Characteristics of extracurricular physical activity and cognitive performance in adolescents. The AVENA study

Abstract

The aim of this report was to examine the associations between some characteristics (i.e., structure and number) of extracurricular physical activity (EPA) and cognitive performance in adolescents. A total of 1662 adolescents (880 girls; 13.0–18.5 years) from 5 Spanish cities (Granada, Madrid, Murcia, Santander and Zaragoza) were included in this study. Structure (organised and non-organised) and number of EPAs, and participation at vigorous intensity during EPA were self-reported. Cognitive performance (verbal, numeric and reasoning abilities, and an overall score) was measured with the “SRA-Test of Educational Ability”. Results showed that vigorous EPA was positively associated with all cognitive variables. Adolescents who practiced an organised EPA had higher scores in 3 of the 4 cognitive variables than those who practiced a non-organised EPA (all P < 0.05). Likewise, the group who participated in more than one EPA had higher cognitive performance in all variables than the group who participated in only one EPA (all P < 0.05). Regardless of potential confounder variables, including vigorous EPA, both structure and number of EPAs were each other independently associated with cognitive performance. Therefore, structure and number of EPAs may positively influence cognitive performance in adolescents. Participating in multiple, organised EPA may have benefits for cognitive performance.     

Vitamin C supplementation does not influence plasma and blood mononuclear cell IL-6 and IL-10 levels after exercise

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine whether the highest vitamin C supplementation associated with complete bioavailability influences the plasma and blood mononuclear cell IL-6 and IL-10 response to exercise. A double-blinded study of supplementation with vitamin C was performed. After 15 days of supplementation with vitamin C (500 mg · day^?1, n = 16) or a placebo (n = 15), participants in the study completed a 15-km run competition. Blood samples were taken before and after competition. Oxidative stress markers, antioxidants, cortisol, IL-6 and IL-10 were determined in plasma or serum. IL-6 and IL-10 protein and mRNA levels were measured in blood mononuclear cells. Although higher plasma and blood mononuclear cell vitamin C levels were observed in the supplemented group when compared with the placebo one, the two groups showed identical exercise-induced changes in all the measured parameters. Exercise induced increased IL-6 and IL-10 levels in plasma and blood mononuclear cells. IL-6 and IL-10 mRNA levels in blood mononuclear cells increased after the competition. After recovery, IL-6 mRNA returned to basal levels and IL-10 mRNA levels remained elevated. In conclusion, exercise induced increased IL-6 and IL-10 production in blood mononuclear cells. However, vitamin C supplementation did not influence IL-6 and IL-10 response to exercise.     

The relationship between approaches to teaching, approaches to e-teaching and perceptions of the teaching situation in relation to e-learning among higher education teachers

This study extends prior research on approaches to teaching and perceptions of the teaching situation by investigating these elements when e-learning is involved. In this study, approaches to teaching ranged from a focus on the teacher and the taught content to a focus on the student and their learning, resembling those reported in previous investigations. Approaches to e-teaching ranged from a focus on information transmission to a focus on communication and collaboration. An analysis of perceptions of the teaching situation in relation to e-learning identified key themes influencing adopted approaches: control of teaching, institutional strategy, pedagogical and technological support, time required, teacher skills for using e-learning, and student abilities and willingness for using learning technology. Associations between these elements showed three groups of teachers: one focusing on transmission of information teaching both face-to-face and online while having a general negative perception of the teaching situation in relation to e-learning; a second focusing on student learning both face-to-face and online while having a general positive perception; and a third presenting unexpected patterns of associations. These results may be helpful for supporting different groups of teachers in employing e-learning in their on-campus units of study. At the same time, further research is proposed for inquiring into specific approaches in different disciplines and different university contexts.     

