High school students’ role-playing for identity exploration: findings from virtual city planning

2019 ◽  
Vol 120 (9/10) ◽  
pp. 640-662 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aroutis Foster ◽  
Mamta Shah ◽  
Amanda Barany ◽  
Hamideh Talafian

Purpose This paper aims to report findings for the following question, “What is the nature of high school students’ identity exploration as a result of exploring the role-possible selves of an environmental scientist and urban planner in a play-based course?” Projective reflection (PR) is served as a theoretical and methodological framework for facilitating learning as identity exploration in play-based environments. Design/methodology/approach From 2016-2017, 54 high school freshmen students engaged in virtual city planning, an iteratively refined course that provided systematic and personally relevant opportunities for play, curricular, reflection and discussion activities in Philadelphia Land Science, a virtual learning environment (VLE) and in an associated curriculum enacted in a science museum classroom. Participants’ identity exploration was anchored in targeted role-possible selves in science, technology, engineering and mathematics: environmental science and urban planning through in-game and in-class activities. This role-playing was made intentional by scaffolding students’ reflection on what they wanted to be in the future while thinking of their current selves and exploring novel role-possible selves. Findings In-game logged data and in-class student data were examined using quantitative ethnography (QE) techniques such as epistemic network analysis. Whole-group statistical significance and an illustrative case study revealed visual and interpretive patterns of change in students’ identity exploration. The change was reflected in their knowledge, interest and valuing, self-organization and self-control and self-perception and self-definition (KIVSSSS) in relation to the roles explored from the start of the intervention (starting self), during (exploring role-possible selves) and the end (new self). The paper concludes with directions to advance research on leveraging role-playing as a mechanism for fostering identity exploration in play-based digital and non-digital environments. Originality/value This paper leveraged VLEs such as games as forms of play-based environments that can present players with opportunities for self-transformation (Foster, 2014) and enculturation (Gee 2003; Shaffer, 2006) to support learner agency and participation in a constantly changing society (Thomas and Brown 2011). The authors introduce and apply novel theoretical and methodological approaches to the design and assessment of play-based environments and address pertinent gaps in the emergent area of learning and identity in VLEs

2006 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 268-276 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aida Orgocka ◽  
Jasna Jovanovic

This study examined how social opportunity structure influences identity exploration and commitment of Albanian high school students. A total of 258 students completed a questionnaire that gauged their identity exploration and commitment in three domains: education, occupation, and family. ANOVA results indicated that, overall, students scored highest in exploration in the domain of education and in commitment in the domain of family. Students' exploration and commitment were linked to gender. Albanian female students scored higher than male students in exploration and commitment regarding education and family. Perceived work opportunities in Albania or abroad also significantly moderated participants' exploration in the domain of education and were associated with commitment in education and occupation. As one of the first studies to explore Albanian youth's identity development in relation to social opportunity structure, findings are discussed in light of furthering the field of Albanian adolescent and youth development.


2022 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Miguel Angel Trejo-Rangel ◽  
Adriano Mota Ferreira ◽  
Victor Marchezini ◽  
Daniel Andres Rodriguez ◽  
Melissa da Silva Oliveira ◽  
...  

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to encourage graduate students to facilitate a participatory mapping activity with high school students, to have their voices heard in the disaster risk reduction (DRR) agenda.Design/methodology/approachA participatory mapping, youth-led session, was conducted with 22 high school students, where they had to identify flood and landslide-prone areas. Then, they were asked to propose and plan DRR measures in collaboration with local partners in São Luiz do Paraitinga, Brazil.FindingsThe participatory method engaged the graduate students and the high school students in the DRR debate, allowing them to map hazards and vulnerabilities, and to discuss five incubation projects for enhancing DRR in the city.Originality/valueThis research highlights the importance of involving young people in DRR formulation and planning to build local capacities in younger generations. The outputs were shared with the local civil defense and a local non-governmental organization (NGO), who suggested recommendations to improve the five incubation projects.


