Using iPads as a learning tool in cross-curricular collaborative initial teacher education

Mobile technologies are becoming more and more prevalent in learning environments. This means that teacher education must keep pace with the use of mobile technologies. Baran (2014) argues that the ‘greatest added value of mobile learning vis-a-vis PC learning lies in the aspects that extend classroom interaction to other locations via communication networks’. (p. 18) This article outlines a pilot study developed to support collaborative working between the English and science pre-service teachers, in which mobile technologies were used to extend students interactions outside the classroom, using iPads in authentic, fieldwork situations.     

Developing a student veterans center: The confluence of academic and military cultures

Lynette Cook Francis and Amanda Kraus describe the benefits and challenges of working together with student veterans to develop a program that contributes to their successful transition to higher education.     

Hesitantly into the arena: An account of trainee teachers' and sixth form students' preliminary attempts to enter into dialogue through email

Teacher training is increasingly accountable to central government. Trainees – the word itself is significant – are expected to demonstrate competence in a wide range of professional standards if they are to achieve qualified teacher status. Training partnership schools, understandably, impose their own conditions for entry into their 'communities of practice'. In these circumstances, trainees – and their trainers – have increasingly fewer opportunities for risk taking or for exploring new configurations of the teacher pupil relationship.
This paper describes an attempt to exploit the potential of email as a means of granting access to a 'pedagogical arena' in which trainees and students might attempt to negotiate their own ways of working together. It concludes by suggesting that both groups found this a challenging task and by noting that the trainers involved decided that, if the project were to run again, a certain amount of autonomy would need to be sacrificed to direction.     

Sources of bias in special needs provision in mainstream primary schools: evidence from two British cohort studies

This study examines inequality during late childhood in children's access to special needs help in mainstream primary schools using data from two British cohorts: the National Child Development Study (NCDS) and the 1970 British Cohort Study (BCS70). It explores the source of any biases in the provision of special help using measures of individual gender, attainment and psychosocial adjustment; family social class; school composition; and education regions. Pervasive gender bias was found both in the identification of children with special needs and in the provision of help to children with special needs. There were more children from manual homes receiving help in school than children from professional homes, but when reading, mathematics and psychosocial adjustment scores were taken into account, the gradient reversed, so that children from professional homes were more likely to be getting help. The influence of the school's composition showed the same reversal. Once test scores were considered, schools with a greater proportion of above average children were more likely to be able to provide help for those with special needs than schools with a greater proportion of children with problems. Regional variation suggests that areas in southeast England are better funded than average, while areas of deprivation are not provided with sufficient resources to meet their children's needs.     

The influence of environmental factors on rugby football injuries

The aim of this study was to establish the influence of weather and pitch conditions on the frequency and nature of rugby injuries. Observers at 26 senior rugby clubs in the Borders District of the Scottish Rugby Union reported all injuries to 1169 (96%) registered players at Saturday home and away matches during the 1993-94 season (August 1993 to April 1994). Weather and pitch conditions at 112 grounds were recorded on 605 occasions; 1268 Borders teams played at these grounds,with 344 injury episodes being sustained. Matches were played in dry weather for three-quarters of these occasions. There was a moderate association between weather and the state of the pitch (Spearman's rank correlation, r = -0.46, P ? 0.001), with heavier pitches occurring in wetter weather. Logistic regression revealed that there were significant month-of-season (P = 0.003), wind strength (P = 0.008) and temperature (P = 0.011) effects on the risk of injury. On four of five occasions when matches were played in a downpour of rain, at least one injury episode occurred. Our results show that the month of the season and the weather may influence the occurrence of rugby injuries, but that the state of the pitch does not. Further studies are required to investigate these factors in more detail.     

Does weight status influence associations between children's fundamental movement skills and physical activity?

This study sought to determine whether weight status influences the association among children's fundamental movement skills (FMS) and physical activity (PA). Two hundred forty-eight children ages 9-12 years participated. Proficiency in three object-control skills and two locomotor skills was examined. Accelerometers objectively assessed physical activity. Body mass index was calculated to determine weight status. Correlations between physical activity and FMS proficiency were evident among boys and girls. No significant interaction was apparent when examining FMS proficiency scores, PA variables, and weight status. Future studies should examine a broader range of skills and types of activities to better characterize this relationship and to inform the promotion of movement skill proficiency and PA.