Promoting HPT Innovations A Return to Our Natural Science Roots

The core innovations represented by the field of Human Performance Technology (HPT) trace their origins, by way of Programmed Instruction, to the field of Behavior Analysis, a natural science methodology for the study of behavior developed by B.F. Skinner. This methodology, like all experimental natural science, rests on a foundation of functional analysis and standard units of measurement. Functional analysis is basic experimental method, whereby the investigator or practitioner keeps all but one variable constant, changes the variable in question (an “intervention”), and measures the effect on other variables. Behavior Analysis, like HPT, emphasizes prediction and control of individual behavior rather than determination of average effects across groups of individuals. In order for HPT to support and encourage greater and more effective innovation, it must re-emphasize reliance on standard units of measurement and functional analysis and promote policies and procedures that increase variation of interventions. The combination of encouraging variation and selecting interventions by means of functional analysis and objective measurement will ensure steady, reliable progress in Human Performance Technology.     

Development and construct validation of an inventory for assessing the home environment for motor development

A contemporary view of early childhood motor development considers environmental influences as critical factors in optimal growth and behavior, with the home being the primary agent. However, there has been minimal research examining the relationship between motor development and the home. The present study addresses this gap with the goal of creating an innovative parental self-report instrument to assess the quality and quantity of factors (affordances and events) in the home that are conducive to enhancing motor development in children ages 18-42 months. Following initial face validity determination, expert opinion feedback and selective pilot testing, construct validity was examined using 321 Portuguese families. Factor analysis techniques were used to: (a) compare competingf actorial models according to previous theoretical assumptions, and (b) analyze the fit of the preferred model. Of the five plausible models tested, the five-factor solution provided the best fit to the data. Reliability was established through the scale reliability coefficient with a value of .85. The findings of this study suggest that the Affordances in the Home Environment for Motor Development Self-Report is a valid and reliable instrument to assess how well home environments afford movement and potentially promote motor development.     

Teaching handwriting skills to children with intellectual disabilities using an adapted handwriting programme

Children with intellectual disabilities often struggle with handwriting, but there is very little research to inform intervention approaches. In this study, we developed a teaching manual based on Handwriting Without Tears®, a comprehensive handwriting programme designed for typically developing children. Three children with intellectual disabilities participated in the study and received handwriting instruction based on the manual three times a week over a 32‐week period. Our aims were to explore whether Handwriting Without Tears® can be used as a comprehensive handwriting curriculum for children with intellectual disabilities and to evaluate improvement in handwriting skills. We found that the intervention was successfully incorporated into small group teaching sessions within the child's regular classroom, and that all three children made improvements. Our data show promising results and support the need for larger evaluation studies.     

Counter-Colonial and Philosophical Claims: An indigenous observation of Western philosophy

Abstract

Providing an indigenous opinion on anything is a difficult task. To be sure, there is a multitude of possible indigenous responses to dominant Western philosophy. My aim in this paper is to assess dominant analytic Western philosophy in light of the general insistence of most indigenous authors that indigenous metaphysics is holistic, and to make some bold claims about both dominant Western philosophy in line with an indigenous metaphysics of holism. There will, of course, be different ways of expressing holism according to the indigenous group, but most of the literature states, as a most basic concern, that a general indigenous philosophy is concerned with the groundedness (or otherwise) of an individual as an entity related to and indivisible from the rest of the world.¹1. See for instance: Deloria and Wildcat (2001 Deloria, V., & Wildcat, D. (2001). Power and place: Indian education in America. Golden, CO: Fulcrum Resources. [Google Scholar]), Calderon (2008 Calderon, D. (2008). Indigenous metaphysics: Challenging Western knowledge organization in social studies curriculum (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of California, Los Angeles. [Google Scholar]), and Marsden (1985 Marsden, M. (1985). God, man and universe: A Maori view. In M. King (Ed.), Te Ao Hurihuri: The world moves on: Aspects of Maoritanga (pp. 143–164). Auckland: Longman Paul Ltd. [Google Scholar]) for specific discussion on the nature of indigenous relationships with all things. The consequences of any assertion about the holistic nature of metaphysics are vast, including for the interpretation of what is often perceived of as the antithesis: Western philosophy.     

The influence of occupational socialisation upon the teaching of pupils experiencing social and emotional behavioural difficulties (SEBD) in physical education

Research within physical education (PE) utilising the occupational socialisation framework indicates that the childhood phase of socialisation is the most powerful phase of socialisation. However, for most teachers working with pupils experiencing special educational needs (SEN), the childhood phase often lacks direct experience of SEN and thus ceases to exist as a socialising force. Consequently, the higher education and workplace phases form a ‘salvaged’ phase upon which to base pedagogical approaches (Pugach). In light of this dichotomy, the aims of this case study were to (1) examine how one PE head of department (HOD) in a specialist social and emotional behavioural difficulties (SEBD) school taught year 9 pupils games; (2) identify factors that led to such instruction and (3) consider the influence of the three phases of occupational socialisation on her pedagogical approaches. Data collection methods consisted of formal and informal interviews and lesson observations. The data were inductively analysed, and themes were drawn from this process. Using a systematic learning approach, lessons were game orientated based around pupil decision‐making and limited technical practice. Factors influencing this practice were her exploratory outdoor activity experiences and the nature of the pupils. In contrast to Pugach, this research indicates that the childhood phase of socialisation can provide an ‘apprenticeship of observation’ for those teaching PE to pupils experiencing SEBD. That such perceptions can be strongly held suggests that prior examination of the childhood biographies of those recruited to PE teacher training and/or PE teachers teaching pupils who experience SEBD appears warranted.