The Interplay between Individual and Collective Activity: an Analysis of Classroom Discussions about the Sierpinski Triangle

This article uses a cultural-developmental framework to illuminate the interplay between collective and individual activity in the mathematical reasoning displayed in a university Masters level lesson on fractals. During whole class and small group discussions, eleven students, guided by an instructor, engage in inductive reasoning about the area and perimeter of the Sierpinski triangle, a unique mathematical object with zero area and infinite perimeter. As participants conceptualize and communicate about the Sierpinski problem, they unwittingly generate a linguistic register of action word forms (e.g., fencing, zooming) and object word forms (e.g., area, infinity) to serve Sierpinski-linked mathematical reasoning functions, a register that we document in the first analytic section of the article. In the second analytic section, we report a developmental analysis of microgenetic, ontogenetic, and sociogenetic shifts in the word forms constitutive of the register and their varied functions in participants’ activities. In the third analytic section, we provide a cultural analysis of the classroom’s collective practices, practices that enable and constrain participants’ constructions of form-function relations constituting the register. We examine the ways in which participants work to establish a common ground of talk in their communicative exchanges, exchanges supported by classroom norms for public displays of reasoning and active listening to one another’s ideas. We show that it is as participants work to establish a common ground that the register emerges and is reproduced and altered. We conclude by pointing to ways that the analytic framework can be extended to illuminate learning processes in other classroom settings.

Student Intervention Against Homophobic Name-Calling: The Role of Peers, Teachers, and Inclusive Curricula

Encouraging bystander intervention is an effective strategy to prevent episodes of bullying victimization at school. Yet there remains a paucity of evidence on this behavior in situations of homophobic name-calling, a form of peer victimization aimed at mocking individuals based on their actual or perceived sexual orientation. The existing research has focused on intentionality rather than actual student intervention behaviors, and, of note, no previous studies have taken into consideration contextual factors at the classroom and school levels. The present study examined whether students’ observations of teacher and peer interventions against homophobic name-calling and perceptions of the representation of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) issues in class are associated with student intervention behaviors against homophobic name-calling. A three-level multilevel approach was used to account for the nested nature of students’ experiences in classrooms and schools. The sample included 1,296 students (43.57% girls) recruited from 84 classrooms of 22 Italian public high schools. Preliminary analyses showed that the variability in students’ reports had more to do with which classrooms versus which schools students attend. Results from multilevel regressions indicated that students who observe teachers intervening during episodes of homophobic name-calling, and who perceive the representation of LGBT issues in class as positive, were more likely to intervene against homophobic name-calling and to observe other classmates intervene as well. Also, participants who observed other students intervening were more likely to intervene. These findings highlight the importance of the role of teachers in modeling classroom norms to encourage bystander interventions. Teachers can do so indirectly such as when providing a positive representation of LGBT issues in class, or directly when intervening to condemn episodes of homophobic name-calling. In addition, our results affirm the importance of peer influence in encouraging bystander interventions during episodes of homophobic name-calling.

PRINCIPLES FOR HOW WE TREAT EACH OTHER: EQUITABLE CONVERSATIONS IN OUR EDUCATIONAL AND PERSONAL SPACES

Educators have the unique opportunity to promote equity, change, and social justice ideals to an entire generation. Through daily lessons, classroom norms, and beliefs, classroom teachers can disrupt inequity among students. The Peace and Justice Institute (PJI) at Valencia College has worked with approximately 140 educators through the week-long PJI Teachers Academy over the past three years. This workshop explores the basis of the PJI philosophy, the Principles for How We Treat Each Other: Our Practice of Respect and Community Building (PJI Principles), and discusses social justice practices and norms that research indicates support equity and inclusion in the classroom. This workshop will begin with a brief introduction to the Peace and Justice Institute and the presenter backgrounds. Research has indicated that the practice of reading the PJI Principles aloud, discussing them with members of the community, and focusing on application impacts the way we communicate with each other in our personal and professional spaces. In this session participants will read the PJI Principles aloud, hearing the voices of their online community as they discuss the implications of a standard set of norms. Following the initial reading, the presenters will dive deeper into three of the principles, working with participants to explore practical applications of the PJI Principles. With the understanding that social change towards equity and justice can begin with teachers and their classrooms, this workshop will conclude with research regarding personal and professional change related to the PJI Principles. This presentation is open to all participants.

Compliance to School Classroom Norms and Perceived School Climate among Senior High School Students in a Private University in Manila,Philippines

This quantitative study aimedto determine the correlation between senior high school Grade 12 students’ perception of school climate and compliance with school classroom normsin a private university in Manila, Philippines. A sample of 249 Grade 12 respondents who were randomly selected answered the online self-administered questionnaire composed of modified scales to explore the two variables, with Cronbach tests exhibiting an acceptable level of internal consistency (perceptions school climate = 0.88, compliance of classroom norms = 0.86). The study found apositive perceptionof school cli-mate (M= 4.19, SD = 0.40)and a very high level of classroom norm compliance (M= 3.40, SD = 0.32) among the respondents. The Pearson R test revealed a significant moderate positive correlation between their perception of school climateand their level of school classroom norm compliance and (r = 0.554, p< 0.001). This implies that their compliance or adherence to school classroom norms increases as their perception of school climate positively increases.

