Strength and Motivation: What College Athletes Bring to Social Work

College athletes develop many strengths and skills during their athletic career, such as dedication, ability to work across cultures, leadership, and community building. Social workers need many of these same skills. This study explores the potential transfer of skills from athletics to social work among 15 former college athlete MSW students. Qualitative interviews asked about transferability of skills developed as college athletes to social work practice. Participants identified both interpersonal and intrapersonal skills gained in their athletic career that were of use in social work practice. Implications for both athletic career development and social work recruitment and education are discussed.     

Parental Beliefs and Children's School Performance

Immigrant parents from Cambodia, Mexico, the Philippines, and Vietnam and native-born Anglo-American and Mexican-American parents responded to questions about child rearing, what teachers of first and second graders should teach their children, and what characterizes an intelligent child. Immigrant parents rated conforming to external standards as being more important to develop in their children than developing autonomous behaviors. In contrast, American-born parents favored developing autonomy over conformity. Parents from all groups except Anglo-Americans indicated that noncognitive characteristics (i.e., motivation, social skills, and practical school skills) were as important as or more important than cognitive characteristics (i.e., problem-solving skills, verbal ability, creative ability) were to their conceptions of an intelligent first-grade child. Parental beliefs about conformity were correlated with measures of kindergarten (5- and 6-year-olds) and first- (6- and 7-year-olds) and second-grader (7- and 8-year-olds) children's school performance (i.e., teacher ratings of children's classroom performance; Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills reading, math, and language scores; and Sternberg Triarchic Abilities Test scores).     

运动员赛前心理状态的分析探讨

赛前心理训练是现代竞技体育比赛中十分重要的一个训练环节,随着竞技体育水平迅速提高,竞争更加激烈,运动员单凭本身所具备的技术、战术以及身体素质水平是不够的,更要具备赛前心理方面的优势,才能充分发挥运动员的实际水平,激活运动员的潜能,及时调整赛前不良心态;建立科学有效训练体系,以达到出奇制胜功效。     

制定儿童游泳年度训练计划之诸要素分析

制定好训练计划是实施运动训练、培养造就优秀运动员的重要前提。对儿童游泳项目来说,少年儿童正处于可塑造时期,他们的身体形态、生理机能、心理素质等各方面都具不确定性,处于不断的发育和发展阶段。此时的训练易中有难。这个时期的训练计划安排好坏,将可能影响她一生的运动成绩。因此,儿童游泳更需注意计划安排的科学性。科学合理的安排儿童游泳计划,要考虑若干要素、各要素之间相辅相成关系,使其具有内在联系性。     

Unraveling the culture of the mathematics classroom: A video-based study in sixth grade

Changing perspectives on mathematics teaching and learning resulted in a new generation of mathematics textbooks, stressing among others the importance of mathematical reasoning and problem-solving skills and their application to real-life situations. The article reports a study that investigates to what extent the reform-based ideas underlying these mathematical textbooks impact the current teaching of mathematics. Two problem-solving lessons were videotaped in 10 sixth-grade classrooms and a coding scheme was developed to analyze these lessons with regard to three aspects of the classroom culture that are assumed to enhance students’ mathematical beliefs and problem-solving competencies: (1) the classroom norms that are established, (2) the instructional techniques and classroom organization forms, and (3) the set of tasks students are confronted with. Two instruments were administered to measure students’ beliefs about learning mathematical word problem solving, and to assess their problem-solving processes and skills. The results indicate that some reform-based aspects seemed to be easier to implement (e.g., a strong focus on heuristic skills, embedding tasks in a realistic context) than others (e.g., the use of group work, an explicit negotiation of appropriate social norms).     

Parental Conceptions of School Readiness: Relation to Ethnicity,Socioeconomic Status,and Children's Skills

Research Findings: This study analyzed the school readiness beliefs of parents of 452 children from public pre-kindergarten and the relations of these beliefs to socioeconomic status and children's readiness skills. Parents conceived readiness largely in terms of the ability to name objects, letters, or numbers, but few included inferential skills. Readiness beliefs were related not to socioeconomic status but to ethnicity. Readiness beliefs about the importance of independence, social competence, nominal knowledge, and inferential skills were related in expected ways to children's skills. Practice or Policy: Infrequent inclusion of inferential skills among parents' readiness beliefs may not bode well for children. Informational programs for parents about the critical role of higher order cognitive skills and ways to promote them are needed.     

Correlates of achievement goal orientations in physical education

Achievement goal theory suggests that the motivational processes operating in achievement settings such as PE are dependent on the achievement goals manifested in that setting. In this paper, research is reviewed examining the motivation-related correlates of task and ego (approach) goal orientations in physical education, namely (a) achievement-related beliefs (i.e., beliefs about the causes of success in and the purposes of PE, beliefs about the nature of physical ability), (b) affective responses (e.g., enjoyment), (c) self-determination (i.e., PE students’ level of intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, and amotivation), (d) behavioral strategies and skill development, and (e) level of physical activity engagement.     

