Pauses,routines, and registers in composing a text

This article argues that features of the writing process have to be analysed in relation to describable linguistic structures of the written text. Activities before writing, distributions of writing pauses, and the structure of think-aloud-protocols indicate that planning processes are determined by the writers knowledge of the grammatical system. The role of syntactical structures, text-patterns (registers) and the auditive component of pre-texts is analysed.     

Preschool morphological training produces long-term improvements in reading comprehension

We evaluated the effect of morphological awareness training delivered in preschool (8 months before school entry) on reading ability at the end of grade 1 and 5 years later (in Grade 6). In preschool, one group of children received morphological awareness training, while a second group received phonological awareness training. A control group followed the ordinary preschool curriculum. The comparison between each training condition and the control condition is quasi experimental, whereas the comparison between the morphological and phonological treatments is randomized at group level. In Grade 1 children in the morphological awareness training group had significantly higher scores than children in the control group on both word reading and text reading measures, but no differences were found between the experimental groups. In Grade 6 children in the morphological awareness training group had significantly higher scores compared with the control group on a latent measure of reading comprehension, whereas the children in the phonological awareness training group did not differ from the controls; although the experimental groups did not differ significantly from each other. The results suggest that early training in morphological awareness can have long-term effects on children’s literacy skills.     

Gender differences in educational attainment: the case of doctoral degrees in Norway

Despite strong trends in most Western countries towards gender equality in educational attainments, men are still considerably more likely to obtain doctoral degrees. Using data comprising nearly all students graduating from Norwegian universities during 1981–1996, separate event history analyses are carried out of recruitment to and completion of doctoral studies. Multilevel models are used to take both differences among individuals and among educational fields into account. With regard to recruitment, a moderate gender difference is partly accounted for by men’s higher grades. Children have no impact for either gender. The remaining gender difference could be due to discrimination, but the fact that this difference is not larger in predominantly male fields is an argument against this. There is no overall gender difference in completion probabilities. Men, however, seem more likely to drop out of their studies in applied fields, probably due to attractive opportunities in the non‐academic labour market.     

Transdisciplinary variation in engineering curricula. Problems and means for solutions

An essential difficulty in solving practical problems that are not like the ones a student has solved before is discerning the core of the problem. It is claimed that discernment has to be trained by variation—by varying the context of the assignments in which students have to identify and grasp their “underlying form”. A decisive challenge in engineering education—and also medicine, veterinary and pharmacy—is that there are many and very different kinds of subjects students study, some with thoroughly scientific content, others centred on more practical knowledge. How to provide a coherent program keyed on discernment? Another challenge is what's required to apply theory to practice; i.e. theory needs to be restructured and often integrated with parts of other theories and with more practical knowledge before it can be applied in real-life problem solving. What we propose is to let the variation of assignments transcend subject borders. Give assignments in the same subject that vary in context, e.g. from theoretical and “closed” to practical and “open”. And give assignments in different subjects embodying the same concept, principle or method, thus training discernment and at the same time demonstrating relations between theoretical and more practical subjects.     

Measuring student teachers’ practices and beliefs about teaching mathematics using the Rasch model

Several attempts have been made to measure and categorize beliefs and practices of mathematics teachers [Swan, M. 2006. “Designing and Using Research Instruments to Describe the Beliefs and Practices of Mathematics Teachers”. Research in Education 75 (1): 58–70]. One of the reasons for measuring both beliefs and practices is to characterize teachers in terms of the relationship between their beliefs and practices. However, the practice-instruments and the beliefs-instruments discussed in the literature are predominately based on differing constructs. Consequently, it is challenging to compare the relationship between beliefs and practices solely based on these instruments. As such, we argue that practice- and beliefs-instruments based on the same construct would be desirable when both beliefs and practices are at stake. This paper presents two Rasch-calibrated instruments that measure the level of teacher-centredness with respect to student teachers’ practices and beliefs about teaching mathematics. From a sample of 160 student teachers, 15 items have been established as being beneficial for measurement, both when the items are translated as practice items and when translated as beliefs items. By studying the invariance between both translations, we conclude that measures from both instruments can be directly compared.     

