Browse Articles

The effect of the pandemic on the behavior of junior high school students

Kong Grisius et al. | May 01, 2023

The effect of the pandemic on the behavior of junior high school students
Image credit: Chris Montgomery

Here, seeking to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic affected the social interactions of junior high school students, the authors surveyed students, teachers, and parents. Contrary to their initial hypotheses, the authors found positive correlation between increased virtual contact during social isolation and in-person conflict and disregard for social norms after the pandemic. While the authors identified the limitations of their study, they suggest that further research into the effect of online interactions is becoming increasingly important.

Read More...

Impact of Kindles4Covid Virtual Reading Buddies Program on reading frequency and social connections

Pandey et al. | Jun 25, 2022

Impact of Kindles4Covid Virtual Reading Buddies Program on reading frequency and social connections

With the COVID-19 pandemic necessitating the transition to remote learning, disruption to daily school routine has impacted educational experiences on a global scale. As a result, it has potentially worsened reading achievement gaps typically exacerbated by long summer months. To address literacy skill retention and pandemic-induced social isolation, the non-profit organization ByKids4Kids has created a reading program, “Kindles4Covid Virtual Reading Buddies Program,” to instill a structure for youth to read together and connect with the convenience of Amazon Kindle devices. In this article, the authors determine the efficacy of their invaluable program by assessing changes in reading frequency and self-reported connectedness among program participants.

Read More...

A comparative study on the suitability of virtual labs for school chemistry experiments

Praveen et al. | Aug 22, 2022

A comparative study on the suitability of virtual labs for school chemistry experiments

Virtual labs have been gaining popularity over the last few years, especially during the worldwide lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In this study, the suitability of virtual labs for school chemistry experiments is addressed and their effectiveness is compared to traditional physical lab experiments by focusing on physical and human resources, convenience, cost, safety, and time involved as well as topic "matter".

Read More...

The influence of experience on the perception of homelessness in individuals

Dua et al. | Jun 30, 2022

The influence of experience on the perception of homelessness in individuals

Economic disruptions and housing instabilities have for long propelled a homelessness epidemic among adults and youth in the United States. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated this phenomenon with a 2.2% increase in the number of homeless individuals and more than 70% of Americans fearing this outcome for themselves. This study aimed to analyze the perception of homelessness in two groups: Those who have previously experienced and overcome homelessness and those who are at-risk for experiencing the same. The study analyzed publicly available Reddit posts by people in both groups and found that at-risk individuals tended to associate primarily fearful emotions with the event, and those who had overcome homelessness tended to view the event in a negative context. These results may encourage the establishment of resources to support the currently homeless and help them transition into society, and services to help them cope with negative emotions, as negative attitudes have been shown to decrease life expectancy.

Read More...

The influence of purpose-of-use on information overload in online social networking

Agarkar et al. | Nov 01, 2022

The influence of purpose-of-use on information overload in online social networking

Here, seeking to understand the effects of social media in relation to social media fatigue and/or overload in recent years, the authors used various linear models to assess the results of a survey of 27 respondents. Their results showed that increased duration of use of social media did not necessarily lead to fatigue, suggesting that quality may be more important than quantity. They also considered the purpose of an individual's social media usage as well as their engagement behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Read More...

The influence of implicit social pressure on prosocial behavior of adolescents

Carroll et al. | Dec 13, 2021

The influence of implicit social pressure on prosocial behavior of adolescents

In this study the authors sought to understand the influence of implicit social pressure on prosocial behavior (voluntary acts that benefit someone else) in adolescents age 12–19. They considered how participants divided money between themselves and four teammate they did a school project with. Despite being shown examples of how to divide money (social pressure), their results showed that both boys and girls were unaffected by prosocial, neutral, and antisocial pressures.

Read More...