Transcript Adolescent Psychology

Adolescent Psychology
CHAPTER 10: SCHOOLS
Chapter Overview
 Educational Strategies
 School transitions
 Social Contexts of Schools
 Exceptional Adolescents
Learning In Adolescence
 School is an important context for learning
 Academic learning & social arena
 Direct Instruction Approach
Teacher-centered; Teacher direction & control
 Mastery of academic skills
 High expectations for students
 Maximum time spent on learning tasks
 Continues to be used in many schools
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 Constructivist Approaches
Interest in school reform
 Learner-centered
 Learner as active participant
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Constructivist Approaches
 Cognitive constructivist
Piaget’s theory
 active, cognitive construction of knowledge & understanding.
 teacher: provide support for students to explore their world &
develop understanding
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 Social constructivist
Vygotsky’s theory
 importance of collaboration with others to produce knowledge &
understanding.
 Teacher: create many opportunities for students to learn with the
teacher & with peers in co-constructing understanding.
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The Debate
 Constructivists argue that direct instruction
Makes adolescence passive learners
 Does not adequately challenge
 Does not promote creativity
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 Direct Instruction enthusiasts argue that constructivists
Do not give enough attention to content of subject areas
 Too vague
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 Many educators & educational psychologists believe that
a combination of these may be most effective
APA’s Learner-Centered Psychological Principles
 APA developed 14 learner-centered principles to
guide child and adolescent education
 Divided into 4 categories
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Cognitive & metacognitive factors
Motivational & instructional factors
Developmental & social factors
Individual difference factors
Schools & Accountability
How effective are schools? Who needs to be acountable?
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State-mandated tests have taken on a more powerful role
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Learning objective
No Child Left Behind (NCLB)
Federal legislation; Signed into law in 2002
 Schools & school districts accountable for the success or failure of
their students
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Criticisms of NCLB
A single score from a single test as the sole indicator of students’
progress and competence represents a very narrow aspect of students’
skills (Lewis, 2006).
 The tests schools are using to assess achievement and progress as part
of NCLB don’t measure such important skills as creativity, motivation,
persistence, flexible thinking, and social skills (Ercikan, 2006)
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Criticisms of NCLB
 A single score from a single test as the sole indicator of
students’ progress & competence?? (Lewis, 2006)
 Tests don’t measure creativity, motivation, persistence,
flexible thinking, & social skills (Ercikan, 2006)
 Too much class time “teaching to the test”
 So are these tests & procedures mandated by NCLB the best
ones for achieving high standards for education? (Houston, 2005)
 How could we make schools more accountable?
 How could we make students/parents more accountable?
Transitions in Schooling
 Change is stressful
 Top-dog phenomenon
 Move toward personal independence & responsibility
 Good student adjustment & high self esteem
 Fewer transitions
 Extra-curricular activity involvement
 High quality friendships
 Parental support
Transition: Elementary School to Middle School
 Emergence of junior high schools in the 1920s & 1930s
 Justified on the basis of physical, cognitive, & social changes that
characterize early adolescence
 Influenced by early onset of puberty
 Occurs simultaneously with many other changes:
 Puberty
 Formal operational thought
 Responsibility & independence
 Impersonal school structure
 Heterogeneous set of peers
 Focus on assessment
 Top-dog phenomenon
Improving Middles Schools
 Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development (1998)
recommended core social policy for education
Developing smaller “communities” – lessen impersonal nature
 Lowering student-to-counselor ratios (100s:1 10:1)
 Involving parents & community leaders
 Develop better curricula
 Team-teach in flexible blocks, integrating several disciplines
 Boost students’ health & fitness – access to public health care
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 Successful middle schools provide & promote…
 Personal attention, involve parents, support rigorous instruction, &
promote student health
American High Schools
 Many high school graduates are poorly prepared for
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College
demands of a modern, high-performance workplace
 New mission for the 21st century addressed the following
problems (National Commission on the High School Senior Year, 2001):
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Better instruction to enable all students to graduate from high
school & succeed in post-secondary education & careers
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Need higher expectations for student achievement
 Example: senior year
U.S. high school students spend too much time working in lowlevel service jobs (14 to 20 hours a week)
 Better communication & coordination between K-12 & above
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Dropping Out of High School
 Viewed as a serious educational & societal problem for many
decades
 Adolescents approach adult life with educational deficiencies
Dropping Out of High School
 The Causes
 School-related problems
 Economic reasons
 Socioeconomic status
 Friends drop out
 Personal reasons
 Reducing the Dropout Rate
• Early detection of school-related difficulties
• Get engaged with school in positive ways
• Early reading programs, tutoring, counseling, & mentoring
• Create caring environments & relationships, use block scheduling, &
offer community-service opportunities
Transition: High School to College
• Replays the top-dog phenomenon
• More impersonal school structure
• Peers from diverse backgrounds
• Focus on assessment
• Reduced contact with parents
Transition: College to Work
• Having a college degree is a strong asset
• College graduates earn considerably more money in their
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lifetimes…but often leave college in debt
Often a difficult transition
U.S. colleges: develop general skills rather than vocationally
specific skills
Many graduates: poorly prepared for specific jobs
Difficulty obtaining the type of job they desire, or any job
Bouncing from one job to another not unusual
Social Context of Schools
• Social context differs at the different levels of school
• Preschool:
• A protected environment; Limited social setting
• Children interact with one or two teachers
• Almost always female teachers
• Modifies some patterns of behavior developed through family
experiences.
