The present study examined how peer collaboration facilitates high school students’ individual knowledge integration, focusing on the process of co-constructing knowledge.  Knowledge integration was measured by the qualitative change from a problem-solving strategy that refers to each of various ideas to a strategy that integrates those ideas comprehensively.  Tenth graders (N=70 in Experiment 1 ; N=75 in Experiment 2) solved mathematical problems in 3 sessions : pre-test, intervention (2 conditions : Pair or Single), and post-test.  The results of Experiment 1 indicated that (a) the Pairs tended to change their strategies more often than the Singles, and (b) those students who had linked multiple elements during the Pair intervention often used the strategy of comprehensive explanation in the post-test.  Experiment 2 examined the effect of stepped instruction in the intervention (compared to the general instruction used in Experiment 1) on the students’ strategy changes.  The results showed that (a) the Pairs who were given the stepped instruction changed their strategies more often than the Pairs who had been given the general instruction, and also more often than the Singles ; and (b) the Pairs who changed their strategies had co-constructed knowledge during the intervention.

View full abstract

  The present study investigated characteristics of adolescents’ cyberbullying, and examined whether parental controls are associated with youth’s Internet-related behavior.  Students (N=487) at 5 middle schools completed a survey in which they reported their daily frequency of Internet use via personal computers and cellular phones, their involvement in cyberbullying, and their perception of parental controls, and answered questions about 2 types of aggression (relational and overt).  The results indicated that 67% of regular Internet users reported that they were not involved in cyberbullying ; 8%, that they were bullies; 7%, that they were victims, and 18%, that they were both bullies and victims.  Those who were bullies and/or victims showed higher levels of relational aggression and overt aggression, and longer use of the Internet than non-involved students.  Although perceived parental controls did not directly predict cyberbullying, parental regulation was an indirect predictor of the students’ Internet use, and both parental knowledge and free access were direct predictors of Internet use.  Both Internet use and relational aggression were found to be director predictors of cyberbullying and being cyberbullied.

View full abstract

  The aim of the present study was to investigate the relation between a 2-dimensional model of social phobic tendencies and narcissistic personality and cognitive features.  Cognitive traits were measured using the dysfunctional belief in social phobia cognitive model developed by Clark & Wells (1995).  Questionnaires including the TSNS-S (Two-dimensional Model of Social Phobic Tendency and Narcissistic Personality-Short version), perfectionism, self-affirmation, self-disgust, negative rumination, irrational beliefs, and self-reference were completed by 595 university undergraduates (302 women, 293 men ; average age, 19 : 4 years).  In Analysis 1, adjusted or maladjusted phases of 5 subtypes of the 2-dimensional model were demonstrated from various cognitive features.  In Analysis 2, anthropophobic symptoms and social phobic symptoms were compared in detail.

View full abstract

  The present study investigated school nurses’ support team coordination activities and how those coordination activities influenced the nurses’ job satisfaction.  In Study I, a scale was developed to measure school nurses’ job satisfaction.  The scale consisted of 7 factors : “success of emotional support activities,” “creating awareness of the existence of school nurses,” “success with health education,” “creating good relationships with students,” “displaying expertise as a school nurse,” “creating good relationships with colleagues,” and “creating good relationships with parents.”  The results of Study 2 showed that engagement in coordination activities had a positive influence on school nurses’ job satisfaction.  Other results indicated that the school nurses played an important role in coordination activities (“information gathering and assessment of students’ health”), and that the school nurses’ actions in other coordination activities were on the same level as those of their coworkers, aside from student guidance.  Ways to promote support team coordination activities of school nurses were discussed.

View full abstract

  The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relation between help-seeking intentions and factors that have been considered to be determinants of help-seeking in previous studies, including network variables, personality variables, one’s own symptoms or the seriousness of one’s problems, and demographic variables.  University students (N=596) completed a questionnaire.  The results of structural equation modeling indicated that (a) the intention to seek help from friends was related to level of concern, depression, and support from friends, (b) the intention to seek help from family members was related to level of concern, depression, support from family members, and gender, and (c) the intention to seek help from professionals was related to level of concern, self-esteem, support from friends, and gender.

