Physical Activity and School Engagement in Youth: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Physical activity is associated with numerous health benefits in youth; however, these benefits could extend further than health, into education. Our aim was to systematically review and combine in meta-analyses evidence concerning the association between physical activity and the dimensions of school engagement, including behavior (e.g., time-on-task), emotions (e.g., lesson enjoyment), and cognition (e.g., self-regulated learning). We conducted meta-analyses using structural equation modeling on results from 38 studies. Overall, physical activity had a small, positive association with school engagement (d = .28, I² = .86), 95% confidence interval [.12, .46]. This association was moderated by study design, with significant associations shown in randomized controlled trials but not in studies employing other designs. Risk of bias was also a significant effect moderator, as studies with a low risk of bias showed significant associations but not high risk of bias studies. Altogether, these results suggest that physical activity could improve school engagement.     

The effectiveness of a special school experience for improving preservice teachers’ efficacy to teach children with special educational needs and disabilities

Increasingly, preservice teachers are required to demonstrate their ability to effectively cater for the needs of a diverse range of learners, including those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Higher education institutions (HEI) delivering teacher education programmes are responsible for promoting the development of inclusive practices. This multi-method study assessed the effectiveness of a special school experience for preservice teachers at one HEI in England. A total population sample of 48 preservice teachers completed self-efficacy questionnaires at three time points during their training; and 13 took part in qualitative semi-structured interviews towards the end of the study. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) findings from the questionnaire data showed that the experience had a significant positive impact on preservice teachers’ self-efficacy, improving knowledge, understanding and confidence to teach inclusively. A thematic analysis of the qualitative findings revealed that the experience challenged preservice teacher expectations about learners with SEND, developing understanding about learner needs and effective differentiation. This article concludes with recommendations for effective inclusion training for preservice teachers.     

Social axioms and achievement across cultures: The influence of reward for application and fate control

The present research examined the relationships between two social axiom dimensions, reward for application and fate control, with various achievement-related indexes across a wide range of cultures. Results showed that there was no relationship between reward for application and academic achievement or economic competitiveness, but reward for application was positively related to effort exertion and favorable attitudinal reactions to striving. In contrast, fate control was positively related to academic achievement and economic competitiveness, but not to effort exertion and attitudes toward striving. A number of speculations are provided to account for these intriguing findings.     

Women’s Studies Collections: A Checklist Evaluation

A checklist evaluation on thirty-seven Women's Studies programs conducted using the individual institutions' online public access catalogs (OPACs) is presented. Although Women's Studies collections are very difficult to build, an evaluation of existing programs shows that collections, for the most part, have managed substantial coverage of the subject area.     

Postgraduate study and managers’ subsequent work experience: an exploratory evaluation

Drawing on an exploratory qualitative study, this article considers the link between business school teaching at graduate level and subsequent work behaviour and experiences of former students. It evaluates the student experience some time after graduation. The findings of the retrospective evaluation point to the value of classroom peer discussion, the testing of ideas against prior work experience and the opportunity to make sense of organisational issues by setting them into broader context. The importance of andragogical approaches to teaching is discussed as well as the implications of the study findings for teaching quality enhancement.     

Development research of a teachers’ educational performance support system: the practices of design, development, and evaluation

This study adopted design and development research methodology (Richey & Klein, Design and development research: Methods, strategies, and issues, 2007) to systematically investigate the process of applying instructional design principles, human–computer interaction, and software engineering to a performance support system (PSS) for behavior management in a classroom. The purpose was to examine how a proposed instructional design framework based on Ausubel’s (The psychology of meaningful verbal learning, 1963) advance organizer theoretical approach could be used to address inherent problems of technically driven PSSs. Development data were collected from a six-phase participatory rapid prototyping process using both qualitative and quantitative methods. Findings indicated that (a) the advance organizer concept combined with a matrix design metaphor provided an effective way to illustrate conceptual connections and relations among PSS modules and their elaborated information, (b) the system served as a reference to support participants for exchanging ideas with other teachers as well as with parents of students, and (c) the rapid prototyping process established parameters that helped the project team maintain a focus on users and collect data useful for advancing to a higher phase of system development. Potential drawbacks pertaining to the proposed design strategies and their possible corrective actions are also reported and discussed.     

Darwin and Religion: Correcting the Caricatures

Much has been written on the subject of Darwinism and religion, but rather less on the development of Darwin’s own thinking on religious matters and how it changed over time. What were his religious, or anti-religious, beliefs? Did he believe that his theory of evolution by natural selection was incompatible with belief in a Creator? Was it his revolutionary science that turned him into an agnostic? If not, what other considerations affected his judgment? The aim of this paper is to illuminate these questions and, in so doing, to correct some popular caricatures that frequently appear when the two words ‘science’ and ‘religion’ are juxtaposed. Darwin himself reflected deeply on the theological problem of suffering and justified his naturalism on the ground that it made the deity less directly responsible for the more repulsive features of creation. The deism that he espoused at the time of writing his Origin of Species also left its mark in his conviction that it would be demeaning to the deity to suggest that its purposes could not be achieved through natural causes. The diversity of the religious responses also corrects a common misperception that there was almost unanimous hostility from religious interests.     

Evidence‐based early reading practices within a Response to Intervention system

Many students who experience reading failure are inappropriately placed in special education. A promising response to reducing reading failure and the overidentification of students for special education is Response to Intervention (RTI), a comprehensive early detection and prevention system that allows teachers to identify and support struggling readers early, before they fail. A key component of RTI is the implementation of evidence‐based reading practices within a multitiered framework. School psychologists are increasingly being asked to lead or be members of RTI building teams. As such, they can play an important role in assuring that evidence‐based practices in reading are implemented with integrity. The purpose of this article is to provide a framework for judging the extent to which early reading instruction within a multitier RTI system is evidence based. Key evidence‐based practices related to the content, design, and delivery of early reading instruction are described. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Media and international sporting rivalry: the Anglo-German sporting rivalry and the shaping of international sporting competition between nations

Abstract

This article examines the emergence the sporting angle to Anglo-German rivalry from 1908 to 1920, with the focus upon the Olympic Games. Since the cold war international sport has been awash with rivalries between nations that attempt to demonstrate their superiority upon the sports field. Although certainly not the first international sporting rivalry, but perhaps the first which was emblematic of military tensions. Here, the focus will be upon the British perspective to rivalry. The majority of the primary material comes from the British press chosen because of the wide variety of opinions upon German participation and athletes that reveal aspects of British identity revealed via comment and comparison between the two nations. The rivalry and tensions between Britain and Germany illustrated here spilled over into war in July 1914. In the period before the outbreak of war, British interest in German Olympic participation grew, as did fears of their abilities. While in the period after the conclusion of hostilities in November 1918 illustrated the regard by which Germany was held in after the war.