2015 ◽  
Vol 115 (2) ◽  
pp. 214-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole Healy ◽  
Elana Joram ◽  
Oksana Matvienko ◽  
Suzanne Woolf ◽  
Kimberly Knesting

Purpose – There is a growing need for school-based nutritional educational programs that promote healthy eating attitudes without increasing an unhealthy focus on restrictive eating or promoting a poor body image. Research suggests that intuitive eating (IE) approaches, which encourage individuals to focus on internal body signals as a guide for eating, have had a positive impact on eating-related psychological outcomes in adults. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects an IE education program on the eating attitudes of high school students. Design/methodology/approach – In a quasi-experimental study, 48 high school students (30 females) in a Midwest town in the USA received instruction on IE or a comparison program over seven days during health classes. Repeated measures analyses of covariance were conducted to examine changes in eating attitudes in sexes across conditions. Findings – Students who received the IE program made significantly greater gains in overall positive eating attitudes on the Intuitive Eating Scale than students in the comparison program (p=0.045), as well as on the Unconditional Permission to Eat subscale (p=0.02). There were no significant effects of sex on any of the analyses. Research limitations/implications – Because of the relatively small sample size and short duration of the program, the results should be generalized with caution. Practical implications – The results suggest that IE instruction may encourage the development of healthy eating attitudes in high school students, and health teachers may wish to consider including IE instruction in the health curriculum. Originality/value – This is the first study to examine the effectiveness of an IE program in a K-12 population, with instruction provided in the context of the school. The results are promising and suggest that this may be a fruitful area for future research in nutrition education.


2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 14-33
Author(s):  
Shauna A. Morimoto

This article draws on qualitative data of U.S. high school students considering their place in the adult world; the purpose is to investigate Jeffrey Arnett’s (2000) concept of “emerging adulthood” as a new stage of life course. Drawing on interviews and observational data collected around the time when Arnett’s notion of emerging adulthood started to take hold, I use intersectional interpretive lens in order to highlight how race and gender construct emerging adulthood as high school students move out of adolescence. I consider Arnett’s thesis twofold. First, when emerging adulthood is examined intersectionally, young people reveal that – rather than being distinct periods that can simply be prolonged, delayed, or even reached – life stages are fluid and constantly in flux. Second, since efforts to mitigate against uncertain futures characterizes the Millennial generation, I argue that the process of guarding against uncertainty reorders, questions or reconfigures the characteristics and stages that conventionally serve as markers of life course. I conclude that the identity exploration, indecision, and insecurity associated with emerging adulthood can also be understood as related to how the youth reveal and reshape the life course intersectionally.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer M. Higgs ◽  
Grace MyHyun Kim

Purpose Research on nonschool settings suggests young people benefit from digital multimodal composition. Less is known about how digital composing can support students as they interpret required literary class texts. To understand the potential benefits and challenges of digitally composing for literary analysis, design interviews with two high school students were conducted to examine their processes as they designed digital multimodal compositions to interpret Anglo-Saxon poems. Grounded in the social semiotic theory of multimodality, this study aims to examine how students engaged in literary analysis and interpretive digital composition within secondary ELA. Design/methodology/approach Qualitative classroom data were collected through digital means over a six-week period: a whole-class student survey, focal student semistructured design interviews, emails, field notes, analytic memos and student-created digital artifacts. Findings Students’ print-based literary engagements and digital multimodal composition processes were mutually shaped. Additionally, digital multimodal composition offered entry points into challenging print-based literary texts, resulting in understandings enacted across multiple forms of mediation. Research limitations/implications The study focused on one cycle of multimodal composition. Additional studies of students’ digital multimodal composition processes in ELA classrooms over time could be beneficial to the field. Practical implications The study identifies an approach to digital multimodal composition that may help teachers address and integrate core disciplinary objectives. Originality/value This study contributes to scholarship concerned with how “new” technologies and “old” literacies co-exist in contexts requiring students to engage in expanded communication modes alongside specific academic literacies.


Author(s):  
Nour Walid Aljaouni ◽  
Baker Alserhan ◽  
Kimberly Gleason ◽  
Jusuf Zeqiri

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of a financial literacy program (FLP) recently implemented in Jordanian junior high and high schools as part of a national financial literacy agenda on students’ attitudes toward entrepreneurship relative to a control sample of students who had not yet participated in the FLP. This paper also examines the role of moderating variables, including students’ perception of teachers’ attitudes (TA) on students’ entrepreneurial attitudes. Design/methodology/approach Survey methodology was used to obtain data and hierarchical regression analysis was used to test hypotheses. Findings Results indicate that students who completed the FLP exhibited significantly higher entrepreneurial awareness than those that had not yet participated in the program. Students who took the entrepreneurship module of the FLP exhibited significantly lower entrepreneurial intention than those that had not yet taken the entrepreneurship module. However, TA did not impact students’ attitudes. Research limitations/implications The study examines a sample of middle and high school students in only one district in Amman, Jordan, and cannot be generalized to other communities where the FLP has been implemented. Practical implications The findings provide valuable insights for educators, policymakers and non-governmental organizations considering large scale, publicly funded FLPs as part of the K-12 educational system. Social implications Stakeholders should consider reforms to the implementation of entrepreneurship education as part of the FLP in Jordanian schools and other developing country K-12 programs. Originality/value This study is the first to examine the new Jordanian literacy program and the impact it has on attitudes toward entrepreneurship of middle and high school students.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 358-366
Author(s):  
Armi Nuridah ◽  
Partaya Partaya

