Relationship of performance on the sensory organization test to landing characteristics

Jump landing tasks have been used to assess landing characteristics and require significant sensorimotor feedback to maintain functional joint stability (FJS) throughout the task. Postural stability (PS) also requires significant sensorimotor feedback and control and would seemingly involve similar sensory feedback pathways. However, previous literature clarifying the relationship between these two processes, maintaining FJS and PS, is limited. 80 Special Tactics Operators. PS was assessed using the Sensory Organization Test (SOT). SOT variables included: Composite, Somatosensory, Visual, Vestibular, and Preference scores. Landing characteristics were assessed using motion analysis during a double-legged (DLSJ) and single-legged (SLSJ) stop jump task. Pearson’s correlation coefficients were calculated to assess the relationship between SOT scores and landing characteristics (α < .05). For the DLSJ, significant correlations were found between: Composite and peak posterior ground reaction forces (?.257), Vestibular and peak knee abduction moment (?.237), and Preference and initial contact hip flexion (?.297), peak hip flexion (?.249). For the SLSJ, significant correlations were found between: Somatosensory and peak vertical ground reaction forces (?.246); Preference and initial contact hip flexion (?.295), peak hip flexion (?.262). The results indicate that the SOT may not be a sensitive enough tool to assess sensorimotor control in a healthy, athletic population.     

A Comparison of Developmental Scales Based on Thurstone Methods and Item Response Theory

A developmental scale for the North Carolina End-of-Grade Mathematics Tests was created using a subset of identical test forms administered to adjacent grade levels. Thurstone scaling and item response theory (IRT) techniques were employed to analyze the changes in grade distributions across these linked forms.Three variations of Thurstone scaling were examined, one based on Thurstone's 1925 procedure and two based on Thurstone's 1938 procedure. The IRT scaling was implemented using both B i M ain and M ultilog .All methods indicated that average mathematics performance improved from Grade 3 to Grade 8, with similar results for the two IRT analyses and one version of Thurstone's 1938 method.The standard deviations of the IRT scales did not show a consistent pattern across grades, whereas those produced by Thurstone's 1925 procedure generally decreased; one version of the 1938 method exhibited slightly increasing variation with increasing grade level, while the other version displayed inconsistent trends.     

Compelling Case Experiences; Performance,Practice, and Application for Emerging Instructional Designers

Instructional design (ID) case studies, which pose authentic ill‐defined design problems in realistic environments, can help instructional design students bridge the gap between novice and expert practice. Over the past three years, we have explored aspects of this educational approach through the development of Web‐based ID cases at the Curry School of Education, University of Virginia. This paper begins with a look at case study methods and how they are used to help students gain experience in professional practice. We describe the design and development of our Web‐based ID Case Competition and follow with a report on the competition involving seven universities. Officials and students felt that the case experience was valuable for developing ID expertise and preparation for professional practice. These advantages, and the opportunity for team collaboration, were noted as motivators for participation. Most of the students were enthusiastic about the inclusion of emergent ID and performance technology issues in the case and felt the experience expanded their knowledge of ID practice and application. We close with a discussion of implications for professional development and recommendations for future development activities.     

Variables that predict desire for work with special education adolescents

The target group was composed of professionals with a variety of psychology- and education-related roles. A set of variables was identified that could capture 75% of the variance associated with desire for work with special need adolescents. The variable set included participant perceptions of quality of special education training, as well as self-evaluation of personal characteristics such as sex, age, and attitudes toward special need adolescents.     

WISC-R patterns of emotionally impaired and diagnostic utility

School psychologists, in their search for objective data, have relied on the use of Wechsler patterns to diagnose emotional impairment in children. Previous studies indicate that two such patterns–Verbal-Performance discrepancy and high Similarities, low Information–have diagnostic utility. The purpose of this study was to determine if these patterns would lead to useful diagnostic decisions in differentiating 64 emotionally impaired students from 290 control subjects. Any rule that led to a correct decision 85% of the time was considered useful. Analyses of the data revealed that neither pattern yielded a useful rule for diagnosing emotional impairment; indeed, doubling the error rate to 30% led to the same conclusion.     

