Handbook of Social Influences in School Contexts

Social-Emotional, Motivation, and Cognitive Outcomes

Kathryn Wentzel, Geetha Ramani, Kathryn R. Wentzel, Geetha B. Ramani

• Editore: Routledge
• Anno: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781317670865
• Edizione: 1
• Argomento: Education
• Categoria: Educational Psychology

The Handbook of Social Influences in School Contexts draws from a growing body of research on how and why various aspects of social relationships and contexts contribute to children's social and academic functioning within school settings. Comprised of the latest studies in developmental and educational psychology, this comprehensive volume is perfect for researchers and students of Educational Psychology.

Beginning with the theoretical perspectives that guide research on social influences, this book presents foundational research before moving on to chapters on peer influence and teacher influence. Next, the book addresses ways in which the school context can influence school-related outcomes (including peer and teacher-student relationships) with specific attention to research in motivation and cognition. Within the chapters authors not only present current research but also explore best-practices, drawing in examples from the classroom. With chapters from leading experts in the field, The Handbook of Social Influences in School Contexts provides the first complete resource on this topic.

1

Overview

Kathryn R. Wentzel and Geetha B. Ramani

Inherent in any discussion of formal education is the notion that students, educators, and society at large have valued goals and objectives they would like to achieve within school settings. Indeed, if one were to ask students and teachers what they try to accomplish on a daily basis at school, their responses would likely be varied and complex. Most typical would be outcomes related to learning, such as developing expertise in a particular content area, being challenged by and engaged in subject matter, and earning high grades. It is also likely that students and teachers would also express desires to achieve a range of non-intellectual outcomes, such as developing positive interpersonal relationships, being responsible and dependable, and showing care and concern for others.

In line with these objectives, schools are designed primarily to engage children in intellectually oriented activities and promote learning of academic subjects. In addition, however, the role of schools in providing children with unique socialization experiences has been acknowledged since the beginning of public schooling in the United States (see Wentzel, 1991); public schools were initially developed with an explicit function of educating children to become healthy, moral, and economically productive citizens. As such, schools are social worlds of major importance and significance to children. In addition to intellectual outcomes, they contribute to the development of social skills and values that are central to children’s future roles as citizens and members of the workforce.

As described by the authors in this Handbook, the importance of these social aspects of schooling is reflected in empirical literature that identifies social interactions, relationships, and contexts as significant predictors of multiple indices of school success that include cognitive, motivational, and social-behavioral outcomes. Evidence suggests that these associations are found for numerous aspects of social climates, ranging from instruction that is embedded in interpersonal interactions, to students’ ongoing relationships with teachers and peers, to the social and affective atmospheres of classrooms and schools, and to broader societal and cultural values. Moreover, these findings are consistent and robust across academic domains (e.g., reading and mathematics), academic outcomes (e.g., classroom grades, standardized test scores), and social outcomes (e.g., prosocial and socially responsible behavior and civic engagement).

What is less evident is why these social aspects of schooling might influence or even be related to this broad range of school-based outcomes. What is it about the qualities of interpersonal interactions, social relationships, and interpersonal climates that motivate and facilitate academic and social accomplishments at school? Rarely have scholars attempted to align school-based objectives with specific social factors and socialization processes to identify what might promote student success. Moreover, scholars have tended to approach issues of social and cognitive development at school from isolated intra-disciplinary perspectives rather than from ecological and interdisciplinary perspectives.

In response to these fundamental gaps in our understanding of how and why the social worlds of schooling make a difference in students’ lives, this Handbook was designed to provide a forum for systematic examination of the processes and mechanisms that define positive social interactions, relationships, social-emotional classroom and school-level climates and broader cultural milieus, and the consequences of these social contexts for children’s social, cognitive, and academic success. Thus, our vision was to provide a detailed scholarly overview of the current state of theory and research that encompasses the intersection of scholarship on social and cognitive development, and to highlight new directions and challenges for scholars and practitioners interested in the social ecologies of children at school. In this spirit, we also wished to provide perspectives and insights on theory and practice from those who have actively sought to improve schools and the lives of children who attend them through their intervention work. Finally, we asked the authors in this Handbook to present their work within a developmental framework, cognizant of the evolving nature of and processes involved in social influence and change, and that children’s needs, goals, and abilities differ as a function of age and grade level, as do the social and curricular objectives of schools.

