Culture is important for the development of social skills in children, including empathy. Although empathy has long been linked with prosocial behaviors and attitudes, there is little research that links culture with development of empathy in children. This project sought to investigate and identify specific culturally related empathy elements in a sample of Dene and Inuit children from Northern Canada. Across seven different grade (primary) schools, 92 children aged 7 to 9 years participated in the study. Children’s drawings, and interviews about those pictures, were uniquely employed as empirical data which allowed researchers to gain access to the children’s perspective about what aspects of culture were important to them. Using empathy as the theoretical framework, a thematic analysis was conducted in a top-down deductive approach. The research paradigm elicited a rich data set revealing three major themes: sharing; knowledge of self and others; and acceptance of differences. The identified themes were found to have strong links with empathy constructs such as sharing, helping, perspective-taking, and self–other knowledges, revealing the important role that culture may play in the development of empathy. Findings from this study can help researchers explore and identify specific cultural elements that may contribute to the development of empathy in children.

Introduction We aimed to investigate the association between schizotypy and intentionality bias, the tendency to interpret ambiguous actions as being intentional, for social and non-social actions separately. This bias contributes to interpersonal difficulties, and has been associated with psychotic symptoms, such as delusions. However, results have been inconsistent for an association between putative psychosis proneness, schizotypy, and intentionality bias. Further, the multidimensional nature of schizotypy has not been considered. Agreeableness was measured to examine the specificity of the relationship, and inhibition to examine its potential role as a mediator. Methods Two online studies are reported (n = 280 and n = 163) in which participants made intentionality judgements about ambiguous actions described in sentences. They also completed questionnaire measures of schizotypy and agreeableness, and inhibitory efficiency (a sentence completion task). Results Schizotypy was associated with perceiving ambiguous actions as intentional, particularly in social contexts, after controlling for agreeableness. The association with social intentionality was stronger for schizotypy subscales capturing paranoia and unusual beliefs. Inhibitory efficiency as not a significant predictor of intentionality bias. Conclusion These finding suggest intentionality biases for social and non-social events are distinguishable. In relation to schizotypy, social situations appear to generate perceptions of intentionality. Intentionality bias represents a phenotypic cognitive risk for psychosis which should be further investigated.

School classrooms worldwide consist of a diversity of cultures. Teachers in these classrooms play key roles in the preparation of students not only in terms of their academic and career readiness, but also in their understanding of how to socially navigate communities. In remote areas where communities rely on their culture and social norms to guide behaviours to sustain a flourishing culture and community, non-academic life skills become part of the focus of teaching. This paper shares a portion of research investigating cultural self-perceptions of both Canadian Indigenous primary school students and their teachers. These Indigenous educators in remote communities reveal culture’s important role in teaching that impacts children’s social development. The data provides a perspective rarely investigated that shares the practices of these Indigenous teachers. Their cultural and societal expectations lead to encouraging other teachers in various global contexts to reflect on their own teaching practices, cultural identities, and non-academic life skill pedagogies.

Abstract Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS) is a student let program designed to support students transitioning into university and tackling traditionally difficult first year core subjects. The model is collaborative with student leaders facilitating activities and discussions driven by student need. Consistently research has found that students can benefit, in terms of increased grades, from attending PASS, however findings for online delivery modes are mixed. These studies have generally only compared face to face (F2F) with online modes of PASS-like programs for one subject. No study has compared different subjects from varying disciplines to investigate if the benefits of PASS online are the same for all students. PASS at UOW conducted a pilot study of synchronous online sessions, tested across three different first year university subjects. A total of 1.471 students enrolled into these subjects, with 409 attending some form of PASS. Result revealed PASS students gained significantly higher average final marks compared to students who did not attend any type of PASS, regardless off subject. However, results for PASS varied depending upon mode of delivery engaged in (F2F or online) and also with subject. Although not all differences were statistically significant, trends suggest a student/subject interaction that may vary the amount of benefit gained from PASS online formats. Possible drivers for these results are discussed as well as consideration given to cohort effects and student skills for online learning modes. Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS) is a student let program designed to support students transitioning into university and tackling traditionally difficult first year core subjects. The model is collaborative with student leaders facilitating activities and discussions driven by student need. Consistently research has found that students can benefit, in terms of increased grades, from attending PASS, however findings for online delivery modes are mixed. These studies have generally only compared face to face (F2F) with online modes of PASS-like programs for one subject. No study has compared different subjects from varying disciplines to investigate if the benefits of PASS online are the same for all students. PASS at UOW conducted a pilot study of synchronous online sessions, tested across three different first year university subjects. A total of 1.471 students enrolled into these subjects, with 409 attending some form of PASS. Result revealed PASS students gained significantly higher average final marks compared to students who did not attend any type of PASS, regardless off subject. However, results for PASS varied depending upon mode of delivery engaged in (F2F or online) and also with subject. Although not all differences were statistically significant, trends suggest a student/subject interaction that may vary the amount of benefit gained from PASS online formats. Possible drivers for these results are discussed as well as consideration given to cohort effects and student skills for online learning modes.

Traditionally difficult subjects, such as statistics, offer a substantial learning challenge for students in their first year of university. Supplemental instruction or Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS) can provide students with benefits including increased confidence and grades. This project sought to compare face-to-face (F2F) sessions of PASS for the first-year psychology statistics subject PSYC123 with an online version. Employing a mixed-methods approach, including feedback from both students and PASS leaders, results indicated that online students found the platform easy to use and navigate, believing they had benefited from the sessions. All PASS students achieved higher mean grades compared to students who did not attend. PASS Online students also saw increased grades compared to F2F, although this difference was not statistically significant. PASS Leaders found that more time was needed in the online version compared with F2F, but felt that the online sessions allowed for similar interactions as those in F2F. Results indicated that online SI can be successful, however traditional activities need to be adapted and specific training is required for PASS Leaders. Time allocations, and skills development in students and leaders are required for a successful online PASS.

As the demand for flexible learning increases, it is important to explore and expand online learning opportunities, especially in student supported learning. Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS) is a student led academic support program designed to help students transition into university and increase student retention. PASS is offered in traditionally challenging first year core subjects. Due to increased popularity of PASS, along with limited space and time availability, a synchronous online format (Blackboard Collaborate) was piloted in three first year University of Wollongong (UOW) subjects in the faculties of Business, Nursing, and Psychology. The aim was to test the effectiveness of the online delivery of PASS by comparing student final grade outcomes from online cohorts with face-to-face (F2F) modes, and those students who had not attended PASS. Results demonstrated that students who attended PASS obtained significantly higher marks compared to students that did not attend PASS. Final grade outcomes for F2F versus online also varied between subjects. The different result profiles for the three subjects suggests there may be different drivers for student success in the online space. This paper presents these findings providing consideration of different factors that may influence student success, with directions for future research.