Urban School Environment Research Articles

The Effects of Replacing Traditional Punishment with Mindfulness Practices in Schools

In an era where traditional punitive measures are increasingly critiqued for their efficacy and potential harm, this study delves into the effects of introducing mindfulness practices as disciplinary measures in secondary school settings. Situated in an urban school environment and spanning a six-month duration, the research employed a quasi-experimental design involving 40 students. Quantitative findings indicated a significant reduction in behavioral issues and an enhancement in psychological well-being among students subjected to mindfulness interventions. Qualitative insights, gathered from focus group discussions with educators and students, echoed these results, elucidating the transformative potential of mindfulness in fostering a positive learning environment. However, concerns were raised about the time and resources required for consistent mindfulness implementation. While the study offers promising insights, the results are bound by certain limitations, including a specific age and geographical focus. The findings underscore the potential of integrating mindfulness practices in educational settings, advocating for a balanced approach in school discipline that melds traditional and contemporary methods. Future research is recommended to explore the long-term implications across diverse demographics and settings.
 Keywords: Mindfulness Practices, Traditional Punitive Measures, Secondary School Discipline, Psychological Well-being, Behavioral Outcomes

The Spatial Thinking Ability Students on the Character of Urban and Rural Environments in Solving Population Problems

The purpose of this study is 1) to determine differences in the characteristics of the spatial thinking ability of students in urban and rural school environments and 2) to determine differences in the characteristics of the spatial thinking ability of the students in the urban and rural school environments in terms of the type of gender. This research uses experiment methods with a population of class XI students of Social Science both in urban and rural schools with a total sample of 31 students from each school. Spatial thinking skills are measured through the test of problem solving using the satellite imagery of Google Earth as a tool of representation. Spatial thinking skills assessment is based on the components of spatial thinking. It includes understanding concepts of spatial, the use of representation tools, and reasoning process. The data analysis uses statistical for different test with SPSS 25.0 for windows. The results showed, first, spatial thinking ability character’s between students in the urban and rural environments are significantly differences. So, the character of environment, i.e., urban and rural is not always consistent in influencing the spatial thinking ability of the students. Second, no differences in the spatial thinking ability in the statistics between male and female students. However, the students in urban environment have the characteristics of spatial thinking better than the students in the rural environment. Female students in urban environment have more powerful character of spatial thinking skills, though it is not proven in male students.

An Etiologic Assessment of ADHD and Trauma.

Abstract This research focused on recognition the difference between trauma and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) among children and youth in an urban school environment. The objective of this exploratory research was to gain a deeper understanding of the current challenges and barriers relating to assessments and treatments of children with a history of trauma and a putative diagnosis of ADHD. This research study reviewed a representative sample of qualitative observations made by clinicians who worked with children in urban school districts in the San Francisco Bay Area in northern California. In addition, we assessed secondary information of hand-written notes from past clinicians who previously worked in these same schools. We utilized reflexivity (researcher’s views/experiences) methods and framed within an evolutionary perspective, specifically the concept of the flight-freeze response to violence; this perspective offers us insight into how we as human beings react and respond to threats and violence in our lives. We concluded that among our sample, a significant portion of those diagnosed with ADHD had past trauma and trauma symptoms, and that there was noticeable overlap of symptoms that could be attributed to either ADHD or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This screening for trauma is critical for matters relating to the development of effective and appropriate interventions. We believe that conducting past family histories, and specifically conducting assessments of any history of past trauma, may help reduce the likelihood of misdiagnosing and may assist in being able to administer more effective treatments.

