PRELIMINARY OUTCOMES AND CHALLENGES TO IMPLEMENTING SCHOOL-WIDE POSITIVE BEHAVIOR INTERVENTIONS AND SUPPORTS IN 30 GREEK PRIMARY SCHOOLS

School-Wide Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS) is an evidence-based three-tier school-wide framework for preventing and treating challenging behavior in schools, improving overall school climate, and promoting teachers' teaming and collaboration. SWPBIS outcomes, such as the decrease of students' behavioral problems and improvement of teachers' cooperation, have been well established across various educational systems in many countries. The purpose of this qualitative study is to investigate stakeholders' perceptions about the preliminary outcomes and challenges of the SWPBIS Tier 1 implementation in 30 Greek primary schools. A semi-structured focus group was conducted with stakeholders from Greek primary schools about their experiences from the implementation of SWPBIS Tier 1 during the 2019-2020 school year. Three key categories were identified: (a) perceptions about the initial SWPBIS outcomes, (b) implementation challenges, and (c) suggestions on additional supports. Practical implications and results are discussed in terms of how they can be used in sustaining SWPBIS in the Greek context.  Article visualizations

Synthesis of graphene oxide and graphene quantum dots from miscanthus via ultrasound-assisted mechano-chemical cracking method

Whilst graphene materials have become increasingly popular in recent years, the followed synthesis strategies face sustainability, environmental and quality challenges. This study proposes an effective, sustainable and scalable ultrasound-assisted mechano-chemical cracking method to produce graphene oxide (GO). A typical energy crop, miscanthus, was used as a carbon precursor and pyrolysed at 1200 ◦C before subjecting to edgecarboxylation via ball-milling in a CO2-induced environment. The resultant functionalised biochar was ultrasonically exfoliated in N-Methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) and water to form GOs. The intermediate and endproducts were characterised via X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) analyses. Results show that the proposed synthesis route can produce good quality and uniform GOs (8–10% monolayer), with up to 96% of GOs having three layers or lesser when NMP is used. Ultrasonication proved to be effective in propagating the self-repulsion of negativelycharged functional groups. Moreover, small amounts of graphene quantum dots were observed, illustrating the potential of producing various graphene materials via a single-step method. Whilst this study has only investigated utilising miscanthus, the current findings are promising and could expand the potential of producing good quality graphene materials from renewable sources via green synthesis routes

Classroom management: investigation of teachers' management that affect executive functions in childhood

