Are students with disabilities suspended more frequently than otherwise similar students without disabilities?

Students with disabilities (SWD) have been reported to be disproportionately suspended from U.S. schools and so more likely to experience the “school-to-prison pipeline” through suspension's associations with lower academic achievement, dropout, juvenile delinquency, and adult criminality. Yet few studies have estimated SWD's risk of more frequent suspension while simultaneously controlling for potential confounds. Negative binomial regression modeling of suspension count data from a nationally representative and longitudinal sample (N = 6,740) indicated that males, those from lower resourced families, and students attending more economically segregated schools were more frequently suspended. On average, students who are Black received about 1.6 times as many suspensions by the end of 8th grade as otherwise similar White students. In contrast, having a disability by 1st grade was not a risk factor for more frequent suspension by the end of 8th grade while simultaneously accounting for other risk factors (e.g., gender, race/ethnicity, family SES, prior history of externalizing problem behaviors, being from a English-speaking household, school-level economic composition). Students with specific disability conditions (e.g., emotional disturbances, speech or language impairments) were not at increased risk for more frequent suspension. Students with disabilities who are Black, Hispanic, or of other race/ethnicity were not more frequently suspended than SWD who are White.     

Polish students’ attitudes towards sexuality

The following article contains an analysis of medicine and pedagogy students’ attitudes towards sexuality. These attitudes were studied with the use of a scale of author’s own construction. The scale was used to determine: (1) the nature of respondents’ attitudes towards individual aspects of sexuality including several criteria: quality of life, health, acceptability, and morality; and (2) respondents’ preferences of normative regulations of sexual behaviours. It was found that the respondents accept love as relatively the most important aspect for the quality of life, and sex education (seen as a moral aspect). Students also give positive scores to physical aspects of sexuality, yet the scores are lower. Natural contraception in all its aspects is evaluated positively, whereas artificial contraception is evaluated ambiguously, similarly to masturbation and homosexuality. The fundamental norm in regulating sexual behaviour is the welfare of other human beings, the least important are the teachings of the Church.     

What behaviours do students consider academically dishonest? Findings from a survey of Canadian undergraduate students

This paper identifies those behaviours that students perceive to be academically dishonest and sheds light on several demographic, academic and situational factors that predict students’ perceptions of academic dishonesty. Data for this investigation were obtained through self-administered questionnaires from a sample of 321 undergraduate students attending university in a western Canadian city during the academic year 2007–2008. There was a high extent of leniency in students’ definitions of what behaviours constitute academic dishonesty, particularly for situations involving plagiarism and helping somebody else cheat. Sex, importance of academic ethic, strength of academic ability, deep learning strategy, and frequency of witnessing peers cheat made unique contributions to the prediction of students’ perceptions of dishonesty. Implications of these findings for institutional interventions are discussed.     

Instructor touch enhanced college students’ evaluations

Touch between people is associated with several outcomes, including reduced stress, more positive mood, enhanced feelings of closeness, and positive behavioral change. However, the potential utility of touch rarely has been examined in a college sample, with teachers touching their students. In the present study, we used instrumental touch operationalized as teaching students to take their pulse on the wrist; a control group was not touched. We assessed motivation, attitudes toward the instructor and the lecture, and quiz grades based on the lecture. Results indicated that touch increased motivation and attitudes toward the teacher and lecture. We suggest that instructors can use touch as a way to develop rapport, increase student motivation, and improve attitudes toward the instructor and course. Future research should evaluate appropriate forms of touch, possible moderation by student or instructor gender, and potential long-term benefits of using touch in the classroom.     

How and when do students use flashcards?

Previous survey research has documented students' use of self-regulated study strategies, with a particular interest in self-testing. These surveys indicate that students frequently use flashcards to self-test and that self-testing is primarily used as a way to monitor learning. Whereas previous surveys provide information about whether and why students self-test, they provide minimal information about how and when students choose to self-test. Accordingly, the primary purpose of the current survey was to explore how and when students engage in self-testing. We surveyed 374 undergraduates about the amount of practice and the timing of practice, two factors that strongly affect the efficacy of self-testing. Results indicate that students understand the benefits of practising to higher criterion levels (amount of practice) but do not typically implement or understand the benefits of practising with longer lags (timing of practice). We discuss practical implications for supporting more successful student learning.     

Practical work in physiotherapy students’ professional development

Learning practical work through cooperation between school and working life is part of physiotherapy higher education. Students learn practical work through the integration of theoretical, practical, tacit and situational knowledge in a socialization process. Workplace practices and habits direct students’ learning. This study answers the question: What kind of conceptions of learning practical work do physiotherapy students have? Longitudinal data written by 21 volunteer students (mean age 25 years) was collected over three and a half years. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. Learning practical work proceeds in five phases: (1) the basis of practical work, human movement and action and therapeutic tools is learned at school; (2) the meaning of the profession and practical work takes shape in an interaction with clients and observing how professionals work in real workplaces; (3) the wholeness of the practical work takes shape by gradually participating in the work processes; (4) critical reflection of the work processes – thinking, construction, evaluation and reasoning – develops; and (5) the conception of practical work widens. This study brings new information about learning practical work for developing healthcare education and its curricula. The role of workplaces is huge in learning tacit knowledge of the profession.     

