Students are rarely taught how to study. When strategy instruction occurs, weak strategies are often advocated or strategies are presented in a hodgepodge, leaving students without a systematic study plan. Students’ weak study strategies include recording sketchy notes, organizing ideas linearly, learning in a piecemeal fashion, and employing redundant strategies. SOAR is an integrated study plan that includes the components of Selection, Organization, Association, and Regulation. Each SOAR component targets one of the aforementioned weak study strategies commonly used by students. In this experiment, college students read a text about wildcats and then studied provided materials using their preferred study method, the integrated SOAR method, or parts of the SOAR method in preparation for fact and relationship tests. Results confirmed that for relationship learning, the integrated SOAR study method was superior to preferred study methods or using parts of the SOAR method. For fact learning, the combination of Selection and Organization proved best. Association and Regulation processes were ineffective, perhaps because of divided attention or cognitive load. Overall, SOAR showed promise as an integrated study system that is easy to learn, easy to use, and effective.
Bullying victimization is a pervasive problem nationwide and is related to students' psychological distress, including increased loneliness, anxiety, depression, helplessness, and suicidal behaviors. Importantly, not all students respond to peer victimization in the same way. This study examined the effectiveness of students' coping strategies in response to bullying as a function of their grade level, gender, and form of victimization. Students in grades five through twelve (N = 2627) completed surveys assessing coping strategy effectiveness and associated emotional distress related to self-reported peer victimization. In general, findings indicated that the most effective coping strategies in response to bullying victimization were support-seeking strategies, use of humor, and cognitive restructuring. However, effectiveness for all strategies (with the exception of peer support) varied by grade level, gender, and form of victimization. Strategies were also more effective for relational victimization than they were for physical victimization. Moreover, although students identified several effective coping strategies, only the use of cognitive restructuring was related to lower levels of associated emotional distress, an important component of effective coping. As such, bullying prevention programs should target students' psychological processes in developing effective interventions. Implications for prevention and intervention efforts are discussed.
Student misbehavior is a significant concern in the current classroom. Teachers nationwide have implemented several approaches to reduce student misbehavior, including School-wide Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) and co-teaching. However, since misbehaver still disrupts learning, research is still needed to find a classroom intervention that will reduce misbehavior in a classroom to prevent students from under achieving, disruption of peers’ learning and teacher burnout. Zones of Regulation focuses on self-regulation, while addressing sensory processing, executive functioning, and emotional regulation. This experimental study tested the effects of co-taught Zones of Regulation on students’ Social, Academic, and Emotional Behavior Risk Screener (SAEBRS). Fifty-six early elementary students (48% female) were assigned randomly to either the experimental group, which received co-taught direct instruction with Zones of Regulation or the control group, which received standard instruction with a morning meeting. It was predicted that the experimental group would score higher on the SAEBRS than the control group. Although results showed no statistical difference on the SAEBRS scores between the two groups, more students in the experimental group moved from “at risk” to “not at risk”. This study suggests additional research needs to be conducted to determine if co-taught Zones of Regulation instruction is an effective intervention for reducing misbehavior.
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