The impact of engineering curriculum design principles on elementary students’ engineering and science learning

The Framework for K-12 Science Education and the Next Generation Science Standards propose that students learn core ideas and practices related to engineering as well as science. To do so, students will need high-quality curricular materials designed to meet these goals. We report an efficacy study of an elementary engineering curriculum, Engineering is Elementary (EiE) that includes a set of hypothesized critical components designed to encourage student engagement in practices, connect engineering and science learning, and reach diverse students. To measure the impact of the curriculum, we conducted a cluster randomized controlled trial in 604 classrooms in 152 schools in three states. Schools were randomly assigned to either the treatment curriculum or to a comparison curriculum that addressed the same learning goals but did not include several critical components. Results show that students who used the treatment curriculum (EiE) regardless of demographic characteristics outperformed students in the comparison group on outcome measures of both engineering and science content learning. The results show that curriculum design affects student-learning outcomes.     

Partnering with school providers to codesign mental health interventions: An open trial of Act & Adapt in urban public middle schools

Schools are well positioned to provide access to youth mental health services, but implementing effective programs that promote emotional and behavioral functioning in school settings is complicated by the poor fit of interventions developed in research settings to complex school contexts. The current study formed a research–practice partnership with two urban public schools and mental health providers employed by those schools (N = 6, 100% female, 50% Black/African American, 50% White/Caucasian) in the adaptation of a depression prevention intervention, Act & Adapt. The intervention was modified by decreasing meeting time and streamlining session content, increasing flexibility, making intervention materials more similar to academic curriculum, and increasing the focus on managing disruptive behavior within group sessions. In an open trial, sixth-grade students (N = 22; 59% boys, 31% Hispanic, 22% Black/African American, 4% Asian, 30% White/Caucasian) at both schools who were identified as clinically “at risk” reported improvements from baseline to postintervention and at 1-year follow-up on measures of emotional and behavioral difficulties and coping strategies, with parallel results by caregiver report. The providers reported satisfaction with the intervention, and qualitative analyses of provider focus groups suggested both barriers and facilitators to research-practice collaborations to implement mental health interventions in schools.     

School autonomy and educational inclusion of children with special needs: Evidence from England

In the past few decades, several countries have introduced reforms aimed at increasing school autonomy. We evaluate the effect of the introduction of autonomous academies in England on the educational trajectories of children with special educational needs. This has been done using longitudinal data on all schoolchildren in state schools in England, from the National Pupil Database. The results show that the effects of school autonomy on educational inclusion are not uniform and depend on schools’ previous performance and socio-economic composition. Schools that obtained autonomy under the control of an external sponsor (sponsored academies) were more likely to decrease the proportion of pupils with special needs and remove additional support for them. We do not observe these effects in the schools that voluntarily applied for the more autonomous status (converter academies).     

The Validity and Reliability of the MyJump2 Application to Assess Vertical Jumps in Trained Junior Athletes

This study aimed to assess the validity and reliability of jump assessments using the MyJump2 application. Eleven junior athletes (15 ± 1.4 years) performed five countermovement (CMJ) and drop jumps (DJ) measured simultaneously by a force platform and MyJump2. Additionally, intra- and inter-day reliability was assessed over two sessions, 7 days apart. Extremely high agreement between MyJump2 and the force platform (intra-class correlation coefficient, ICC ≥ 0.99) and the intra- and inter-operator agreement (ICC = 0.98–0.99) confirmed the validity and reliability of MyJump2. Mean typical errors (coefficient of variation percentage, CV%) within the first and second sessions were 4.9% and 4.5% respectively for CMJs, and 8.0% to 11.8% for DJ outcomes. CMJ height held acceptable inter-day reliability (CV < 10%; ICC > 0.8), while DJ did not. Results supported MyJump2 to be a valid and reliable tool for assessing jumps; however, with variability in DJs in this cohort, appropriate caution should be taken if including in a junior assessment battery.     

