Change in teacher education: How holmes was hijacked

Summary A movement among universities noted for research and for rigorous scholarship that would have insured a significantly improved education for prospective teachers was transformed in a short time, about ten years, into another agency of centrally inspired “school refrom,” The Holmes Group’s initial program called for prospective teachers to undergo five years of general education and teacher education, devoting the undergraduate years largely to arts and sciences. It also called for a closer collaboration between teacher educators and arts and science faculty in order to prepare preservice teachers to teach more rigorous pedagogically organized subject matter. Included in the early Holmes agenda was the concept of a professional development school as a public school site for pedagogical application, under the direction of veteran teacher cadres. However, as a consequence of an increasingly liberal academic ideology, informing a persistent criticism of Holmes’s original proposals as elitist and insufficiently activist, the Holmes group came in a short time to underplay its call for a five-year program, to back off from a closer collaboration between teacher educators and arts and sciences faculty, and to transform its concept of an affiliated public school from a site for pre-service pedagogical classroom practice into an exemplary school-to-be. Some hope may remain: the Holmes staff recently distributed the “Conference Proceedings” of the January 1998 annual convention held in Orlando. On page 42 of those proceedings, Arthur Wise, the peripatetic head of NCATE (National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education—now a Holmes “partner” at the national level) found Holmes neglectful of an appropriate concern for arts and sciences education for prospective teachers. Wise was a “ranconteur” in Orlando; as such he was expected to provide a “reflective response” to the conference. He said, apologetically, I might offer my one sound of criticism ... I just worry when I see that ... we may be paying too much attention to the external aspects of school and maybe not enough to the guts of the matter which is, after all, content and how to teach it.     

Fostering Intrinsic Motivation in Early Childhood Classrooms

Young children are born with an innate curiosity to learn about their world. This intrinsically instigated learning is often called mastery motivation. Patterns of motivation are established at an early age. The early childhood years are crucial for establishing robust intrinsic motivational orientations which will last a lifetime. By the time many children reach school, much of their motivation has been lost or replaced with extrinsically motivated learning strategies. Preschools and elementary schools have been criticized for contributing to such negative motivational patterns in children. This can be changed. Early child care situations and preschools can instead be instrumental in the strengthening of children's motivation. The goal of this paper is to show that through an understanding of the beginnings of motivation, we can begin to find ways to build strong motivational patterns in children that can carry on to later years of learning.     

Biological significance attenuates overshadowing, relative validity, and degraded contingency effects

Miller and Matute (1996) showed that blocking is attenuated when the blocked conditioned stimulus (CS) is “biologically significant” (i.e., when the CS has the potential to elicit vigorous responding of any kind). To the extent that blocking is representative of cue competition, this finding suggests that biological significance protects CSs against cue competition effects in general. In the present experiments, we tested this possibility by examining the influence of biological significance of CSs on other examples of cue competition, namely, overshadowing, the relative stimulus validity effect, and the degraded contingency effect in rats. In Experiment 1, we found that intense auditory stimuli induced transient unconditioned lick suppression, thereby indicating that intense sounds were of high inherent biological significance. In Experiment 2A, we found that cues with high inherent biological significance were protected from overshadowing. In Experiment 2B, this finding was extended to cues with high acquired biological significance, which was obtained through prior pairings with a reinforcer of the valence opposite to that used in the overshadowing treatment. In Experiments 3 and 4, we found that cues with high inherent biological significance attenuated the relative validity effect and the degraded contingency effect, respectively. These results lend support to the view that biological significance (inherent and acquired) protects stimuli from cue competition effects, a finding that is problematic for many contemporary theories of learning.     

