School effectiveness and student cheating: Do students’ grades and moral standards matter for this relationship?

A tutorial activity for students to experience generative artificial intelligence: students' perceptions and actions

Freely accessible generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) poses challenges to physiology education regarding learning and academic integrity. Although many studies have explored the capabilities of GenAI to complete assessments, few have implemented educative activities to highlight GenAI risks and benefits or explored physiology students' perceptions and uses of GenAI. Our study implemented a learning activity, designed using constructivist principles, to allow physiology students to explore GenAI and consider its use in assessment tasks. The activity engaged students (n = 236) enrolled in a second-year physiology subject over 2 years. The activity began with students being directed to critique a sample exam answer as a form of content revision. The answer had been covertly generated by ChatGPT, and it lacked depth and contained some hallucinated facts. Students then engaged in discussion about the use of GenAI for university study and assessment. Questions were used to stimulate thought and discussion, and student responses were collected via Padlet (492 posts). Thematic analysis of the comments highlighted students' beliefs about using GenAI and perceived benefits and risks. There was a general trend of increasing acceptance of using GenAI, and using it for assessment, over time. Students were concerned about breaching academic integrity guidelines, information accuracy and sources, and the negative effect it might have on their learning. At the conclusion of the activity, the revelation that ChatGPT wrote the sample exam answer reinforced the need for responsible GenAI use.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Constructivist learning tenets were used to guide the design of a critical evaluation learning activity about GenAI, to enable physiology students to make informed decisions regarding the use of GenAI in their learning and assessment. The trend of increasing acceptance of GenAI coincided with increasing student beliefs about uses of GenAI being perceived as responsible. Student concerns about academic integrity and ethical considerations persisted, yet academic misconduct cases increased.

Factors Contributing to School Effectiveness: A Systematic Literature Review

This paper aims to provide a systematic review of the literature on school effectiveness, with a focus on identifying the main factors that contribute to successful educational outcomes. The research question that this paper aimed to address is "what are the main factors of school effectiveness?". We were interested in several descriptors such as school, effectiveness/efficiency theories, effectiveness/efficiency research and factors. Studies (published within the 2016-2022 period) were retrieved through two databases: JSTOR and ERIC. This paper defines several categories identified by school effectiveness research. Within these categories, various factors that affect the students' outcomes and the defined effectiveness in school are listed. As the results show, the issue of school effectiveness is multifaceted, as the effectiveness of schools is a complex concept that can be measured through various indicators such as academic achievement, student engagement and teacher satisfaction. The review of school effectiveness revealed that several factors contribute to effective schools, such as strong leadership, effective teaching practices, a positive school culture and parental involvement. Additionally, school resources, such as funding and facilities, can impact school effectiveness, particularly in under-resourced communities.

Psychological and Gender Differences in a Simulated Cheating Coercion Situation at School

This study aimed to analyze gender, anxiety, and psychological inflexibility differences of high school students’ behaviors in a simulated situation of peer coercion into academic cheating. Method: A total of 1147 volunteer adolescents participated, (Men: N = 479; Mage = 16.3; Women: N = 668; Mage = 16.2). The participants saw 15 s animated online video presenting peer coercion into an academic cheating situation, including a questionnaire about their reactions to face the situation. They also answered the State–Trait Anxiety Inventory for children and adolescents and the Avoidance and Fusion Questionnaire for Youth (AFQ-Y). Gender was associated with the behaviors facing the situation. Higher state anxiety and inflexibility were present in those participants that avoided aggressive behaviors facing the situation; on the other hand, trait anxiety was present in those who reacted aggressively. Finally, higher anxiety and inflexibility were associated with the used moral disengagement mechanisms, but also with peers’ perception as sanctioning or being against the participants’ decision. The most aggressive students were more flexible and less stressed than those who tried to solve assertively. Expectations about peers seem to be relevant to the decision-making facing moral dilemmas and peer victimization.

Self-reported academic performance and academic cheating: Exploring the role of the perceived classroom (in)justice mediators

BACKGROUND

As a point of departure, this study assumes that teaching to impart knowledge is inseparable from its moral role to create an ethical citizenry, such as developing standards of academic integrity.

AIMS

The study aims at delving into how different facets of the sense of (in)justice in the classroom may play a significant role in explaining cheating behaviour, in general, and among low-achieving students, in particular.

SAMPLE AND METHODS

The study was conducted among 5,084 eighth and ninth graders Israeli students. CFA and a structural modelling equations method were used to examine the study's factorial constructs and model, respectively.

RESULTS

Findings pointed to a good fit of the measurement model using SEM. In accordance with the mediating hypothesis, self-reported academic achievement was negatively related to self-reported academic cheating. Moreover, perceived 'school injustice' (procedural and distributive justice as estimates) played a mediating role in explaining the relation between academic performance and cheating behaviour. It is noteworthy, however, that the facet of the personality-like construct of justice sensitivity displayed inconsistent findings and no mediating effect when examined as a separate model.

CONCLUSIONS

Self-reported academic performance and academic cheating among middle school' students were explained more strongly by contextual justice-related factors, namely perceived teachers' distributional and procedural practices in the classroom, than by justice sensitivity, which is a personality factor. Thus, teachers' justice practices seem to be crucial for developing a predisposition to academic honesty.