Trolling in online communities: A practice-based theoretical perspective

The literature on trolling has viewed trolling as discrete instances of transgression undertaken by antagonistic individuals. We identify three main issues with current theorizations: diffuse definitions of “trolling,” blurred boundaries between trolling and other online anti-social behaviors, and the context dependency of trolling. To address these unresolved issues, we adopt a practice-based theoretical approach. Informed by this approach, we analyze trolling behaviors not as products of individuals' attitudes, values, and decisions, but rather as behaviors embedded within and occurring as part of social practices. Specifically, we conduct a practice-based theoretical analysis in a multi-site exploratory study involving online archival research and in-depth interviews with online community members. Based on this analysis, we propose that trolling be conceived as a constellation of three social practices: learning, assimilating, and transgressing. Also, we find that practices of trolling transgression can have a dual pro-social and anti-social impact in online communities.     

Promoting physical activity using a wearable activity tracker in college students: A cluster randomized controlled trial

This study examined the effects of utilizing a wearable activity tracker in a credit-based physical activity instructional program (PAIP) for promoting physical activity (PA) in college students. Fourteen PAIP courses in a large public university were randomly assigned into intervention (k = 7; n = 101) and control (k = 7; n = 86) groups. All courses focused on a core curriculum that covers basic exercise and behavioral science contents through lectures and activity sessions. A Misfit Flash activity tracker was provided to students in the intervention group. Objective PA assessments occurred at baseline, mid-, and end-of-semester during a 15-week academic semester. The control group showed a significant reduction in moderate- and vigorous-intensity PA (MVPA) minutes from baseline to the end-of-semester (P <.05), whereas the intervention group showed no changes in MVPA minutes over time. However, the intervention group also showed increased sedentary time and decreased time spent in light-intensity PA during the intervention period. Taken together, the present study found null effects of utilizing the wearable activity tracker in promoting PA in college students suggesting that intervention of primary using the wearable activity tracker as a behavior change strategy may not be effective to increase in PA in this setting.     

Injuries in formal and informal non-professional soccer – an overview of injury context,causes, and characteristics

The objective of this study is to analyse context, causes, and characteristics of injuries in non-professional soccer. Therefore, a retrospective telephone survey was carried out with persons who were injured while playing soccer and who reported this accident to the Swiss National Accident Insurance Fund (Suva). Based on these data, an analysis of 708 soccer injuries was performed. The findings show that 30.1% of the injuries occurred during informal soccer play, and 75.4% of the injured persons were soccer club members. 53.0% of all injuries were caused by contact and 29.5% by foul play. Foul play was not associated with injury severity. With respect to injury severity, twisting/turning and being tackled by an opponent were identified as the most influental injury causes. Moreover, the risk of being severely injured was particularly high players of the 30+/40+ amateur leagues. In conclusion, the findings highlight that 30+/40+ league players are a major target group for the prevention of severe soccer injuries. Soccer clubs may constitute an appropriate multiplier for implementing prevention strategies such as fair play education, healthy play behaviours, and prevention programmes. Finally, a better understanding of injury situations leading to severe injuries is needed to improve injury prevention.     

Gender,Sexuality, and Sport in America

Sex, Violence & Power in Sports: Rethinking Masculinity by Michael A, Messner and Donald F. Sabo (Freedom, CA: The Crossing Press, 1994)

Coming on Strong: Gender and Sexuality in Twentieth-Century Women's Sport by Susan Cahn (New York: The Free Press, 1994)     

A Prospective Study of Life Stress, Social Support, and Adaptation in Early Adolescence

This study employed a 2-year longitudinal design to examine the relation of stressful life events and social supports to psychological distress and school performance among 166 early adolescents (mean age = 13.5 years). A prospective approach was utilized to control for initial levels of adjustment when examining the relation of Time 1 stress and support variables to Time 2 psychological distress and school performance. Both stress and support variables made significant contributions to the prediction of subsequent psychological distress. Stresses, but not supports, made a significant contribution to the prediction of subsequent school performance. Evidence for reciprocal and interactive linkages was also found, including effects of psychological distress and school performance on subsequent stresses and supports, and greater adaptive impact of school-based supportive resources under conditions of heightened risk outside of school. Implications for ecological and transactional models of development relating to the targeting and efficacy of preventive efforts are discussed.     

Learning set-ups

A child reaching toddler stage is ready to learn about the basic shapes that comprise much of his/her world. With an accent on fun, here are some simple activities designed to teach children how to identify and distinguish between the shapes ... of things to come! Doris Allen is a career teacher in early childhood education. She has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Oswego Community Day Care center, and has co-authored an article on handwriting in the current edition of theBook of Knowledge. Angela Collins is currently a kindergarten teacher in an Open Education program based on the British Primary System model, and during the summers directs remedial reading programs.     

Critical Religious Education (CRE) in practice: evaluating the reception of an introductory scheme of work

Critical Religious Education (CRE) is a contemporary pedagogy of religious education developed by Andrew Wright and various colleagues over the past two decades. There has been widespread academic discourse about the pedagogy in theory but increasingly commentators have called for examples of it in practice. Over the past seven years a writing group associated with The Forum of Religious and Spiritual Education at King’s College London have been developing practical materials aimed at supporting teachers in embedding the pedagogy in practice. Of particular relevance to this paper is the development of an introductory scheme of work, aimed at year 7 students, which has been trialled in a number of schools in and around London. In 2013, focus group interviews took place in four of these schools in order to ascertain the reception that the materials had received. The data suggests a very positive response to the introductory scheme of work and the CRE approach in general, partially dispelling some criticisms levelled at it in academic discourse. The author has thus suggested that the approach and the work of the writing group need further exposure, especially in schools, at conferences and on initial teacher education programmes.     

Cognitive style and educational performance. The case of public schools in Bogotá, Colombia

This study analyses the relationships among educational performance, field dependence-independence cognitive style and factors traditionally associated with performance and style, to build a comprehensive model of factors associated with the levels of education performance of students in Bogotá. A total of 3003 students, of grades 8 and 10, from 62 public schools of the city of Bogotá, Colombia participated in the study. An analysis of multiple correspondences and a path analysis were carried out. A relationship between cognitive style and educational performance was found: field-independent students are more likely to obtain high-performance levels both in standardised tests and in teachers’ evaluations. The path analysis shows that there are two directions in the association: a direct path leads to a positive association: higher levels of field independence produce better performances; an indirect path leads to a negative association: higher levels of field independence produce indiscipline and, consequently, lower performances.     

The Importance of Art Viewing Experiences in Early Childhood Visual Arts: The Exploration of a Master Art Teacher’s Strategies for Meaningful Early Arts Experiences

The visual arts can be an important and rich domain of learning for young children. In PreK education, The Task Force on Children’s Learning and the Arts: Birth to Age Eight (Young children and the arts: Making creative connections, Washington, DC: Arts Education Partnership, 1998) recommends that art experiences for young children include activities designed to introduce children to works of art that are high quality and developmentally appropriate in both content and presentation. This paper documents the teaching strategies utilized by a master art teacher at the Denver Art Museum to engage preschool-age students in art viewing experiences which were part of a museum-based art program. This research provides support for integrating rich, meaningful art viewing experiences as a regular part of young children’s arts experiences while offering early childhood educators teaching strategies for early art viewing experiences.