The contributors to this Handbook represent a small but growing group of scholars working at the intersection of social and cognitive development and interested in school-based competencies. Their work is innovative and provocative, having the potential to move scholarship on school-based learning, instruction, motivation, and social competence in ways that are reflective of the social and ecological realities of students’ lives. Reflecting the complexity of children’s social worlds at school, the sections of the Handbook are organized to provide perspectives on social influence within the contexts of peer interactions and relationships; teacher–student interactions and relationships; and classrooms, schools, and culture. The outcomes discussed in relation to these multiple contexts include cognitive processes and learning, motivation and engagement, and social-emotional functioning. The final section provides perspectives on interventions designed to create social processes and climates within these multiple contexts that have the potential to improve students’ social and academic functioning at school.

Overview of the Volume

Section I: Perspectives on Peer Influence

The chapters in Section I present various ways in which peers can influence students’ development in a wide range of school-related domains. This includes areas such as students’ motivation and academic development (as described by Wentzel and Muenks, and Kindermann), social functioning and emotional development, (as described by Hanish and colleagues, and Greenhow and Askari), and cognitive development and learning (as described by Gauvain, and Ramani, Zippert, and Daubert). The authors present overviews of various theoretical perspectives that address how peers can impact this range of social and school-based outcomes, and the potential mechanisms involved in peers’ influence of one another. As a collection, the authors present an impressive developmental picture of peer influence from preschool to adolescence, paying particular attention to the contexts that could impact children in different age groups, such as play in preschool classrooms to social media networks during adolescence. The commentary at the end of this section by Brown and Lawrence emphasizes the importance of considering the relation between peer and school systems, developmental factors underlying peer group structure and operations, and the efficacy of specific modes of influence as they emerge in community and cultural contexts.

The first chapter by Wentzel and Muenks addresses how and why students’ relationships are associated with their motivational, academic, and social development at school. They describe the nature of peer experiences as a function of peer acceptance, peer group membership, and dyadic friendships, and then present empirical evidence linking these aspects of peers with students’ motivation, achievement, and social outcomes. This chapter offers critical insight into these relations by presenting an in-depth analysis of the mechanisms of influence that might explain these relations. This analysis is followed by the identification of gaps in the literature that provide areas for future research to better understand how students’ social interactions and relationships can impact their school success.

Kindermann, in the second chapter, focuses on the influence of peer groups on students’ motivation and learning. This chapter goes beyond previous discussions in this area by providing a systematic review of the role of peers on children’s motivation, such as examining which aspects of motivation can be influenced and which aspects of peer relationships can be most influential. This review is complemented with an evaluation of the extent to which correlational findings can be interpreted as evidence of social influences. The chapter ends with a discussion of how future studies in this area could benefit from a greater focus on specific mechanisms of peer influence and on how multiple coexisting forms of groups might be examined.

In the next chapter, Hanish, Martin, Miller, Fabes, DeLay, and Updegraff present the benefits of social harmony among children in schools—a characterization that reflects strong, cooperative, and positive relationship ties among students. In their conceptual model, these authors show how factors associated with social harmony can promote positive social and emotional outcomes for children. The authors make a unique contribution in this area by describing how social harmony can be viewed through a developmental lens and by providing an example of a classroom-based program that illustrates how social harmony can be achieved.

