For many African Americans, racial identity is an important aspect of their individual identity. We explored developmental change and stability of individual differences in the racial centrality of African American youths and their mothers as well as the relation between maternal and child racial centrality across time. African American youths (N…

This study used comparative case study methodology to investigate student perceptions of different programmes that prepare them for a challenging high school education programme: the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP). Given the benefits and challenges of the programme, educators and stakeholders want to ensure students feel…

Using a sample of 982 late adolescents and tracking them throughout young adulthood, this study investigated whether marital attitudes held during the last year of high school were predictive of union transitions to both cohabitation and marriage during young adulthood. Results using both logistic regression and discrete event history models found…

Mathematics is fundamental to national prosperity in providing tools for understanding science, technology, engineering and economics. It is essential in public decision-making and for participation in the knowledge economy. Mathematics equips pupils with uniquely powerful ways to describe, analyse and change the world. It can stimulate moments of…

Theory on student learning provides that students are able to direct their learning when they have metacognitive knowledge about their own learning processes. In this article, a preliminary attempt to assess untrained high-school students’ metacognitive knowledge of learning processes as an ability through multiple-choice questions is reported. In…

Background: Deficient sleep is linked to detrimental outcomes in health and school performance for adolescents. This study characterized sleep patterns in Chinese adolescents preparing for the College Entrance Exam (CEE) and evaluated the association between sleep patterns, self-rated academic performance, and the CEE scores. Methods: A sample of…

The aim of the study was to investigate the relationships between certain educational strategies and students' personality traits, on the one hand, and students' academic performance, on the other, respectively between the latter and two types of outcomes (i.e. students' academic performance and intentions to drop out of high school). These…

The literature on science education reveals a worldwide decline in young people's interest in the study of sciences. This lack of interest has resulted in low enrolment rates in science-related courses at tertiary level. Researchers have suggested, among other innovations, the use of context-based teaching approaches as a way of motivating…

The changing societal context in South Africa (SA) has necessitated curriculum reform to deal with the challenges of education, from apartheid to democracy, with the aim of promoting active citizenship education. The aim of the paper is thus to illuminate to what extent the Grade 11 Life Orientation (LO) curriculum prepares learners for active…

This study explored the relationship between teachers' content knowledge and their pedagogical skills, and reports on that relationship in the teaching of Assembly Drawing (AD) in a South African context. Given that Engineering Graphics Design (EGD) learners perform poorly in the AD section of the matriculation examination, we need to understand…

Previous studies have shown the impact of parental involvement on a number of student achievement, motivation, and engagement outcomes, but the extent to which parental involvement influences high school completion and postsecondary attendance has received less attention in the literature. Filling that gap, this study replicates and extends…

Excessive exposure to solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation causes sunburn and has been consistently associated with increased susceptibility to melanoma and skin ageing. Acknowledging the need to promote healthy sun exposure habits, numerous educational initiatives have been developed to raise public awareness towards this issue. However, studies…

By incorporating psychopathology and subjective well-being (SWB), the dual-factor model of mental health (DFM) can comprehensively measure psychological health. We examined the utility of the DFM among 1,293 Chinese adolescents (Grades 7-12). Furthermore, we examined the dynamics of mental health group membership via a two-wave longitudinal study…

The purpose of the study was to measure students' reported test-taking effort and the relationship between reported effort and performance on the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) Advanced mathematics test. This was done in three countries participating in TIMSS Advanced 2008 (Sweden, Norway, and Slovenia), and the…

This study examines the choice of a university major with a special focus on the type of major chosen in the first year and success/failure at the end of this first year, using a sample of 2284 students in Flanders, Belgium. Extending previous research, the effects of prior subject uptake, occupational interests, prior mathematics and Dutch…