Somatotype and longevity of former university athletes and nonathletes

A longitudinal study was conducted on 398 athletes and 369 nonathletes who were born before 1920 and attended Michigan State University. The subjects were compared to determine if intercollegiate athletic competition accounts for significant variation in longevity when considered with somatotype. Because some of the subjects were still alive at the time of the study, the BMDP Statistical Software was used to do a survival analysis with covariates. Preliminary comparisons considered the differences in somatotype between athletes and nonathletes. Two sample t-tests indicated that athletes were more mesomorphic and less ectomorphic (p less than .05) than nonathletes. When comparing the relationship between somatotype and longevity, the pooled data of athletes and nonathletes indicated that endomorphs were shorter lived than the other three comparison groups. When only the athletes were considered, similar results were found. However, the nonathlete group exhibited differences only between the mesomorphic and endomorphic groups. The endomorphs were shorter lived. Longevity was examined by using the Cox proportional hazards regression method with somatotype and athlete/nonathlete status as covariates. Somatotype, by itself, was found to be significantly related to longevity, (p less than .001). Athletic status was not significantly related to longevity, either by itself or when entered into the model with somatotype.     

Caring for Children: Some Long-term Issues

Using Felicity Fletcher-Campbell's work on 'looked-after children' (children in care) as a starting point, John Wilson considers an appropriate response to the decline of traditional support networks such as the extended family and the community in which it is situated. In his view, this should not involve separate pastoral care but a reconceptualizing of our whole picture of what the school is for. At the centre of this is the idea that, to be effective, much learning requires a personal relationship. He goes on to discuss the nature of relationships, and suggests that they must be informed by some form of clear values. The remainder of his paper discusses what it might be about a community (school) that would promote real engagement and partnership.     

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgement

Acknowledgements     

Network representations of knowledge about chemical equilibrium: Variations with achievement

This study examined variation in the organization of domain-specific knowledge by 50 Year-12 chemistry students and 4 chemistry teachers. The study used nonmetric multidimensional scaling (MDS) and the Pathfinder network-generating algorithm to investigate individual and group differences in student concepts maps about chemical equilibrium. MDS was used to represent the individual maps in two-dimensional space, based on the presence or absence of paired propositional links. The resulting separation between maps reflected degree of hierarchical structure, but also reflected independent measures of student achievement. Pathfinder was then used to produce semantic networks from pooled data from high and low achievement groups using proximity matrices derived from the frequencies of paired concepts. The network constructed from maps of higher achievers (coherence measure = 0.18, linked pairs = 294, and number of subjects = 32) showed greater coherence, more concordance in specific paired links, more important specific conceptual relationships, and greater hierarchical organization than did the network constructed from maps of lower achievers (coherence measure = 0.12, linked pairs = 552, and number of subjects = 22). These differences are interpreted in terms of qualitative variation in knowledge organization by two groups of individuals with different levels of relative expertise (as reflected in achievement scores) concerning the topic of chemical equilibrium. The results suggest that the technique of transforming paired links in concept maps into proximity matrices for input to multivariate analyses provides a suitable methodology for comparing and documenting changes in the organization and structure of conceptual knowledge within and between individual students.