Greenhow and Askari present a much-needed and timely review of the literature on the influence of social networks on students’ social and academic achievement. Although previous reviews have focused on college-age learners, the authors of this chapter focus on research and theory involving adolescents (aged 12–18) in the pre-college years. This chapter provides strong evidence of adolescents’ experiences in social media contexts associated with formal and informal learning, and how these experiences contribute to social functioning and academic outcomes at school. Greenhow and Askari identify numerous areas for future research, with specific consideration given to methodologies for research in this new, but rapidly growing, area of study.

The final two complementary chapters in this section focus on the impact of peers on children’s cognitive development from early childhood to adolescence. Gauvain discusses broadly the unique role that peers can have on students’ learning and development of cognitive skills in classrooms. She presents theoretical and empirical support for how peers can assist one another by approaching situations in accessible ways and influencing the content of thought through activities that garner mutual interest. This chapter makes an important contribution by discussing the innovative approaches to instruction that utilize peer collaboration to enhance learning in the classroom, especially approaches relevant for STEM learning.

In the final chapter in this section, Ramani, Zippert, and Daubert focus more specifically on the influence of peers in classroom-based collaboration and tutoring programs from a domain-specific perspective. This chapter is unique in its focus on children’s literacy and mathematical development, identifying similarities and differences in the specific processes involved in collaborative learning in each domain. With respect to literacy and mathematics learning, the authors discuss the benefits of peer interactions from preschool to adolescence and identify age-related issues that are relevant within and across these two domains during children’s play and classroom instruction.

In their commentary, Brown and Lawrence raise the provocative point that the peer system has a fundamental, symbiotic relationship with schools that can be either contentious or collaborative, which they remark is essential to understanding the impact of peers on learning and behavior. The authors help us make sense of the complex, multilayered organization of the peer system and how it can influence the learning, motivation, and achievement outcomes highlighted in each of the chapters in this section. Consistent with the overarching theme of the volume, Brown and Lawrence discuss the developmental nature of the peer system, which needs to be considered when identifying areas and mechanisms of peer influence. The multiple features that characterize peer relationships described in the commentary are used to identify areas for future research on peers and their impact on students’ social and academic behavior.

Section II: Perspectives on Teacher Influence

The chapters in this section provide a broad range of perspectives on ways in which teachers can motivate, engage, and facilitate the development of students’ academic and social-emotional outcomes, as well as how they can have significant impact on the relationships that students have with each other. Together, the theoretical perspectives offered by the authors in this section reflect the complexity of teacher influence on students’ lives and the importance of ecological and developmental factors for understanding the mechanisms by which influence occurs. These processes and mechanisms are afforded by and embedded in pedagogical practices (as described by Fox and Dinsmore), the qualities of teacher–student relationships (as described by Wubbels and his colleagues, Martin and Collie, and Gregory and Korth), the organizational structures of classrooms and teacher characteristics (as described by Hamm and Hoffman), and the broader ecology of teaching as reflected in a combination of pedagogical and relational strategies (as described by Meyer). The section ends with a commentary by Gehlbach and Robinson that aptly highlights the practical implications of this work.

The first chapter in this section by Wubbels, Brekelmans, Mainhard, den Brok, and van Tartwijk considers the nature of teacher–student interactions and relationships in relation to students’ cognitive and academic outcomes. The authors argue convincingly that emotionally supportive teacher–student relationships that lack continued levels of high conflict are the most conducive to student learning and are of particular importance for at-risk students. Their dynamic social systems perspective is unique in the field in its focus on non-linear interactions that exist over time and at different levels, and the notion that explanations of teacher–student relationships must take into account the fact that teachers and students influence each other over time.

Fox and Dinsmore address the ways in which K–12 teachers can influence their students’ development of personal interest, describing a range of theories of academic interest, and discussing different types of interest, the educational importance of interest, how interest develops, and potential teacher influences on interest in multiple academic disciplines. In doing so, the authors provide a thoughtful discussion of the complexity of findings in this area and the challenges for future researchers that are embedded in issues of measurement and research design. The authors also move the field forward by acknowledging the need for more interdisciplinary approaches to theory development and research that incorporate instructional as well as relational perspectives on the development of student interest.