Crime Control Strategies in School: Chicanas’/os’ Perceptions and Criminalization

High schools throughout the United States experience problems with violence, drugs, and crime. School administrators have responded with policies and strategies designed to prevent school violence such as zero tolerance approaches, partnerships with law enforcement agencies, security camera installations, and hiring additional security personnel to monitor students. The purpose of this research is to determine how Chicanas/os and school officials perceive and experience these techniques as part of a broader process of criminalization. In addition, using qualitative data we explore perceptions of safety and experiences with victimization. Qualitative data include interviews (with high school students, school administrators, and security personnel), an evaluation of a Chicana/o-centered program, and participant observations in a predominantly Chicana/o high school located in the Southwest. Findings show some students find the new techniques to be invasive and hostile and others find school security measures as providing a sense of security; and administrators and teachers generally find value in the new approaches. From a LatCrit perspective, we argue that Chicana/o and Mexicana/o experiences are set within a context of racialized space where criminalization is one possible outcome of school security measures.     

Developing Urban School Leaders: Building on Solutions 15 Years after the Los Angeles Riots

The 15th Anniversary of the Los Angeles riots serves as an impetus to continue efforts in addressing how institutionalized theories, norms, and practices in schools and society lead to social, political, economic, and educational inequalities. The challenges of school inequalities continue to be chronic and remain unresolved through traditional practices, scholarship, theory, and professional training of school leaders. The intersection between urban school leadership and diversity is examined through critically reviewing hurdles that school leaders encounter, such as low socioeconomics, low representation of leaders of color, violence, and academic underachievement. We argue that urban school leaders can change school conditions by facilitating the development of proficient and culturally-competent teachers and administrators, and creating a positive school climate. Two existing frameworks were used to guide the researchers in the development of the Leadership in Diversity Continuum Model (LDCM) that can help guide leaders in their efforts to transform schools through an introspective analysis of their own identity development.     

Estudio comparado del comportamiento de niños educados en medio familiar y niños educados en instituciones. Una perspectiva etológica

Resumen

Se ha realizado un estudio observacional con metodología etológica en niños de 4–5 años: Un grupo de 5 Ss. procedentes de una Casa Cuna y otro grupo de 7 Ss. procedentes de un ambiente familiar. El muestreo se llevó a cabo en un hábitat común para ambos grupos: el recreo de un preescolar, ubicado en otra zona, y en condiciones de juego libre, aunque controlado por monitores adultos. Los resultados obtenidos sugieren la existencia de diferencias entre ambos grupos, que podrían implicar una manera diferente de integración social de los niños cuyo hábitat primario no es la casa familiar, aunque no es posible establecer una relación de causalidad directa con la institucionalización.     

Dietrich Tiedemann: la psicología del niño hace doscientos años

Resumen

Hace doscientos años que el filósofo alemán Dietrich Tiedemann publicó la primera descripción del desarrollo psicológico de un niño. En este trabajo se examinan los antecedentes de las observaciones de Tiedemann, así como el contexto en que se producen y los presupuestos filosóficos que las orientan. Se sugiere que en el trabajo de Tiedemann aparecen por vez primera importantes observaciones que se han convertido en temas centrales de la actual psicología del desarrollo. Se termina analizando la influencia posterior de esa obra y las razones que explican el impacto reducido que tuvo en los años siguientes a su publicación.     

Responding to expressed needs

In this article, John Cowan (Open University in Scotland), Carlos Alonzo‐Blanqueto (University of Merida, Yucatan) and Derek Fordyce (Heriot‐Watt University) describe their efforts to offer learners genuine openness as regards course content. They draw on three examples from diverse situations to illustrate their use of the ‘sideline tutor’, an arrangement by which learners can directly influence the choice of what they are about to learn and what the teacher teaches’.     

Deleuze,action research and rhizomatic growth

Deleuze and his colleagues, particularly Guattari, have had a profound impact on a number of fields of study. The authors argue that their work offers a range of images to help think about and write action research, a way that acknowledges and celebrates the complexities of the sites of action. The article has a divided structure, coherent with the style of Deleuze & Guattari. The authors present some Deleuzian ideas, particularly the concept of rhizomatic growth, and show how they might profitably be used to analyse and write accounts of action research, reflecting the multiplicities of practice, in this case within education. They have shown the potentialities of the ‘rhizome’ as a way to rethink the field of action research, imagining a new epistemology (in which the concepts work, rather than represent) and how the rhizome demands experimental forms of writing ourselves in action research. They show a cartography (of smooth and striated space) that is required to think rhizomatically about action research.