Survey Assessment for Decision Support Using Self-Organizing Maps Profile Characterization with an Odds and Cluster Heat Map: Application to Children’s Perception of Urban School Environments

The interpretation of opinion and satisfaction surveys based exclusively on statistical analysis often faces difficulties due to the nature of the information and the requirements of the available statistical methods. These difficulties include the concurrence of categorical information with answers based on Likert scales with only a few levels, or the distancing of the necessary heuristic approach of the decision support system (DSS). The artificial neural network used for data analysis, called Kohonen or self-organizing maps (SOM), although rarely used for survey analysis, has been applied in many fields, facilitating the graphical representation and the simple interpretation of high-dimensionality data. This clustering method, based on unsupervised learning, also allows obtaining profiles of respondents without the need to provide additional information for the creation of these clusters. In this work, we propose the identification of profiles using SOM for evaluating opinion surveys. Subsequently, non-parametric chi-square tests were first conducted to contrast whether answer was independent of each profile found, and in the case of statistical significance (p ≤ 0.05), the odds ratio was evaluated as an indicator of the effect size of such dependence. Finally, all results were displayed in an odds and cluster heat map so that they could be easily interpreted and used to make decisions regarding the survey results. The methodology was applied to the analysis of a survey based on forms administered to children (N = 459) about their perception of the urban environment close to their school, obtaining relevant results, facilitating results interpretation, and providing support to the decision-process.

Determining the Academic and Well-Being Needs of Students in Urban School Environments: A Delphi Study

Research indicates that there is a discrepancy in academic outcomes between students attending school in urban environments and those attending school in suburban environments. While educational reform efforts have focused on providing in-school academic interventions, they often do not consider variables that address well-being, nor are they aligned among critical stakeholders. This study implemented a two-round Delphi survey to develop consensus around critical priorities of focus to improve the academic and well-being outcomes of students. It was discovered that the main focus of intervention continues to be on academics, with less attention on well-being. Results and implications for practice are discussed.

An elementary social studies teacher׳s quest to develop democratic citizens: The boundaries of ambitious teaching

Developing informed and participatory citizens is one of the aims of the National Council for the Social Studies’ (NCSS) vision of civic education. However, when aspiring to meet the call for meaningful civic education, teachers may find themselves at odds with other goals of accountability-driven school environments, creating contexts in which ambitious teaching becomes the answer to instilling democratic citizenship in students. The purpose of this study is to document the experience of such an ambitious teacher, chronicling a fifth-grade teacher׳s quest for ensuring her students’ access to civic education in an urban, highly-structured, and accountability-based school environment. Through describing her teaching philosophy, instructional strategies, and experience with administration hampering her ability to promote civic education, a pattern of ambitious social studies teaching commensurate with existing literature is supported and questioned.

One English Language Arts Teacher’s Journey as a Secondary Teacher-Mentor: Life in the Hyphen

This article shares the results of a case study that explored Annie’s socially situated identity as a secondary English Language Arts teacher-mentor over 5 years at an urban school. Annie’s identities as a teacher-mentor occupied the space of the hyphen—sometimes a teacher, sometimes a mentor, sometimes both. Using discourse analysis, we describe how Annie positioned herself and was positioned as a mentor and a teacher. We explore Annie’s transformations informed by figured worlds associated with the Discourses of Mentor and Teacher at College Prep. Annie’s teacher-mentor identity shifted, evolved, and overlapped in this space as she interacted at College Prep and was influenced by institutional and societal Discourses, including students’ home Discourses. The study points to the need for more and perhaps different kinds of support for mentor-teacher/teacher-mentors who work in urban school environments to prepare them to negotiate potential conflicts in their identities.

Transparentar el conocimiento urbano para el apoyo a la decisión mediante inteligencia artificial: comprendiendo la percepción infantil de los entornos escolares de Granada

