Middle school

Entering middle school can cause apprehension for young adolescents who face many cognitive, physical, social, and emotional changes. A quantitative, descriptive study was designed to identify and explain the concerns of rising sixth graders (n = 225) regarding their transition to the middle grades. Survey data were analyzed with regard to gender, race, and school type (i.e., inner city, urban, suburban, and rural). Undressing in front of others for P.E. was the most frequently rated area of high concern. There was a significant effect of gender on the level of concern for getting lost, changing clothes for P.E., peer pressure, being bullied, and academic performance. There was a significant effect of race on the level of concern for using a locker, having enough time to eat lunch, and going to the restroom. There was a significant effect of school type on the level of concern for making friends, belonging to the right clubs and groups, getting lost, having enough time to eat lunch,...

The purpose of this study was to determine if an advisory program that is being implemented in a Central Illinois Junior High School is beneficial in meeting the needs of a school's student population. Studies have shown that advisory programs help students socially and academically, and are critical in the development of adolescents. Literature supports advisory time in that it gives students an adult to connect to and creates a sense of belongingness. A mixed method survey consisting of Likert scale questions, open-ended questions, and multiple choice questions was electronically distributed to the student population after advisory lessons. Data was analyzed by specifically exploring the descriptive statistics. The findings in this study showed students reported the advisory program as effective, necessary, and often provide topics they could relate to.

This article presents a part of a study conducted in the middle school in a small town in the Region of Kujawsko-Pomorskie, interviews and drawing projections of students in one class. Analyses concern two categories: perceptions of the middle school as reported by the students and the new quality of the so-called " in-between " identity. This is an identity created by the specific context that simulated adulthood – a school " suspended " between the two worlds of childhood and adulthood.

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Call upon the community or general public, parents and youths, mental health professionals, physicians and nurses, educators, Facebook and other internet social media, religious groups, athletes, celebrities, secular and SBNR, school administrators, news media, Hollywood, academia, scientists, employers and employees, business owners and managers, private individuals and public officials, to join their talents, opportunities, and influence to support student mental health and end school shootings. Sharing this article is one way you can help https://www.academia.edu/35809557

Reflection is essential for learning and development, especially among middle school students. In this paper, we describe how middle school students can engage in reflective learning by composing digital stories in a project-based learning environment employing virtual reality. Adopting multiple case study methods, we examine the digital stories of five students, together with classroom observations and interviews about their experiences, in order to explore how digital storytelling can allow students to reflect upon their experiences in a year-end capstone program. Creating digital stories allowed students to 1) reflect on their learning experiences teaching younger students with virtual reality, 2) present their reflections in multiple modalities, and 3) make connections between their present experiences and both past and future. This study shows how digital storytelling can enable multimodal reflection for middle school students, particularly in technology-focused project-based l...

This systematic literature review was conducted to explore the effectiveness of problem-based and project-based learning (PBL) implemented with students in early elementary to grade 8 (ages 3–14) in mathematics and science classrooms. Nine studies met the following inclusion criteria: (a) focus on PBL, (b) experimental study, (c) kindergarten to grade 8 level, and (d) focus on mathematics or science content. For these studies, we examined: the definitions of PBL used, the components of PBL explicitly identified as salient to student learning, and the effectiveness of PBL. This review found that although there is no consistent definition of PBL, PBL is an effective method for improving K–8 students’ science academic achievement, including knowledge retention, conceptual development, and attitudes. Implications and limitations are discussed.

A student dipped a brush into a bowl of viscous tempera paint and in a few quick strokes formed thick magenta letters on a large display board. Nearby a handful of students were working together to attach string to paper cups and balloons. Across the room a small group of girls were lying on the floor carefully adding multi-colored text to a poster. Two others created characters out of Popsicle sticks for a puppet show...This is

Text-To-Speech software seems to offer important possibilities for increasing access to content area information and school curriculum for students who struggle with the printed text. By providing text in a multi-modal form, with simultaneous visual and audio streams, and by offering other supports usually available in digital texts (instant definitions, translations, etc) these systems offer both an alternative form of text access and an alternative structure for the interaction with text.

