Individual pathways in the development of forceful throwing

Halverson, Roberton, and Langendorfer (1982) reported the development of children ages 6-13 years filmed longitudinally performing the forceful overarm throw. These authors described the children's progress through developmental sequences for trunk, humerus, and forearm actions; however, they did not study developmental relationships ("profiles") across these components. This paper reports how the profiles changed in the same children across trials within filming sessions and over time. The data revealed both common and individual developmental pathways. The frequencies of some pathways were not chance occurrences (p < or = .01), suggesting that within-person constraints eliminated certain movement relationships while encouraging others. The authors hypothesize that the kinematics of trunk rotation may serve as a control parameter for pattern change.     

Comparing the pre- and post-impact ball and racquet kinematics of elite tennis players' first and second serves: a preliminary study

The aim of this study was to compare the pre- and post-impact three-dimensional kinematics of the ball and racquet during first and second serves performed by elite tennis players. Data were collected from four male and four female right-handed professional players during competition using two high-speed cameras (200 Hz). For each player, one first serve and one second serve from the 'deuce' or right service court that landed within the specified target area were analysed. To test for significant differences between the first and second serves, Wilcoxon tests (P < or = 0.05) were performed on selected parameters. The results indicate that the ball travelled forward and to the left during the flight phase of the toss in all but one trial. The average pre-impact ball forward location for the first serve was significantly more in front and had a higher associated forward ball velocity than the corresponding values for the second serve. On average, the decrease in post-impact ball speed from the first to the second serve was 24.1%. No significant differences between the first and second serves were found in the pre-impact racquet head speed and orientation, which was represented as a unit vector perpendicular to the racquet face. The major adjustments made by the players when going from the first to second serve were a decrease in pre-impact ball forward location (P < or = 0.01) and an increase in the pre-impact racquet vertical and lateral velocities (both P < or = 0.05). This implies that the players tossed the ball closer to the body and imparted topspin and sidespin on the ball by changing the racquet vertical and lateral velocities when going from the first to the second serve.     

Counselor Educators' Experiences Preparing Preservice School Counselors: A Phenomenological Study

The authors conducted a phenomenological study to explore the experiences of 32 school counselor educators preparing preservice school counselors. Analysis of data from 3 focus groups revealed 3 themes: breadth versus depth, balancing specialties and professor partiality, and preparation versus practice. These results highlight the need for collaboration across counseling specialties at the preservice level.     

Cultural diversity in science education through Novelization: Against the Epicization of science and cultural centralization

Science educators are confronted with the challenge to accommodate in their classes an increasing cultural and linguistic diversity that results from globalization. Challenged by the call to work towards valuing and keeping this diversity in the face of the canonical nature of school science discourse, we propose a new way of thinking about and investigating these problems. Drawing on the work of Mikhail Bakhtin, we articulate epicization and novelization as concepts that allow us to understand, respectively, the processes of (a) centralizing and homogenizing culture and language and (b) pluralizing culture and language. We present and analyze three examples that exhibit how existing mundane science education practices tend, by means of epicization, towards a unitary language and to cultural centralization. We then propose novelization as a way for thinking the opening up of science education by interacting with and incorporating alternative forms of knowing that arise from cultural diversity. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 48: 824–847, 2011     

Supporting new school leaders: findings from a university‐based leadership coaching program for new administrators

Administrators need intense support in their early years in their jobs to master the demands of the position and to emerge as effective leaders for their schools. This article reports on a leadership coaching program offered by a university to support graduates as they transition to new school leadership roles. First year research results of the Program for New Principals indicate that all of the program participants felt that the coaching program was a positive addition to the induction experience for new administrators. New principals viewed coaching positively and emphasized that it is both a valuable and unique form of professional development. Both coaches and new principals cited personalized support as one of the coaching model's most significant assets. The results should inform the development of a model of leadership coaching for new administrators.     

Which do students prefer to evaluate their essays: Peers or computer program

The purpose of this study was to investigate problems and potentials of new technologies in English writing education. The effectiveness of automated writing evaluation (AWE) (MY Access) and of peer evaluation (PE) was compared. Twenty‐two English as a foreign language (EFL) learners in Taiwan participated in this study. They submitted their draft to MY Access, received feedback from this automated grading system and then made some revision. In addition to the AWE, they also had peer revision in writing class. Three issues, including how writers used the feedback from these two kinds of evaluation, what progress they made in writing and how they perceived these two kinds of evaluation, are discussed. Results showed that EFL learners in Taiwan generally opted for PE over AWE. These findings raise several relevant issues, including social learning, feedback strategies, computer anxiety and cultural impact.     

Defining the outcomes of teacher education: what's social justice got to do with it?

In the context of escalating criticism of university‐based teacher education across the world, a clear need exists for informed defence of the field and the profession as well as critical evaluation of both teacher education and schooling. This paper takes up the issue of the ‘outcomes question’ in this regard, arguing the case for a strong focus on social justice as the necessary complement to an ongoing concern with academic excellence and rigor. It argues the need for teacher educators and others to look closely at the different ways that educational outcomes are currently being defined and for these differences to be made more openly and widely available for criticism and discussion. The paper seeks to contribute to debate regarding the role and renewal of teacher education, in specific relation to widespread standards movements and the public good, and the conduct and governance of education more generally.     

Classroom justice: Perceptions of fairness as a predictor of student motivation,learning, and aggression

The present study examined the relationship between students’ perceptions of distributive and procedural justice in a college course and student motivation concerning the course, affective learning in the course, and aggression toward the course instructor. Although student perceptions of both distributive and procedural justice were positively correlated with student motivation and affective learning and negatively correlated with student aggression toward the course instructor, multiple regression analyses indicated that only perceptions of procedural justice predicted the three criterion variables at a statistically significant level while distributive justice perceptions did not. Implications and suggestions for future research in classroom justice are offered.