View full abstract

  How do teachers seek help from school consultants regarding student guidance activities ?  To investigate the relation between teachers’ perceptions of the helping characteristics of school consultants and their help-seeking preferences, an instrument was developed to measure teachers’ perceptions of helping characteristics of school consultants.  Self-efficacy and burnout were also measured.  Elementary and secondary school teachers (N=228) participated in the present study.  Although exploratory factor analysis identified 4 factors, confirmatory factor analyses indicated that a 3-factor model was superior in fit to the 4-factor model.  Correlational analysis revealed a significant positive relationship between teachers’ perceptions of the helping characteristics of school consultants and teachers’ help-seeking preferences.  Furthermore, a significant positive relationship was obtained between teachers’ perceptions of the helping characteristics of school consultants and burnout.  However, no significant relation was found between teachers’ perceptions of the helping characteristics of school consultants and self-efficacy.

View full abstract

  The present research, which was based on the theory of situated learning, focused on the learning environment of practice teachers, in order to examine how student teachers’ learning environment prepared them for actual classrooms.  The results of detailed observations suggested that student teachers’ learning was constructed in an environment that had the dynamic of 2 motives : training student teachers and maintaining educational practice.  The former represented the intention of the university faculty, whose aim was to nurture students so that they would become teachers.  The latter was the motive of staff at elementary schools, whose aim was to maintain everyday practice in order to educate the pupils.  At the beginning of their student teaching experience, the student teachers could not participate in educational practice ; they could only watch how the classroom teachers taught.  Gradually, the student teachers started to act like the regular teachers.  The classroom teachers divided their responsibilities adequately and assigned some to the student teachers.  As a result of the teachers’ guidance, the student teachers could participate in educational practice.  This learning process could be described as an example of legitimate peripheral participation in the cultural practice of the teachers.

View full abstract

  Domain-general learning strategies that students develop can transfer across different units and different school subjects.  Previous research has not, however, revealed how strategy use transfers across subjects, nor the factors that promote such transfer.  The present study examined these questions through a case study of cognitive counseling, which is a form of personal tutoring based on cognitive psychology principles. An 8^th-grade girl was instructed by the counselor in the use of a metacognitive learning strategy called “lesson induction” in mathematics.  The counselor also encouraged the student to become more cognizant of her own beliefs about learning.  After the student’s beliefs about learning started to improve, changing from valuing only the amount of time spent on problem solving to valuing also the quality and appropriateness of the learning method used, the student spontaneously started to use lesson induction in other units of mathematics, as well as in a different subject, science.  This finding suggests that the strategy use transfer observed may have been influenced by the student’s beliefs about learning.  In the present case study, the girl’s learning circumstances, in which peer instruction was commonly utilized, may also have helped to facilitate the observed strategy use transfer.

View full abstract

  When attempting to obtain agreement from various stakeholders, people need to propose new ideas, such as conditions for agreement or alternative plans, in order to achieve overall agreement, as opposed to simply reinforcing their own opinion by means of evidence.  The present authors developed a curriculum for elementary school students to engage in knowledge-building arguments on a socioscientific issue.  The curriculum was changed based on epistemic agency, a design principle of knowledge building.  Effects of the curriculum were examined across 2 years.  A comparison of the quality of the students’ arguments showed that the students expressed proposal-type opinions, considering pros and cons, in the improved curriculum more than the baseline curriculum, indicating that the students’ knowledge-building arguments had improved.  Differences in the students’ learning activities were also examined in relation to the changes in the design of the lesson.  Discussion clarified how support contributed to the improvement of the students’ knowledge building arguments.

View full abstract

  The present article presents a descriptive review of the historical transition of research on displaced aggression.  After Marcus-Newhall, Pedersen, Carlson, & Miller (2000) stated that “Displaced aggression is alive and well” and used a meta-analysis to identify some moderating variables, 2 possible lines of research emerged.  One of these examines displaced aggression as a form of aggression, and compares it to direct aggression ; the other examines triggered displaced aggression (TDA).  Research on triggered displaced aggression is elaborating triggering mechanisms of displaced aggression, based on a theoretical model of triggered displaced aggression (Miller, Pedersen, Earleywine, & Pollock, 2003).  A Displaced Aggression Questionnaire has been developed, for example, and a buffering effect studied.  The present article indicates future directions for research on displaced aggression, including development of displaced aggression, displaced aggression as a social behavior, interventions that apply relationships found in experimental studies, further elaboration of the theoretical model, and a comparison of direct aggression, displaced aggression, and triggered displaced aggression.

View full abstract