The communication of laboratory investigations by university entrants

The purpose of the study reported here was to analyse the ways in which unversity entrant science students carry out and communicate experimental activities and to identify a model to explain characteristic communication practices. The study was prompted by a need to inform the development of an introductory laboratory course. The students studied shared an educational background characterised by a lack of experience with laboratory work and scientific writing. Seven groups of three students were studied. The investigative strategies of these groups were observed. Laboratory reports were used to identify the ways in which students communicated these strategies. Data are presented that show a discrepancy between the strategies used and those reported. The results suggest that: (i) students' perceptions of the purpose of a laboratory task influence their decisions on what to report; (ii) understandings of laboratory procedures greatly influence their decision on what to report and on how much detail to include in a report and; (iii) knowledge of discourse rules contributes to effective reporting. It is concluded that students' communication of an investigation results from the differential operation of various perceptual filters that determine both the procedural and discourse elements of their reports. It is recommended that the communication of science should be taught explicitly and alongside the procedures and concepts of science. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 37: 839–853, 2000     

Contextual influences and athlete attitudes to drugs in sport

This article reports on 11 narrative-based case histories which sought to: (1) uncover the attitudes of players and athletes to drugs in sport, and (2) explore contextual factors influencing the formation of those attitudes as informed by social ecology theory. Overall, participants viewed the use of banned performance-enhancing substances as cheating, ‘hard’ non-performance-enhancing recreational or illicit substances as unwise, legal non-performance-enhancing substances as acceptable, and legal performance-enhancing substances as essential. In short, attitudes were sometimes quite libertarian, and contingent upon first, the legality of the substance, and second, its performance impact. Results also indicated that athletes’ attitudes about drugs were fundamentally shaped by sport's culture. Other significant factors included its commercial scale, closely identifiable others, early experiences and critical incidents of players and athletes, and their level of performance.