“You have to do something beyond containing”: developing inclusive systems in a partnership of primary schools

Reducing fixed term exclusions (FTE) in primary schools is a difficult proposition. This research discusses how a partnership of primary schools developed more inclusive systems to support students previously given FTEs for disciplinary purposes. Longitudinal data from interviews and documentary sources trace the development of an approach amongst primary schools with previously high levels of FTE. The process of developing a model of transferred inclusion (TI) within the partnership led to schools changing practices around behaviour management, thus developing more inclusive systems. The paper elaborates on partnership work around the TI project that opened up discussion and questioning of practice around behaviour, leading to schools thinking about their systemic practice. The benefits of TI, therefore, were a prompt for development, rather than just an intervention to reduce exclusions. Changes in practice supported through the TI process lead to claims that substantive change would not have happened without the TI project.     

Microfluidic fabrication of polymeric core-shell microspheres for controlled release applications

We report a facile and robust microfluidic method to fabricate polymeric core-shell microspheres as delivery vehicles for biomedical applications. The characteristics of core-shell microspheres can be precisely and easily tuned by manipulating the microfluidic double emulsion templates. The addition of a shell can significantly improve the versatility as well as functionality of these microspheres as delivery vehicles. We demonstrate that the nature of the shell material plays an important role in the properties of the core-shell delivery vehicles. The release kinetics is significantly influenced by the material of the shell and other characteristics such as the thickness. For example, by adding a poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) shell to an alginate core, the encapsulation efficiency is enhanced and undesired leakage of hydrophilic actives is prevented. By contrast, adding an alginate shell to PLGA core can lead to a reduction of the initial release rate, thus extending the release period of hydrophobic actives. Microfluidic fabrication enables the generation of precisely controlled core-shell microspheres with a narrow size distribution, which enables the investigation of the relationship between the release kinetics of these microspheres and their characteristics. The approach of using core-shell particles as delivery vehicles creates new opportunities to customize the release kinetics of active ingredients.     

International conference on sport,leisure and ergonomics

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the physical demands of women’s rugby union match play using time–motion analysis and heart rate (HR) response. Thirty-eight premier club level female rugby players, ages 18–34 years were videotaped and HRs monitored for a full match. Performances were coded into 12 different movement categories: 5 speeds of locomotion (standing, walking, jogging, striding, sprinting), 4 forms of intensive non-running exertion (ruck/maul/tackle, pack down, scrum, lift) and 3 discrete activities (kick, jump, open field tackle). The main results revealed that backs spend significantly more time sprinting and walking whereas forwards spend more time in intensive non-running exertion and jogging. Forwards also had a significantly higher total work frequency compared to the backs, but a higher total rest frequency compared to the backs. In terms of HR responses, forwards displayed higher mean HRs throughout the match and more time above 80% of their maximum HR than backs. In summary, women’s rugby union is characterised by intermittent bursts of high-intensity activity, where forwards and backs have similar anaerobic energy demands, but different specific match demands.     

Presenter passion and presentation design on reviewer assessment and subsequent success: An empirical study of high technology proposal and business plan presentations

We investigate two fundamental research questions related to the funding of early-stage technology enterprises. First, does presentation design, and the presenting entrepreneur's passion and preparedness, influence experts' assessment of the merit and commercialization potential of an emerging firm's technology? Second, are the entrepreneur's passion and preparedness during a formal presentation associated with future technology success? We analyze twenty-two video-taped presentations to a U.S. Department of Defense technology transfer and granting consortium, and track subsequent technology success. From the data it appears that both entrepreneurial passion and presentation design does influence expert assessment of a technology, and future commercialization success can be predicted to some extent by the level of entrepreneurial passion exhibited during the presentation.     

Three strikes and you’re out: culture,facilities, and participation among LGBTQ youth in sports

ABSTRACT

School-based sports and physical education play an important role in the development of youth (Jones, Edwards, et al., 2017), but participation in athletics is unequal for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) youth compared to their straight/cisgender peers [Greenspan, S. B., Griffith, C., & Murtagh, E. F. (2017). LGBTQ youths’ school athletic experiences: A 40-year content analysis in nine flagship journals. Journal of LGBT Issues in Counseling, 11(3), 190–200]. Sport cultures, generally, recreate dynamics of exclusion for marginalized youth. However, there are opportunities to transform these spaces into more inclusive and positive environments to support positive growth for all young people [Newman, T., Alvarez, A., & Kim, M. (2017). An experiential approach to sport-based positive youth development. Journal of Experiential Education, 40(3), 308–322]. Our study uses a data set of adolescents, collected as part of a community-based participatory action research project led by high school students in southeast Michigan, USA. Respondents reported their sexual and gender identities, as well as experiences in youth sport, as well as safety using sex-segregated facilities (i.e., bathrooms and locker-rooms). Using mediation models based on linear regression, we found evidence that LGBQ high school students play sports at a significantly lower rate compared to straight students, and among those who play sports, LGBTQ respondents felt significantly less safe compared to straight and cisgender students. Opposite to the LGBQ and trans youth in this study, straight/cisgender youth also reported feeling safer using all facilities. The mediation models suggest that these inequalities help to explain disparities in rates of sports participation and feelings of safety while participating. These findings have important implications for policy, practice, and future research.     

Learning through discussions

Students studying a third‐year e‐commerce subject experienced face‐to‐face and online discussions as an important part of their learning experience. The quality of the students' experiences of learning through those discussions is investigated in this study. This study uses qualitative approaches to investigate the variation in the students' understanding of what they were learning through discussions, and how they went about engaging in them. Quantitative analyses are used to investigate how the students' experience related to their performance. Key outcomes of the study include that the quality of the students' experience of learning through discussions is positively related to their performance and that face‐to‐face and online discussions have qualitatively different benefits for learning.     

Online professional development for environmental educators: strategies to foster critical thinking and social interactions

Abstract

Massive open online courses (MOOCs) offer opportunities for professional development of environmental educators globally, yet we lack understanding of participants? cognitive and social learning processes and of how instructors can enhance these processes. Based on the Community of Inquiry framework, we used a survey and coded participant discussion board and Facebook posts to examine the cognitive, social, and teaching presence in the Environmental Education: Transdisciplinary Approaches to Addressing Wicked Problems MOOC, offered by Cornell University. Rather than train educators in a specific curriculum, the goal of the MOOC is to expand educators? critical and transdisciplinary thinking about the field of environmental education and to enhance social interactions to support learning, educators, and knowledge co-creation. Results indicate that cognitive presence is higher on the discussion board whereas social presence is higher on Facebook. Over half of cognitive posts focused on exploration, a lower level of learning, whereas just less than a fifth reflected higher level integration, suggesting room for enhancing cognitive learning. Our results suggest strategies to encourage higher levels of thinking and more meaningful social interactions to foster learning, educator support, and co-creation of knowledge, thereby improving online professional development.