Three-Year Study of Students’ Attitudes Toward Physical Education: Grades 4–8

Purpose: A relationship exists between attitudes toward physical education and future physical activity. The purpose of this study was to examine changes in attitude toward physical education as students progressed from upper elementary school (Grade 4) through middle school (Grade 8). Method: Three cohorts of students (Cohort 1, Grades 4–6, n = 96; Cohort 2, Grades 5–7, n = 71; and Cohort 3, Grades 6–8, n = 73) were each followed for 3 years to examine changes in attitudes toward physical education. Results: After an initial increase from Grade 4 to Grade 5, a significant decrease was observed from Grades 5 to 8 in students’ positive attitudes toward physical education, with a faster rate of change for girls than boys. Conclusion: This longitudinal study provides further insights regarding the attitudes of students as they progress from Grade 4 to Grade 8 and expands on previous findings identifying decreasing positive attitudes toward physical education as students age, particularly for girls. The results provide evidence to support targeted interventions.     

‘Facing’ Identity in a ‘Faceless’ Society: Physiognomy,Facial Appearance and Identity Perception in Eighteenth-Century London

English men and women confronted many new questions about the relationship between identity and appearance during the eighteenth century. How did the face reveal information about a person’s character, morality, health, class, gender, nationality and race? How should faces be perceived in forms of social interaction? Could appearances be trusted? Through analysis of physiognomic texts, urban literature, aesthetic treatises, conduct books and cosmetic manuals, this article examines the changing social and cultural meanings attached to the face, and developments in the ways contemporary authors advised it should be ‘read’ as a signifier of character, identity and social difference in eighteenth-century London.     

The practical paradox of technology: The influence of communication technology use on employee burnout and engagement

Technological advancements in the workplace frequently have produced contradictory effects by facilitating accessibility and efficiency while increasing interruptions and unpredictability. We combine insights from organizational paradoxes and the job demands–resources model to construct a framework identifying positive and negative mechanisms in the relationship between communication technology use (CTU) and employee well-being, operationalized as work engagement and burnout. In this study of Dutch workers, we demonstrate that CTU increases well-being through positive pathways (accessibility and efficiency) and decreases well-being through negative pathways (interruptions and unpredictability). We highlight the importance of (1) investigating CTU resources and demands simultaneously to grasp the relationship between CTU and employee well-being, and (2) considering CTU's downsides to successfully implement new communication technologies and flexible work designs.     

Curriculum and assessment for the knowledge society: interrogating experiences in the Republic of Ireland and Queensland,Australia

The ‘knowledge society’ has become a central discourse within educational reform. This article posits that the impact of the knowledge society discourse on curriculum and assessment has led to the emergence of what the authors term a new-form/re-form curriculum, and it asks whether what is transacting in contemporary movements in curriculum is less the reform of curriculum and more the emergence of a new-form/re-form curriculum. What is emerging is well beyond the discussions of outcomes and curriculum alignment that characterised much curriculum reform effort in the late 1990s. In this new-form/re-form curriculum ‘content’ is displaced by ‘skills’ and ‘knowledge acquisition’ by ‘learning’. Curriculum coverage is replaced by learner engagement. In this context, assessment also begins to take on new-form/re-form. Assessment now engages and promotes learning as process rather than as product. Two cases – the Republic of Ireland and Queensland, Australia – are analysed and compared to illustrate this shift in the conceptualisation of curriculum and assessment. Consideration is given to the possibility that this new-form/re-form curriculum represents a settlement in the contestation associated with learning outcomes and their perceived technical rationality and market focus. The paper concludes that the new-form/re-form curriculum is emerging in locations as diverse as Ireland and Queensland.     

Small Robot Projects: Before You Start

Working with robots is an attractive possibility for educators at many levels. The price and availability of robotic hardware are favorable, there are often examples in the media of school groups doing robotic projects, and the projects support group design and co-operative activity. Still, these projects cannot be organized without considerable effort. In this article, we look at some of the opportunities and pitfalls that are encountered when working with robots in an educational setting, illustrating them with anecdotes from our experience with eight small robot-building projects, with participants ranging in age from nine to adult, and duration ranging from a single day to a full semester. We suggest some of the benefits of these projects and outline the problems organizers and participants will be likely to face.