In the third chapter of this section, Martin and Collie also consider the influence of teacher–student relationships on academic outcomes, focusing on a broad range of motivational and self-processes relevant to learning. Guided by their Personal Proficiency Network (PPN) framework, the authors consider a constellation of factors relevant to students’ academic development, including motivation, engagement, academic buoyancy, academic resilience, adaptability, growth goals, and guided assessment and instruction. The PPN is an innovative ecological approach to understanding the impact of teacher–student relationships on student learning that provides the field with a new look at ways in which multiple interpersonal and intrapersonal constructs can be viewed as an organized system.

Moving beyond academic outcomes to social competencies, Gregory and Forth discuss the multifaceted nature of teacher–student relationships—that is, their affective, instructional, and culturally responsive qualities—in relation to student behavioral engagement. These authors add an important component to the discussion of teacher–student relationships: that is, how they relate to diversity, equity, and developmental issues of children and adolescents across their years of schooling. These authors also provide a convincing account of how behavioral engagement is an essential component of academic success, and how school-based interventions to improve teacher–student relationships can ultimately enhance student behavior as well as academic accomplishments.

The next chapter by Meyer focuses on emotion regulation, a little-understood aspect of children’s functioning at school. Meyer uses a developmental framework to reexamine research on classroom processes and on parent–child relationships to identify four potential sources of teacher influence on student emotion regulation: emotion modeling, relationships with students, supportive classroom climate, and formal social-emotional learning (SEL) curricula. Drawing broadly from developmental and classroom-based studies, the work on teacher emotions, and SEL program efficacy, she offers new and important insights into how to conceptualize emotion regulation as it presents in school-based functioning, and how K–12 classroom experiences might contribute to students’ development of emotion regulation skills.

Hamm and Hoffman discuss the diverse ways in which teachers contribute to a broad array of students’ peer relationships from kindergarten through high school. Based on an ecological framework, these authors provide a complex description of how teacher–student relationships provide a unique context that can influence students’ development of and exposure to experiences with their peers at different ages. Using the invisible hand metaphor, research on classroom instructional practices, and an acknowledgment of the various types of relationships that students enjoy with their peers, Hamm and Hoffman remind us of the many ways in which teachers afford students opportunities to interact with each other, and in doing so, contribute to how students view and treat one another.

Finally, the commentary by Gehlbach and Robinson addresses the important question of how to translate this scholarship on teacher–student relationships into usable knowledge for practitioners. In this regard, they focus attention on teachers’ relationships with students as a core component of what it means to be a teacher. In line with this focus, they provide a thoughtful discussion of how researchers and scholars might facilitate teachers’ understanding of the importance of their relationships with students, offer strategies for improving these relationships that can be implemented on a routine daily basis, and develop useful assessments of such strategies once they are implemented.

Section III: Perspectives on Classrooms, School, and Cultural Contexts

The chapters in the third section of the Handbook offer the broadest perspectives on social influence, beginning with discussions of classroom and school contexts in relation to motivation (Patrick, Turner, and Strati), followed by chapters on cultural influences on motivation and achievement as they are embedded in family (Holloway and Jonas) and personal values and identity (Zusho, Daddino, and Garcia); Seider, Soutter, and Clark offer a chapter on character education and non-academic outcomes in the form of character development; the section ends with a chapter on educational policy and its impact on educational systems by Nichols, and a commentary by McCaslin. The authors in this section provide theoretically rich and insightful accounts of social influence as it plays out through: students’ personal interpretations of classroom and school environments; ways in which teachers structure learning environments and provide rewards and sanctions for behavior; cultural norms and values that define how parents involve themselves with their children’s education and culturally based stereotypes that define personal identities; and social policies that can hav...