Sharing Roles and Responsibilities in Initial Teacher Training: Perceptions of some key players

This paper examines perceptions of roles and responsibilities in primary and secondary initial teacher education following a sustained period of increase in the involvement of schools. The paper reports findings from a survey of higher education staff, school-based mentors and student teachers, which sought information about their perceptions of roles and responsibilities. A postal survey was followed up by telephone interviews. We found broad levels of agreement between all three partners in the training process and across primary and secondary phases. We found no evidence of a wish on the part of schools to assume greater responsibility for training student teachers. All three parties involved in the survey were able to articulate clearly areas of student professional development where they see complementary roles for school and higher education.     

From teaching from the heart to teaching with a heart: Segmenting filipino college students’ views of their teachers’ caring behavior and their orientations as cared-for individuals

Caring, as a universal human phenomenon, should permeate elementary, secondary and tertiary level instruction. The practice of teaching, especially at the tertiary level, is not only substantial and procedural but relational as well. To teach with a heart is the essence that makes teaching a form of caring. When teaching is viewed as a form of caring, teachers become relational geniuses in their own right. This study is an attempt to segment Filipino college students’ views (n=1000) of their teachers’ caring behavior and their orientations as cared-for individuals. The identified clusters of teacher roles that indicate caring behavior imply that acts of teaching become acts of caring depending on how the teachers, theefficient cause of education, perform their ordinary tasks in the context ofextraordinariness. Such extraordinariness spells out a big difference in the way teachers practice the so-calledsingle loop caring or caring visibility anddouble- loop caring or caring presence. The former refers to teaching from the heart while the latter pertains to teaching with a heart. Interestingly, the extent to which teachers’ caring behavior is felt and experienced by the students positively shapes their orientations as cared-for individuals.     

Examining type I error and power for detection of differential item and testlet functioning

In this study, the effectiveness of detection of differential item functioning (DIF) and testlet DIF using SIBTEST and Poly-SIBTEST were examined in tests composed of testlets. An example using data from a reading comprehension test showed that results from SIBTEST and Poly-SIBTEST were not completely consistent in the detection of DIF and testlet DIF. Results from a simulation study indicated that SIBTEST appeared to maintain type I error control for most conditions, except in some instances in which the magnitude of simulated DIF tended to increase. This same pattern was present for the Poly-SIBTEST results, although Poly-SIBTEST demonstrated markedly less control of type I errors. Type I error control with Poly-SIBTEST was lower for those conditions for which the ability was unmatched to test difficulty. The power results for SIBTEST were not adversely affected, when the size and percent of simulated DIF increased. Although Poly-SIBTEST failed to control type I errors in over 85% of the conditions simulated, in those conditions for which type I error control was maintained, Poly-SIBTEST demonstrated higher power than SIBTEST.     

Encounters of the Traditional Kind: Reflections on the In‐Service Teacher Training of Traditional Filipino Arts

This article presents the second segment of a qualitative study on the integration of traditional arts in tertiary level art and design education in the Philippines. It is focused on the experience of artist‐teachers as participants in an in‐service teacher training programme that aimed to prepare the teachers for the trial integration of traditional Filipino arts in art and design courses. Taking the view of the participants, journals written by the artist‐teachers were sourced for their reflections about their encounter with traditional Filipino artists during field visits. This phase of the study takes the form of action research as it involves the participants in gathering data that could inform the methods and content of the learning of traditional Filipino arts in the schools of art and design. The findings reveal that artist‐teachers acknowledge the traditional artist as a valuable source of traditional knowledge and expertise. They also recognise their own essential role in the transmission of learning between the traditional artists and the students. The prerequisites of the course take the artist‐teachers beyond teaching in the classroom and extend their tasks to research.     

Age-Related Differences in Muscular Strength and Muscular Endurance among Female Masters Swimmers

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine age-related differences in muscular strength and muscular endurance among 73 female masters swimmers aged 24 to 71 years. Each subject was assessed on measures of body size, grip strength, peak isokinetic torque of shoulder and knee flexion and extension, and endurance of shoulder and knee movements. Although swim training appears to have resulted in higher strength values for these swimmers than for less active women, an age-related decline in muscular strength values was nevertheless apparent. The results fail to reveal a similar age-related trend for muscular endurance, suggesting that swim training influences muscular endurance more than muscular strength among adult women.     

Effects of Ventilation on Segmental Bioimpedance Spectroscopy Measures Using Generalizability Theory

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of three ventilation conditions (i.e., normal, regimented, and no-ventilation) on the reproducibility of bioimpedance scores in humans for the forearm and trunk segments. One hundred able-bodied North American men and women, from 18 to 71 years of age, volunteered as participants. The experimenters used a Xitron Bio-Impedance Analyzer System model 4200 instrument with Hydra software (Xitron Technologies, San Diego, California, USA) to collect bioimpedance data on extracellular fluid and intracellular fluid scores. The experimenters analyzed the data using the generalizability theory,with persons as the facet of differentiation and time as the facet of generalization. The major findings were (a) ventilation conditions did not have a significant impact on the reproducibility of the test scores, (b) the forearm segment produced consistently higher intracellular fluid generalizability coefficients across three ventilation conditions for both gender groups when compared to the trunk segment, (c) the trunk segment produced intracellular fluid generalizability coefficients that were higher for the male group, and (d) the measurement error affected extracellular fluid scores less than segmental intracellular fluid scores.     

Establishing the Test–Retest Reliability & Concurrent Validity for the Repeat Ice Skating Test (RIST) in Adolescent Male Ice Hockey Players

In this study the authors examine the test–retest reliability and concurrent validity of the Repeat Ice Skating Test (RIST). This was an on-ice field anaerobic test that measured average peak power and was validated with 3 anaerobic lab tests: (a) vertical jump, (b) the Margaria–Kalamen stair test, and (c) the Wingate Anaerobic Test. The participants (n?=?14) were 11- to 12-year-old males selected from a Peewee “A” level ice hockey team (Thunder Bay, Canada). The results of the test–retest reliability estimation showed that the RIST was a reliable test at measuring average peak power in watts (R = .99, C.I._95% = 0.97 to 0.99) and watts per kilogram (R = .98, C.I._95% = 0.94 to 0.99). The RIST was also a valid test when correlated with the 3 anaerobic lab tests for measuring peak power in watts: vertical jump (r = .86, C.I._95% = 0.72 to 0.94), Margaria–Kalamen stair test (r = .66, C.I._95% = 0.39 to 0.83) and Wingate Anaerobic Test (r = .86, C.I._95% = 0.72 to 0.93). The test is considered promising because it does not require any specific equipment, and is a sport-specific, on-ice test, that can be administered during a regular ice hockey practice session.     

Child, Program, and Family Ecological Variables in Early Intervention

This study is based on a conceptual framework which emphasized the importance of viewing early intervention outcomes in relation to both program and nonprogram variables. Three broad classes of independent variables were included in the framework child, program, and family ecology. The unique and combined contributions of these three sets of variables to the prediction of three indices of intervention outcome was assessed through regression techniques. As much as 68% of the variance in children's post-intervention developmental age (DA2) was explained by the combined influence of all three classes of variables. All three classes of variables again contributed uniquely to the prediction of parental satisfaction with the intervention, explaining 45% of the variance. The three classes of variables explained 36% of the variance in children's rate of development during the intervention (RDI), although the contribution of the program class was very minimal. In addition to ascertaining the contributions of sets of variables, the importance of individual variables within sets was also examined. Results from both types of analysis underscored the important role of nonprogram variables in the determination of both child and parental outcomes. The implications of these findings for the design and evaluation of early intervention are discussed.