Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD).

Is returning to school during the COVID-19 pandemic stressful? A study on immediate mental health status of Chinese college students.

This work studied self-reports from adolescents on how the COVID-19 pandemic has changed their behaviors, relationships, mood, and victimization. Data collection was conducted between September 2020 and February 2021 in five countries (Sweden, the USA, Serbia, Morocco, and Vietnam). In total, 5114 high school students (aged 15 to 19 years, 61.8% females) responded to our electronic survey. A substantial proportion of students reported decreased time being outside (41.7%), meeting friends in real life (59.4%), and school performance (30.7%), while reporting increased time to do things they did not have time for before (49.3%) and using social media to stay connected (44.9%). One third of the adolescents increased exercise and felt that they have more control over their life. Only a small proportion of adolescents reported substance use, norm-breaking behaviors, or victimization. The overall COVID-19 impact on adolescent life was gender-specific: we found a stronger negative impact on female students. The results indicated that the majority of adolescents could adapt to the dramatic changes in their environment. However, healthcare institutions, municipalities, schools, and social services could benefit from the findings of this study in their work to meet the needs of those young people who signaled worsened psychosocial functioning, increased stress, and victimization.

Changes in Adolescents' Psychosocial Functioning and Well-Being as a Consequence of Long-Term COVID-19 Restrictions.

The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic caused significant disruptions and changes to the educational process worldwide, and higher education institutions rapidly shifted from onsite to online education. This study aimed to explore the association between a perceived lack of academic social interactions in the online learning environment and learning and self-regulation difficulties experienced during online studying. More specifically, the mediating role of students’ senses of life disruption caused by the pandemic and their general adjustment to online studying in the previously described association was explored. A total number of 464 university students from Croatia took part in an online questionnaire. The results revealed that students who perceive a greater lack of academic social interactions also report more learning and self-regulation difficulties during online studying. Further, the perceived lack of academic social interactions affects students’ perceptions of life disruption caused by the pandemic and adjustment to online studying. Both of these mediators, in turn, affect the level of experienced learning and self-regulation difficulties. The obtained results can be helpful for introducing certain measures that could support students’ learning and reduce the possibility of adverse effects of the pandemic.

https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/11/2/42/pdf?version=1643189792

The Lack of Academic Social Interactions and Students’ Learning Difficulties during COVID-19 Faculty Lockdowns in Croatia: The Mediating Role of the Perceived Sense of Life Disruption Caused by the Pandemic and the Adjustment to Online Studying

http://www.thelancet.com/article/S2589537022004357/pdf

Suicide spectrum among young people during the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Students have been multiply impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic: threats to their own and their family’s health, the closure of schools, and pivoting to online learning in March 2020, a long summer o...

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/08295735211001653

COVID-19 and Student Well-Being: Stress and Mental Health during Return-to-School

Stress Among Asian Youth During COVID-19: Moderation by Educational, Spiritual, and Cultural Sources of Belonging

Despite the breadth and depth of educational neuroscience research and teachers’ interest in neuroscience, teachers often have limited access to reputable sources. As a result, neuromyths–misapplie...

Continued Educational Neuromyth Belief in Pre- and In-Service Teachers: A Call for De-Implementation Action for School Psychologists.

In post-secondary education, students must demonstrate strong time-management skills while they navigate several courses in a semester. When students struggle to meet due dates, they can accrue late penalties, which exacerbates a stressful situation. In response, two graduate programs integrated a late bank system into their online courses. Students could submit one of two assignments up to five days after the due date without penalty. After each assignment was due, a survey was used to measure students’ levels of stress, the perception of the late bank, and reasons for using it. This study found the late bank was utilized by students, was positively regarded, and improved student attitudes toward their instructor. Reported levels of stress were similar for students who used the late bank compared to those did not. The results suggest that incorporating a late bank into the course design is an effective method of promoting student well-being.

https://ojs.lib.uwo.ca/index.php/cjsotl_rcacea/article/download/8200/6680

Introducing a Late Bank in Online Graduate Courses: The Response of Students.

Educational interventions have been used to remediate reading difficulties in children and adolescents with dyslexia with varying degrees of success, which is problematic due to the prevalence of reading difficulties and the negative outcomes from lack of literacy. Neuroimaging research can support better reading outcomes by exploring changes in brain functioning following interventions. Although reading fluency is a persistent area of difficulty in pediatric population, no neuroimaging studies examined the effectiveness of reading intervention techniques focusing on fluency. More recently, non-invasive brain stimulation techniques (NiBS), including transcranial direct current stimulation (TDCS), have been shown to increase neuroplasticity of language networks and aid rehabilitation of reading skills. The current review summarizes the recent findings from the neurobiology of reading development, reading intervention, and TDCS studies in children and adolescents with dyslexia. Further research should incorporate an interdisciplinary approach involving the integration of TDCS and reading interventions.

Erica Makarenko

Papers

COVID-19 and Student Well-Being: Stress and Mental Health during Return-to-School

Stress Among Asian Youth During COVID-19: Moderation by Educational, Spiritual, and Cultural Sources of Belonging

Continued Educational Neuromyth Belief in Pre- and In-Service Teachers: A Call for De-Implementation Action for School Psychologists.

Introducing a Late Bank in Online Graduate Courses: The Response of Students.

The Importance of Research on Integrating Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (TDCS) with Evidence-Based Reading Interventions