• The Elementary School:
• Classroom is still the major context -- a social unit
• Social expression is more complex
• Teachers & peers have a prominent influence on children
• The teacher symbolizes authority
• The peer group becomes more salient
Social Context of School
• Middle or Junior High School
• School environment increases in scope & complexity.
• Social field expands-- school as a whole rather than the classroom
• Socially interact with many different teachers & peers from a range
of social & ethnic backgrounds
• A greater mix of male & female teachers
• Extracurricular activities, clubs, community
• High School
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School as a social system
School Size & Class Size
• Increased size of secondary schools in the United States:
• Increasing urban enrollments
• Decreasing budgets
• Is bigger better?
• No systematic relation between school size & academic
achievement has been found
• More prosocial & possibly less antisocial behavior occur in small
schools (Rutter & others, 1979)
• Substantial reduction in class size does improve student
achievement (Blatchford & Mortimore, 1994; Finn, 2002)
Managing Classroom Climate
• Strategies for creating a positive classroom environments
1.
Using an authoritative strategy
2.
Effectively managing the group’s activities
 Strategies of Classroom Management
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Authoritative
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Authoritarian
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Encourages independent thinking & doing
Consistent monitoring; caring attitude; limit setting
Verbal give and take
Restrictive & punitive
Focus on keeping order, not on learning
Permissive
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Autonomy with little guidance, boundaries, or support
No safety
Well Managed Classroom
 Fosters learning
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Clear rules & procedures – the safety of boundaries
Organization of groups
Pacing & monitoring activities
 Prevents academic & emotional problems from developing
 Activities absorb & motivate students
 Students busy with active & challenging tasks
 Promotes motivation
 Consider person-environment fit
Teachers & Parents
• Teachers
• Enthusiasm, ability to plan, poise, adaptability, warmth, flexibility
• Awareness of individual differences
• Parents & Schools
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important role in the adolescent’s success in school
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family management practices (structure & organization)
• Routine & achievement expectations
• Positively related to grades & self-responsibility
• Negatively to school-related problems (Taylor, 1996)
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Being involved in schooling
Peers & Bullying
• Structure of middle school
•Peer Statuses
•Status
•Group activity -- witnesses
•Bullying
•1 in 3
•Loneliness
•Difficulty making friends
•Cyberbullying
•Suicide, depression, health
problems, anxiety, sleep, etc.
Bullying
 Verbal or physical bx intended to disturb someone
less powerful
 Boys, younger middle school students, students with
disabilities
 Victims: loneliness, difficulty making friends
 Bullies: low grades, smoke, drink alcohol
Bullying
 Victims
 Short-term: depressed, disinterest in school, avoid school
Headaches, sleep problems, stomach pain, feeling tired
 Suicidal ideation; more likely to have health problems
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Long-term: in adulthood
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Depression, low self-esteem
 Bullies
 Short-term:
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Depression, suicidal ideation; More likely to have health problems
Long-term:
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60% -- 1 criminal conviction; 33% had 3 or more
Bullying & Prevention
 School climate: high academic standards, parental
involvement, effective discipline
 Olweus Bullying Prevention
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www.colorado.edu/espv/blueprints
 Bully-Proofing Your School
 www.sopriswest.com
 Steps to Respect
 School wide approach, training staff & parents, teaching
students to recognize and not tolerate
 www.cfchildren.org
Bullying & Prevention
 Get older peers to intervene
 Develop school wide rules & post them
 Form friendship groups for victims of bullying
 Incorporate anti-bullying messages into community
 Parents – reinforce positive behavior & appropriate
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interpersonal interactions
Identify early & use social skills training
Encourage contact with helping professional
School programs to counteract bullying
Model interactions that do not include bullying or
aggression