Teacher-led Intervention Research Articles

Effects of a Teacher-Led Intervention Fostering Self-Regulated Learning and Reading among 5th and 6th Graders—Treatment Integrity Matters

Self-regulated learning (SRL) is a crucial competence in our rapidly changing society, yet its systematic promotion in the classroom remains limited. Addressing this gap, this study reports on a teacher-led intervention to promote SRL within reading tasks among 5th and 6th grade students. Although some interventions have been implemented to promote SRL, little attention has been paid to promoting SRL in primary schools. Building on a previous SRL intervention, the current study added cooperative learning among students and parental involvement, two aspects that are assumed to add value when fostering SRL. A randomized controlled field trial was designed to evaluate the effect of an intervention using pre-test, post-test and follow-up measures. A total of 757 students from 40 classes participated in the study. The data were analyzed using a multilevel approach. This study revealed no significant difference in SRL or reading comprehension outcomes in the post-test and the follow-up test between students of the experimental and control group. Further investigations showed that several aspects of treatment integrity had a significant impact on SRL outcome. This study encourages future SRL and reading intervention studies to assess and analyze the multiple aspects of treatment integrity.

Effects of a classroom intervention on college students’ sourcing skills: replication and extension study

ABSTRACT We adapted and evaluated the effects of a classroom intervention (extension of https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2018.04.006) on undergraduates’ sourcing skills. Students (n = 266) received either a teacher-led intervention (trained group) or regular classes (control group) and were assessed before, after, and 6 to 8 weeks after the intervention. Additionally, we included an ecological indicator: the quality of references in a high-stakes team essay. Overall, the intervention group outperformed controls in both post-tests: They gave lower ratings for bad quality links and used source-based criteria more often to select a text deemed as more reliable when reading two conflicting documents. They also included better quality references in their essays (i.e. references applying the targeted source dimensions) and avoided lesser quality ones (i.e. references overlooking those dimensions). No differences were found in the mention of sources in a far transfer argumentation. We discuss that the intervention improved students’ sourcing skills even in long-term generalized tasks.

Testing the Moderating Effect of Anti-Prejudice Motivation and Peer Attitudes on the Effectiveness of a School-Based Vicarious Contact Intervention

Vicarious contact has often been used for studying prejudice-reduction in school contexts due to its relatively accessible application through written or audiovisual portrayals of positive intergroup contact. However, these interventions may sometimes prove ineffective, thus restricting their ecological validity and independent use in education. To contribute to the understanding of factors that might facilitate or mitigate the efficacy of vicarious contact in reducing ethnic prejudice among adolescents, the present study tested for the moderating effect of anti-prejudice motivation and friends’ outgroup attitudes. Participants were Finnish secondary school students (N = 334; M = 13.38 years, SD = 0.53; 48% female; 19% ethnic minority) allocated into cluster-randomized intervention (N = 149) and control (N = 185) groups. Participants in the intervention group took part in 4 × 45-min teacher-led intervention sessions. A pretest-posttest design was employed to assess the outgroup attitudes three weeks before the intervention and the follow-up two weeks after. The results showed that adolescents’ intrinsic, but not extrinsic, anti-prejudice motivation and the pre-intervention attitudes of their reciprocal classroom friends positively predicted post-intervention attitudes towards people from different ethnic and cultural groups. However, only extrinsic motivation moderated the intervention effect as the results indicated the intervention to have a detrimental effect on outgroup attitudes among adolescents with less motivation to be non-prejudiced in order to gain social acceptance. This attitudinal backlash among adolescents less susceptible to the social influence of others implies that motivational aspects should not be overlooked when developing school-based intervention programs, especially when social norms are used as a mechanism of attitude change.

