This case study examines the performances of 18 10th-grade students (age 15-16 years) in the process of performing problem-solving tasks in the physics and chemistry laboratory. The study focuses on different types of problems arising in the process of transferring responsibility to students in a context of teacher assistance to autonomous…

This study examines 4 groups of high school students enrolled in 2 college preparatory programs, AVID and GEAR UP. Differences in student educational aspirations, expectations and anticipations, knowledge of college entrance requirements, knowledge of financial aid, and academic achievement in mathematics were examined. Adelman's (1999)…

High school students in the United States have been taking more challenging courses in recent years, but academic achievement has been stagnant. At the heart of the matter is the quality of curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Some courses tend to be more challenging in name than in practice. High schools also have a history of autonomy that…

This research examines the extent to which individual-level and school structural variables are predictors of academic achievement among a sample of 10th grade students abstracted from the National Educational Longitudinal Study database. A secondary analysis of the data produced the following findings. The study results show that individual-level…

One possible approach students can cope with abstract algebra concepts is reducing abstraction. This notion occurs when learners are unable to adopt mental strategies as they deal with abstraction level of a given task. To make these concepts mentally accessible for themselves, learners unconsciously reduce the level of the abstraction of the…

This article describes the development and two studies on the construct validity of the Academic Emotions Scale (AES). The AES is a French self-report questionnaire assessing six emotions in the context of school learning: enjoyment, hope, pride, anxiety, shame and frustration. Its construct validity was studied through exploratory and…

This article addresses the inclusion of non-Catholic students in Catholic schools. It provides a brief review of the literature on inclusion and the results of a study of inclusion from the perspectives of Catholic students and Catholic teachers in four Western Canadian urban Catholic high schools. The study employed grounded theory as its…

This guide has been developed as a resource to be used by and with youth in grades 9-12 and beyond. It will help them consider the following questions: What am I good at? How do I know my options? Should I take a year off or apply for some post-secondary program? Structured around the newly designed High School Students tab on the Alberta Learning…

This study investigated psychosocial mechanisms that may account for sex differences in internalizing symptoms of depression and anxiety during adolescence using data from a prospective, multiwave study with a sample of early and middle adolescents (N = 350, 6th to 10th graders; 57% female). Girls showed higher initial levels of only depressive…

This study examined effects of adolescent males' perceptions of being bullied because of verbal taunts related to gender nonconformity (i.e., "They say I'm gay"). Participants included 251 ninth- (n=77), tenth- (n=96), and eleventh- (n=78) grade students in a private, all-male college preparatory school. Participants were divided into two groups…

Results are presented from a mixed-method investigation into the effects of Block Schedule on student self-efficacy, attitude, and instructional practices within the context of mathematics. Students exposed to block schedule showed no change in attitude toward mathematics, whereas those on a traditional schedule demonstrated a significant…

This fact sheet explores volunteering among high school students, ages 16-18. Overall, volunteering among high school students was down slightly in 2006 as compared to 2005. Additional information includes types of volunteer organizations and activities, and ways that high school students become involved in these activities. Volunteer rate vary by…

The research examining the correlates of academic achievement is immense. In particular, scores of studies have examined individual- and family-level variables that influence student achievement. Based upon Bronfenbrenner's (1979) ecological theory of human development, this study extends one step beyond previous studies and incorporates…

This study describes the truancy and disciplinary problems of high school bullying victims in the USA. Analyses are based on data from the Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002, a nationally representative sample of 10th graders (students aged 14-15) in the USA. Being bullied is found to be positively associated with increased risk of being…

A large-scale study conducted in Tasmania, Australia, of teenage risk-taking across 26 potentially harmful risk activities has examined a range of factors that encourage or inhibit risk-taking. Among these factors, the degree of social and professional support the teenage students say they would access for personal, study or health problems has…