Civic Knowledge, Engagement, and Attitudes Among Lower-Secondary Students in 24 Countries

The ICCS 2016 study is a continuation and extension of ICCS 2009. The study explored the enduring and the emerging challenges of educating young people in a world where contexts of democracy and civic participation had changed and continue to change. In total, ICCS 2016 is based on test and questionnaire data from more than 94,000 students enrolled in their eighth year of schooling (Grade 8 or equivalent) at more than 3,800 schools in 24 countries. These student data were augmented by contextual questionnaire data from school principals of selected schools and more than 37,000 teachers.

Equal Opportunities in Learning in Diverse Groups in Nepal in the Pre-COVID Realm: Socioeconomic Status, Mathematics Learning, and the Diverse Groups

The article discusses the diversity and equity issues behind the learning outcomes of mathematics in the pre-COVID context in Nepal. The article intends to give a baseline for the further studies on the effect of COVID-19 pandemic in the educational realm. Datasets from the national assessment of student achievement in Nepal at grades 3 and 5 and grade 8 are reanalyzed based on socioeconomic status (SES), gender, caste-ethnicity, language, and geographical variables. In Nepal, where the society is customarily highly structured, gender-biased, and poverty-driven, SES influences remarkably in mathematics achievement. The datasets show notable relationships between SES and mathematics achievement (r = 0.35, 0.27 and 0.30 in grade 3, 5 and 8, respectively). In lower grades, the difference between the highest and lowest SES in the achievement of girls is wider than boys and it is reverse in grade 8. Nepali speakers had high scores when they had high SES but, when SES was very low, the non-Nepali speakers performed better in all grades. The advantageous castes tended to always perform higher irrespective of their level of SES. Nevertheless, it is difficult to know with certainty when average and marginalized caste/ethnic groups perform better.

ANALISIS KEMAMPUAN MENYELESAIKAN MASALAH MATEMATIKA SOAL HOTS DITINJAU DARI KEPERCAYAAN DIRI PADA SISWA KELAS VIII SMP NEGERI 5 PALLANGGA [AN ANALYSIS OF STUDENTS’ ABILITY TO SOLVE HOTS PROBLEMS BASED ON SELF-CONFIDENCE LEVELS IN A GRADE 8 MATHEMATICS CLASS AT SMP NEGERI 5 PALLANGGA]

<p>This study describes students' ability to solve HOTS problems according to their self-confidence level in a grade 8 class at a junior high school in Pallangga. The type of research used is descriptive qualitative research. The research procedure includes the preparation, implementation, and analysis stages of research results. The subjects in the study were 3 grade 8 students at SMP Negeri 5 in the district of Pallangga. The subjects were selected by giving a questionnaire to all grade 8 students to select students who had high self-confidence, moderate self-confidence, and low self-confidence. The research refers to the four stages of the ability to solve mathematical problems based on Polya's steps, namely: understanding the problem, planning problem-solving strategies, carrying out calculations, and evaluating the results of problem-solving. The research instrument was a self-confidence questionnaire, an ability test to solve HOTS math problems based on Polya's steps, and interview guidelines. The results showed that there were differences in the ability to solve mathematical HOTS questions based on Polya's steps by the three selected subjects. The results showed that subjects with high self-confidence and moderate self-confidence were able to meet the indicators of understanding the problem, while subjects with low self-confidence were unable to meet the indicators of understanding the problem. At the stage of planning a problem-solving strategy, subjects with high self-confidence and moderate self-confidence were able to meet the indicators, while subjects with low self-confidence were unable to meet the indicators. At the stage of carrying out calculations, subjects with high self-confidence were able to meet the indicators, while subjects with moderate self-confidence and low self-confidence were unable to meet the indicators. And at the stage of re-examining the results of problem-solving, subjects with high self-confidence were able to meet the indicators, while subjects with moderate self-confidence and low self-confidence were unable to meet the indicator.</p><p><strong>BAHASA INDONESIA ABSTRACT: </strong>Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mendeskripsikan kemampuan menyelesaikan masalah matematika soal HOTS ditinjau dari kepercayaan diri pada siswa kelas VIII SMP Negeri 5 Pallangga. Jenis penelitian adalah penelitian deskriptif kualitatif. Prosedur penelitian meliputi persiapan, pelaksanaan dan tahap analisis hasil penelitian. Subjek dalam penelitian adalah 3 orang siswa kelas VIII SMP Negeri 5 Pallangga. Subjek dipilih dengan memberikan angket kepada seluruh siswa kelas VIII untuk memilih siswa yang memiliki kepercayaan diri tinggi, kepercayaan diri sedang, dan kepercayaan diri rendah. Penelitian mengacu pada empat tahap kemampuan menyelesaikan masalah matematika berdasarkan langkah Polya yaitu: memahami masalah, merencanakan strategi pemecahan masalah, melaksanakan perhitungan, dan memeriksa kembali hasil penyelesaian masalah. Instrumen penelitian adalah angket kepercayaan diri, tes kemampuan menyelesaikan masalah matematika soal HOTS berdasarkan langkah Polya, dan pedoman wawancara. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa terdapat perbedaan kemampuan menyelesaikan masalah matematika soal HOTS berdasarkan langkah Polya oleh ketiga subjek yang dipilih. Berdasarkan hasil penelitian diperoleh bahwa subjek dengan kepercayaan diri tinggi dan kepercayaan diri sedang mampu memenuhi indikator memahami masalah, sementara subjek dengan kepercayaan diri rendah tidak mampu memenuhi indikator memahami masalah. Pada tahap merencanakan strategi pemecahan masalah, subjek dengan kepercayaan diri tinggi dan kepercayaan diri sedang mampu memenuhi indikator, sementara subjek dengan kepercayaan diri rendah tidak mampu memenuhi indikator. Pada tahap melaksanakan perhitugan, subjek dengan kepercayaan diri tinggi mampu memenuhi indikator, sementara subjek dengan kepercayaan diri sedang dan kepercayaan diri rendah tidak mampu memenuhi indikator. Dan pada tahap memeriksa kembali hasil penyelesaian masalah, subjek dengan kepercayaan diri tinggi mampu memenuhi indikator, sementara subjek dengan kepercayaan diri sedang dan kepercayaan diri rendah tidak mampu memenuhi indikator.</p>