클래스넷을 활용한 또래생태 및 학급규범 개선: 학생의 학업 열의와 사회적 행동

The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of teacher-led interventions in the classroom on students’ academic and social behavior. The intervention focused on improving positive peer relationships and classroom norms. To fulfill this purpose, 115 classes (N = 2,858 students) across elementary, middle, and high school levels were divided into an experimental group (n = 66 classes) and a control group (n = 49 classes). Students’ academic engagement (behavior, emotion), social behavior (overt and relational aggression, prosocial behavior), teacher―student relationships (support, conflict), teacher alignment, and peer network attributes were collected at the beginning and end of the semester through student and teacher reports as well as peer nominations. Multilevel analyses and longitudinal social network analyses were utilized to evaluate the impact of the teacher-led intervention. The results of the multilevel analysis revealed that teacher alignment, teacher―student conflict, and an initial level of academic engagement were significant factors to improve academic engagement. In terms of overt and relational aggression, teacher support played a crucial role in the experimental effect, with varying impacts observed in elementary and middle school groups. Longitudinal social network analysis revealed significant classroom intervention effects on prosocial behavior. Both peer choice and socialization (influence) effects were significant in the experimental group, while only the peer influence effect was observed in the control group. This suggests that the class-based intervention contributed to the development of prosocial behaviors as class norms. This study has educational significance in that it highlights the importance of creating positive class norms and peer ecology to enhance students’ academic engagement and social behavior.

Trauma-Informed Classrooms after Natural Disasters: A Literature Review

Abstract: With the continuing COVID-19 pandemic combined with natural disasters due to climate change, teachers’ ability to identify and address trauma is increasingly important to maximize academic and socioemotional outcomes. Trauma-informed classroom interventions in response to natural disasters are relatively unexamined. The objective of this literature review is to examine the following research questions is examined: 1) What trauma-informed-classroom strategies have been implemented secondary to a natural disaster? and 2) Over time, how has the use of curriculum modification to mitigate student trauma symptoms evolved? This narrative review examined peer-reviewed articles published since 2000 that examined trauma-informed classroom strategies with P-12 students following a natural disaster. Research indicated that trauma-informed classroom strategies fall in one of two categories: curriculum and instructional modifications and teacher-led interventions. The implementation of all strategies indicates improved psychosocial functioning in students. Research indicates that the perspective of teacher-led trauma-informed strategies have evolved in from a questionable practice in the early 2000s to a necessity in the time of COVID-19.

Co-Teaching Implementation: How Do School Leaders Support Teachers?

School leaders play a pivotal role in fostering change and improvement, including via teacher-led interventions, such as co-teaching. Leaders’ vision and support create the conditions for teachers to maximize the effectiveness of school interventions. However, there is limited understanding of how school leaders provide support for the intervention of co-teaching. This gap in knowledge is crucial because co-teaching has the potential to be transformative, but teachers must actively drive pedagogical changes. We conducted a mixed-methods study involving 150 Norwegian elementary schools participating in a multi-year co-teaching initiative for literacy instruction. We collected data through open and closed survey questions, inquiring about school leaders’ beliefs and support practices regarding co-teaching. Our descriptive analysis examined school leaders’ practices and explored potential associations with their epistemological perspectives. Our findings indicate that leaders who approach co-teaching with cautious optimism tend to provide more thoughtful support compared to those who are overly optimistic and may underestimate implementation challenges. Moreover, most leaders prioritize structural support elements while potentially overlooking psychological and emotional support practices aligned with self-determination theory (SDT). We conclude with practical recommendations for school leaders to offer support to teachers that are grounded in the principles of SDT and organized according to implementation phases.

A short teacher-led intervention using direct instruction enhances 5th graders' purposeful reading skills

Proficient readers use strategies in order to achieve various types of reading purposes. However, purpose-driven strategies are seldom taught in elementary schools. Based on current theories of purposeful reading and direct explicit instruction, the present study developed and tested an instructional program to promote fifth graders’ purposeful reading skills. Teachers from five different schools (10 classes) were trained to implement the program. The intervention included two weekly 45-min workshops over a period of five weeks. Using a quasi-experimental design, participating classes were assigned to an experimental group (n = 78) or an active control group (n = 89). Trained students outperformed controls on post-tests assessing strategy components. However, the effects on an integrated reading task did not reach significance. The study suggests that the explicit teaching of purposeful reading strategies can effectively support students' skill acquisition. The conditions needed for innovative interventions to yield robust and lasting outcomes are discussed.