This study begins with the question, how does reading educational content via TTS systems differ, in and of itself, from reading traditionally, that is, via ink on paper? When working with students who struggle with reading there are myriad different factors which impact how any technology, either that of Gutenberg or that of contemporary developers, is utilized. This study was designed to examine how TTS literacy software, as compared to traditional reading of text on paper, might impact students’ comprehension of social studies text. I wanted to compare the basics of reading comprehension and vocabulary acquisition in educational texts, with these two technologies and with texts not being currently used in the students’ classrooms. How would TTS, a system rarely taught and rarely used in schools, match up with a form of information access with which students had trained for at least nine years?

Working with a group of eighth graders about to move into high school, all of whom had been documented by their school as struggling with reading and with social studies content, I compared these two literacy technologies (print media and TTS) using standard school assessment tools: information retells and multiple choice testing.  Though a small group study with important individual differences, this investigation nonetheless yielded some significant data that suggest important further research.

Reflection is essential for learning and development, especially among middle school students. In this paper, we describe how middle school students can engage in reflective learning by composing digital stories in a project-based learning environment employing virtual reality. Adopting multiple case study methods, we examined the digital stories of five students, together with classroom observations and interviews about their experiences, in order to explore how digital storytelling can allowed students to reflect upon their experiences in a year-end capstone program. Creating digital stories allowed students to 1) reflect on their learning experiences teaching younger students with virtual reality, 2) present their reflections in multiple modalities, and 3) make connections between their present experiences and the past and future. This study demonstrates how digital storytelling can enable multimodal reflection for middle school students, particularly within technology-focused pr...

The purpose of this study is to reveal the relationships between middle school students’ emotional expression levels and their self-concept, gender, and school types. It was conducted on the seventh-grade students of five middle schools in Sivas province in the 2016-2017 academic year.  Relational survey model was used. The Emotional Expression Questionnaire developed by King and Emmons (1990) and adapted into Turkish by Kuzucu (2011) and the Social Comparison Scale adapted into Turkish by Şahin, Şahin, and Durak (1993) were used as measurement tools. No significant difference was found between the emotional expression levels of the females and the males. However, the females were found to have significantly higher social comparison scores than the males. A significant difference was found between the scores obtained from the Emotional Expression Questionnaire by school type. A low-level significant, positive relationship was found between the scores obtained from the Emotional Expression Questionnaire and those obtained from the Social Comparison Scale.

One goal of the US Department of Education-funded Project Insights was to see if the use of Problem-based Learning (PBL) would encourage students to reveal previously unseen academic potential. Two PBL units were taught to 271 sixth grade students in 13 class-rooms. Afterwards, teachers identified students who demonstrated previously unseen academic potential during the PBL units. This advanced academic potential group was compared with students identified as gifted using district criteria and the remaining sixth grade students. Measures included standardized achievement test scores, teacher ratings of students ’ engagement in PBL, and independent ratings of students ’ performance on specific PBL assignments. Results of comparisons support the teacher’s identification of the advanced academic potential students as a group distinct from both from the tradi-tionally identified students and general education students. Findings suggest that a well-designed, engaging curriculum such as P...

Geometry is a complex subject to teach and learn at all levels in education. Poor performance in geometry in Bermuda has raised concerns about whether teachers are fully prepared to deliver content effectively. The purpose of this research was to examine teachers’ efficacy in the geometry classroom using a basic qualitative study design. The study is grounded in Bandura’s social cognitive theory and involved middle school mathematics teachers’ self-efficacy in terms of teaching geometry. A purposeful sample of five middle school mathematics teachers volunteered and participated in semi-structured zoom interviews. Data were analyzed using a basic qualitative methodology approach led to the following themed categories: pedagogical strength, content knowledge, concerns, and professional development (PD). Results indicated that mathematics teachers need support in terms of PD in geometry. Based on the findings, a 3-day PD session via Zoom was developed to address teaching middle school ...

