The Physical Educator as Researcher

In an attempt to confront society's drug problem, many colleges and universities have implemented drug testing programs for their student-athletes. While more and more institutions continue to initiate drug testing programs, a number of questions concerning the constitutionality of drug testing remain unanswered. constitutional questions such as due protection against self-incrimination, due process guarantees, and protection against unreasonable searches and seizures are at issue. In light of the many unanswered questions surrounding drug testing, administrators should develop not only a philosophical rationale but also a legal rationale for either having or not having drug testing programs for student-athletes.     

Administrative behavior and student dissatisfaction: A possible relationship

In postwar Bosnia–Herzegovina, segregation along ethno-nationalistic lines and divergent pedagogies within the education system have presented challenges to social cohesion and the long-term stability of a society that is still struggling to rebuild, reconcile, and regain trust (Jancic, 2008 Hromadzic, A. 2008. Discourses of integration and practices of reunification at the Mostar Gymnasium, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Comparative Education Review, 52: 541[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). This article examines the current state of the education system within (a) leadership, (b) primary and secondary schooling (i.e., segregation, language of instruction, textbooks, and curriculum), (c) school–community relations (parent–teacher associations and international organizations), and (d) higher education. Within each of the four aspects, the article explores the challenges and possibilities for social cohesion presented within schools and through education at the larger societal level in Bosnia–Herzegovina.     

“ADULT ED”‐THE ULTIMATE GOAL A Genuine “Learning Society” Will Require a Philosophy of Continuing Education Adequate to its Potential as a Social Force

It is time that we had uncommon schools, that we did not leave off our education when we begin to be men and women. It is time that villages were universities, and their elder inhabitants the fellows of universities with leisure—if they are indeed so well off—to pursue liberal studies the rest of their lives.—Thoreau, Walden     

New directions in the history of modern science in China: global science and comparative history

These essays collectively present new perspectives on the history of modem science in China since 1900. Fa-ti Fan describes how science under the Republic of China after 1911 exhibited a complex local and international character that straddled both imperialism and colonialism. Danian Hu focuses on the fate of relativity in the physics community in China after 1917. Zuoyue Wang hopes that a less nationalist political atmosphere in China will stimulate more transnational studies of modern science, which will in turn reveal the underlying commonalities in different national contexts. Sigrid Schmalzer compares the socialist and the capitalist contexts for science in China and reopens the sensitive question of the "mass line" during the Cultural Revolution. Grace Shen describes the tensions early Chinese scientists felt when choosing between foreign models for modem geology and their own professional identities in China. Taken together, these accounts present us with a comparative history of modern science in China that is both globally and locally informed.     

The negative effect of school-average ability on science self-concept in the UK,the UK countries and the world: the Big-Fish-Little-Pond-Effect for PISA 2006

Research on the relation between students’ achievement (ACH) and their academic self-concept (ASC) has consistently shown a Big-Fish-Little-Pond-Effect (BFLPE); ASC is positively affected by individual ACH, but negatively affected by school-average ACH. Surprisingly, however, there are few good UK studies of the BFLPE and few anywhere in the world based on science self-concept (S-ASC). Addressing this substantive limitation in existing research with data from PISA 2006, we extend new multigroup doubly-latent multilevel structural equation models – a substantive-methodological synergy. BFLPE predictions for S-ASC are supported for: the total international sample; the total UK sample; each of the four UK countries considered separately. The BFLPE was marginally larger in the UK than the international sample. However, consistent with the selective nature of school systems in the UK, the BFLPE was larger in Northern Ireland and, to a lesser extent, England than in Scotland or Wales.     

Root causes of errant ordered radiology exams: Results of a needs assessment

A comprehensive needs assessment was conducted at ATA hospital to determine the root causes of a high number of errant radiology orders from requesting physicians. The Human Performance Technology Model, Gilbert's Behavior Engineering Model, and Rummler and Brache's Nine Performance Variables Model guided the needs assessment process. Three solutions were proposed. The development of the long‐term solution, a software utility, has been initiated. The Behavior Engineering Model was used to identify possible solutions to post‐training performance gaps identified during the evaluation.     

A Person-Centered Approach to Students' Evaluations of Perceived Fear Appeals and Their Association With Engagement

A person-centered approach was employed to investigate how students' evaluation of perceived teacher utility value messages, i.e., fear appeals, as a threat and as a challenge, combined within individuals and how these combinations related to student engagement. Two studies were conducted with students in their final two years of secondary education. Empirically distinct clusters emerged at two time points in the academic year. Evaluating the message in the fear appeal at a higher level of challenge than threat was beneficial. Unexpectedly, high threat was associated with high engagement, as long as high challenge was also present, however, this combination was also related to high emotional disaffection. Moderate threat combined with moderate challenge had the most detrimental relationship with student engagement. Educational interventions should aim to increase the likelihood of a challenge evaluation.     

Sex differences in adolescent depression: stress exposure and reactivity models

Stress exposure and reactivity models were examined as explanations for why girls exhibit greater levels of depressive symptoms than boys. In a multiwave, longitudinal design, adolescents' depressive symptoms, alcohol usage, and occurrence of stressors were assessed at baseline, 6, and 12 months later (N=538; 54.5% female; ages 13-18, average 14.9). Daily stressors were coded into developmentally salient domains using a modified contextual-threat approach. Girls reported more depressive symptoms and stressors in certain contexts (e.g., interpersonal) than boys. Sex differences in depression were partially explained by girls reporting more stressors, especially peer events. The longitudinal direction of effects between depression and stressors varied depending on the stressor domain. Girls reacted more strongly to stressors in the form of depression.