An examination of the relationship between reading comprehension, higher-level and lower-level reading sub-skills in adults

Using a large adult reading database, we examined the relationships between high-level and low-level reading skills and between multiple reading skills, general cognitive ability, and reading comprehension ability. A principal components analysis found partial dissociability between higher-level skills including reading comprehension, vocabulary and print exposure, and lower-level skills including decoding and spelling in adult readers. Furthermore, follow-up regression analyses showed that the high-level sub-skills (e.g., vocabulary and print exposure) were significantly better predictors of reading comprehension ability than the low-level skills (e.g., decoding and spelling) in adult skilled readers. These findings suggest that higher-level and lower-level skills are dissociable in adult skilled readers and that higher-level skills are more strongly related to comprehension ability in adults.     

Serious physical violence among Arab-Palestinian adolescents: The role of exposure to neighborhood violence,perceived ethnic discrimination,normative beliefs,and, parental communication

This study adopted a social-ecological perspective to exploring perpetration of serious physical violence against others among Arab-Palestinian adolescents. A total of 3178 adolescents (aged 13–18) completed anonymous, structured, self-report questionnaire, which included selected items from several instruments that measured variables relating to the constructs examined in the study. We explored the association of individual characteristics (age, gender, normative beliefs about violence, and perceived ethnic discrimination), familial characteristics (parent-adolescent communication and socioeconomic status), and contextual characteristics (exposure to community violence in the neighborhood) with perpetration of serious physical violence against others. A moderation-mediation model was tested, and 28.4% of the adolescents reported that they had perpetrated serious physical violence against others at least once during the month preceding the study. The findings also show that exposure of youth to violence in their neighborhood correlated significantly and positively with their perpetration of serious physical violence against others. A similar trend was revealed with respect to personal perceptions of ethnic discrimination. These correlations were mediated by the adolescents’ normative beliefs about violence. Furthermore, the correlation of direct exposure to violence in the neighborhood and normative beliefs about violence with perpetration of serious physical violence against others was stronger among adolescents who have poor communication with their parents than among those who have strong parental communication.     

Academic Fit of Student-Athletes: An Analysis of NCAA Division I-A Graduation Rates

Federal law mandates that universities reveal their graduation rates purportedly to inform policy makers and constituencies about efforts to support educational attainment for students and athletes. These rates are widely used to compare universities. Analysis of 10 years of graduation rates across all major athletic programs concludes that graduation rates alone are insufficient and misleading unless they account for the widely varying constituencies served by different universities. Constituency factors include university mission, admission restrictions, and institutional wealth. Universities with more selective admission policies graduate both students and athletes at higher rates, although their athletes graduate at lower rates, relative to their student cohorts. This research assesses: (1) athlete educational attainment, (2) the impact of athletic success and (3) the relationship between admission selectivity and educational attainment. The results provide implications for across-university policies and suggest a method for identifying universities that model the bifurcated goal of academic and athletic excellence.     

The two faces of adolescents' success with peers: adolescent popularity, social adaptation, and deviant behavior

This study assessed the hypothesis that popularity in adolescence takes on a twofold role, marking high levels of concurrent adaptation but predicting increases over time in both positive and negative behaviors sanctioned by peer norms. Multimethod, longitudinal data, on a diverse community sample of 185 adolescents (13 to 14 years), addressed these hypotheses. As hypothesized, popular adolescents displayed higher concurrent levels of ego development, secure attachment, and more adaptive interactions with mothers and best friends. Longitudinal analyses supported a popularity-socialization hypothesis, however, in which popular adolescents were more likely to increase behaviors that receive approval in the peer group (e.g., minor levels of drug use and delinquency) and decrease behaviors unlikely to be well received by peers (e.g., hostile behavior with peers).     

Teachers’ beliefs about low-achieving students and higher order thinking

The goal of this study is to characterize the patterns of teachers’ beliefs regarding low-achieving students and instruction of higher order thinking. Subjects are 40 Israeli teachers. Results show that 45% of the teachers believe that higher order thinking is inappropriate for low-achieving students. Findings suggest that teachers’ beliefs in this context are related to their general theory of instruction: viewing learning as hierarchical in terms of students’ academic level was found to be related to a traditional view of learning, i.e., seeing learning as progressing from simple, lower order cognitive skills to more complex ones. Implications for teacher education are discussed.     

Corporal punishment in schools: myths, problems and alternatives

In many countries, corporal punishment of school children continues to be an officially or unofficially sanctioned form of institutional child abuse. Continuing support for the use of corporal punishment is related to the following factors: (1) widely held beliefs regarding the effectiveness of corporal punishment, (2) an unawareness of problems resulting from the use of physical punishment, and (3) a lack of knowledge about effective disciplinary alternatives. The purpose of this paper is threefold: One is to show that many of the beliefs are myths, e.g., corporal punishment is not needed to build character. The second purpose is to show that physical punishment can lead to more problems than it appears to solve, e.g., the punitive teacher is avoided, and thus, is not a positive factor in the child's education and development. The third purpose is to discuss two types of alternatives to punishment, the social learning approach and communication skills training. These positive methods of discipline not only enhance classroom behavior, but also facilitate learning. In an atmosphere free of abusing and demeaning acts and in a classroom characterized by positive mutual regard, teachers can maximize their effectiveness as teachers and students can maximize their effectiveness as learners.     

