This research focuses on listening to the voices of Year 13 academically successful Māori students in a large, urban, mainstream, co-educational, decile 4, New Zealand secondary school. Traditionally, researchers have tended to emphasise the poor academic performance of Māori students in New Zealand. In contrast, this qualitative case study, however, seeks to understand what influences and motivates the academically successful Year 13 Māori students who have gained the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) Level 2 and who returned to school to study for NCEA Level 3. Semi structured interviews as conversations with all thirteen Māori students who had achieved NCEA Level 2 formed the basis of this research. Five of their parents, seven of their teachers and the principal were also interviewed. The findings show that these students all stress the importance of their family, in particular, one family member or significant adult in their lives who valued education and supported the student, influencing and encouraging their motivation and self-efficacy. Building positive relationships with their teachers was the next strongest influence on their academic success followed closely by the positive influence of their friends. Self-motivation was mainly extrinsic. The students perceived that the principal had little effect on their individual achievement. The teachers also acknowledge the importance of building positive relationships with their students and acknowledge the benefits of the reflective practice provided by the Te Kotahitanga project in highlighting this factor. The findings suggest the excellent initiatives currently taking place in the school need to be continued or strengthened and that further interventions which target particular Māori students, rather than are global across the school, should be introduced.

Cognitive engagement has been linked to positive outcomes such as academic achievement (Eccles & Wang, 2012). However, students’ level of cognitive engagement tend to decline as students move into middle childhood and adolescence (Archambault, Janosz, Morizot, & Pagani, 2009; Wang & Eccles, 2012a; Wiley & Hodgen, 2012). In addition, two out of three high school students nationwide reported feeling bored at school because the academic tasks are not interesting or relevant (Yazzie-Mintz, 2006). In regard to this matter, researchers have examined factors that relate to cognitive engagement. Most of the existing research is quantitative in nature and only involves students who are low or average achievers. This study addressed this gap in the literature by examining the facilitators and barriers of cognitive engagement from the perspective of high-achieving students with qualitative methods. Participants were ninth grade students in accelerated curricula (i.e., enrolled in Advanced Placement classes or International Baccalaureate Diploma program). A mixed-method sequential design was utilized. Forty-seven participants who scored at the top or bottom 10% on indicators of cognitive engagement, specifically the Goal Valuation and the Motivation/Self-Regulation subscales of School Assessment of Attitudes Survey-Revised (SAAS-R) were identified from a larger sample of 320 freshmen. Among the selected participants, 13 were invited and 12 took part in the qualitative part of the study— individual interviews. A generic approach, focusing on the constant-comparative method, was used to analyze data generated from interviews. The qualitative analyses revealed nine themes. The first theme provided context to the voices of participants, including why they decided to join accelerated curricula and how their experiences in AP/IB classes have been. The next five themes were related to the facilitators of cognitive engagement. It includes (a) students’ role, (b) teachers’ role, (c) parents’ role, (d) school connectedness, and (e) technology’s role. Finally, the last three themes addressed barriers to cognitive engagement. Participants shared that some (a) student characteristics, such as mindset and life circumstance, (b) negative academic experiences, and (c) distractions deterred them from being cognitively engaged in their AP/IB coursework. Collectively, most of the themes generated from this study aligned with the findings from past research, except some themes from past studies were not found in this study. This study also discovered new themes that expanded upon the past literature’s understanding on ways to promote and remove barriers that hinder cognitive engagement. Consistent with the theories of other researchers, the results of this study showed that the three different types of student engagement (i.e., cognitive, behavioral, emotional engagement) are interrelated to each other. This study also found relatively little differences in the sentiments provided by participants who self-reported higher or lower level of cognitive engagement. Implications of this study include expanding the current literature body on facilitators and barriers of cognitive engagement. The results of this study also serve as a general guidebook for educators of AP/IB students to (a) create a learning environment that promotes cognitive engagement, (b) suggest to students strategies that might increase their level of cognitive engagement, and (c) share with parents home-based strategies that may promote students’ cognitive engagement. Future studies should focus on exploring the applicability of the findings on other student populations by conducting interviews with a more diverse set of participants (e.g., students with varying level of academic achievement) and further explore barriers to cognitive engagement.