The Development of Autonomous Learners in a University Setting

This article explores the possibilities for the development of autonomous learners within the confines of an institutional education setting. Student participation in setting curriculum, in collaborative learning, and self‐ and peer‐assessment are discussed as fundamental aspects of learner‐controlled learning. They are reviewed in the context of a university research methodology unit aimed at developing autonomous researchers/learners. Outcomes for the students taking the unit included increased motivation; excitement; confidence; in‐depth learning; an appreciation of new ways of learning; respect for their peers as co‐learners and experiences of self‐reflection and self‐assessment. The study indicates that if autonomous learning is to be encouraged in universities, staff need to develop new conceptions of teaching and learning and new skills, as they move from the role of knowledge expert to that of resource person and facilitator. Students need to develop new learning strategies, as they move from being passive learners to becoming autonomous learners.     

Reciprocal and Transmission Models of Teaching in E2L with Young Learners

An activity‐oriented approach to learning has frequently been advocated for teaching young learners. Hardly any studies have considered how this approach affects second language learning. Through a longitudinal study, a methods experiment was conducted with 156 5‐year‐old children from one large Maltese school. The effects of a reciprocal model (exemplified through an activity‐oriented approach) were compared with a transmission model of teaching (exemplified through a skills‐oriented approach) on the learning of English as a second language when introduced to young children. Multiple analyses of variance were used to analyse the effects of sex, age, teacher training and occasions of testing on five developing language skills: receptive vocabulary (assessed using British Picture Vocabulary Scales); receptive language (sentence comprehension test); reading accuracy and comprehension (Macmillan's Individual Reading Analysis); recall of information; sentence length (The Bus Story) and accuracy of word‐reading (The Keywords Reading List). The pattern of results obtained is discussed along with implications for classroom practices.     

Knowledge Gains and Changing Attitudes from the Anatomy Education Research Institute (AERI 2017): A Mixed Methods Analysis

The inaugural Anatomy Education Research Institute (AERI 2017) was held in Bloomington, Indiana in July of 2017. This workshop style conference paired experienced educational researchers (invited speakers) with individuals interested in learning more about the field (accepted applicants). In 2017, AERI was held over a five-day period and entailed plenary style presentations, break-out sessions, and specific times for small group mentorship. All participants (applicants and invited speakers) completed a pre-conference survey at the beginning of the institute and a post-conference survey at the end of the institute. Both surveys included categorical and Likert scale questions as well as open-ended questions for participant feedback. Quantitative and qualitative analyses indicate that both applicants and speakers increased their knowledge of anatomy education research, but that additional obstacles remain. Funding, time, and a lack of respect for the field remain problematic for faculty that wish to complete educational research. Mentorship and a community of practice also emerged as major themes necessary for educational research to be successful.     

POLITICAL ACTS? TOWARD THE RECUPERATION OF OPINION

Encouraging debate on inclusion and equity can meet with awkward silences, particularly across disciplinary boundaries. In disability studies, for example, it can be difficult to build dialogue with other disciplines; as a consequence, the different disciplinary groups within the field of education often end up working in their own "equity" silos. In this essay Valerie Harwood addresses this concern by drawing on Hannah Arendt's emphasis on the importance of opinion together with Michel Foucault's work on truth-telling and critique. Following Arendt's emphasis on opinion and the political, Harwood makes the case that political acts in education require that we recuperate the importance of opinion and to take account of how truth functions in our contemporary context.     

Talking back to power: snowballs in hell and the imperative of insisting on structural explanations

This viewpoint explores and shares our experience of ‘doing’ feminism in the context of its apparent ‘demise’. We were recently invited to attend an event at the Cabinet Office, to ‘discuss the impact aspirations and expectations within the community have on the educational achievement of young people in deprived areas’. The seminar was entitled, ‘Expert Seminar with the Minister for the Cabinet Office: Community Aspirations and Educational Attainment’. Appalled, both at the grammar (!), and the deficit account implications underpinning the Cabinet Office Invitation, we made contact with one another, and agreed that we would attend the seminar with the specific intention of challenging this discursive premise. We seek to use this Viewpoint to reflect on the experience in relation to academic activism and ‘speaking back’, as well as to take the opportunity to re‐state a few of the key points that detonate the deficit discourse in relation to the educational attainment of working‐class pupils.