The impact of engineering curriculum design principles on elementary students’ engineering and science learning

The Framework for K-12 Science Education and the Next Generation Science Standards propose that students learn core ideas and practices related to engineering as well as science. To do so, students will need high-quality curricular materials designed to meet these goals. We report an efficacy study of an elementary engineering curriculum, Engineering is Elementary (EiE) that includes a set of hypothesized critical components designed to encourage student engagement in practices, connect engineering and science learning, and reach diverse students. To measure the impact of the curriculum, we conducted a cluster randomized controlled trial in 604 classrooms in 152 schools in three states. Schools were randomly assigned to either the treatment curriculum or to a comparison curriculum that addressed the same learning goals but did not include several critical components. Results show that students who used the treatment curriculum (EiE) regardless of demographic characteristics outperformed students in the comparison group on outcome measures of both engineering and science content learning. The results show that curriculum design affects student-learning outcomes.     

Partnering with school providers to codesign mental health interventions: An open trial of Act & Adapt in urban public middle schools

Schools are well positioned to provide access to youth mental health services, but implementing effective programs that promote emotional and behavioral functioning in school settings is complicated by the poor fit of interventions developed in research settings to complex school contexts. The current study formed a research–practice partnership with two urban public schools and mental health providers employed by those schools (N = 6, 100% female, 50% Black/African American, 50% White/Caucasian) in the adaptation of a depression prevention intervention, Act & Adapt. The intervention was modified by decreasing meeting time and streamlining session content, increasing flexibility, making intervention materials more similar to academic curriculum, and increasing the focus on managing disruptive behavior within group sessions. In an open trial, sixth-grade students (N = 22; 59% boys, 31% Hispanic, 22% Black/African American, 4% Asian, 30% White/Caucasian) at both schools who were identified as clinically “at risk” reported improvements from baseline to postintervention and at 1-year follow-up on measures of emotional and behavioral difficulties and coping strategies, with parallel results by caregiver report. The providers reported satisfaction with the intervention, and qualitative analyses of provider focus groups suggested both barriers and facilitators to research-practice collaborations to implement mental health interventions in schools.     

School autonomy and educational inclusion of children with special needs: Evidence from England

In the past few decades, several countries have introduced reforms aimed at increasing school autonomy. We evaluate the effect of the introduction of autonomous academies in England on the educational trajectories of children with special educational needs. This has been done using longitudinal data on all schoolchildren in state schools in England, from the National Pupil Database. The results show that the effects of school autonomy on educational inclusion are not uniform and depend on schools’ previous performance and socio-economic composition. Schools that obtained autonomy under the control of an external sponsor (sponsored academies) were more likely to decrease the proportion of pupils with special needs and remove additional support for them. We do not observe these effects in the schools that voluntarily applied for the more autonomous status (converter academies).     

An asset-based perspective on prospective teacher education

Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education -     

Solving sport’s ‘relative age’ problem: a systematic review of proposed solutions

ABSTRACT

Though the existence of Relative Age Effects (RAEs) has been documented through a multitude of studies spanning various sports and levels of play, application of solutions related to RAEs has been limited. In this review, the strengths and weaknesses of various proposed solutions to RAEs in youth sport are considered. Our objective was to identify, collate, and disseminate a comprehensive list of solutions related to the prevalence of RAEs in youth sport. English language, peer-reviewed articles were searched using the SPORTDiscuss database. Keywords ‘relative age’, ‘relative age effect*’, and sport* were used to locate research articles. The inclusion criteria were the following: (1) publication date between January 1980 and December 2018; (2) solutions were suggested related to RAEs. Sixty-three peer-reviewed publications contained proposed solutions to RAEs. Many solutions have been proposed to address RAEs in sport. Most are theoretical and there has been no attempt to implement them. Future research should test possible proposed solutions to RAEs in sport. However, implementing these solutions has the potential to both positively and negatively affect career and life outcomes for those athletes involved. Therefore, it is important to be cautious in how these possible solutions are tested.     

Predictors of Broaching: Multicultural Competence,Racial Color Blindness,and Interpersonal Communication

Predictors of broaching race for trainees and professionals (N = 85) seeing clients were examined in a correlational design. Results showed multicultural competence was a strong positive predictor of broaching, color blindness was a moderate negative predictor, and interpersonal communication as a predictor was mediated by multicultural competence. Demographics and experience were also studied to guide recommendations for broaching.     

Does fundamental movement skill proficiency vary by sex,class group or weight status? Evidence from an Irish primary school setting

This study examined fundamental movement skill (FMS) proficiency among male (N = 216) and female (N = 198) Irish primary school pupils from Year 2 to Year 7 (9.0 ± 1.7 years). Following anthropometric measurements, participants were video-recorded performing 15 FMS and scored using the TGMD-3, Victorian Fundamental Movement skills Manual and the Get skilled: Get active guidelines. Percentage mastery ranged between 1.4% (gallop) and 35.7% (slide). A two-way ANOVA evaluated the effect of sex (male/female) and class group (Year 2/3/4/5/6/7) on individual skills, locomotor subtest, object-control subtest and total TGMD-3 (GMQ) scores. No significant sex ×class interaction effects were found. Large effect sizes were reported for male superiority in object-control subtest (η_p² = 0.26) and GMQ (η_p² = 0.16) scores (both p < 0.001). Older classes had higher object-control subtest scores than younger classes, but scores plateaued after Year 5. Furthermore, overweight participants had significantly lower locomotor subtest (p < 0.001, d = 0.7), object-control subtest (p = 0.03, d = 0.3) and GMQ scores (p < 0.001, d = 0.5) than non-overweight participants. This study highlights very poor levels of FMS mastery among Irish schoolchildren and stresses the need for developmentally appropriate, FMS intervention programmes that are inclusive regardless of age, sex or weight status.     

Eccentric flywheel post-activation potentiation influences swimming start performance kinetics

This study aimed to assess the effects of post-activation potentiation in the strength related variables of a kick start. Thirteen competitive swimmers performed three kick starts after a standardized warm up (denoted USUAL) and another after inducing post-activation through five isotonic repetitions on an eccentric flywheel (denoted PAP). A T-test was used to quantify differences between USUAL and PAP warm up. The best trial of each subject achieved by natural conditions (denoted PEAK) was compared with data obtained after PAP. An instrumented starting block with independent triaxial force plates, collected the strength variables related with the impulse at take off. Improvements in the vertical components of force were observed after PAP compared with USUAL, meanwhile no differences were detected on the horizontal components of it. The velocity at take off was higher after PAP compared with USUAL (4.32 ± 0.88 vs 3.93 ± 0.60 m*s-1; p = 0.02). No differences in force or velocity were detected comparing PAP with PEAK (4.13 ± 0.62 m*s-1, p = 0.11). The PAP warm-up increased vertical force and it was transferred to a higher resultant velocity at take-off. This improvement would equal the best result possible obtained in natural conditions after some trials.