Students in accelerated curricula tend to have greater stress when compared to students in general education (Suldo, Shaunessy, & Hardesty, 2008). It is important for stakeholders to be able to help these students reach their goals and attain happiness. One potential method to help these students is to attend to their character strengths. People who effectively utilize their character strengths have achieved numerous positive outcomes including greater levels of well-being, self-esteem, and positive affect (Proctor, Malby, & Linley, 2011; Quinlan, Swain, Cameron, & Vella-Brodrick, 2014; Wood, Linley, Maltby, Kashan, & Hurling, 2011). Unfortunately, there is a lack of research on students’ strengths, and there is no research looking specifically at the strengths of students in accelerated curricula. This study addressed this gap in the literature by examining the character strengths of students in accelerated curricula. Participants included 253 ninth-grade students in accelerated curricula, specifically enrolled in Advanced Placement (AP) classes or a pre-International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma program. A mixed-method design was utilized. For the quantitative part of the study, the researcher looked at the most frequent self-identified character strengths of all the participants and examined if the endorsed strengths differed for subgroups of students based on ethnicity, academic program, academic risk, or emotional risk. The most prevalent strength was humor, followed by love, creativity, kindness and curiosity. More Asian students identified with love of learning compared to students from other ethnic groups, and more White students identified with social intelligence. Across program, more AP students identified with creativity and fairness, and more IB students identified with self-regulation and kindness. In regard to risk status, more students without academic risk identified with persistence/perseverance. More students without emotional risk identified with creativity, persistence/perseverance, leadership, and teamwork, whereas more students with emotional risk identified with love, hope, and humor. For the qualitative part of the study, the researcher examined a subset of 121 participants who participated in a selective intervention because they were identified as demonstrating early signs of academic or emotional risk. The researcher examined how these students described their behaviors and actions in a way that illustrated their strengths. The qualitative analyses revealed three main themes: Manifestation, Importance, and Origination. This thesis can assist educators understand how high-achieving students describe and view their character strengths as meaningful. The rich descriptions of each character strength can be useful for educators in targeting character strengths in students and creating strengths-based interventions to increase students’ happiness and overall flourishing, according to the PERMA framework (which is made up of positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, and accomplishment). Further research should be conducted on why strengths differ between AP and IB students, as those findings may have implications for those who participate and ultimately succeed in these rigorous programs.

This qualitative study explored fifth graders' perceptions of their mathematics learning within the context of a reform effort. Students' voices are the focus of this study due to the paucity of literature on student learning from the students' perspective (Erickson & Shultz, 1992), particularly the elementary student (Gentilucci, 2004). The participants of this study, who in the past have been given a variety of labels including "disadvantaged" or "at-risk," clearly articulated, even in nonstandard English, their perceptions of their mathematics learning. They passionately explained what helped them learn mathematics as well as what impeded their mathematics learning and were often incredibly insightful in their commentary. In an effort to hear and present the student voices, the data gathering methods used in this study included the use of focus groups, one-on-one interviews, and classroom observations as well as the use of a student survey. Several ethnographic methods and practices were employed to help ensure the credibility of this study, including triangulation and member checking. Data analysis involved a highly detailed, organic process which culminated in the emergence of a number of significant themes involving students' perspectives of mathematics, their mathematics experiences prior to fifth grade, and finally their perspectives of their learning during the first year of a mathematics reform effort. A number of valuable lessons learned as a result of this study are presented and translated into implications for the elementary mathematics classroom. These lessons, based on the students' own voices, urge teachers to prioritize mathematics instruction, effectively utilize manipulatives, games, and alternative algorithms as well as encourage classroom discourse about mathematics. If teachers would follow this outline, provided by the students' voices, students' mathematical power will be more deeply realized. Additionally, the promise of true reform due to the transformational power of students' voices is discussed and the possibilities defined.

The purpose of this study was to address the under-researched theme of achievement among students in a post 1992 university in the UK. The findings are based on a case study of a cohort of first year (FY) undergraduates in a science department in a post 1992 university. Three key research approaches were deployed within this case study, namely, grounded theory, phenomenography and survey research. These three distinctive approaches have been framed within a broad interpretivist perspective in which subjectivity is managed through researcher positionality and the triangulation of data where appropriate. The research findings demonstrate that the point of registration at higher education (HE) institutions does not constitute a successful student because such a constitution is a process of becoming, involving complex meaning-making processes over time. These processes are characterised by a movement from 'outsider and potential achiever' to 'insider and reflexive achiever'. Important phases within this movement are those of: attending; being engaged and solving self-identified difficulties. In the light of the evidence gathered and the review of the existing scholarship, a detailed exploration and theorisation of these phases is offered. The preoccupation with students who fail in some way has led to a lack of research into those who succeed. This research has sought to overcome this lack by exploring the active meaning-making processes that lead undergraduates to achieve. A dynamic is identified between students' reflexive management of their FY experience and aspirations to achieve and the institutional context. This dynamic is also held to undermine the notion of students as customers awaiting satisfaction, suggesting instead that students be regarded as reflexive actors in the shaping of undergraduate achievement. This study presents a novel alternative to the prevalent deficit model in the relevant research which tends to treat students as passive bearers of diverse levels of readiness for undergraduate study. It also offers an alternative to the prevailing research on why students fail to progress or stay at university.