Las recientes trasformaciones socio-económicas están incentivando sociedades que aspiran a roles más activos en la toma de decisiones, afectando a las organizaciones sociales, pero también a la gestión del conocimiento y la educación. Para que ocurra este empoderamiento es necesario un mejor y más equitativo acceso a la información, más transparente, comprensible e interpretable. El trabajo que se presenta continúa una Investigación-Participación realizada con universitarios y otros ciudadanos que permitió consensuar atributos e indicadores de la calidad de vida y sostenibilidad urbana. La investigación se enfoca ahora en el objetivo de aportar conocimiento útil para el empoderamiento ciudadano en la toma de decisiones. Como caso de estudio se seleccionan los entornos urbanos escolares de la ciudad de Granada. La información se obtiene mediante una metodología cuantitativa con formularios a niños sobre sus dimensiones: familiar, residencial, relación con el medio, y perceptiva del entorno urbano colegial. Usando técnicas de Inteligencia Artificial sobre las tres primeras dimensiones se obtienen perfiles de niños atendiendo a tales realidades. Los perfiles se contrastan con la dimensión perceptiva que los niños tienen del ámbito próximo a su colegio, representándose finalmente de manera comprensible para la interpretación directa por la ciudadanía. Se concluye que la percepción infantil de la ciudad está influenciada por el contexto familiar y especialmente por el tipo de desplazamientos que realiza, siendo generalmente más positiva cuando éstos son peatonales. Ello enraíza con la relevancia de las ideas de la Ciudad de los Niños, más peatonal y humana, legitimando líneas de acción crítica ciudadana.

“You know you can do this, right?”: developing geospatial technological pedagogical content knowledge and enhancing teachers’ cartographic practices with socio-environmental science investigations

ABSTRACTMany barriers exist to K–12 classroom teachers’ adoption and implementation of geospatial technologies with their students. To address this circumstance, we have developed and implemented a geospatial curriculum approach to promote teachers’ professional growth with curriculum-linked professional development (PD) to support the adoption of socio-environmental science investigations (SESI) in an urban school environment that includes reluctant learners. SESI focus on social issues related to environmental science. The pedagogy is inquiry-driven, with students engaged in map-based mobile data collection and subsequent analysis with Web-based dynamic mapping software to answer open-ended questions. Working with four science and social studies teachers, we designed and implemented a sequence of three locally oriented, geospatial inquiry projects that were implemented with 140 9th grade students. We investigated how the geospatial curriculum approach impacted the teachers’ geospatial pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), their cartographic practices, and promoted geospatial thinking and analysis skills with their students. Findings revealed strong growth in teachers’ geospatial PCK, increased map use by teachers, use of maps as media for inquiry and not didactic instruction, and modeling to guide students’ geospatial analysis using GIS. Implications for PD to promote teachers’ geospatial PCK and in-class cartographic practices are discussed.

Gender and Geographic Predictors of Cyberbullying Victimization, Perpetration, and Coping Modalities Among Youth

Cyberbullying has become an important public health issue due to documented associations among victimization, perpetration, and greater likelihood of depression, substance abuse, anxiety, insomnia, and school-related problems for adolescents. Less is known, however, about how youth cope with cyberbullying and the types of services and supports they are likely to use based on relevant socioeconomic, demographic and geographic factors. The objective of this project was to determine whether gender and geography, in combination with mental health and socioeconomic status, predicted cyberbullying victimization, perpetration, and patterns of coping and help seeking in a sample of youth aged 16 to 19 years ( N = 289). An anonymous online survey was used to gather information on cyberbullying victimization, perpetration, and methods for coping from youth from New Brunswick, Canada. The results of this study suggest that the likelihood of becoming a cyberbullying victim or perpetrator, as well as the coping modalities used to respond to bullying, are highly gendered and intersect with existing social and health inequities. Interventions aimed at bolstering resiliency should be developed in the context of the urban and rural school environments where coping skills are developed and refined.

Educational Resilience and Academic Achievement of Immigrant Students From Ghana in an Urban School Environment

Educational resilience is often linked to educational success of various immigrant youth including Black immigrants despite the challenges they face. However, few studies have explored the factors that promote and/or constrain educational resilience and academic achievement of Black immigrants. To address this gap, the current article focuses on the educational resilience and academic achievement of Ghanaian-born immigrants ( N = 60) attending urban high schools in the United States. Results indicate that self-regulation, technology, religious faith, past experiences, parental support, resources, and safety issues played an important role. Implications and recommendations for educators and policymakers are discussed.