Association between fundamental motor skills and physical activity in the early years: A systematic review and meta-analysis

BackgroundPhysical activity (PA) in the early years is associated with a range of positive health outcomes. Fundamental motor skill (FMS) competence is associated with PA and is theorized to be driven by PA in the early years and vice versa in mid to late childhood. However, to date, no studies have meta-analyzed the association between PA and FMS in the early years.MethodsSix electronic databases were searched for articles published up to April 2019. Cross-sectional and longitudinal studies were included if they targeted children (ages 3–6 year) as the population of the study and assessed the association between objectively measured PA and FMS. Total FMS, total physical activity (TPA), and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) data were meta-analyzed using a random effects model.ResultsWe identified 24,815 titles and abstracts. In total, 19 studies met the inclusion criteria, including 14 cross-sectional and 4 longitudinal studies, as well as 1 study with cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis. There was a significant but small positive association between FMS and MVPA (r = 0.20, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.13–0.26) and TPA (r = 0.20, 95%CI: 0.12–0.28). Findings from longitudinal studies revealed that PA drives FMS in early childhood. Mediation was explored in 1 study, which found that perceived motor competence did not mediate the association between FMS and PA.ConclusionUsing a meta-analysis, this study is the first to show a positive association between FMS, MVPA, and TPA in the early years of childhood, suggesting that the association begins at an early age. Limited evidence from longitudinal studies supports the theory that PA drives FMS in the early years of childhood. More evidence is needed from large studies to track PA and FMS until mid to late childhood and to explore the mediators of this association.     

Gender encounters: becoming teachers of physical education

Pre-service teachers of physical education (PE) bring understandings about gender and bodies to their university studies. These understandings are partially informed by biographies and experiences and bear potential to mediate learning and processes of becoming teachers. In this paper we explore technologies of power/knowledge and technologies of self that inform understandings of gender and the constitution of PE teacher subjectivities. Data were drawn from semi-structured interviews conducted with pre-service teachers studying at an Australian university. Foucault's theoretical perspectives around the constitution of subjects were drawn on to analyse data. Findings reveal that discursive practices frame particular ‘truths’ around gender and, hence, possibilities for being teachers of PE. Discourses of sport were significant in establishing a male norm for bodies and subjectivities. This was problematic for female participants who also turned to discourses of nurturing in constituting their subjectivities. Implications are raised for PE teacher educators with regard to disrupting hegemonic discourses as means for developing pedagogies for greater justice.     

Rethinking Child Welfare and Emigration Institutions, 1870–1914

This article challenges the entrenched image of child emigration as a failure in child welfare. By moving the analytical focus away from large, and at times corrupt, institutions, our analysis focuses on the emigration and rescue work undertaken by charities in Liverpool and Manchester. We argue that the image of the uncaring and emotionally distant institution does not reflect the ideology and practice of these societies. It shows we need to focus on the different institutional, religious and regional approaches to child emigration in order to understand fully ideas about institutional childhood and contemporary conceptions of child welfare.     

Library Research Success: Designing an Online Tutorial to Teach Information Literacy Skills to First-Year Students

This article reports on a collaborative effort recently undertaken between librarians and faculty at Toronto's Seneca College to develop and implement an online, interactive tutorial for first-year business students enrolled in the College's School of Business Management. The concept for this tutorial arose when library management was approached by the Acting Chair from the College's School of Business Management to partner with them in developing a library tutorial that would be incorporated into the curriculum of this newly created course, and that would accommodate its over 600 first-year students. Library management agreed, and proposed developing a self-paced online, interactive tutorial that would utilize current Web-based technology. The primary pedagogical goals were to increase student knowledge of library resources in general, and business resources in particular, and to increase levels of information literacy and basic research skills. With the help of the College's Centre for New Technology and the Centre for Professional Development, the result was a five-module tutorial entitled Library Research Success that, in addition to its main content, also incorporated hands-on exercises at the end of each module, live connections to the Library's Web site and electronic databases, as well as two assignments, which were submitted electronically to professors at the end of the tutorial by each student, and which composed 25 percent of their final mark. Feedback from both faculty and students has been overwhelmingly positive, and efforts are currently underway to adapt this tutorial to meet the needs of other student groups within Seneca College.