Med det här kandidatarbetet vill vi se EdTechs möjligheter att påverka barns sociala förmåga på ett positivt sätt, för att förebygga situationer där mobbning uppstår. Genom Future Workshops och Participatory Design utvecklar vi, tillsammans med elever på en lokal högstadieskola, ett koncept för en applikation med en potential för ökat kamratskap.Vi analyserar elevernas åsikter angående funktioner och visuell design för applikationen samt presenterar en konceptprototyp för ämnesexperter. Deras validering av vår prototyp ses som ett direkt resultat av frågeställningens utgångspunkt, och därav en möjlig lösning av grundproblemet. / With this Bachelor Thesis we consider EdTechs possibilities in influencing children’s social abilities in a positive way, to prevent repetitive bullying behavior. By the methods of Future Workshop and Participatory Design we develop, together with students on a local secondary school, a concept for an application with the potential of increased friendships.We analyze the student’s opinions about functionalities and visual design, and then present a prototype of the concept to experts in the field of Educational Technology. Their validation of our prototype is seen as a direct result of the research question, and a possible solution to the issue at hand.

No description available.

No description available.

Syfte och frågeställning Syftet med studien är att bidra med kunskap om elevers uppfattningar om vilka faktorer i undervisningen som främjar deras välbefinnande. Genom att låta elever beskriva den undervisning som de anser främjar deras välbefinnande finns en förhoppning om att bidra med värdefull kunskap som kan tillföra förståelse för hur undervisningen skulle kunna utvecklas för att främja elevers välbefinnande. ● Vilka faktorer i undervisningen upplever elever främjar deras välbefinnande? Teori Studiens teoretiska ansats har sin utgångspunkt i det psykologiska perspektivet med betoning på det kognitiva. Teorierna beskriver den syn på eleven, lärande och välbefinnande som används i studien. Metod Studien är kvalitativ och bygger på semistrukturerade intervjuer. Urvalsgruppen består av tio niondeklassare från en kommuns fyra högstadieskolor. Intervjuerna genomfördes dels digitalt och dels i fysiska träffar. Intervjuguiden bestod av tre frågor och följdfrågor av sonderande karaktär. Resultat Studiens resultat visar att de faktorer i undervisningen som eleverna upplever främjar deras välbefinnande är: tillgänglighet, variation, valmöjlighet, att få vara aktiv och självständig, positiva sammanhang, kreativa arbetssätt, utmanande uppgifter, tillfälle till återhämtning, tillitsfulla, vägledande och uppmuntrande relationer och att få känna sig kompetent. När undervisningen innehåller dessa faktorer känner de starkt engagemang och välbefinnande. Ett genomgående tema urskiljde sig: variation och engagemang genom delaktighet och inflytande. Specialpedagogiska implikationer Specialpedagogen ska tillsammans med elevhälsan främst arbeta hälsofrämjande och förebyggande. Här har specialpedagogen en viktig funktion när det gäller att definiera och skapa en gemensam kunskap om och förståelse för vad ett hälsofrämjande perspektiv och förhållningssätt är. Ett viktigt förändrings- och utvecklingsarbete för specialpedagogen är att tillsammans med lärarna organisera för en hälsofrämjande undervisning där eleverna ges stor möjlighet till delaktighet och inflytande. Undervisningens utformning och elever som blir lyssnade på är en nyckel i arbetet med att främja elevers välbefinnande.

Despite a growing enrollment of Black males in colleges and universities in the U.S., the nationwide college degree completion rate for Black males remains at disproportionately low numbers as compared to other ethnicities and to that of Black females. The purpose of this narrative inquiry study was to evoke and promote the voices of successful Black male students and to understand their perspectives on factors that contributed to their college success. Findings from this research provide insight into college experiences and interventions that have positive implications for Black male college student success. Valencia's (2010) work on educational attainment served as the anti-deficit conceptual framework for this study, which used a qualitative approach of criterion-based, purposeful sampling. A total of 14 Black male college students from a community college in the Southeast served as study participants. Eight participants were interviewed, and 6 participated in a focus group. Open-ended interview and focus group protocols were used to engage study participants. The data analysis consisted of open and axial coding to identify recurring themes. The analysis revealed the college experiences to which successful Black male college students were exposed. These experiences included student organization membership, community service, advising, and mentorship engagement. Intrinsic motivation and ethnicity were also emergent themes that appeared to contribute to the students' college success. The study findings are insightful as to how institutions might better support Black male college success and completion. Increased Black male college completion has positive implications for a better quality of life for this population and their families as well as greater socio-economic contributions to society.