling on student outcomes. We investigate the effect of a novel type of counselling in Norwegian schools: the student welfare counsellor. These counsellors are employed by local welfare offices but placed in upper secondary schools, serving as a link between the student and support services by addressing financial, health or family-related issues and helping students into appropriate welfare office programmes. Using a difference-in-differences approach with variation in treatment timing, we find that moving this counselling service to schools kept students in school longer, although completion rates in upper secondary education did not increase. Effects are more pronounced for students with a minority background. These results suggest that moving available services closer to students can influence the educational attainment of at-risk youth – at least in the short run.

Dialogic possibilities of online supervision

When schools locked down owing to the spread of COVID-19, Danish upper secondary school students worked on the major written assignment that completes their studies. This assignment is interdisciplinary, and students receive up to twenty hours of supervision from two teachers. This year, supervision was reorganised into a virtual format. This article explores how and in what ways students benefited from this reorganisation. This article is based on a mixed-methods design that includes quantitative and qualitative data and investigates how various online supervision formats support dialogic interaction. This article focuses on the student’s experience of supervision. It finds that all the formats we investigated offer the opportunity for dialogue during supervision, but their potential varies significantly. Some formats seem to have great potential for supporting students’ academic development, whereas others support their psychosocial development. We conclude by addressing the importance of choosing the online format suited to a given purpose and recommend that supervisors be aware of the didactic purposes of the various formats.

The selfie as production and self-design

ABSTRACT This article is focused on the production and design of the self by upper-secondary school students in Mexico from the standpoint of the practice of taking a selfie. Based on the observation of Instagram profiles, interviews, and a survey, I investigate the place that selfies have in the design and self-presentation of young people, paying particular attention to the epistemic practices they mobilize and the operations they carry out with social networks. The design and presentation of the self is based mainly on editing and appears as a constant exposition validated by others; this process shows that subjects are self-designed while they are a result of the design imposed by the social media platforms, so this design of the self does not call into question the hegemonic canons and hierarchies.

Designing Teaching Process for Stem Topic �Traffic Signal Lights� for Upper-secondary School Students

In this paper, we propose a new STEM topic in the automation field for upper-secondary school students, which is the topic "Traffic signal lights". This STEM education is designed to be relevant to the current general education curriculum in subjects as Physics, Technology, and Informatics. Based on the 6E learning model, the teaching process is built for this topic, in which two factors of technical design and practice (programming and assembly of circuits) are emphasized in STEM-oriented teaching for upper-secondary school students.

Gender role models and early-career decisions

ABSTRACT This paper analyzes the link between the subject choices of German students in upper secondary school and teacher gender when these choices are taken. Our results corroborate the hypothesis that teacher gender matters in this regard, and they indicate that girls respond more strongly than boys to same-sex role models. This is in particular the case in maths: Girls who have a female maths teacher in grade 10 are significantly more likely to choose maths as an advanced course in upper secondary school than girls who are taught by a male teacher. We do not find a corresponding same-sex teacher effect in maths for boys. In contrast, both girls’ and boys’ choices of German as an advanced course in upper secondary school are, at least to some extent, influenced by teacher gender in grade 10. However, also this same-sex teacher effect tends to be smaller for boys than for girls.

ENHANCING STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARD BIOLOGY USING CONSENSUS AND COOPERATIVE REFLECTIVE JOURNAL WRITING EDUCATIONAL STRATEGIES

Biology is a core and required science subject offered at the upper secondary school level in the Nigerian educational system. However, students’ attitude towards the subject is poor, a trend probably due to the use of teacher-centred educational strategies. Scholars have thus advocated for the need to adopt innovative educational strategies to enhance students’ attitude towards biology. This study investigated the use of consensus and cooperative reflective journal writing educational strategies in enhancing students’ attitudes towards biology in two Local Government Areas (LGAs) within Ibadan Metropolis of Oyo State, Nigeria. The study adopted a quantitative pre-test-post-test, control group quasi-experimental design involving a 3x2 factorial matrix, with a positivist paradigm. Purposive sampling was used to select six schools across the LGAs while an intact class of upper secondary school II students was selected from each of the schools for a total of 305 participants. Two instruments, the Biology Attitude Questionnaire (BAQ) and the Students’ Verbal Ability Test (SVAT) were used during the study. The data generated were analysed using the Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA). Results showed that, treatments enhance students’ attitudes toward biology. Results also revealed that students’ verbal ability has effect on students’ attitudes toward biology. The interaction between treatment and verbal ability was not significant to enhance students’ attitudes toward biology. The two strategies, therefore, enhanced students’ attitude towards Biology in the two LGAs within Ibadan metropolis of Oyo State, Nigeria. The two strategies should therefore be adopted in teaching Biology to upper secondary school students in Nigeria and elsewhere. Keywords: attitude toward biology, consensus strategy, cooperative strategy, reflective journal writing, verbal ability

THE MEASURING INSTRUMENT OF PRIMITIVE PHYSICS PROBLEM FOR UPPER-SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS: COMPILATION AND EXPLORATION

Problem solving is considered one of the most critical competencies for life. However, many students may perform well in school yet cannot transfer the skills they learned in school to solve real-world problems, especially in science education. This study discusses the characteristics of the problem from the physics education perspective, based on Problem Representation Theory, and proposes a new type of problem: The Primitive Physics Problem. Moreover, the significance and contribution in promoting students' physics problem-solving ability, both theoretical and empirical, are described. Then the study develops a set of instruments that was tested on 811 students in 12th grade from 10 upper-secondary schools in China. The results showed that the new instrument had good reliability and validity. The promising application in the instruction of the Primitive Physics Problem and in measuring upper-secondary school students' problem-solving ability of the instrument is discussed. Keywords: primitive physics problem; problem solving; problem representation theory; assessment instrument.

Problem-solving a lesson from relativity in physics education

The principle of relativity is of fundamental importance in practice when we are solving problems in physics since the axiom states that the result of any physical experiment is the same when performed with identical initial conditions relative to any inertial coordinate system. Hence, conceptual knowledge of coordinate systems is central in any physics problem-solving framework. This opens up the question whether upper secondary school students should be taught to set up coordinate systems and apply basic coordinate transformations systematically when solving problems or if it should be left for physics courses at a college or university level? Given that working with coordinate systems does not require any advanced algebra or analysis knowledge, a case can be made for introducing the concepts of coordinate systems and transformations together with a uniform problem-solving framework. The purpose here, given that coordinate systems are central in problem-solving, is to revisit the method of drawing free body diagrams in engineering mechanics but adapted for upper secondary school physics. This method relies on the existence of a coordinate system and can be described by an activity diagram—a connected sequence of actions and decisions. The activity diagram is a map for problem-solving. The central actions in the activity are to introduce a coordinate system, draw a free body diagram and decide if the system should be transformed besides actually working out any algebra and numerical calculations. Here the notion of ‘transformation’ should be read as a graphical transformation rather than an algebraic group operation that is not suitable, neither to teach, nor to use at upper secondary level. A basic example is provided to illustrate why the methodology simplifies the problem-solving process and the student’s understanding of the subject.