Short Video-Based Mental Health Intervention for Depressive Symptoms in Junior High School Students: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial.

Digital interventions for adolescent mental health are emerging in high-income countries, but have faced challenges and are scarce in China. This study investigated the effect of a short video-based mental health intervention on depressive symptoms in Chinese adolescents. A three-arm cluster randomized controlled trial was conducted in four junior high schools in Shanghai from December 2020 to December 2021 with the measurement at baseline, 6 months after study entry, and 12 months. Outcomes were collected by self-completed questionnaires administered by teachers masked to allocation. The primary outcome was depressive symptoms assessed by the Depression Self-Rating Scale for Children (DSRSC). Mixed effects models were used to compare psychologist-led intervention (n=428 students) and teacher-led intervention (n=385) including six short video-based sessions to usual school provision (n=751). Using intention-to-treat analyses, psychologist-led intervention showed more reduction in depressive symptoms compared to usual school provision at 6 months (coefficient -1.00, 95% CI -1.94 to -0.05), but not at 12 months. Using per-protocol analyses among participants who watched at least three video episodes, both psychologist-led (-1.14, -2.20 to -0.09) and teacher-led intervention (-1.23, -2.45 to -0.02) reduced depressive symptoms compared to usual school provision at 6 months, and the effect of teacher-led intervention persisted at 12 months (-1.58, -3.13 to -0.03). Further exploration found that compared with urban students, the between-group differences for depressive symptoms in rural students were more significant (p<0.05 for interaction) and the effects were maintained at 12 months. The short video-based mental health intervention showed potential to reduce depressive symptoms among Chinese adolescents, and the effects were more significant if the minimum video viewing frequency was reached.

Substance use prevention during adolescence: Study protocol for a large-scale cluster randomized trial of Botvin High School LifeSkills Training

BackgroundConcerns about the rise in adolescent vaping and cannabis use suggest the need for effective substance use prevention programs. Botvin LifeSkills Training (LST) has a strong evidence base at the middle school level for preventing or reducing tobacco use and related problems. A high school (grades 9–10) version of the LST program was also developed and shows promising initial evidence for reducing tobacco use in a single pilot study. However, the high school version of LST has not been sufficiently tested in an experimental trial, despite being widely implemented in high schools across the U.S. This paper outlines the study protocol for a large-scale cluster randomized trial of Botvin High School LST, with objectives of documenting the design of prospective research and promoting transparency. MethodsA total of 60 high schools in Colorado and Ohio were randomized to the 10-session, teacher-led intervention group (n = 33 schools) or business-as-usual control group (n = 27 schools). Across two cohorts of schools, 9th-grade students complete self-report surveys at pretest, immediate posttest, 1-year follow-up, and 21-month follow-up. Primary outcomes are tobacco (nicotine) use and cannabis use. Secondary outcomes are alcohol use, illicit drug use, psychosocial behaviors (e.g., violence and mental health), and academic achievement. Intent-to-treat analyses will use multilevel modeling to estimate intervention effects across assessment points. ConclusionThis independent evaluation will help to determine whether the intervention is appropriate for large-scale adoption. This trial is preregistered with the Open Science Framework (https://osf.io/dnz5q/).