The objective of the current research is to find out the impact of the integration of infographics in teaching of science on academic achievement of 6th  grade students in Kuwait, The research sample consisted of (52) in 6th grade students in Kuwait, divided into two groups, one experimental and a controlled group, 26 students represented the experimental group who studied using the fusion of infographics in teaching of science, Another student represented the control group, where they studied science using the traditional method. To achieve the goal of the research, the experimental approach was used with a two-set design (control and experimental),The achievement test for 6th grade students in Kuwait was used as a research tool, the results of the research have shown that there is a positive effect of the integration of infographics in teaching of science on the achievement of in 6th graders; and The average score of the experimental group's students on the achievement test (4.23) was higher than the average score of the student of the control group (2.73),The research also confirmed a statistically significant difference at 0.01 between the average grades of the experimental group and the students of a controlled group in the attainment test in the direction of the experimental group studied using infographic.

Introduzione delle speranze ragionate È un giovedì sera come tanti altri. Sono appena rientrato nel mio appartamento a Pregassona da una qualche riunione d'istituto, prevista come sempre proprio questo giorno della settimana al termine dell'orario scolastico. Per un attimo mi lascio rapire dall'incantevole vista sul golfo di Lugano, giù fino al ponte di Melide. Poi accendo meccanicamente il mio fedele iMac da 24 pollici ed entro, come d'abitudine, nel neonato server messo generosamente a disposizione dal nostro datore di lavoro. Digito rapidamente il mio indirizzo e-mail: gianfranco.pordenone@edu.ti.ch. Appare allora un messaggio dall'oggetto sorprendente: «ciao, dopo tanti anni». Ancor più sorprendente è il mittente: «Fabio Pusterla», il mio docente di Italiano alla SCC-Scuola Cantonale di Commercio di Bellinzona, più di vent'anni fa, e oggi uno dei più interessanti poeti contemporanei, come lo aveva presentato in un ritratto ricco di elogi la Neue Zürcher Zeitung, uno dei miei quotidiani irrinunciabili, nell'estate del 2004. Divertito e incuriosito dall'inaspettata corrispondenza, la apro e inizio a leggerla: «Caro Gianfranco, ti ricordi ancora di me?» Certo! Uno dei miei insegnanti preferiti… «Io non sapevo che tu insegnassi in Ticino, e ti credevo anzi chissà dove.» No… no… sono rientrato da Losanna e Parigi da ormai dieci anni e, tutti i giorni, vado a guadagnarmi il pane nella nostra affascinante ma ostica scuola media. «Pochi giorni fa, è successa una cosa che mi ha stupito molto...» E inizia a raccontare della festa dei quarant'anni della rivista Verifiche, alla quale sono d'altronde abbonato, di un racconto inedito che ha letto al folto pubblico presente, che si ispirava a una gita scolastica fatta a Zurigo con la mia classe della SCC e di una mia confessione a lui inattesa sulla passione che nutrivo per l'hockey su ghiaccio o, per meglio dire, per i gruppi giovanili che attorno alle piste… non esitavano a darsele, armati anche di coltelli. Purtroppo! Al termine del racconto alcuni colleghi lo avrebbero avvicinato, pensando di avermi riconosciuto, io insegnante tra Cadenazzo e Vira Gambarogno, di Italiano e Storia. Allora ecco la mail, con annessa quella che lui stesso ha definito una prosetta. La leggo d'un sol fiato, con il cuore che batte sempre più forte. Mi piace! L'inizio è forte: «Aveva un nome che cominciava con la G. e i capelli rossi. Il cognome invece me lo ricordo bene, perché era quello di una cittadina italiana molto bella». Certo, la seguente descrizione delle mie serate adolescenziali nelle piste di hockey, condite da una violenza latente-a dire il vero più verbale che reale, per codardia intendiamoci, non per ritegno-, non è proprio gloriosa, ma è parte del mio tragitto. In curva, tra i Ragazzi della Nord, fondati nel 1985 da un gruppo di amici di allora, si passava una buona parte del tempo libero, ci si costruiva un'identità rispettata, si sviluppavano i legami per tante piccole solidarietà utili nella dura vita quotidiana e s'incontravano i primi piccoli amori. Si cercava anche di mostrare che si valeva qualcosa, aiutando-o credendo di aiutare-i giocatori della nostra squadra del cuore a vincere. E in quel periodo il Lugano vinceva, sempre di più: con i rivali dell'Ambrì Piotta, tanto, ma anche con le grandi squadre elvetiche dell'epoca-il Davos, il Berna, il Kloten-ottenendo tra il 1985 e il 1990, cioè tra i miei 15 e 20 anni, ben quattro titoli nazionali. Come non esaltarsi? Tanto più che quando andavamo in trasferta, sempre molto numerosi, le nostre coreografie all'inizio delle partite e i nostri continui e originali cori, erano invidiati da tutte le tifoserie. Eravamo un modello da imitare. In tutta la Svizzera.