散打运动员战术意识的表现特点及其培养

散打运动员战术意识的形成、创新、应用涉及到运动员自身专项素质的各个方面，是在智能、体能、技术知识、心理因素上的综合体现；加强战术意识的培养对运动员的身体、技术、心理和智能的训练水平有极大的促进作用。     

Spatial thinking in science,technology, engineering,and mathematics: Elementary teachers' beliefs,perceptions, and self-efficacy

Fostering students' spatial thinking skills holds great promise for improving Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education. Recent efforts have focused on the development of classroom interventions to build students' spatial skills, yet these interventions will be implemented by teachers, and their beliefs and perceptions about spatial thinking influence the effectiveness of such interventions. However, our understanding of elementary school teachers' beliefs and perceptions around spatial thinking and STEM is in its infancy. Thus, we created novel measures to survey elementary teachers' anxiety in solving spatial problems, beliefs in the importance of spatial thinking skills for students' academic success, and self-efficacy in cultivating students' spatial skills during science instruction. All measures exhibited high internal consistency and showed that elementary teachers experience low anxiety when solving spatial problems and feel strongly that their skills can improve with practice. Teachers were able to identify educational problems that rely on spatial problem-solving and believed that spatial skills are more important for older compared to younger students. Despite reporting high efficacy in their general teaching and science teaching, teachers reported significantly lower efficacy in their capacities to cultivate students' spatial skills during science instruction. Results were fairly consistent across teacher characteristics (e.g., years of experience and teaching role as generalist or specialist) with the exception that only years of teaching science was related to teachers' efficacy in cultivating students' spatial thinking skills during science instruction. Results are discussed within the broader context of teacher beliefs, self-efficacy, and implications for professional development research.     

Children's agency beliefs, cognitive performance, and conceptions of effort and ability: individual and developmental differences

In order to understand how children's beliefs and cognitive performance vary according to development in their conceptions of effort and ability, 120 fourth and sixth graders were given the following assessments: (a) a measure of agency beliefs, defined as the extent to which persons believe they have access to certain classes of potential means, including effort, ability, powerful others, and luck; (b) a battery of intelligence test scales, including figural patterns, letter series, arithmetic, and spelling; (c) an interview designed to assess developmental levels in conceptions of effort and ability. Correlations between intelligence scores and agency beliefs for effort decreased with increasing levels of reasoning about effort and ability, but correlations between intelligence scores and agency beliefs for ability increased with increasing levels of reasoning. No such trends were found in correlations between performance and agency beliefs for luck or for unknown causes. The results are discussed in terms of the interaction between individual differences and developmental change.     

跨栏跑运动员选材的体能指标分析

以构成优秀运动员竞技能力的体能因素为依据,主要分析跨栏跑运动员体能选材的各项内容和要求,并阐述与选材内容和要求相关的一些选材指标与方法,以提高对跨栏跑的全面认识,为跨栏跑重点选材、综合选材、科学选材提供一些理论参考.     

Learning transferable skills through adventure education: The role of an authentic process

Abstract

The purpose of this study is threefold: (a) to explore what 18 adolescents learned while participating in a three week long adventure program, (b) to examine how they learned while on the program, and (c) to determine what program outcomes they considered most applicable to their home environments, or which learning is “transferable”. To address these purposes, 18 participants 13–18 years old on 14 different three-week long sail and dive training courses were interviewed. The study found that participants learned both hard skills (e.g., sailing and diving) and life skills. They learned these skills experientially, by observing and receiving feedback from others, by exposure to new and different persons, and through the authenticity of needing to learn these skills through the course design. Participants reported that the life skills were most likely to be applicable after course completion in the home environment. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

雅典奥运会世界田径10强及中国竞技能力分析

运用访谈法、文献资料法、观察法等研究方法,对世界各国及中国运动员参加2004年奥运会的竞技状况进行分析。结果表明：世界田径10强中,美国、俄罗斯是真正的田径强国;牙买加、埃塞俄比亚、肯尼亚、英国是田径较强国家;中国田径女强男弱的局面已改变,但整体竞技能力不高。我国要加大优势和潜优势项目的投入,增强训练的科技含量;加强教练员培养比赛型运动员的能力,不断缩小参赛能力和训练水平与田径强国的差距。     

Learning transferable skills through adventure education: The role of an authentic process

The purpose of this study is threefold: (a) to explore what 18 adolescents learned while participating in a three week long adventure program, (b) to examine how they learned while on the program, and (c) to determine what program outcomes they considered most applicable to their home environments, or which learning is “transferable”. To address these purposes, 18 participants 13-18 years old on 14 different three-week long sail and dive training courses were interviewed. The study found that participants learned both hard skills (e.g., sailing and diving) and life skills. They learned these skills experientially, by observing and receiving feedback from others, by exposure to new and different persons, and through the authenticity of needing to learn these skills through the course design. Participants reported that the life skills were most likely to be applicable after course completion in the home environment. Implications for research and practice are discussed.