The Association Between Family Function and Adolescents' Depressive Symptoms in China: A Longitudinal Cross-Lagged Analysis

The complex interrelationships between family function and adolescents' depressive symptoms are not yet fully clarified, especially in China. Based on the family systems theory, this study explored the relationships between family function and Chinese adolescents' depressive symptoms by a 3-year longitudinal study design. Three waves of data were collected from 1,301 Chinese middle school students in Grade 7 to Grade 9. All participants completed the Chinese Family Assessment Instrument (CFAI) and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) once a year during the junior middle school period. Our results showed that both family function and adolescent depressive symptoms were stable in Grade 7 and Grade 8, but in Grade 9, family function increased and depressive symptoms declined. Furthermore, we found that the family function in Grade 7 negatively influenced depressive symptoms of adolescents in Grade 8, while adolescent depressive symptoms in Grade 8 negatively impacted subsequent family function in Grade 9, namely there was a circular effect between family function and adolescent depressive symptoms. These findings suggest that the associations between family function and adolescents' depressive symptoms are dynamic and time-dependent. Our study contributes to the intervention aimed at the reduction of adolescent depressive symptoms from the family perspective.

An Error Analysis of the Use of Prepositions in Students' Descriptive Writing

This research aims to identify the types of students’ errors in using prepositional place in the descriptive text made by eighth grade (8) students to identify the cause of errors made by students in using prepositional place. That most of the students did not pay attention to use prepositional correctly in a sentence. This research is qualitative research. The research object shows four types of the error made by students, omission, addition, misordering, and misformation. Based on the data, the frequency of students' error in using prepositional place mainly occurred in prepositional in place in 35 errors. The second is prepositional on with 14 errors. The third is the prepositional place at with 12 errors.

No Evidence of a Major Learning Slide 14 Months into the COVID-19 Pandemic in Denmark

We study the long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on children’s academic performance in Denmark 14 months into the pandemic using nationwide and exceptionally rich data on reading test scores and family background (N ≈ 200.000 per year). We find no evidence of any major learning slide. While pupils in grade 8 experienced a three percentile points loss in reading performance, pupils in grades 2 and 4 experienced a learning gain of about five percentile points, possibly resulting from school closures being significantly longer among older (22 weeks) than younger children (eight weeks). Importantly and in contrast to expectations, we find little evidence of widening learning gaps by family background. Still, in grade 8 we see a tendency for gaps by parental income and employment status to widen slightly. Further analyses point to that all of these patterns were already in place a few months into pandemic, suggesting that learning gaps did not widen during the subsequent year in which most of the total lockdown period occurred. We also find some indication that boys and low-performing pupils suffered more from school closures than girls and high-performing pupils, but these differences are minor.