After-School Program Implementation in Urban Environments: Increasing Engagement Among Adolescent Youth.

After-school programs (ASPs) play a crucial role in supplementing the present school day. However, implementing ASPs in the urban environment and among adolescents (grades 6-12) poses unique challenges. The purpose of this study was to conduct a systematic literature review to identify evidence-based barriers and facilitators to after-school programming in urban school environments. Twenty-five publications meeting the authors' inclusion criteria over the past 10 years were reviewed and synthesized. Results demonstrated that the demand for ASPs is increasing. Several barriers, including staffing, funding, resources, transportation, and space, were identified. Specific challenges regarding the implementation of ASPs for adolescents in urban areas were also determined. A number of best practices were identified along with benefits for academic engagement and social-emotional coping skill development. Efforts to address these specific barriers and facilitators to ASP implementation may contribute to improving broader health and academic outcomes among adolescent youth.

Classroom management, school staff relations, school climate, and academic achievement: testing a model with urban high schools

Urban learning environments pose distinct instructional challenges for teachers and administrators, and can lead to lower achievement compared to suburban or rural schools. Today’s educational climate increasingly emphasises a need for positive academic outcomes, often measured by standardised tests, on which student educational opportunities, teacher benefits and school funding can be based. By applying an ecological framework to the urban school environment, it could be possible to better understand and ultimately improve the educational context at multiple levels. This study examined how classroom management, staff relations and school climate contribute to academic achievement, as measured by ACT scores. In a large urban American public school system, 208 teachers from 38 high schools were surveyed. A model was tested in which, when academic achievement was accounted for over time, classroom management and staff relations contributed positively to school climate, and climate in turn contributed to academic achievement. Structural equation modeling revealed that the data fitted the proposed model. Results illustrate the roles of school and classroom factors related to academic performance and underline the importance of classroom management strategies and positive learning environments. Results suggest avenues for interventions to increase academic achievement by supporting students through the lens of an ecological framework.

Children exposure to indoor ultrafine particles in urban and rural school environments.

Extended exposure to ultrafine particles (UFPs) may lead to consequences in children due to their increased susceptibility when compared to older individuals. Since children spend in average 8h/day in primary schools, assessing the number concentrations of UFPs in these institutions is important in order to evaluate the health risk for children in primary schools caused by indoor air pollution. Thus, the purpose of this study was to assess and determine the sources of indoor UFP number concentrations in urban and rural Portuguese primary schools. Indoor and outdoor ultrafine particle (UFP) number concentrations were measured in six urban schools (US) and two rural schools (RS) located in the north of Portugal, during the heating season. The mean number concentrations of indoor UFPs were significantly higher in urban schools than in rural ones (10.4 × 10(3) and 5.7 × 10(3)pt/cm(3), respectively). Higher UFP levels were associated with higher squared meters per student, floor levels closer to the ground, chalk boards, furniture or floor covering materials made of wood and windows with double-glazing. Indoor number concentrations of ultrafine-particles were inversely correlated with indoor CO2 levels. In the present work, indoor and outdoor concentrations of UFPs in public primary schools located in urban and rural areas were assessed, and the main sources were identified for each environment. The results not only showed that UFP pollution is present in augmented concentrations in US when compared to RS but also revealed some classroom/school characteristics that influence the concentrations of UFPs in primary schools.

African American women principals: heeding the call to serve as conduits for transforming urban school communities

African American women leaders are often found in urban schools that have been exhausted of resources and lack support. However, due to their disproportionate representation in urban schools, African American women principals have become adept at uniting and engaging stakeholders in marginalized school settings into action. The intent for this research project was to illuminate commonalities of African American women leaders of urban school environments and understand how they make sense of their leadership roles. We conducted a focus group interview with three African American women principals of urban schools. Themes that emerged include: Heeding the Call and Staying the Spiritual Course; Understanding Individual Students, Families, and Communities for Change; and Caring for the Human Condition. Findings have implications for leadership preparation and practice.