Lower Levels of Classroom Aggression Predict Stronger Relations Between Peer Victimization and Reactive Versus Proactive Aggression

We examined the concurrent relations of children’s reactive and proactive aggression with their experience of peer victimization. Extending previous research, we assessed these relations at both the child and classroom levels. We predicted that reactive aggression would relate positively to peer victimization, proactive aggression would relate negatively to peer victimization, and that these relations would vary with classroom levels of aggression. Participants included 1,291 fourth- and fifth-grade children (681 girls; M age = 10.14 years) and their 72 teachers from 9 schools in one public school district in the Mid-Atlantic United States. Children completed self-report measures of peer victimization and teachers completed measures of aggression for each child in their classrooms. Via two-level regression (level 1 = child; level 2 = classroom), reactive aggression related positively to peer victimization and proactive aggression related negatively to peer victimization. The positive relation between reactive aggression and peer victimization was only significant in classrooms with low levels of reactive aggression. The negative relation between proactive aggression and peer victimization was only significant in classrooms with low levels of proactive aggression. Our hypotheses were supported and offered further evidence for differential relations of reactive and proactive aggression with peer victimization at the child level, while demonstrating the important role of classroom norms for aggression in moderating these relations.

Designing and enacting instruction that enhances language for mathematics learning: a review of the state of development and research

After four decades of research and development on language in mathematics classrooms, there is consensus that enhancing language is crucial for promoting students’ mathematics learning. After briefly sketching the theoretical contexts for work on this topic, in this paper we present six design principles for instruction that enhances language for mathematics learning. We then review the research that provides an empirical foundation for these principles, (a) concerning the design of learning environments to enhance language for mathematics learning and (b) on teaching practices (including teacher moves and classroom norms) involved in the enactment of those designed learning environments. Without claiming completeness, this review of the state of development and research shows that some aspects of design and instruction that enhance language for mathematics learning have been well researched, whereas research gaps for other aspects persist.

Classroom bullying norms and peer status: Effects on victim-oriented and bully-oriented defending

Defending a victimized peer is a socially risky behavior that may require high peer status and may depend on how popular or disliked bullies are in the classroom (i.e., within-classroom correlations between bullying and status). Past research has investigated defending as a unidimensional construct, though it can involve confronting the bully (bully-oriented defending) or supporting the victim (victim-oriented defending). This study used multilevel modeling to examine the effects of individual peer status, gender, and bullying as well as two indicators of classroom norms—the bullying-popularity norm and the bullying-rejection norm—on both types of defending. Our sample included 1,460 Dutch adolescents (50% girls; M age 11 years) from 59 classrooms in 50 schools. Likability and popularity were positively associated with both types of defending. Being female and lower in bullying was associated with victim-oriented defending, whereas being male and higher in bullying was associated with bully-oriented defending. In classrooms where bullies were more rejected, both types of defending were more prevalent, and the positive associations of likability and popularity with victim-oriented defending were stronger. The positive effect of the bullying-rejection norm on victim-oriented defending was stronger for girls. Moreover, the effect of popularity on bully-oriented defending was stronger in classrooms where bullies were less popular.

Behavioral classroom norms in special education: Associations with peer acceptance and rejection

This study investigated the role of behavioral norms on concurrent links between problem behaviors (externalizing problems, internalizing problems, attention–hyperactivity problems) and social status (acceptance, rejection) in special education classrooms at four time points within and across school years. Two opposing models were considered, the “person–group similarity model,” suggesting moderation of behavioral norms, and the “social skill model,” suggesting no moderation. The sample included a total of 580 pupils (88% boys, Mage Time1 = 10.82 years, SD = .86) attending 37 classrooms from 13 Dutch schools for special education. Multilevel analyses revealed that the data generally supported a “social skill model,” meaning that higher individual levels of attention–hyperactivity problems and externalizing problems were related to lower acceptance and higher rejection, independent of behavioral norms. Support for behavioral norms as moderators of the link between individual behaviors and social status was limited to pupils with attention–hyperactivity problems being less rejected in classrooms in which this behavior was normative. In sum, these results provide an initial exploration of the role of behavioral norms in special education. Various explanations for the results, including special education characteristics and the value of behavioral norms, are discussed.

Relational victimization and elementary schoolchildren’s risk-taking behavior: Impact of the classroom norm toward risk-taking

The association between relational victimization and risk-taking development in children is understudied. Also, it is not clear how the social classroom norm may affect this link. The aim of this study was, therefore, to investigate the link between relational victimization and risk-taking behavior in elementary schoolchildren, and the potential moderating role of the classroom norm salience toward risk-taking. We expected that relationally victimized children would show an increase in risk-taking behavior in classrooms that are unfavorable toward risk-taking as a way to provoke and act against the classroom norm. However, alternatively, relationally victimized children could show an increase in risk-taking behavior in classrooms that are favorable toward risk-taking as a way to fortify the feeling of belonging to the classroom. Participants were 1,009 children (50% boys) in 69 classrooms of 13 mainstream elementary schools, followed annually across ages 7–11 (Grade 1–5). Risk-taking was assessed using the Balloon Analogue Risk Task. Relational victimization was assessed using teacher reports. The classroom norm salience toward risk-taking was based on the within-classroom correlation of risk-taking with children’s social preference score among peers. Results from multilevel modeling showed that there was no significant main effect of relational victimization on risk-taking behavior. However, the classroom norm salience toward risk-taking significantly moderated the effect of relational victimization on risk-taking. Relational victimization was related to relative increases in risk-taking when classroom norms were unfavorable toward risk-taking. In classrooms where risk-taking was favored, relational victimization was related to relative decreases in risk-taking. These findings suggest that children who are relationally victimized may engage in norm-defying behavior in their classroom. Implications for further research are discussed.