High-resolution friction measurements of cross-country ski bases on snow

Participants in the sport of snow skiing devote considerable effort to reduce sliding friction of the ski. A large industry is devoted to providing products and ski preparation methods with claims of improved ski performance, sometimes at considerable expense. Despite this attention to the topic, there are very little data available to skiers that quantify the effect these products and methods have on reducing ski friction. Determining the coefficient of friction of a ski on snow presents a significant technical challenge. Our approach has been to develop a tribometer incorporating a series of proximity sensors to test commercially available ski equipment and waxes on natural snow. We developed a test protocol that significantly reduces the experimental noise associated with variable environmental conditions enabling us to differentiate the difference in friction between two pairs of skis with a resolution of 0.001. A large body of test data was acquired over a wide range of environmental conditions to quantify the effect of ski wax and base texturing treatments in terms of coefficient of friction in a way that is of practical use to skiers. An exercise physiology power model was used to estimate the ski race time difference that could be expected from changing the coefficient of friction.     

Effects of a phase change cooling garment during exercise in the heat

The purpose of our study was to examine the physiological, perceptual, and performance effects of wearing a phase change cooling garment (CG) during an interval exercise routine in the heat. Sixteen male participants (age 23?±?3 years, ht 1.76?±?0.11?m; wt 78.5?±?11.2?kg; body fat 15.2?±?5.8%) completed two trials (one with phase change inserts, CG, and one control without inserts) consisting of two submaximal exercise portions separated by 5-minute seated rest, and a final maximal effort performance bout. Each submaximal bout involved 30?seconds or 1?minute of muscular endurance and agility exercises and 5?minutes of treadmill jogging and step-ups. The performance bout included 30?seconds or 1?minute of muscular endurance and agility exercises, with participants completing as many repetitions as possible, followed by a 15-minute recovery (active and passive). Rectal temperature (T_re) and heart rate were not different between trials, however change in T_re from baseline was improved during 10 and 15 minutes of recovery with the CG (P?<?.05). Mean skin temperature was lower using the CG vs control throughout the trial (P?<?.05). Thermal sensation was lower when using the CG compared to control (P?<?.001). There were no differences in any outcomes of the performance exercises (P?>?.05). These findings indicate that the continuous use of a CG during an interval style workout in the heat provides improvements in thermal sensation, however, only minimal thermophysiological benefits, and no performance augmentation.     

Canoe slalom--competition analysis reliability

The aim of this study was to assess intra-observer and inter-observer reliability of data gathered from a lapsed-time time-motion analysis of canoe slalom competition. The data were collected using a definition set developed in conjunction with elite canoe slalom coaches. Competition runs from four national-standard paddlers in a national selection race were analysed in random order three times by three observers. For each run, observers identified various events specific to canoe slalom, including time taken between gates, touched and missed gates, turn times, major and minor avoidance, rolls, paddle in and out of water times, and stroke classification. The error of measurement was determined for each of these variables. For time taken between gates and turn times, the error was < or = 0.21 and < or = 0.39 s for intra-observer and inter-observer analysis, respectively. The error for stroke in and out of water times was < or = 0.08 and < or = 0.13 s for intra-observer and inter-observer analysis, respectively. Analysis of stroke classification identification for intra-observer comparisons revealed that 91% of the time identical stroke identification occurred. Inter-observer analysis revealed identical stroke identification was achieved 81% of the time. These reliability data compare favourably with previous time-motion analysis in other sports using fewer variables.     

Room-temperature coherent manipulation of single-spin qubits in silicon carbide with a high readout contrast

Spin defects in silicon carbide (SiC) with mature wafer-scale fabrication and micro/nano-processing technologies have recently drawn considerable attention. Although room-temperature single-spin manipulation of colour centres in SiC has been demonstrated, the typically detected contrast is less than 2, and the photon count rate is also low. Here, we present the coherent manipulation of single divacancy spins in 4H-SiC with a high readout contrast () and a high photon count rate (150 kilo counts per second) under ambient conditions, which are competitive with the nitrogen-vacancy centres in diamond. Coupling between a single defect spin and a nearby nuclear spin is also observed. We further provide a theoretical explanation for the high readout contrast by analysing the defect levels and decay paths. Since the high readout contrast is of utmost importance in many applications of quantum technologies, this work might open a new territory for SiC-based quantum devices with many advanced properties of the host material.     