Restricting short-wavelength light in the evening to improve sleep in recreational athletes – A pilot study

Sleep is crucial for recovery and skill acquisition in athletes. Paradoxically, athletes often encounter difficulties initiating and maintaining sleep, while having sufficient sleep opportunity. Blue (short-wavelength) light as emitted by electronic screens is considered a potential sleep thief, as it suppresses habitual melatonin secretion. The current study sought to investigate whether blocking short-wavelength light in the evening can improve sleep onset latency and potentially other sleep parameters among recreational athletes. The study had a within-subject crossover design. Fifteen recreational athletes, aged between 18 and 32 years (12 females, 3 males), were randomly assigned to start the intervention period with either the light restriction condition (LR; amber-lens glasses), or the no-light restriction condition (nLR; transparent glasses). Sleep hygiene practices, actigraphy and diary-based sleep estimates were monitored during four consecutive nights within each condition. Sleep hygiene practices did not significantly differ between conditions. Results indicate that blocking short-wavelength light in the evening, as compared to habitual light exposure, significantly shortened subjective sleep onset latency (Δ?=?7?min), improved sleep quality (Δ?=?0.6; scale 1–10), and increased alertness the following morning. Actigraphy-based sleep estimates showed no significant differences between conditions. Blocking short-wavelength light in the evening by means of amber-lens glasses is a cost-efficient and promising means to improve subjective sleep estimates among recreational athletes in their habitual home environment. The relatively small effects of the current study may be strengthened by additionally increasing morning- and daytime light exposure and, potentially, by reducing the alerting effects of media use before bedtime.     

International medallists’ and non-medallists’ developmental sport activities – a matched-pairs analysis

The study examined developmental participation patterns of international top athletes. Pairs of 83 international medallists (including 38 Olympic/World Champions) and 83 non-medallists were matched by sport, age and gender. A questionnaire recorded their volume of organised (coach-led) practice/training in their respective main sport and in other sports through childhood, adolescence and adulthood, and also involvement in non-organised (peer-led) sport activity. Analyses revealed that the medallists started practice/training in their main sport at an older age than non-medallists and accumulated slightly, but significantly less main-sport practice/training through childhood/adolescence. But they participated in more practice/training in other sports, particularly before entering their main sport. The medallists also maintained engagement in other sports over more years and specialised later than the non-medallists. Other sports engaged in were mostly unrelated to an athlete’s main sport. The results were robust across different types of sports. The observations are reflected against tenets of the “deliberate practice” and “Developmental Model of Sport Participation” frameworks. Early diversified practice and learning experiences are discussed relative to the expansion of youngsters’ potential for future long-term learning. In elite athletes, interaction of sport-specific practice/training with early other-sports participation mostly facilitates long-term attainment of international senior medals.     

Interconnectedness and difference between action research and a lesson design study in Shanghai,China

ABSTRACT

The professional development of teachers in China takes place, to a large extent, in Teaching Research Groups (TRG) that exist in all schools. Though there are diverse models of TRG activities, these might, on the surface, appear to resemble forms of Action Research (AR) or include elements that might resemble AR. In conducting a Lesson Design Study (LDS) with a TRG in Shanghai, we encountered the specific challenge of what might be the interconnectedness and differences between AR and our LDS. To address this issue, we applied a research-informed depiction of the distinguishing characteristics of AR to our LDS. Based on this analysis, we found that (1) in contrast to the depiction of AR that encompasses a choice of methods, our LDS follows a specific ‘design research’ methodology, (2) whereas the depiction of AR is simultaneously directed towards teacher self-change and restructuring the organisation or institution within which the teacher works, LDS concerns more than the practical questions in one local social context and aims to tackle bigger questions across the social contexts in the subject research field, and (3) whereas in the depiction of AR, teachers engage in a process of authentic collaboration with other teachers seeking to improve their practices, in the LDS community the external researchers and expert teachers play other roles in the TRG. Even though there may be differences between the depiction of AR and our LDS, the interconnectedness is important in that both AR and our LDS contribute directly to school-based teacher professional development.