Postgraduate research students: People in context?

This article seeks to explore learning, development and academic success, using postgraduate research students' experiences and relating them to submission and completion rates. The perceptions and circumstances of a sample of postgraduate research students from one cohort in a large civic university were examined via questionnaire and interviews. Significant associations between data gained via questionnaire and outcome of research study are presented, together with qualitative illustrations from comments and interviews with participating individuals. A developmental, sociocultural understanding of the learner is discussed. This supports a brief review of a package of practical measures designed to assist universities to support research students, especially those who may have difficulty negotiating the experience of research study, and their supervisors, and ultimately improve retention and submission rates.     

Do students studying therapy have more problems?

This study examined several questions on whether graduate students studying therapy reported more personal counseling or traumas than other students. The 66 students studying therapy did not report significantly different experiences or attitudes than 52 students in other areas, indicating that they did not seem to have more emotional problems or traumas than others.     

How and when do students use flashcards?

Previous survey research has documented students' use of self-regulated study strategies, with a particular interest in self-testing. These surveys indicate that students frequently use flashcards to self-test and that self-testing is primarily used as a way to monitor learning. Whereas previous surveys provide information about whether and why students self-test, they provide minimal information about how and when students choose to self-test. Accordingly, the primary purpose of the current survey was to explore how and when students engage in self-testing. We surveyed 374 undergraduates about the amount of practice and the timing of practice, two factors that strongly affect the efficacy of self-testing. Results indicate that students understand the benefits of practising to higher criterion levels (amount of practice) but do not typically implement or understand the benefits of practising with longer lags (timing of practice). We discuss practical implications for supporting more successful student learning.     

Changing Polish university students’ attitudes toward cluttering

PurposeThis quasi-experimental design study in Poland explored the extent to which attitudes toward cluttering of university students could be changed or improved after a series of activities dedicated to attaining deeper recognition of problems associated with fluency disorders.MethodUniversity students were assigned to either an Experimental or a Control group, with 39 in each (total = 78). They all completed the Polish version of the Public Opinion Survey of Human Attributes–Cluttering (POSHA–Cl) on two occasions up to eight weeks apart.Participants in the Experimental group attended the following intervention activities: watching and discussing an educational video on cluttering, participating in a workshop on the nature of cluttering, and watching and discussing a documentary on the life experiences of people struggling with fluency disorders. The Experimental group also filled out an open-ended questionnaire at the end of the study.ResultsPre-intervention comparisons indicated that participants assigned to either of the Experimental or Control groups differed significantly on 2 of the 15 summary ratings (13 %) of their pre-POSHA–Cl attitudes toward cluttering. For the Experimental group, the intervention resulted in significant positive changes in cluttering attitudes on 8 of the 15 summary ratings (53 %). In contrast, pre- and post- POSHA–Cl scores for the Control group were essentially unchanged (0 of 15 ratings).ConclusionsThis quasi-experimental study demonstrated that it is possible to positively modify the cluttering attitudes of university students. This has implications for the length, content, and experiential components of interventions designed to improve public attitudes toward fluency disorders.     

Is a closed mind better for students?

A commentary is given on the seven articles in this special issue. Ordered in terms of interest and importance this readers preference list begins with the broad review articles by Boekaerts, De Raad and Schouwenburg, and Messick, in this order. Next comes the curious article by Eysenck. It is curious because it so clearly reveals his continuing refusal to accept Conscientiousness or W as an independent factor of personality. How to open a closed mind? The three research articles left this reader in a state of depression, mostly because of the negative correlations found in two of the three studies between students self-ratings on Openness and their grades obtained in the early years of University schooling.     

Sources of politico-economic attitudes: students’ introspections

Our aim is to shed more light on university students’ sources of attitudes towards the market economy, social inequality, and the responsibilities of the state. Analyzing survey data of almost 500 students at a German university, we identify those sources the subjects report to be important in the process of forming their politico-economic attitudes. We explore the differences between our sample of local students and the German General Social Survey, as well as the characteristics of subjects expressing no opinion. We also examine whether the sources which were reported to be important significantly contribute to the prediction of conservative political attitudes, concentrating specifically on the attitude effects of economic education.     