Teaching sourcing during online inquiry – adolescents with the weakest skills benefited the most

Sourcing - identifying, evaluating, and using information about the sources of information - assists readers in determining what to trust when seeking information on the Internet. To survive in the post-truth era, students should be equipped with sufficient sourcing skills. This study investigated the efficacy of a teacher-led intervention aimed at fostering upper secondary school students’ (N = 365) sourcing during online inquiry. The intervention (4 × 75 min) was structured in accordance with the phases of online inquiry: locating, evaluating, synthesizing, and communicating information. During the intervention, teachers demonstrated why and how to source, and students practiced sourcing by investigating a controversial topic on the Internet. Students worked in small groups and their work was supported with analysis and reflection prompts. Students’ sourcing skills were measured with a web-based online inquiry task before and after the intervention. Compared to controls, the intervention fostered students’ abilities in three of the four skills measured (sourcing in search queries, credibility judgments, and written product). Depending on the sourcing skill, 4–25% of students showed improved performance. The students with low sourcing skills to begin with, benefited the most from the intervention. The study demonstrated that students’ sourcing skills can be supported throughout online inquiry.

The use of digital tools to promote health in children: A systematic review of intervention studies

Abstract Background Early childhood health interventions and educational programs are key to keeping children healthy and preventing disease during adulthood. Since several preventive strategies and campaigns targeting children have been proposed, the aim of this systematic review is to evaluate the effectiveness of digital-based interventions (e.g., cartoons, videos, video games, mobile apps, etc.) in promoting healthy behaviours in primary school-aged children. Methods Following PRISMA guidelines, we searched three electronic databases (Medline, Embase, and Scopus) up to April 11, 2022. We included randomized and non-randomized experimental studies quantifying the effectiveness of digital or audio-visual-based health promotion interventions in childhood (up to 12 years of age). Results The search strategy yielded a total of 1640 articles. Retrieved studies covered a wide range of health interventions - including a healthy diet, physical activity promotion, oral hygiene, skin cancer prevention, and different educational approaches (such as cartoons, interactive video games, etc.), mainly implemented in a school setting and comparing digital interventions to teacher-led interventions or no intervention at all. Data pooling suggests that digital and audio-visual-based health promotion interventions targeting children are effective in improving health literacy and healthy behaviours. Conclusions This systematic review adds to the body of knowledge on health promotion in children and provides actionable measures to implement straightforward educational approaches in this specific population, empowering them to adopt preventive behaviours, and ultimately promoting health at the household and societal level. Key messages

Building elementary students' social and emotional skills: A randomized control trial to evaluate a teacher-led intervention.

The Faith and Wellness: A Daily Mental Health Resource is a school-based, teacher-led social-emotional learning (SEL) intervention resource for elementary students. It is designed to address the challenges faced by existing SEL interventions, including lack of time, training, and resources. Using a randomized control trial design, this study evaluates short-term outcomes associated with the use of this resource. Participants were elementary teachers (NT1 = 201, NT2 = 129) and students (NT1 = 242, NT2 = 183; ages 4–14; 47.5% girls) from 19 Catholic school boards in [PROVINCE]. Using multi-level models, significant small to medium effect sizes indicated that intervention group teachers: taught SEL more frequently; had higher confidence in teaching SEL; and had more positive perceptions of the classroom climate, students’ SEL, and students’ school engagement at Time 2 than comparison group teachers. Results for students were less robust, though there was indication of dosage effects. Results highlight the role of teachers and frequent delivery in effective SEL implementation.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12310-022-09538-x.

Mechanisms Supporting Students’ Social and Emotional Learning Development: Qualitative Findings from a Teacher-Led Intervention

While the positive outcomes of social-emotional learning (SEL) are well documented, few studies examine the mechanisms supporting students’ SEL. Seven elementary teachers participated in audio-recorded focus groups/interviews following the implementation of an evidence-based, implementation sensitive SEL intervention. The current study identifies key mechanisms for effective school-based SEL interventions: (1) a whole-class approach; (2) a new vocabulary and shared language; (3) implementation of short, easy, reliable practices; (4) emphasis on transferable SEL strategies; and (5) improvements in teachers’ SEL knowledge, confidence, and behaviour. Findings support prevention and intervention practices to educate, train, and support stakeholders on the importance of classroom SEL.

Inventing new road paths for the contact theory through contact with a puppet (a “Syrian refugee child”) via a teacher-led intervention in a Greek primary school.

Inventing new road paths for the contact theory through contact with a puppet (a “Syrian refugee child”) via a teacher-led intervention in a Greek primary school.