The problem that occurs in the education world right now is the low learning outcomes and student creativity. Based on references, the roles playing method is an effective learning method for increasing student creativity and learning outcomes. The purpose of this study is to determine the effectiveness of the roles playing method on creativity and student learning outcomes and to find out the effectiveness of the roles playing method on learning the immune system. This research is a quasi-experimental research with nonequivalent control group design. The population are all students of grade 11 in MIA MAN 2 Semarang 2018/2019 school year. The sample is determined by purposive sampling and 2 classes have selected as the experimental class and the control class. In this study the experimental class carried out immune system learning using the roles playing method while the control class used the lecture method. The results showed that 85.56% of the experimental class students has creativity with creative to very creative categories while the control class is only 41.67% of students included in the creative and very creative categories. Student learning outcomes data show that the classical learning completeness of the experimental class is higher than the control class with a difference of 36.12%. The average value of learning outcomes and the average N-Gain score of the experimental class students also have a higher average value of the control class. The implementation of learning the roles playing method gained a score of 95.56%. Based on the description it can be concluded that the role playing method is effective on the creativity and learning outcomes of high school students and it can be concluded that the role playing method is effectively applied to learning the immune system because the results of the study already meet all the indicators that have been set.


Author(s):  
Rasmus Mannerström ◽  
Lauri Hietajärvi ◽  
Joona Muotka ◽  
Katariina Salmela-Aro

Developing a stable personal identity is considered a more precarious task in today’s society than hitherto. Skilful digital engagement may, however, constitute a valuable asset in necessary identity exploration and commitment. Applying a person-oriented approach, we examined for the first time how identity profiles are associated with digital engagement, operationalized as digital competence, gaming seriousness, type of internet activity and excessive ICT use. After controlling for gender, life satisfaction and parental SES, this study of a Finnish high school sample (N = 932) revealed that adolescents with future commitments and some exploration of options (achievement, searching moratorium) were the most advanced in digital skills and, in the former case, least prone to excessive ICT use. By contrast, adolescents desperately trying to solve the identity task (ruminative moratorium) scored highest on friendship-driven internet activity and excessive ICT use, whereas diffused individuals had the weakest digital competence. No differences between the profiles emerged regarding gaming and interest-driven internet activity. The results suggest that the digital world and related devices are purposeful tools for shaping and maintaining healthy identity commitments.


2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (5) ◽  
pp. 366-374 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niyom Junnual ◽  
Chulaporn Sota ◽  
Anun Chaikoolvatana

Purpose The smoking rate of male high school students continues to increase. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to examine the effectiveness of a smoking cessation program on self-esteem, attitude, perception and practice regarding smoking behavioral control among male high school students in Ubon Ratchathani Province, Thailand. Design/methodology/approach The effectiveness of the smoking cessation program was tested by a quasi-experimental pre-posttest and follow-up with a 24-week design. Multistage sampling was used to recruit 70 male high school students, including 35 male students in the intervention group and 35 male students in the control group. The intervention group received a 12-week smoking cessation program based on information-motivation-behavioral skills and stages of change models and follow-up at 12 weeks, whereas the control group did not. A self-administered questionnaire was used to assess the improvement of subjects’ self-esteem, attitude toward smoking, perceived control over smoking, number of cigarettes per day and urine cotinine test. The descriptive statistics, generalized estimating equation and proportion test were used for data analysis. Findings After the program, there were statistically significant differences in mean scores between the group and control groups; the difference of self-esteem was 4.15 (95% CI: 1.95, 6.36), attitude toward smoking was 3.30 (95% CI: 1.89, 5.52) and perceived control over smoking was 6.99 (95% CI: 4.04, 9.94). Thus, all differences in the intervention group were significantly higher than in the control group. The proportion of non-smokers, measured by the urine cotinine test at follow-up, was 25 percent (95% CI: 0.03, 0.48) significantly higher (p-value = 0.015), in the intervention group. Therefore, the smoking cessation program in this study was effective at changing the behavior of male high school student smokers. Originality/value This smoking cessation program increased self-esteem, attitude toward smoking, perceived control over smoking and decreased smoking per day among male high school students. Therefore, schools and parents should focus on developing these factors to encourage students to quit smoking.


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