Male on-campus resident students’ social normative behaviour: Influences on lived social climate by same gender beginning-year university students

This article reports on research on antecedents of first-year male students’ experiences of senior male students’ aggression in residences at a university in South Africa. Fourteen purposefully selected first-year male student residents (black = 14%; coloured = 7%; white = 79%) voluntarily participated. Their ages ranged between 18 and 21 years. Data were on their perceived precursors to aggression and violence that were collected using photo-narratives (written) and photo-narrative-elicitation-interviews. The data were analysed by means of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Three themes emerged which indicate that precursors to aggression and violence included physical and verbal aggression in the form of hitting, shoving around, pushing and shouting, swearing, taunting others, and nasty comments. Social aggression involves acts of bullying, exertion of power, modelling dominant behaviour in which perpetrators defend their status, or signal exclusion of others. The survivors experienced pressure to conform to fellow residents’ practices, norms and behaviour in the hope that they would gain acceptance into the in-group.     

Mathematics anxiety and coping strategies among middle school students: relations with students’ achievement goal orientations and level of performance

The purpose of this study was to explore relations between students’ prior grades in mathematics, achievement goal orientations in math classes, math anxiety, and students coping strategies in math classes. Three achievement goal orientations (mastery goals, performance-approach goals, and performance-avoidance goals) and two coping strategies (problem-focused and self-protective strategies) were explored. Participants in the study were 939 middle school students. The study was designed as a cross-sectional survey. Data were analyzed by means of zero order correlations and structural equation modeling. The correlations between the three goal perspectives and between the two coping strategies were low. A mastery goal perspective strongly predicted the use of adaptive problem-focused coping strategies whereas this perspective predicted lower levels of math anxiety and less use of maladaptive self-protective coping strategies. A performance-avoidance goal perspective predicted higher math anxiety and more use of self-protective coping strategies. Performance-approach goals were not significantly related to math anxiety or to selfprotective coping strategies. However, they were weakly and negatively associated with problem-focused coping strategies. Prior math grades were positively associated with mastery goals and performance-approach goals and negatively associated with performance-avoidance goals and math anxiety. No direct associations were found between grades and the coping strategies. The associations were indirect, mediated through mastery goals, performance-avoidance goals, and math anxiety.     

Religious outlook and students’ attitudes toward the environment

This paper reports the results of a survey study on attitudes towards religion and the environment, carried out with 1000 undergraduate students enrolled in two universities in Bangkok and Chiangmai, Thailand. There is a positive relationship between students’ religious outlook and their attitudes towards the environment, a finding that underlines the educational significance of general epistemological stances.     

Coventry university students’ experience of mental health problems

Growing numbers of university students are reporting mental health problems and using counselling services. The purpose of this study was to examine Coventry University students’ experience of mental health problems. The Department of Health (DoH) Mental Health Survey questionnaire (2003) was used to examine the experience of mental health problems and help seeking behaviour. Within the last 12 months nearly three quarters of students had experienced anxious or depressed moods, or, personal, mental, nervous or emotional problems, with a third of students failing to seek help. Ethnic minority students were more likely to report problems and less likely to seek help when compared to white students. Male students were less likely to seek help compared to female students. There are few existing studies that have focused on the mental health of students at universities established after 1992 from existing polytechnics. Coventry University exceeds the Government benchmark targets for recruiting students from non-traditional backgrounds. Our results show that it is these groups of students who are more likely to experience mental health problems.     

Middle school students’ perceptions of quality of life

Data are reported on 2278 public middle school students in South Carolina, U.S.A. Levels and demographic effects on their satisfaction with their overall lives as well as five specific domains (family, friends, self, school, and living environment) were assessed. Similar to findings with adults and high school students, most middle schoolers reported positive levels of global and domain-specific life satisfaction. Although statistically significant in some cases, the practical significance of the demographic variables was limited. Many middle schoolers reported particular dissatisfaction with their school experiences.     

Gender differences in students’ rational decisions to cheat

Few rational choice studies of deviant behavior have reported statistical tests of difference in the effects of explanatory variables between men and women. Using scenario‐based survey data from a sample of 330 university students (171 women and 159 men), this study examined gender differences in levels and effects of explanatory variables on intentions to cheat on exams. Findings showed significant gender differences in mean scores of low self‐control, anticipated shame states, perceived external sanctions, grade point average, and reported test‐cheating intentions. Regression analyses showed that the effects of moral beliefs and perceived pleasure of cheating were significantly more pronounced in predicting women's cheating intentions, whereas men were more affected by prior cheating experiences and friends’ cheating behavior. Findings also indicated that anticipated shame states accounted for the association between gender and cheating intentions. These results are consistent with recent studies dealing with gender‐related developmental differences regarding deviant propensities.     

Can business and economics students perform elementary arithmetic?

Business and economics majors (N=146) were tested on the D'Amore Test of Elementary Arithmetic, which employs third-grade test items from 1932. Only 40% of the subjects passed the test by answering 10 out of 10 items correctly. Self-predicted scores were a good predictor of actual scores, but performance was not associated with demographic variables, grades in calculus courses, liking for science or computers, or mathematics anxiety. Scores decreased over the subjects' initial years on campus. The hardest test item, with an error rate of 23%, required the subject to evaluate (36 x 7) + (33 x 7). The results are similar to those of Standing in 2006, despite methodological changes intended to maximize performance.