Using Group Viewing of Television to Teach Preschool Children Social Skills

This quasi‐experimental field study assessed whether group viewing of television in a day‐care setting can be used to encourage prosocial behavior in young children. Drawing from social learning theory and cognitive‐developmental stage theory, four short‐ term programs were designed and tested. Children (aged 3‐5 years) from eight day‐care centers in Montreal (n = 150) were part of the study. Intact groups (two settings randomly assigned to condition) participated in 8 days of intervention consisting of group viewing of video‐taped segments of Sesame Street, followed by participation in activities. The programs were evaluated using a 2 X 2 X 2 factorial pretest—post‐test design with video‐type (prosocial, cognitive), activity‐type (cooperative, individualistic), and gender as the three factors. Measures included free‐play observations, a perspective‐taking ability test, and two qualitative measures describing the context. Analysis of covariance (pretest and age combined as covariates) revealed a significant main effect for video‐type on prosocial behavior, and a significant interaction between video‐type and activity‐type on antisocial behavior. Results suggest that prosocial modelling using television can encourage prosocial behavior in the day‐care setting. A group‐viewing context, with or without post‐viewing enactive prosocial training, may enhance prosocial modeling effects.     

Case-Based Instruction in Early Childhood Teacher Preparation: Does It Work?

Case analysis is often used in early childhood teacher education as a constructivist method for developing students' professional skills and knowledge. Although case-based instruction is popular, the professional literature contains little empirical evidence that it effectively helps students develop professional knowledge. Indeed, some empirical evidence suggests case-based instruction may negatively impact learning, especially for students with limited existing knowledge about children's development. This study compared the child development content knowledge gains of two classes of undergraduate preservice early childhood teachers: those taught child development with case-based instruction and those taught the same content with traditional didactic instruction. The study also sought to determine if students' level of prior knowledge interacted with the type of instruction they received. Results indicated that students with strong prior knowledge out-performed classmates regardless of instructional method (i.e., case-based or didactic instruction). Students at all levels of prior knowledge had similar knowledge gains across both case-based and didactic instruction, but data trends suggest students with the least prior knowledge gained the most knowledge with case-based instruction.     

The deployment of the medico-psychological gaze and disability expertise in relation to children with intellectual disability

In this study, we adopt the concepts of Michel Foucault on the medical gaze and Nikolas Rose on psychological expertise to differentiate between two forms of expertise evident in the education of intellectually disabled children. We draw on a discourse analytic study carried out in South Africa on intellectual disability in relation to educational practice to examine the operation of a medico-psychological gaze that calls for disability expertise in the management of disability. We conclude our discussion by noting that the dichotomy between impairment and disability that is proposed in the social model of disability does little to destabilise the power of the medico-psychological gaze since impairment is conceded to biomedical knowledge as an object of positive knowledge. This tacit acceptance of the medical authority gives sanction to disability expertise that operates in diffuse ways to regulate the educational experience of learners with intellectual disability. The implications of this conception for inclusive education are briefly explored, and further areas for research are suggested.     

Relationship between three-dimensional kinematics of knee and trunk motion during shuttle run cutting

Abstract

Female athletes are considered to exhibit knee and trunk motion that is characteristic of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury. The aim of this study was to examine the in vivo motion of the trunk and knee during a cutting manoeuvre and determine the relationship between them. All participants (10 male and 10 female college athletes) performed a shuttle run cutting task with the left limb. Trunk inclination (forward and lateral) and knee joint angles (flexion/extension, abduction/adduction, and internal/external tibial rotation) were calculated. Differences between the sexes and associations between knee motion and trunk inclination were examined. An increase in trunk forward inclination was strongly correlated with an increase in knee flexion angle and moderately correlated with a decrease in the excursion of internal tibial rotation. An increase in right trunk lateral inclination was moderately correlated with an increase in excursion of internal tibial rotation. The results also showed differences between the sexes in trunk forward inclination, lateral inclination, and knee flexion angle, but no such differences in knee abduction or internal tibial rotation. Trunk inclination is related to knee flexion and excursion of internal tibial rotation. Female athletes demonstrate a low trunk forward inclination and knee flexion angle, a posture that resembles that of ACL injury.     

Does ankle joint flexibility affect underwater kicking efficiency and three-dimensional kinematics?