“Whole School Environmental Mapping Framework and Observation” in Preventing Childhood Obesity

The school environment is one of the many factors related to the increment of overweight and obesity among children by influencing the eating pattern and physical activity level. This study examines the school environmental factors by identifying the compliance of rural and urban school environment (physical, economic, political and socio-cultural) with whole-school environmental mapping framework. A total of 60 schools were randomly selected, and teachers have been interviewed face to face by using a whole school mapping questionnaire and observation of the school environment. Schools that obtain more than 60% score are considered comply with “whole school environmental mapping”.

Noise levels in an urban Asian school environment.

Background noise is known to adversely affect speech perception and speech recognition. High levels of background noise in school classrooms may affect student learning, especially for those pupils who are learning in a second language. The current study aimed to determine the noise level and teacher speech-to-noise ratio (SNR) in Hong Kong classrooms. Noise level was measured in 146 occupied classrooms in 37 schools, including kindergartens, primary schools, secondary schools and special schools, in Hong Kong. The mean noise levels in occupied kindergarten, primary school, secondary school and special school classrooms all exceeded recommended maximum noise levels, and noise reduction measures were seldom used in classrooms. The measured SNRs were not optimal and could have adverse implications for student learning and teachers’ vocal health. Schools in urban Asian environments are advised to consider noise reduction measures in classrooms to better comply with recommended maximum noise levels for classrooms.

Critical Race Theory, Hip Hop, and Huck Finn: Narrative Inquiry in a High School English Classroom

This study explores the impact of reading Huckleberry Finn through the lens of critical race theory for both teacher and students in a racially diverse urban high school environment. The teacher/researcher used narrative inquiry and creative non-fiction to examine student language usage, white privilege (including her own), and student reaction to the novel in a collaborative qualitative study. Major findings include distinct differences between students of color and white students in their level of teacher trust and their views on reclamation.

Youth Theatre as Cultural Artifact: Social Antagonism in Urban High School Environments

This article focuses explicitly on live theatrical performances as cultural products, using Every Single Day as a case study of the ways in which teenagers represent social antagonism in high school social systems. I will begin by establishing youth theatre performance products as cultural artifacts and vital sites for critical inquiry. Next, I will define social antagonism and use it as a theoretical lens through which to analyze Every Single Day and use it to deconstruct the ways teens construct their relationships to adult and institutional authority. I will then go on to examine adolescents' powers to regulate their immediate social norms and the ways in which Every Single Day represents bullying as a weapon of social antagonism in a larger class struggle. Finally, I will examine the play's happy ending as both an affirmation of the status quo and an animation of hopes for a more peaceful world.

Sense of Belonging in the Urban School Environments of Aboriginal Youth

It is well established that educational attainment and social support are critical social determinants of health among Aboriginal Canadians. Still, the gap in educational attainment with non-Aboriginal Canadians continues to grow, and little is known about the role of social support as a health determinant among Aboriginal youth. In collaboration with The Wabano Centre for Aboriginal Health (Ottawa, Canada), we undertook focus groups with urban Aboriginal youth at-risk to examine perceptions of their urban school environments, including access to social support. Data were analyzed using a general inductive approach. Results indicate that youths’ perceived level of trust is key to the uptake of social support and vital to fostering sense of belonging. Youth identified social support as both structural and functional; the former being a symbol of the ‘potential to help’ and the latter representing ‘actual help.’ The unique challenges endured in the home environments of Aboriginal youth at-risk means that teachers and staff must be prepared to provide forms of support that are responsive to these realities. Part of the solution will come from implementing measures of cultural safety that support the resources needed for Aboriginal youth at-risk to experience sense of belonging, thereby making urban schools places where youth will achieve their educational goals.