Learning bodies: Sensory experience in the information commons

Despite the digital shift, university libraries have grown in importance as places where students come to learn. Interest in designing better spaces has led to a flowering of user experience studies. Such research into how students use library space could usefully be informed by the theory of embodied cognition, which emphasises the role of the body in thinking and learning. This study explores students' embodied experience of an information commons building. Data were gathered from participatory walking interviews, where students were asked to give the interviewer a guided tour of the building. Findings revealed the way that particular combinations of sensory experience contributed to particular forms of learning. Very small movements or choices seem to reconfigure space significantly. This research also draws attention to the way that different learning atmospheres are actively constructed. The findings contribute a new perspective on inquiry into the use of library space. The potential implication for libraries is the need for more fine grained analysis of use experience from a sensory perspective and for teachers and learners to more explicitly reflect on the role of the body in learning.     

Rates and Predictors of Counseling Center Use Among College Students of Color

A comparison of institutional enrollment data and counseling center service utilization data at 66 universities showed that neither ethnic minority students nor European American students under‐ or overutilized counseling services (Study 1). Data from Study 2 examining students in the general campus bodies at 45 institutions indicated that utilization of counseling center services for students of various ethnicities was predicted by the ethnic composition of the counseling center staff. Among students of color, utilization of campus counseling services was predicted by greater psychological distress, less family support, and a history of previous psychological problems.     

The ‘inclusion’ of elite athletes with disabilities in the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games: An exploratory analysis of British newspaper coverage

The XVII 2002 Commonwealth Games held in Manchester, England, was the first major international multi-sport event to include elite athletes with disabilities (EADs) in its main sports programme and medal table. In this exploratory article we seek to examine some of the complex issues surrounding the inclusion of EADs in the Manchester Games by analysing the coverage afforded those athletes by six national British newspapers. The results suggest that: (1) there was a tendency by the British media to discuss the performances of EADs in terms more-or-less consistent with a medicalized understanding of disability; (2) the inclusion of EADs in the Games signalled the ‘end of a sporting apartheid’ between ‘able-bodied’ athletes and EADs; and (3) that the participation of EADs in the Games was said to reflect the alleged growing ‘inclusion’ of people with disabilities in the wider society more broadly. The paper concludes by discussing some of the unintended consequences of including EADs in the Games, including those brought about by the classification system used to group athletes into events according to their particular impairment. Those which were associated with the supposed need for greater media coverage of EADs in ‘able-bodied’ sports competitions such as the Commonsealth Games.     

Health and wellbeing: a policy context for physical education in Scotland

The ‘Curriculum for Excellence’ (CfE) guidelines and associated learning experiences and outcomes have been developed following a national debate on the purposes of education in Scotland. The recent development shifts physical education's (PE) role in Scottish education, changing from contributing to the ‘Expressive Arts’ area of the curriculum, to one central to the newly created curriculum area of ‘Health and wellbeing’ in the CfE. This paper provides an analysis of the broader policy context at national and global levels examining the policy developments for PE in Scotland situating them within a globalised discourse emphasising concerns about ill-health and obesity within society. Drawing on the work of Bowe et al., the paper examines the context of production and the context of influence that has contributed to the recent development of ‘Health and wellbeing’ within the CfE. It is argued that the role for PE and the focus on schools promoting daily physical activity within the CfE masks the complexity of addressing the issues of health and well-being. In conclusion it is highlighted that in the interpretation and implementation of policy there will be further issues for PE and as yet unknown consequences for the context of practice and pupils' experiences of PE in Scotland.     

Kinematic characteristics of elite men's and women's 20 km race walking and their variation during the race

The aim of this study was to analyse the important kinematic variables in elite men's and women's 20 km race walking. Thirty men and 30 women were analysed from video data recorded during the World Race Walking Cup. Video data were also recorded at four points during the European Cup Race Walking and 12 men and 12 women analysed from these data. Two camcorders operating at 50 Hz recorded at each race for 3D analysis. The two main performance determinants of speed were step length and cadence. Men were faster than women because of their greater step lengths but there was no difference in cadence. A reduction in step length was the initial cause of slowing down with later decreases in speed caused by reductions in cadence. Shorter contact times were important in optimising both step length and cadence, and faster athletes tended to have longer flight times than slower athletes. It was less clear which other kinematic variables were critical for successful walking, particularly with regard to joint angles. Different associations were found for some key variables in men and women, suggesting that their techniques may differ due to differences in height and mass.     

Application of functional principal component analysis in race walking: An emerging methodology

This study considered the problem of identifying and evaluating the factors of individual performance during race walking. In particular, the study explored the use of functional principal component analysis (f-PCA), a multivariate data analysis, for assessing and classifying the kinematics and kinetics of the knee joint in competitive race walkers. Seven race walkers of international and national level participated to the study. An optoelectronic system and a force platform were used to capture three-dimensional kinematics and kinetics of lower limbs during the race walking cycle. Functional principal component analysis was applied bilaterally to the sagittal knee angle and net moment data, because knee joint motion is fundamental to race walking technique. Scatterplots of principal component scores provided evidence of athletes' technical differences and asymmetries even when traditional analysis (mean ± s curves) was not effective. Principal components provided indications for race walkers' classification and identified potentially important technical differences between higher and lower skilled athletes. Therefore, f-PCA might represent a future aid for the fine analysis of sports movements, if consistently applied to performance monitoring.     

Gender,Class and Outdoor Traditions in the UK and Norway

ABSTRACT

We report on three projects and an accompanying critical research agenda designed to establish and evaluate a new pedagogy in Australian physical education based on the sport education curriculum model first published by Siedentop et al. [Siedentop, D., Mand, C. & Taggart, A. (1986) Physical Education: Teaching and Curriculum Strategies for Grades 5‐12 (Palo Alto, Mayfield]. The projects, involving over 80 schools throughout Australia, are set in a context featuring an amalgam of postmodern youth culture, governmental inquiries and reports and the continuing difficulties facing physical educators in their workplaces. Against a backdrop of subject marginatyia, the projects’ findings have lent support to the proposition that it is dysfunctional programme structures (rather that deficits in teaching skills) that are most to blame in denying teachers access to significant subject matter learning targets. Our work presents evidence that the student‐centred, extended‐unit sport education curriculum model has the potential to be responsive to these challenges. It is conducive to ongoing school‐based professional and curriculum development, has led to widespread programme restructuring, has improved outcomes for many lower skilled students and has generally produced positive results for aspects of students’ social development. However girls tend still to be dominated by boys in particular sports. The model is positively affecting the career expectations of pre‐service students. As the model is already diffusing rapidly in Australian schools, there is a need to identify issues and chart an educational course for any further development.     

Coach career development: Who is responsible?

Career development is crucial to the success of individuals, organizations and industries. As such, in many professions there are prescribed career development processes underpinned by legal and institutional policies that drive managerial practice. Although there has been sustained interest in understanding career development for athletes and building managerial strategies to assist in the process, there is little empirical knowledge about career development of coaches, and how management may assist in the process. The aim of this study is to explore the way in which sport policy discourse and agendas have impacted coach career development. This study demonstrates that coaches’ careers are not part of the policy discourse despite their important role in athlete performance, career development and sport organization development and success. Coaches are the key performance managers in sport and yet they are ignored by sport policy makers and managers when considering the development of the Australian sport workforce.