Teacher Perceptions on Virtual Reality Escape Rooms for STEM Education

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is a meta-discipline employing active, problem-centric approaches such as game-based learning. STEM competencies are an essential part of the educational response to the transformations caused by the fourth industrial revolution, spearheaded by the convergence of multiple exponential technologies. Teachers’ attitude is a critical success factor for any technology-enhanced learning innovation. This study explored in-service teachers’ views on the use of a digital educational escape room in virtual reality. Forty-one (n = 41) K-12 educators participated in a mixed research study involving a validated survey questionnaire instrument and an online debriefing session in the context of a teacher training program. The key findings revealed that such alternative instructional solutions can potentially enhance the cognitive benefits and learning outcomes, but further highlighted the shortcomings that instructional designers should consider while integrating them in contexts different than the intended. In line with this effort, more systematic professional development actions are recommended to encourage the development of additional teacher-led interventions.

Protecting and enhancing willingness to communicate with idiodynamic peer-peer strategy sharing

While a wide range of trait-like and situational willingness to communicate (WTC) factors have been investigated, subsequent pedagogical advice often focuses on teacher-led interventions and does not enable learners themselves to overcome immediate WTC related difficulties. This may be because little is known about how students protect and enhance their own WTC levels. This study, therefore, positions students as peer—peer strategy investigators; learners used idiodynamic methodology to interview a selected peer about strategies they used to protect and enhance their WTC during a classroom discussion. Interviewers shared their WTC-related insights in a follow-up class, providing participants with maximum exposure to the elicited WTC-focused strategies. A key finding was that talk-positive students used a combination of expected behaviours and task-outcome-visualization in combination with ‘resetting’ meta-cognitive strategies to overcome learning difficulties. Furthermore, students reported three approaches to peer—peer strategy sharing: desire for self-improvement, rapprochement with peers, and personal reassurance. In addition to understanding task completion- and communication-difficulties and learning potential WTC-focused strategy resolutions, some individuals reported a change in mind-set and continued to observe their peers' learning-focused behaviours after the study. Thus, this idiodynamic peer—peer approach may be used for ongoing WTC-focused learner development and improved intra-group dynamics.

Implementation Support Improves Outcomes of a Fluency-Based Mathematics Strategy: A Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial

The Say-All-Fast-Minute-Every-Day-Shuffled (SAFMEDS) strategy promotes fast and accurate recall. The existing literature suggests that the strategy can help learners improve academic outcomes. Through a cluster randomized controlled trial, we assessed the impact of implementation support on children’s mathematics outcomes during a teacher-led SAFMEDS intervention. Following training and prior to baseline assessments, we randomly allocated schools to receive either no (n = 31) or ongoing (n = 33) support from a researcher. Support consisted of three in-situ visits and email contact. Assessors remained blind to the condition of the schools throughout. We analyzed the outcomes of children (n Support = 294, n NoSupport = 281) using a multi-level mixed-effects model; accounting for the children nested within schools. The results suggest that implementation support has a small effect on children’s fluency of arithmetic facts (Mathematics Fluency and Calculation Tests (MFaCTs): Grades 1–2, d = 0.23, 95% CI: 0.06–0.40; MFaCTs: Grades 3–5, d = 0.25, 95% CI: 0.08–0.42). These results are larger than the average effect sizes reported within professional development literature that apply coaching elements to mathematics programs.

Teaching the Teachers About Language Support Strategies: Effects on Young Children's Language Development.

