A Model-Based Inquiry Sequence as a Heuristic to Evaluate Students’ Emotional,Behavioural, and Cognitive Engagement

Research in Science Education - In this study we address the need to promote student engagement with school science and the need to measure a more comprehensive conception of engagement considering...     

Investigating science teacher educator identity through the politics of domestication and critical positional praxis

The focus on identity in the field of teaching and learning continues to grow, especially when it concerns equitable outcomes for students. While most attention is placed on students' identities and increasingly those of teachers, lesser addressed are the identities of the teacher educators and researchers broaching the issue of identity. Additionally, identity research is not often linked to relationships between self, others, and transformative action. We recognize these as gaps to be addressed and offer critical positional praxis (CPP) as a response. CPP is the public manifestation of the insights gained through our sense of identity and reflexivity. More specifically, CPP is the actions (or inactions) that express who we are in response to an event in any given social context—especially oppressive ones. In this article, we draw from our own critical autoethnographies, as a context for putting CPP into practice in identity research. Our collective analysis of these critical autoethnographies revealed how our identity development was inseparable from the ways in which we have each resisted the politics of domestication. Our autoethnographies further point to the role of dissent as central to our experiences of becoming critical science teacher educators committed to equity, diversity, and anti-racism in education. We draw from this analysis to offer recommendations for how identity and positionality can move beyond theoretical constructs toward transformative personal and collective change in science education.     

Changes in repeated-sprint performance in relation to change in locomotor profile in highly-trained young soccer players

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of changes in maximal aerobic (MAS) and sprinting (MSS) speeds and the anaerobic reserve (ASR) on repeated-sprint performance. Two hundred and seventy highly-trained soccer players (14.5 ± 1.6 year) completed three times per season (over 5 years) a maximal incremental running test to approach MAS, a 40-m sprint with 10-m splits to assess MSS and a repeated-sprint test (10 × 30-m sprints), where best (RSb) and mean (RSm) sprint times, and percentage of speed decrement (%Dec) were calculated. ASR was calculated as MSS-MAS. While ?RSb were related to ?MSS and ?body mass (r² = 0.42, 90%CL[0.34;0.49] for the overall multiple regression, n = 334), ?RSm was also correlated with ?MAS and ?sum of 7 skinfolds (r² = 0.43 [0.35;0.50], n = 334). There was a small and positive association between ?%Dec and ?MAS (r² = 0.02 [?0.07;0.11], n = 334). Substantial ?MSS and ?MAS had a predictive value of 70 and 55% for ?RSm, respectively. Finally, ?ASR per se was not predictive of ?RSm (Cohen’s = +0.8 to ?0.3 with increased ASR), but the greater magnitude of ?RSm improvement was observed when MSS, MAS and ASR increased together (0.8 vs. +0.4 with ASR increased vs. not, additionally to MSS and MAS). Low-cost field tests aimed at assessing maximal sprinting and aerobic speeds can be used to monitor ?RS performance.     

The Role of Bilingualism in Shaping Engineering Literacies and Identities

In this article, we demonstrate ways in which teachers, working within the context of rapidly changing demographics in our country, can create inclusive classroom environments that promote the development of engineering literacies and identities, particularly among bilingual students. We draw on our experience working with two projects funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Minority Science and Engineering Improvement Program (MSEIP) at a large public university on the U.S.-Mexico border to show how educators can create educational spaces that encourage bilingual students to use their full communicative repertoires in developing engineering discourses and identities. In so doing, we highlight the relationship between bilingualism and disciplinary literacy development; describe how hybrid language practices such as translanguaging can contribute to engineering learning; and highlight the role of identities in disciplinary discourses. The practices illustrated in this article have implications not only for college instructors, but also for teachers at the secondary level.     

The dynamics of connecting universities,non-governmental organizations and community members by means of academic projects directed at people in need

In this article we discuss an action research experience that took place from 2002 to 2015. We analyze the inception and progress of several project-based learning-centered academic courses that were aimed at developing the project management skills of graduate and undergraduate students. The experience involved approximately 1800 students from two universities and 40 community partners. The students developed real-life projects on behalf of institutions and non-governmental organizations located in the area that help people in need; we refer to these agencies as ‘community partners.’ We analyze the development of the course from a systemic perspective, making use of causal loop diagrams in order to understand the main driving dynamics. We discuss the results achieved by these projects and the benefits brought to the community partners. We also present testimony from the community partners themselves. We conclude by presenting the lessons we learned over the years we have been running this course.     

The effect of use and access on citations

It has been shown (Lawrence, S. (2001). Online or invisible? Nature, 411, 521) that journal articles which have been posted without charge on the internet are more heavily cited than those which have not been. Using data from the NASA Astrophysics Data System (ads.harvard.edu) and from the ArXiv e-print archive at Cornell University (arXiv.org) we examine the causes of this effect.     

Dancing on the deck of the Titanic? Adult education, the nation-state and new social movements

This article begins with a discussion of the implications of CONFINTEA VI having been organised in Brazil ?C the author uses the term ??Brazilian effect?? ?C and the role of social movements challenging neoliberalism. Next, drawing from the experience of Latin America, this paper analyses the counter-hegemonic practice of the new social movements. The concluding section highlights the dilemmas faced by UNESCO in trying to create a democratic and efficient process of policy-making and institutional service in adult education in the nation-states. Furthermore, the proposal of popular education portrayed by the new social movements is described as a tool for empowerment. CONFINTEA VI??s recommendation of moving from rhetoric to action in adult education programmes, practices and policies demands that we take the agendas of the new social movements in the post-neoliberalism era seriously.     

Three‐year results of the Friendly Schools whole‐of‐school intervention on children's bullying behaviour

A group randomized controlled trial tested the efficacy of the Friendly Schools program to reduce student bullying behaviour. This socio‐ecological intervention targeted the whole school, classroom, family, and individual students to reduce bullying behaviour. Self‐report data were collected in 29 schools over three years from a cohort of 1968 eight to nine‐year‐olds. Surveys measured frequency of being bullied, bullying others, telling if bullied and observing bullying. Results indicate that intervention students were significantly less likely to observe bullying at 12, 24 and 36 months and be bullied after 12 and 36 months, and significantly more likely to tell if bullied after 12 months than comparison students. No differences were found for self‐reported perpetration of bullying. The findings suggest whole‐of‐school programs that engage students in their different social contexts appear to reduce their experiences of being bullied and increase their likelihood of telling someone if they are bullied.