Amaç: Özel gereksinimi olan çocukların genel eğitim sistemi içinde akranları ile birlikte eğitim alabilmeleri en temel haklarındandır. Kaynaştırma/bütünleştirme eğitimi uygulamalarını etkileyen en önemli faktörlerden birisi öğretmenlerin bu konudaki tutumlarıdır. Bu çalışma, öğretmenlerinin kaynaştırma eğitimine yönelik tutumlarının belirlenmesine yönelik olarak Stoiber ve diğerleri tarafından 1998'de geliştirilen Kaynaştırma Eğitimi Hakkındaki Görüşlerim (My Thinking About Inclusion [MTAI]) ölçeğinin Türkçe geçerlik ve güvenirliğinin yapılması amacıyla gerçekleştirilmiştir. Yöntem: Stoiber ve diğerleri tarafından 1998'de geliştirilen Kaynaştırma Eğitimi Hakkındaki Görüşlerim (My Thinking About Inclusion [MTAI]) ölçeği, 158 öğretmen ve okul yöneticilerinin katılımı ile, benzer ölçek geçerliliği de kullanılarak uyarlama çalışması yürütülmüştür. Güvenirlik test-tekrar test ve iç tutarlık ile belirlenmiştir ve Cronbach alfa katsayısı hesaplanmıştır. Test-tekrar test güvenirliği Pearson korelasyon analizi ve sınıf içi korelasyon katsayısı (ICC) kullanılarak değerlendirilmiştir. Bulgular ve Sonuç: İlkokul ve ortaokul öğretmeni 158 katılımcı ile gerçekleşen çalışmada, yapı geçerliği faktör analizinde orijinal ölçekteki dört alt boyut, üç alt boyutta çıkmış, Cronbach alfa katsayısı 0,91 olarak bulunmuştur. Çalışmada, MTAI-TR ilk ve ortaokul öğretmenlerinin kaynaştırmaya yönelik görüşlerinin temel bakış açısı, beklenen çıktılar ve sınıf içi uygulamalar olmak üzere üç alt boyutta değerlendirilebilmesi için geçerli ve güvenilir bir ölçme aracı olarak bulunmuştur.

The best environment for child development is the family home. There is not a second healthy environment where human consciousness can better develop. Considering that childhood memories can affect a person's whole life, one can say that a child is as the family is. A child of divorced parents can lose all his/her vitality and joy of life, and can turn into an emotionally dry person. It adversely affects a child's school adjustment, academic success, social relationships, psychology and interrupts his/her natural flow of life. Unfortunately, a child who lacks a harmonious environment at home cannot adapt to life and exhibits an unsuccessful profile at school. In this study, 76 children whose parents were divorced for various reasons were chosen out of 1008 students. They were observed, evaluated and reported during an academic year by a total of 30 educators, including 28 classroom guidance teachers, a counselor and an assistant principal. Results show that children of divorced parents were not able to adapt to school environment between 86% and 100%. They had difficulty forming friendships and were among the lowest in terms of academic achievement. Almost all of them experienced psychological trauma and had difficulty in finding meaning in life. Therefore, studies should be carried out in order to establish support units for these children in schools.

This paper aims to analysis an English language textbook used in "middle school" (high school) in Saudi Arabia in-depth, to ascertain the type of pedagogy pushed by the teacher's book. The criteria of analysis are adapted from Communicative Language Teaching (CLT). These criteria are used to analyses the textbook in terms of how communicative it is and personalised, how authentic, how meaningful; its degree of linguistic complexity; whether it is scaffolded, accuracy or fluency oriented; and how much of all each of these categories is in the textbook activities. The methodology of this paper is qualitative and presents only one aspect, textbook analysis, of a broader case study which forms part of a Ph.D. project that explores the factors behind the failure of implementation of CLT in Saudi Arabia. The results of this analysis show that in the textbook there is a careful balance between accuracy and fluency. There are some person, alised and meaningful activities, however most of the activities lack of authenticity which limits freedom for the students in using use the target language.

