The COVID-19 pandemic had a profound effect on the system of education—gaps in students’ learning, their socioemotional and mental health problems and growing inequality have been recorded. These problems confront students from low socioeconomic status (SES) in particular, therefore supportive relationships with teachers are of great importance. The growth mindset, as a student’s belief that he or she can develop his or her capabilities, can help him or her cope with arising difficulties. Based on the first hypothesis, this study sought to establish whether teacher support is positively related to student’s achievement. Our second hypothesis is as follows: a student’s growth mindset moderates the positive effect of teacher support on students’ achievement; this relationship is stronger when the student’s growth mindset is higher. The research sample consisted of 163 students from municipalities of Lithuania that are regarded as socioeconomically disadvantaged. The research results show positive correlations between teacher’ support, student’s growth mindset and achievement. Additionally, the role of student’s growth mindset as a moderator between teacher support and the student’s achievement was established. Statistically significant differences between high-SES and low-SES students when comparing their growth mindsets and achievement prove that it is important to enhance confidence of low-SES students in their capabilities and the potential to develop them.

The sustainable school is important in today’s education system to ensure the well-being of younger generations. This research work attempted to empirically test the different predictions of a sustainable school environment for secondary school students’ engagement in learning. The following objectives were formulated: to analyse the differences of sustainable school environment and engagement in learning based on gender and SES background; to analyse the relationship between sustainable school environment variables and engagement in learning; and to examine how sustainable school environment variables could predict students’ emotional and behavioural engagement. The research sample consisted of students from three districts of Lithuania with a disadvantaged SES context. We assessed the sustainable school environment variables and students’ emotional and behavioural engagement in learning with the What Is Happening in this Class? (WIHIC) questionnaire, a short form of the Learning Climate Questionnaire (LCQ), and the Student Engagement Scale. The results showed a statistically significant difference in behavioural engagement between boys and girls. There are no differences in sustainable school environment variables and engagement in relation to SES. Teachers’ autonomy supportive behaviour perceived by students has the strongest correlation with emotional and behavioural engagement in learning. Thus, in the Lithuanian schools surveyed, a sustainable school environment is developing.

Changes of circulating free plasma DNA (cfDNA) are associated with different types of tissue injury, including those induced by intensive aerobic and anaerobic exercises. Observed changes are dependent from induced inflammation, and thus it may be a potential marker for athletic overtraining. We aimed to identify the response of cfDNA to different types of exercise, with association to exercise intensity as a potential marker of exercise load. Fifty volunteers (25 athletes and 25 physically active men) were assigned to the study and performed maximal aerobic (Bruce test) and anaerobic (Wingate Anaerobic Test) test. Blood samples for cfDNA analysis were collected at four time-points: before, 2–5 min after, 30 min after and 60 min after each type of maximal physical activity. The two-way ANOVA revealed a significant effect of group factor on serum cfDNA concentrations (32.15% higher concentration of cfDNA in the athletes). In turn the results of the post hoc test for the interaction of the repeated measures factor and the group showed that while the concentration of cfDNA decreased by 40.10% in the period from 30 min to 60 min after exercise in the control group, the concentration of cfDNA in the group of athletes remained at a similar level. Our analysis presents different responses depending on the intensity and duration of exercise. Our observations imply that formation of cfDNA is associated with response to physical activity but only during maximal effort.

This study explored a moderated mediation model, which is based on the assumption about the direct relationship between teachers’ autonomy-supportive behaviours and students’ learning strategies and via perceived classroom management as well as the effect of growth mindset for the relationships between (1) teachers’ autonomy-supportive behaviours and learning strategies applied by students and (2) perceived classroom management and learning strategies applied by students. Data were collected from 23 secondary schools in municipalities in Lithuania with low SES (socioeconomic status) contexts (N = 581 students). The results showed that teachers’ autonomy-supportive behaviours are directly and positively related to the increased use of learning strategies applied by the student. The perceived classroom management mediates the relationship between teachers’ autonomy-supportive behaviours and learning strategies applied by the students. In this case, we have an inconsistent mediation, so the mediator acts as a suppressor (the indirect path through mediator is negative, while the direct is positive). The growth mindset does not moderate the relationship between perceived teachers’ autonomy supportive behaviours and the students’ use of learning strategies, but growth mindset moderates the relationship between perceived classroom management and learning strategies applied by the student. For students with a lower or moderate growth mindset, greater perceived classroom management is related to the lesser use of learning strategies. However, for those with a higher growth mindset, greater perceived classroom management is related to greater use of learning strategies. This study contributes to the understanding of the importance of teachers’ behaviours for students’ learning by focusing on classroom management and growth mindset.

Study purpose. This study aims to clarify the extent to which students’ physical activity is significant for their engagement in the learning process. Materials and methods. The study sample was composed of 202 7th-10th grade students. The data collection was performed in May 2021. The research participants completed the anonymous questionnaire on an online platform. The standardized Physical Activity Questionnaire for Adolescents and the standardized Student Engagement Scale were used to assess levels of physical activity and affective and behavioural engagement. Results. The research findings showed that students’ physical activity depended on the time they participated in physical activities. The highest level of physical activity was during physical education classes. A statistically significant difference was determined in the boys’ and girls’ affective and behavioural engagement. The mean for the girls was higher than the mean for the boys. A statistically significant difference in the behavioural engagement of the 9th and 10th grade students was also found: 9th grade students were more engaged than 10th grade students. The multiple linear regression analysis demonstrated that gender (β = 0.332, p < 0.0001) and physical activity (β = 0.323, p < 0.0001) as predictors had a significant moderate effect on behavioural engagement. Conclusions. The research findings reveal that although the students’ physical activity was low during the COVID-19 pandemic period, this phenomenon (physical activity) still remains a predictor, which has a significant moderate effect on behavioural engagement. It was also determined that during the pandemic, the highest physical activity level of students depended mostly on obligatory physical education lessons. Thus, bearing in mind that physical education lessons were the main physical activity-enhancing measures, we would like to emphasise the importance of these lessons and their proper organisation.

Background: Recognising the importance of physical activity for students' overall well-being and cognitive functioning, this study aims to investigate the relationship between the achievement of students in grades 5–8 in STEM subjects and their non-formal physical activity. Materials and Methods: The data for this study were gathered from the Lithuanian school management system. To categorize the marks into STEM subjects and non-formal physical sport activities, a RoBeRTa pre-trained model, a tool based on Natural Language Processing (NLP), was utilized. For the hypothesis testing of non-normally distributed data, the Mann–Whitney U test was employed. Results: The results of study show that students in grades 5 –8 who attend non-formal physical education classes have a higher average level of achievement in STEM subjects than students who do not attend them. Conclusions: Students' physical activity is linked to their cognitive performance and engagement in the learning process. It should be noted that there is a need for further research, taking into account the different variables (pupils’ gender, type of physical activity, individual subjects, etc.).