Correlating Spatial Ability With Anatomy Assessment Performance: A Meta-Analysis

Interest in spatial ability has grown over the past few decades following the emergence of correlational evidence associating spatial aptitude with educational performance in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The research field at large and the anatomy education literature on this topic are mixed. In an attempt to generate consensus, a meta-analysis was performed to objectively summarize the effects of spatial ability on anatomy assessment performance across multiple studies and populations. Relevant studies published within the past 50 years (1969–2019) were retrieved from eight databases. Study eligibility screening was followed by a full-text review and data extraction. Use of the Mental Rotations Test (MRT) was required for study inclusion. Out of 2,450 screened records, 15 studies were meta-analyzed. Seventy-three percent of studies (11 of 15) were from the United States and Canada, and the majority (9 of 15) studied professional students. Across 15 studies and 1,245 participants, spatial ability was weakly associated with anatomy performance (r_pooled = 0.240; CI at 95% = 0.09, 0.38; P = 0.002). Performance on spatial and relationship-based assessments (i.e., practical assessments and drawing tasks) was correlated with spatial ability, while performance on assessments utilizing non-spatial multiple-choice items was not correlated with spatial ability. A significant sex difference was also observed, wherein males outperformed females on spatial ability tasks. Given the role of spatial reasoning in learning anatomy, educators are encouraged to consider curriculum delivery modifications and a comprehensive assessment strategy so as not to disadvantage individuals with low spatial ability.     

A Look at the Anatomy Educator Job Market: Anatomists Remain in Short Supply

In 2002, a widely publicized report projected an anatomy educator shortage based on department chairpersons' perceptions. Now, 17 years later, the question lingers: “Does an anatomy educator shortage persist and, if so, how severe is the shortage?” Trends in the number, type, and fill rate of anatomy educator job openings were explored by analyzing job posting in the United States over the past two years. A survey was distributed to leaders of anatomy-related departments in the United States, Canada, and European Union. Most departmental leaders who responded (65% or more) from the United States/Canada (n = 81) and the European Union (n = 52) anticipate they will have “moderate” to “great” difficulty hiring anatomy educators in gross anatomy, histology, and embryology over the next five years. Within the United States, the number of anatomy educator job postings at medical schools more than doubled from at least 21 postings in 2017 to 52 postings in 2018. Twenty-one percent of postings between 2017 and 2018 were never filled. While the number of anatomy educator openings within the United States/Canada is perceived to remain in a steady state for the next five years, the European Union estimates a five-fold increase in the number of openings. Departmental leaders prioritize anatomy educator applicants who have teaching experience (mean ± SD = 4.64 ± 0.84 on five-point Likert scale), versatility in teaching multiple anatomy disciplines (3.93 ± 1.07), and flexibility in implementing various teaching pedagogies (3.69 ± 1.17). Collectively, these data suggest the shortage of anatomy educators continues in the United States/Canada and the European Union.     

Comparison of hot water immersion at 37.8°C with or without salt for rapid weight loss in mixed martial arts athletes

ABSTRACT

Hot water immersion, known as a hot bath, is used by MMA athletes to produce rapid weight loss (RWL) by means of passive fluid loss. This study investigated the magnitude of body mass losses using a standardized hot bath protocol with or without the addition of salt. In a crossover design, eleven male MMA athletes (28.5 ± 4.6 y; 1.83 ± 0.07 m; 82.5 ± 9.1 kg) performed a 20-min immersion at 37.8°C followed by a 40-min wrap in a warm room. This bath and wrap was performed twice per visit. During one visit, only fresh water was used (FWB), and in the other visit, magnesium sulphate (1.6% wt/vol) was added to the bath (SWB). Prior to each visit, 24 h of carbohydrate, fibre, and fluid restriction was undertaken as part of the RWL protocol. Body mass losses induced by the hot bath protocols were 1.63 ± 0.75 kg and 1.60 ± 0.80 kg for FWB and SWB, respectively, and equivalent to ~2.1% body mass. Under the conditions employed, the magnitude of body mass loss in SWB was similar to FWB. However, further research should explore bathing in a temperature that is consistent with that habitually used by fighters, and/or higher concentrations of salt.