The feeling thinking talking (FTT) intervention was designed because early childhood seems to be a prime time for fostering young children's language skills. This intervention involved teaching teachers from N = 28 kindergarten groups in N = 13 German kindergartens language support strategies (LSS) to be used in everyday conversations with the children in their care. The FTT intervention was evaluated in a business-as-usual control group design with N = 281 children (mean age = 49.82 months, range = 33-66 months at T1, mixed SES) who were individually tested using objective tests on grammar, vocabulary and working memory before (T1) and after the FTT intervention (T2), and in a follow-up about one year after T1 (T3). After propensity matching was applied, multilevel models demonstrated that the children taught by the intervention group teachers made faster progress in their understanding of sentences, their application of morphological rules, and their memory for sentences when numerous covariates (child age, gender, behavioral self-regulation, multilingual upbringing, and family SES) were controlled. Results suggest that complex language processing abilities in young children can be promoted by a teacher-led intervention in early childhood education. Improved language skills will further all children's academic and social success in school.

My Health Diary, a School-Based Well-Being Program: A Randomized Controlled Study

Background: A positive transition to adulthood entails developing the individual and social skills needed to cope with critical situations. The “My Health Diary” program was designed as a school-based and teacher-led intervention focusing on the active engagement of 12- to 13-year-old pre-adolescents. The study analyzes the role of several primary variables (psychological well-being, psychosomatic symptoms, health status), secondary variables (health-risk behaviors, prosocial behavior, academic success, physical and verbal aggression), and mediator variables of emotional and social skills in terms of empathic and social self-efficacy, and satisfaction with school. Methods: Sixty schools were involved, divided into control groups (N = 29) and intervention groups (N = 31). The program was administered only to the intervention group. Of the 2306 students at the baseline, 2078 were still involved at post-intervention 6 months later. Results: The program was not found to have significant effects on the primary outcome variables and most of the secondary variables. For the mediators, however, the association was stronger for the girls in the intervention group, and there was a statistically significant difference in the empathic skills shown by girls, who reported higher levels than boys. Conclusions: The program was found to have encouraging effects on some mediators and in enhancing socio-relational and emotional skills among pre-adolescents.

The effect of a school-based intervention on physical activity, cardiorespiratory fitness and muscle strength: the School in Motion cluster randomized trial

BackgroundPhysical activity (PA) declines throughout adolescence, therefore PA promotion during this period is important. We analyzed the effect of two school-based PA interventions on daily PA levels, cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and muscle strength among adolescents.MethodsFor the nine-month School in Motion intervention study (ScIM), we cluster-randomized 30 Norwegian secondary schools (N = 2084, mean age [SD] = 14 [0.3] years) to one of three study arms. The physically active learning (PAL) intervention included 30 min physically active learning, 30 min PA and a 60 min physical education (PE) lesson per week. The Don’t worry-Be happy (DWBH) intervention included a 60 min PA lesson and a 60 min PE lesson per week, both tailored to promote friendships and wellbeing. Both intervention arms were designed to engage the adolescents in 120 min of PA per week in addition to recess and mandatory PE lessons. The control group continued as per usual, including the standard amount of mandatory PE. PA (main outcome) was assessed by accelerometers, CRF and muscle strength (secondary outcomes) were assessed by an intermittent running test and selected tests from the Eurofit test battery.ResultsDaily PA and time spent in moderate- to vigorous-intensity PA (MVPA) decreased in all groups throughout the intervention. The mean difference in PA level and MVPA for participants in the PAL-intervention arm was 34.7 cpm (95% CI: 4.1, 65.3) and 4.7 min/day (95% CI: 0.6, 8.8) higher, respectively, compared to the control arm. There were no significant intervention effects on daily PA level, MVPA or time spent sedentary for adolescents in the DWBH-intervention arm. Adolescents in the PAL-intervention arm increased distance covered in the running test compared to controls (19.8 m, 95% CI: 10.4, 29.1), whilst a negative intervention effect was observed among adolescents in the DWBH-intervention arm (− 11.6 m, 95% CI: − 22.0, − 1.1).ConclusionThe PAL-intervention resulted in a significantly smaller decrease in daily PA level, time spent in MVPA, and increased CRF compared to controls. Our results indicate that a teacher-led intervention, including three unique intervention components, is effective in curbing the decline in PA observed across our cohort and improving CRF.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov ID nr: NCT03817047. Registered 01/25/2019 ‘retrospectively registered’.