Nutrition for winter sports

Winter sports are played in cold conditions on ice or snow and often at moderate to high altitude. The most important nutritional challenges for winter sport athletes exposed to environmental extremes include increased energy expenditure, accelerated muscle and liver glycogen utilization, exacerbated fluid loss, and increased iron turnover. Winter sports, however, vary greatly regarding their nutritional requirements due to variable physiological and physique characteristics, energy and substrate demands, and environmental training and competition conditions. What most winter sport athletes have in common is a relatively lean physique and high-intensity training periods, thus they require greater energy and nutrient intakes, along with adequate food and fluid before, during, and after training. Event fuelling is most challenging for cross-country skiers competing in long events, ski jumpers aiming to reduce their body weight, and those winter sport athletes incurring repeated qualification rounds and heats. These athletes need to ensure carbohydrate availability throughout competition. Finally, winter sport athletes may benefit from dietary and sport supplements; however, attention should be paid to safety and efficacy if supplementation is considered.     

Cognitive behavioural strategies and anxiety in elite orienteers

The primary purpose of this exploratory field study was to examine the use of cognitive behavioural strategies by highly skilled orienteers prior to and during competition. A secondary purpose of the study was to investigate whether differences in the level of qualification in orienteering is related to state anxiety. The subjects were divided into three classes with respect to their international and national records. The first two classes (A and B) were composed of international and national level athletes. The third class (C) included orienteers with unknown international records. Examination of the use of behavioural cognitive strategies during competition indicated that all orienteers reported a moderate use of mental imagery, above moderate use of inner talk and a focus of attention on present action rather than past or future. The other major findings were that prior to competition, superior orienteers reported use of higher self‐efficacy, more positive outcome expectations and more task demand orientation than their less successful counterparts. Top orienteers coped more successfully with pre‐competition anxiety by lowering their anxiety to a more moderate level prior to the actual performance.     

Dynamics of the martial arts high front kick

Fast unloaded movements (i.e. striking, throwing and kicking) are typically performed in a proximo‐distal sequence, where initially high proximal segments accelerate while distal segments lag behind, after which proximal segments decelerate while distal segments accelerate. The aims of this study were to examine whether proximal segment deceleration is performed actively by antagonist muscles or is a passive consequence of distal segment movement, and whether distal segment acceleration is enhanced by proximal segment deceleration. Seventeen skilled taekwon‐do practitioners were filmed using a high‐speed camera while performing a high front kick. During kicking, EMG recordings were obtained from five major lower extremity muscles. Based on the kinematic data, inverse dynamics computations were performed yielding muscle moments and motion‐dependent moments. The results indicated that thigh deceleration was caused by motion‐dependent moments arising from lower leg motion and not by active deceleration. This was supported by the EMG recordings. Lower leg acceleration was caused partly by a knee extensor muscle moment and partly by a motion‐dependent moment arising from thigh angular velocity. Thus, lower leg acceleration was not enhanced by thigh deceleration. On the contrary, thigh deceleration, although not desirable, is unavoidable because of lower leg acceleration.     

Designing informal learning experiences for early career academics using a knowledge ecosystem model

This article presents a ‘knowledge ecosystem’ model of how early career academics experience using information to learn while building their social networks for developmental purposes. Developed using grounded theory methodology, the model offers a way of conceptualising how to empower early career academics through (1) agency (individual and relational) and (2) facilitation of personalised informal learning (design of physical and virtual systems and environments) in spaces where developmental relationships are formed, including programmes, courses, events, community, home and social media. It is suggested that the knowledge ecosystem model is suitable for use in designing informal learning experiences for early career academics.     

Too much freedom and autonomy in the enactment of assessment? Assessment in physical education in Ireland

This paper sets out to outline current discussions in Ireland around teachers being responsible for assessing their own students’ work, and the subsequent impact such a perspective is having (or not) on the delivery and assessment of physical education in Ireland. Our intention is to contribute to assessment considerations, while acknowledging the nuances of the Irish education context, and the positioning of physical education within such nuances. This discussion is particularly timely given the very recent endorsement for the introduction of the new Leaving Certificate Physical Education as a full optional subject. We begin by discussing more specifically assessment in Irish primary and post-primary schools, drawing attention to the limited Irish assessment-related research being conducted in both contexts. We then explore assessment developments related to Irish primary physical education and post-primary physical education and compare the extent to which such developments are limited in comparison to international assessment interests and practices in physical education. We conclude with suggestions related to studying (pre-service) teachers’ and students’ exposure to assessment in order to understand how we could alter the balance of assessment purposes and uses in Irish schools.     

Reflections on Transformative Experiences with Mathematical Inquiry: The Case of Christine

Abstract

We present a first-hand, longer-term account of one student’s (Christine’s) experiences in and after a mathematics inquiry course. In this course, students actively posed problems, conducted their own mathematical explorations, and wrote journal entries about their experiences. During the course, Christine found that inquiry helped her develop mathematical content knowledge and a deeper understanding of the nature of research. After the course, Christine became a mathematics education faculty member in a mathematics department and reports that the course impacted the way she teaches mathematics. This provides an illustrative case of the potential long-lasting benefits of an inquiry course.     

Personality traits and abilities as predictors of academic achievement

The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the respective effects of cognitive abilities and personality traits on academic achievement. The subjects were 141 sixth-grade French adolescents (mean age: 12) who took three cognitive tests (g factor, numerical ability, and spatial ability) and answered a personality questionnaire based on the Big Five Model. Path analyses indicated that Openness-intellect had an effect on junior high school achievement in all disciplines, with most effects being indirect ones mediated by verbal achievement (French). Neuroticism-anxiety also had an effect, although not as marked and mainly on mathematics. Personality is complementary to abilities in predicting academic achievement. Possible conceptual extensions and field applications are addressed in the conclusion.