What Does Prone Skateboarding in the Newborn Tell Us About the Ontogeny of Human Locomotion?

The crawling behavior of sixty 2-day-old newborns was studied while they were supported prone on a mini skateboard and on a pediatric mattress without additional support. Analyses of the number and types of limb movements and their characteristics, the coactivation of limb pairs, and the displacement across the surface, revealed that newborns can crawl with locomotor patterns similar to those documented during quadrupedal locomotion in animals and human adults. This was particularly apparent on the skateboard. This discovery suggests that locomotor circuitry underlying quadrupedal locomotion develops during fetal life. Drawing upon other evidence for a quadrupedal organization underlying bipedal gait, we argue that early quadrupedal training may enhance interventions designed to hasten the onset of independent walking.     

Effects of orthographic consistency and word length on the dynamics of written production in adults: psycholinguistic and rTMS experiments

Reading and Writing - Recent studies on written word production aim at studying how information is transmitted between central (linguistic) and peripheral (motor) processes. Neurocognitive models...     

Transformation impossible: policy,evidence and change in South African higher education

Higher Education - A quarter of a century after South Africa’s transition to democracy, the rhetoric of ‘transformation’ remains firmly ingrained in its higher education policy...     

Tackling the anxiety of learning statistics: The mystery of the red envelope

Most graduate programs in management require students to carry out a substantive research project. However, few management students have a comfortable command of the statistical techniques needed to realize such quantitative projects. This can lead to student anxiety and stress, which challenges instructors to devise ways to build students’ self-efficacy with statistical analysis. Drawing on game-based learning principles, we developed an exercise to help students in a graduate-level research methods course practice these statistical techniques. Designed around a series of four gamified challenges, students perform basic statistical analyses (correlations, t-tests, and simple linear regression) to solve puzzles and unlock a reward hidden in a mysterious red envelope. We used the exercise on seven occasions (five times in the methods course and twice in a graduate program preparatory course). After launching it in fall 2021, we observed that students were engaged and enthusiastic about the exercise. To ascertain its effectiveness more systematically, we collected data in five subsequent sections using a pretest/posttest design (N = 84) which showed that perceptions of statistics self-efficacy increased following the exercise. We conclude by suggesting that our exercise can be tailored to other learning contexts such as management and statistics-centered courses.     

Documenting Collections: Cornerstones for More History of Science in Museums

Historians of science have recently become increasingly involved with collections and scientific instruments. This creates opportunities for a more significant role of history in museums of science, as well as more meaningful and contextualized exhibitions and educational programmes. However, complementing the mainstream focus on universal scientific principles with history requires structural and cultural changes in museums’ approaches and practices. In this paper we draw from recent collaborative work with historians of science at the University of Lisbon to reflect on the challenges museums face as they prepare for a more meaningful historical approach to science. We argue that documentation is crucial both before objects enter the museum and as regular collections practice. We propose a conceptual and methodological framework comprising two operational levels: documenting individual objects and documenting collections.     

L’éducation sexuelle,entre médecine,morale et pédagogie: débats transnationaux et réalisations locales (Suisse romande 1890–1930)

Autour de 1900, la question de l’éducation sexuelle de la jeunesse émerge dans plusieurs pays d’Europe occidentale. Tous sont confrontés au processus de déclin de la fécondité maritale, qui suscite de nouvelles préoccupations relatives à la dépopulation et à la dégénérescence. Avec la prise de conscience médicale de la gravité et de la contagiosité des maladies vénériennes, ces inquiétudes prennent la dimension d’un péril national. La nécessité de contrer ces dangers autorise un discours respectable sur la sexualité, qui devient l’objet d’un savoir à diffuser, voire à enseigner dans les écoles. Bien plus qu’une information, l’éducation sexuelle est davantage comprise comme l’imposition de normes, en particulier l’abstinence prémaritale, très largement prônée. Un tel consensus pourrait favoriser la mise en place de projets; or, malgré la profusion de discours, les réalisations concrètes restent rares et controversées, surtout dans le cadre scolaire. Comment expliquer ces difficultés? Cet article analyse les dynamiques entre le niveau transnational (conférences, congrès) et le niveau local, en comparant les discours et mobilisations autour de l’éducation sexuelle dans deux cantons suisses francophones (Vaud et Genève). Nous attachons une attention particulière à la manière dont ces projets sont légitimés scientifiquement et sur quelles disciplines leurs défenseurs s’appuient; nous examinons aussi le rôle du genre dans ces mobilisations, étant donné que les femmes et les féministes s’invitent dans ces débats.     

Psychological well-being and motivation in a Turkish physical education context

Using Self Determination as a framework, the purpose of the study was to examine the relationships between basic psychological needs, motivational regulations, self-esteem, subjective vitality, and social physique anxiety in physical education. One thousand and eighty two high school students aged between 14 and 19 [mean (M) = 15.89 ± 0.95 years] from six public high schools participated to the study. Students’ basic psychological needs: motivational regulations, subjective vitality and self-esteem served as positive indicators, while social physique anxiety was a negative indicator of psychological well-being. Structural equation modelling results revealed that students’ motivational regulations mediated the relationship between basic psychological needs and psychological well-being. Intrinsic motivation negatively predicted social physique anxiety and positively predicted subjective vitality. Amotivation positively predicted social physique anxiety and negatively predicted subjective vitality. Identified regulation and external regulation positively predicted subjective vitality. Results supported the tenets of Self Determination Theory (SDT) and suggested that satisfying adolescents’ basic psychological needs in physical education will promote their psychological well-being.     

Multidimensional analyzing of the microteaching applications in teacher education via videograph

Microteaching is a practice – based teaching method that can be applied at various stages in teacher training programs and it gives the opportunity to engage in self-evaluation and to eliminate or correct inadequacies of both pre-service and in-service teachers. It is believed that this study is important in determining the inadequacies of prospective teachers through microteaching applications, and in determining the steps to be taken to eliminate the inadequacies. Therefore, this study aims to exhibit prospective teachers’ individual, methodological and social performances through two microteaching applications. It is found from this research that prospective teachers’ discipline over the classroom developed, and students’ motivation and their interest in the lesson increased with reinforcement and effective communication in the second microteaching application. This showed that feedback given at the end of the first microteaching application was effective.     

Effects of Toy Crane Design-Based Learning on Simple Machines

The aim of this 2-group study was to investigate the following question: Are there significant differences between scaffolded design-based learning controlled using 7 forms and teacher-directed instruction methods for the toy crane project on grade 7 students’ posttest scores on the simple machines achievement test, attitude toward simple machines, and attitude toward creativity in simple machines after adjusting for their respective pretest scores and the prior semester science grades? The study group (N = 65) consisted of grade 7 students in public middle schools in Burdur, Turkey. There were significant treatment effects favoring the first method with large effect sizes on both achievement and creative attitude scores. Teaching topics about simple machines with the design-based method increased students’ achievement and creative attitude without disadvantaging their attitude toward the topic as they constructed new knowledge through each step of the precise process.     

Balancing Emotion and Reason to Develop Critical Thinking About Popularized Neurosciences

Science & Education - Bioscientific advances raise numerous new ethical dilemmas. Neuroscience research opens possibilities of tracing and even modifying human brain processes, such as...