This paper presents findings from a qualitative study among 50 secondary school students from 10 schools in the Netherlands, aiming to understand how they experience 'presence' -- being fully (with one's entire being) engaged in the here-and-now -- in class. Although presence was a non-regular experience, students experienced it as personally…

Background: Transition Year (TY) is a quasi-gap year offered midway through post-primary education in Ireland. TY is intended to provide a low-stakes environment to promote maturity and social skills, and to prepare students for adult life. Previous interview-based research has found that TY is seen as a positive experience by many students and…

This study aimed to measure perceived psychosocial outcomes of middle school intramural participants in psychological development, social development, and school connectedness and to identify differences between gender and grade level. One hundred four middle school students were surveyed via a modified version of the Social Outcomes…

The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between behavioral and emotional characteristics and middle school student achievement across different grades based on a growth modeling approach. Using a total of 1,874 students, target predictor variables (i.e., attention, aggressiveness, behavioral control, social withdrawal,…

This study aimed to test the impact of government commitment, curriculum development, and education and training, either directly or indirectly through school management and business actors' participation in maritime learning activities to develop student competencies. This research was conducted in five junior high schools in North Jakarta and…

This survey explored Indonesian science teachers' experience and perceptions toward science teaching that is based on socio-scientific issues (SSIs). The participants were asked whether or not they already used corresponding practices in their own teaching and whether they experienced any challenges in implementing SSI-based pedagogies. Further…

In this time of deep divisions, many Americans have recognized the need to heal schisms, repair the social fabric, and restore trust and civility in public discourse. The Better Arguments Project is based on the premise that American civic life does not need fewer arguments; it needs Better Arguments. The project stems from the founding idea that…

In a 2010 survey, superintendents in Massachusetts identified proficiency in math as an essential element of college and career readiness for contemporary students (Rennie Center, 2010). U.S. students fail math more often than any other subject, and as a result many students dropout of school, especially low-income and minority students (Schmoker,…

Purpose: The Santa Ana Unified School District received an i3 grant (Investing in Innovation; funded by the U.S. Department of Education Grant number U411C160074) to build on their existing school climate practices. Called the Enhanced Positive School Climate Model, the aim is to improve school climate, student-adult relationships, create social…

Despite the fact that grade retention is now seen as controversial in many quarters, it remains common practice in numerous countries. Previous research on the effects of grade retention on student development has, however, generated ambiguous results, particularly in terms of motivational outcomes. This ambiguity has been attributed in part to a…

While the importance of social-emotional learning for student success is well established, educators and researchers have less knowledge and agreement about which social-emotional skills are most important for students and how these skills distribute across student subgroups. Using a rich longitudinal dataset of 221,840 fourth through seventh…

There is ample evidence that youth who have supportive relationships with others experience more positive outcomes (Kesselring et al., 2016 ). Positive Youth Development (PYD) emphasizes the promotion of better outcomes for youth by building on their strengths and providing supports and opportunities to foster the achievement of goals and…

The COVID-19 pandemic has raised societal awareness of the role scientific literacy has in understanding and problem-solving complex societal issues. Misinformation during the pandemic relating to health, disease, and vaccines has impacted public health efforts to control the novel coronavirus. One of K-12 science education's main goals is to…

To conduct this qualitative dissertation study, a phenomenological approach was utilized. The purpose of the study was to examine the perspectives of highly motivated, economically disadvantaged, middle school students to discover the factors that they identified as integral to their overall development and their intrinsic motivation, over time,…

The main purpose of the study is to gain insight on to what extent taking a science methods course correlated with the science teaching pedagogical preferences of pre-service science teachers. The study recruited twenty K-8 teacher education students enrolled in lower division science courses at a large American public university, some of whom had…