La Cité des Métiers propose aux élèves de l'établissement de Cadenazzo-Vira Gambarogno, un collège populaire dans la partie italienne de la Suisse, une série de situations d'apprentissage liées à l'orientation scolaire et professionnelle. Tout au long des quatre années du collège, unique, comme en France, les élèves sont amenés à se confronter avec des personnalités issues du monde du travail, à visiter des entreprises et des écoles professionnelles, à réaliser une brève recherche en salle d'informatique, à regarder un long-métrage et à participer à un colloque sur le travail, ou encore, à suivre un cours facultatif d'initiation au lexique et au langage économiques. Cette recherche étudie ce projet pédagogique comme un point focal, au sens de centre vers lequel convergent un ensemble de complexes processus sociaux, reliés à la dynamique de construction du collège unique. Porteuse d'une effective mixité sociale, celle-ci ne peut se penser qu'en relation étroite avec un monde du travail en mutation, à la recherche de nouveaux équilibres. Ce travail est issu d'une action sociale décennale, entre 2003/2004 et 2013/2014, devenue ensuite une recherche ethnographique effectuée par l'un des animateurs, autour de trente entretiens semi-directifs, entièrement retranscrits et traduits en français, avec des professionnels du collège, des parents d'élèves, des personnalités invitées et des élèves ayant animé le projet. Ces données sont complétées par d'autres, issues en particulier de documents d'archives disponibles, de rapports de bilan réalisés par les élèves après des visites et d'articles publiés dans un hebdomadaire culturel, permettant d'analyser une expérience par la construction d'une étude de cas. La première partie de cette étude se focalise sur le rapport entre la collaboration et la conflictualité dans le processus d'élaboration de la Cité des Métiers. Une analyse stratégique de la minorité active, met en évidence une structure des relations de pouvoir centrée autour d'un jeu triangulaire entre acteurs sociaux, conduisant à une oscillation continue entre une dynamique d'innovation autonome, d'innovation hétéronome et de ralentissement réflexif. La deuxième partie analyse le rôle de l'ingénierie pédagogique dans l'efficacité de son déroulement quotidien. Une analyse de désirabilité des situations d'apprentissage mises en place, fait ressortir une participation responsable différenciée des élèves aux apprentissages, favorisant la succession de la séquence vocationnelle et la construction d'une compétence transitionnelle, en mesure de guider les transitions de vie de ces individus en devenir. La troisième partie, enfin, étudie les répercussions sur la forme identitaire des élèves. Une analyse structurale des récits de vie des élèves les plus engagés, esquisse une transformation identitaire vers l'apparition d'un esprit de performance, aux déclinaisons individualisées, qui renforce la maîtrise des transitions de vie. Cette démarche plurielle met en évidence les contours d'une brèche vers la réalisation d'un collège effectivement unique, puisque équitable, résultat d'un fragile équilibre sans cesse renouvelé entre la liberté et l'égalité, tout d'abord au niveau du curriculum caché. Ce qui fait surgir une individualité éveillée, fruit potentiel de l'idéal-type émergent de l'enseignant démocratique. Simultanément, ces contours font apparaître les limites de ce processus de rajeunissement interne de l'école républicaine, à savoir la faiblesse de l'élaboration d'une vision du monde social du corps enseignant, vecteur de cette dynamique, et de l'incontournable prolongement de l'équité de l'univers scolaire vers le monde du travail, dans le cadre de l'émergence d'une société ouverte.

Middle school chorus in the United States is, from an adolescent perspective, primarily a means of socializing and making friends. Using Green's (2008) notion of critical musicality, I designed a constructionist learning environment. Using critical participatory action research, conducted with my students rather than on them, we explored alternative pedagogical approaches to choral teaching and learning. We learned that collaborative learning fostered musical and social development in a heterarchical classroom environment that contributed to inter-subjective understandings. It became possible for students to apply prior knowledge from outside of school to holistic, contextual, self-generated learning goals in the choral classroom. Incorporating popular music, technology and dance into the curriculum made learning relevant for these students. Choral educators may be able to implement student-centred curricula in choral settings more easily than is on occasion assumed.