The classroom management refers to the way the teacher arranges the various and complex relationships and situations that occur during the educational process. The type and the intensity of relationships and situations, experienced by students in a classroom shape the classrooms’ emotional climate. As emotions and executive functions are related to academic performance, this doctoral thesis investigates how the emotional situations, experiences in the classroom as a result of the student-teacher interaction, influence the executive functions of students. The experimental design of this research included four experimental conditions. These conditions test whether the emotions students experience as a result of the teacher’s actions during the class management, impact on students’ executive functions, and especially in their inhibitory control measured with anti-saccade task. Ninety students of three age groups, 8-, 10- and 12-years-old participated in each experimental condition. Results showed that in class management, teacher generate the expected emotions for each experimental condition on her/his students. The mixed design repeated measures ANOVA showed that the experienced emotions resulted in fluctuations on inhibitory control. Students of all age groups were found to be less efficient in the accuracy on anti-saccade task after experienced frustration, but more efficient after experienced challenge and pride, while boredom did not significantly change the students’ efficiency on the task accuracy.The findings of this study contribute to the field of the classroom management by highlighting that the teachers’ instructional interventions in the classroom generate of different valence emotions, whose their regulation in the specific class context has an impact on executive functions. Bearing in mind that executive functions affect many aspects of school achievement, we assert that teachers’ class management could affect students’ academic achievement through the generated emotions.Η διαχείριση σχολικής τάξης αναφέρεται στον τρόπο διευθέτησης από το δάσκαλο των ποικίλων και πολύπλοκων σχέσεων και καταστάσεων, που δημιουργούνται κατά την εξέλιξη της εκπαιδευτικής διαδικασίας. Το είδος και η ένταση των σχέσεων και των καταστάσεων που βιώνονται από τα μέλη της σχολικής τάξης πιθανόν διαμορφώνουν το συναισθηματικό της κλίμα. Καθώς, τα συναισθήματα και οι εκτελεστικές λειτουργίες συνδέονται με την ακαδημαϊκή επίδοση, η παρούσα διατριβή διερευνά πώς οι συναισθηματικές καταστάσεις που δημιουργούνται στη σχολική τάξη από την αλληλεπίδραση δασκάλου - μαθητή επιδρούν στις εκτελεστικές λειτουργίες του μαθητή.Το πειραματικό σχέδιο της παρούσας έρευνας περιλαμβάνει τέσσερις πειραματικές συνθήκες. Οι συνθήκες αυτές ελέγχουν εάν τα συναισθήματα, τα οποία βιώνουν οι μαθητές από διάφορες ενέργειες του δασκάλου, επιδρούν στις εκτελεστικές λειτουργίες των μαθητών και ιδιαίτερα στον ανασταλτικό τους έλεγχο. Σε κάθε πειραματική συνθήκη συμμετείχαν 90 μαθητές από τρεις ηλικιακές ομάδες 8-, 10- και 12- χρόνων. Τα αποτελέσματα έδειξαν ότι κατά τη διαχείριση της σχολικής τάξης ο δάσκαλος δημιούργησε στους μαθητές του τα αναμενόμενα συναισθήματα για κάθε πειραματική συνθήκη. Η μικτού τύπου ανάλυση διακύμανσης με επαναλαμβανόμενες μετρήσεις έδειξε ότι τα συναισθήματα που βιώθηκαν από τους μαθητές είχαν ως αποτέλεσμα τη διακύμανση της επίδοσης του ανασταλτικού τους ελέγχου. Οι μαθητές όλων των ηλικιακών ομάδων εμφάνισαν μικρότερη απόδοση στην ακρίβεια εκτέλεσης του έργου anti-saccade μετά τη βίωση ματαίωσης. Μετά όμως τη βίωση πρόκλησης και υπερηφάνειας υπήρξε βελτίωση στην απόδοση του ανασταλτικού ελέγχου των μαθητών, ενώ όταν βίωσαν πλήξη δεν εμφανίστηκε σημαντική μεταβολή στην ακρίβεια απόκρισής τους στο έργο αναστολής. Τα ευρήματα της παρούσας διατριβής συνεισφέρουν στο επιστημονικό πεδίο διαχείριση σχολικής τάξης συμβάλλοντας στην κατανόηση πώς οι διδακτικές παρεμβάσεις του δασκάλου στη σχολική τάξη δημιουργούν συναισθήματα με διαφορετικό πρόσημο που η διαχείρισή τους στο πλαίσιο της τάξης έχει αντίκτυπο στις εκτελεστικές λειτουργίες των μαθητών. Δεδομένου ότι οι εκτελεστικές λειτουργίες επηρεάζουν πολλές πλευρές της σχολικής επίδοσης, υποστηρίζουμε ότι η διαχείριση σχολικής τάξης από το δάσκαλο μπορεί να επηρεάσει την ακαδημαϊκή επίτευξη των μαθητών μέσω της διαμεσολάβησης των συναισθημάτων που παράγονται σε αυτό το πλαίσιο

PRELIMINARY OUTCOMES AND CHALLENGES TO IMPLEMENTING SCHOOL-WIDE POSITIVE BEHAVIOR INTERVENTIONS AND SUPPORTS IN 30 GREEK PRIMARY SCHOOLS

&lt;p&gt;School-Wide Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (SWPBIS) is an evidence-based three-tier school-wide framework for preventing and treating challenging behavior in schools, improving overall school climate, and promoting teachers' teaming and collaboration. SWPBIS outcomes, such as the decrease of students' behavioral problems and improvement of teachers' cooperation, have been well established across various educational systems in many countries. The purpose of this qualitative study is to investigate stakeholders' perceptions about the preliminary outcomes and challenges of the SWPBIS Tier 1 implementation in 30 Greek primary schools. A semi-structured focus group was conducted with stakeholders from Greek primary schools about their experiences from the implementation of SWPBIS Tier 1 during the 2019-2020 school year. Three key categories were identified: (a) perceptions about the initial SWPBIS outcomes, (b) implementation challenges, and (c) suggestions on additional supports. Practical implications and results are discussed in terms of how they can be used in sustaining SWPBIS in the Greek context.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; Article visualizations:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0774/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</jats:p