ABSTRACT

Ankle flexibility is critical to obtain a high swimming velocity in undulatory underwater swimming (UUS). The present study investigated the Froude (propelling) efficiency and three-dimensional (3D) kinematics of human UUS following the extrinsic restriction of the ankle by tape application. In Experiment 1, swimmers (9 male and 8 female college swimmers) performed UUS trials involving normal swimming (Normal) and swimming with tape application at the ankle (Tape). Kicking frequency was controlled in both settings. UUS kinematics were obtained with a two-dimensional motion analysis. Swimming velocity significantly decreased during swimming with tape application compared with that during normal swimming (Normal, 1.33 m·s^?1; Tape, 1.26 m·s^?1, p < 0.05). The Froude efficiency was not affected (Normal, 0.77; Tape, 0.76), and ankle plantar angle did not decrease during swimming (Normal, 159.02°; Tape, 160.38°). In Experiment 2, lower limb rotations of a male swimmer were analysed using 3D motion analysis under the same conditions as Experiment 1. An insufficient forefoot rotation was observed during downstroke kicks (the phase of the highest acceleration to forward direction). These findings suggest that UUS velocity is affected by the mobility of end effector.     

Constructive,collaborative, contextual,and self‐directed learning in surface anatomy education

Anatomy education often consists of a combination of lectures and laboratory sessions, the latter frequently including surface anatomy. Studying surface anatomy enables students to elaborate on their knowledge of the cadaver's static anatomy by enabling the visualization of structures, especially those of the musculoskeletal system, move and function in a living human being. A recent development in teaching methods for surface anatomy is body painting, which several studies suggest increases both student motivation and knowledge acquisition. This article focuses on a teaching approach and is a translational contribution to existing literature. In line with best evidence medical education, the aim of this article is twofold: to briefly inform teachers about constructivist learning theory and elaborate on the principles of constructive, collaborative, contextual, and self‐directed learning; and to provide teachers with an example of how to implement these learning principles to change the approach to teaching surface anatomy. Student evaluations of this new approach demonstrate that the application of these learning principles leads to higher student satisfaction. However, research suggests that even better results could be achieved by further adjustments in the application of contextual and self‐directed learning principles. Successful implementation and guidance of peer physical examination is crucial for the described approach, but research shows that other options, like using life models, seem to work equally well. Future research on surface anatomy should focus on increasing the students' ability to apply anatomical knowledge and defining the setting in which certain teaching methods and approaches have a positive effect. Anat Sci Educ 6: 114–124. © 2012 American Association of Anatomists.     

Public e-services for agency efficiency and citizen benefit — Findings from a stakeholder centered analysis

The main goals of e-government are to increase agency efficiency and offer benefits to citizens. These goals have often been addressed as two interplaying outcomes of public e-service development, which are possible to achieve in parallel. This article shows that the two frequently applied stakeholders of e-government (agencies and citizens) are much too extensive and heterogeneous in order to be meaningfully addressed in public e-service conceptualization and development. We conduct a stakeholder centered analysis of a public e-service development and implementation process in order to identify stakeholder groups and discuss how they differ in their perceptions and, consequently, also in their feelings of relevance and need related to the e-service. By adopting a multi-faceted perspective on stakeholders, public e-service development can be analyzed and understood in a way that takes several stakeholder groups into account. Our study contributes with deeper insights about a situation where stakeholder salience changes over time, while some stakeholder groups have low salience during the entire process. The result of conducting a stakeholder centered analysis is that we, by visualizing the stakeholder groups' differences, are better prepared to meet and combine different needs related to a planned e-service. Thus, we argue that a stakeholder centered analysis of expectations and opinions concerning the e-service help to develop e-services possible to succeed in offering both external service and internal efficiency.     

General Media Works

Ida Oswald and Susanne Wilson, This Bag Is Not A Toy: A Handbook for The Use of Videorecording in Education For the Professions (New York: Council on Social Work Education, 1972 – (price not known), paper.

Thomas R. Giblin (ed.) Popular Media and the Teaching of English (Pacific Palisades, Calif.: Goodyear Publishing Co., 1972 – $3.95, paper)

Charles Boeckman's And the Beat Goes On: A Survey of Pop Music in America (Washington: Luce, with distribution by David McKay of New York, 1972 – $5.95)

Donald R. Gordon's The New Literacy (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1971 – $10.00/2.75/10.00 (hard, paper, microfiche editions)

Jess Ritter and Grover Lewis (eds.) Focus/Media (San Francisco: Chandler, 1972 – $5.00, paper)

Otto Lerbringer (of Boston University's School of Public Communication), Designs for Persuasive Communication (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1972 – $8.95/4.95)