New Study on Impact of Influential Students on Bullying

Reducing and abating bullying within schools is a focal point for teachers, parents, and policymakers. There are a plethora of programs, tools, and research into the topic and yet little significant evidence has been yielded on how to definitively curb bullying. A new study from researchers at Princeton University (working with colleagues from Rutgers and Yale) suggests that key, influential students may be able to hone and shape a school culture that is intolerant of bullying. Theories of human behavior posit that individuals often attend to and emulate the behavior of people within their community in order to learn the social norms and constructs. Researchers used this notion to identify, often through social media, key influencers in the social network of 56 middle schools in New Jersey, and analyzed their ability to reduce bullying and school conflict.

Current anti-bullying programs are constructed by adults to address adult defined problems. The distinguishing feature of the program model used in this study is that researchers trained the students on anti-conflict ideologies and then let them independently lead their own messaging campaigns. This gave the autonomy to each student to change and shape their school culture by addressing the problems they saw using their own voice. Students were encouraged to make their anti-conflict stance well known through social media posts, and printing posters they designed, while also suggesting positive ways to resolve issues they confronted in their own smaller social circles.

The report, “Changing climates of conflict: A social network experiment in 56 schools,” found that the middle schools who used social influencers saw a 30% decrease in student conflict over the course of the year. The rate of decreased student conflict also appeared to be correlated to the number of social influences each school had; the more social influencers present in a community, the higher the reduction in bullying behavior.

For more information about the program used in this study or to review the anti-bullying curriculum they used, head over to the Roots program. The researchers at Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public Health have generously made their anti-bullying curriculum open source for anyone interested in using their ideas in their own communities. The curriculum is "user friendly" and uses specific examples and illustrations to explain how communities of influence work,

For example, the Hoberman Sphere functions as both a toy and a visual reminder of social networks. When expanded, it represents the way in which communities of influence can have an expanded impact.

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We are excited to see a program that empowers students to make a tangible change in their own communities, using their own grass roots ideas of how exactly to affect that change. We believe there is a lot of power in a program that tackles bullying from the bottom up, rather than the conventional top-down approach.

Personal Learning Networks

Here at The Yellin Center, in addition to our work with K-12 students, we also work with college-level and professional learners. We also provide professional development for organizations and schools looking to integrate our neurodevelopmental model into their practices. We know that adult learners, similar to young students, benefit from a diversified, personalized learning experience.

We also understand that teaching adults can differ in several ways from how we typically instruct children. The theories that underpin andragogy, the method by which we teach adults, explicitly states the importance of fostering a deep rooted motivation to learn, utilizing hands-on learning experiences and offering learners a choice in what to learn. Therefore, when working with mature learners one wants to promote an environment of self-determination where learners are finding answers to real world problems they face in their everyday lives. Instead of teaching adults what to learn, the goal is to teach them how to learn, as well as how to seek out answers to their own personal needs. As such, it is vital to provide mature learners with materials, resources and strategies that can help promote learning after the workshop or initial learning has occurred.

One way to promote learning after the initial experience is to connect learners to personal learning networks (PNL), which are communities of learners who are looking to build a shared skill set. PNL’s promote collaboration and a sharing of skills among eager learners. They spark conversation and connect learners to experts in the area in which they want to grow. 

In the truly global and digital society we live in today there are several ways to connect learners to established learning communities. Social Media is a great place to start. PNL’s covering a range of topics exist on platforms such as Facebook, Google+, Twitter and LinkedIn. The best way to get plugged in is to search key words associated with what you want to learn about, using LinkedIn or Twitter search. Explore the results and beginning following people who are discussing your interests. When you are ready, you can start sharing your own ideas, tweets and resources with the communities you become a part of. If you are interested in creating your own professional learning network, there are sites such as Ning, which allow you to create your own, personal social network.

There are also several communities, both online and in the real world, in which adult learners can participate. For example, anyone working in education often finds Edutopia’s community an incredibly valuable resource. Alternatively, for educators looking to boost tech skills, ISTE’s forums are a great place to start.  IT professionals will find a great community at Cisco Learning Network. Professionals across disciplines will be able to find a group and resources at Reddit or MeetUp. Professional development isn’t just about building functional skills for workers. As a leader of professional development, you want to inspire curiosity, and motivate professionals to discover new ways to learn and seek out how to integrate new ideas into their professional practice.