The effects of added mass on the biomechanics and performance of countermovement jumps

This study examined the kinetic and temporal differences between countermovement jumps (CMJs) and eccentrically loaded CMJs. A survey of 109 coaches and athlete showed that 87% of respondents regularly used jumps with added mass within training. Sixteen male and thirteen female track and field athletes from sprinting, hurdling and jumping events performed 5 bodyweight CMJs 5 jumps wearing a weighted jacket and 5 eccentrically loaded dumbbell (LDB) jumps trials in a randomised order. Peak force (PF), peak power (PP), flight time (FT), concentric time (CON-T), eccentric time (ECT), total time (TIME) and eccentric/concentric ratio (E/C-Ratio) were obtained from force plate data. Statistically significant differences (p < 0.05) with moderate to large magnitude effect sizes were found between men and women in FT, PP and PF but not in any of the temporal variables. The results indicated that the WJ decreased FT in men (↓9%) and women (↓10%) but LDB jumps had similar FT to CMJ. Overall, the results showed that LDB increased the E/C Ratio (↑50% and ↑42%) and decreased CON-T (↓37% and ↓25%) compared with WJ and CMJ respectively. LDB jumping is not recommended as a training modality as it tends to disrupt the relative timing of the jump action.     

Actors who can’t play in the sports film: exploring the cinematic construction of sports performance

The sports film often focuses upon character psychology and narrative in the cinematic capturing and construction of sport and sports performance. However, the limited attention given to the role of the actor’s body threatens to compromise this seamless dramatic structure of the narrative, not to mention viewer identification with the protagonist, thus leading to inadequate sporting technique that fails to achieve verisimilitude. This paper looks to address the limitations in the actor’s bodily performance, by rethinking the relationship between the actor’s physical portrayal and their cinematic construction. I argue that cinematic techniques should function as an extension of the actor’s body, thus creating a more seamless fusion between the two. Adopting such a method would facilitate a more heightened representation of sports performance, while contributing to the unfolding of the plot through the bodily interactions between the actors during the spectacle of sports sequences.     

Student Views of Concept Mapping Use in Introductory Tertiary Biology Classes

Introductory tertiary level science classes (i.e., at the university or post-compulsory school level) including those for biology face increasing diversity in intake. Previous research has indicated university level teachers assume a certain level of prior knowledge which may or may not be possessed by such students. This report focuses on the use of concept mapping in introductory biology tutorial classes. The research findings suggest that the students found the use of concept mapping enjoyable and that it can enhance meaningful learning for topics that require students to link concepts.     

Evaluating Circle Time as a support to social skills development – reflections on a journey in school-based research

The authors of this article argue that deficit in socially skilled behaviour is often one of the distinguishing characteristics that sets people with intellectual disability apart from their non-disabled peers. The need for social skills training to take place within the context of real life daily situations has been emphasised in more recent literature as essential in enabling people with an intellectual disability to generalise new skills. The researchers involved in this study, Catherine Canney, a senior educational psychologist, and Alison Byrne, a senior speech and language therapist, both work in a school for children with mild intellectual disability in Ireland as part of a multidisciplinary team. Analysis of teachers' referrals to the team indicated a significant and ongoing need for supporting social skills development among the students.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the merits of Circle Time as a classroom intervention aimed at improving the social skills of students with a mild intellectual disability. The research is presented here as an evaluative case study reflecting this experience. Organisational and interactional issues arising are presented and discussed with the intention of supporting those involved in facilitating Circle Time with children who have special educational needs. The authors also identify avenues for future research.     

Seeking the Passionate Career: First‐in‐Family Enabling Students and the Idea of the Australian University

This paper examines the idea of the university from the first‐in‐family enabling students’ perspective. It provides an overview of the current crisis of meaning in scholarly commentary that points to a spectrum of meanings about the university. This spectrum ranges from the ancient imaginary of the monastic university as ‘ivory tower’ to the instrumental idea of the entrepreneurial university. The analysis then reports on the idea of the university in over 40 interviews and surveys of first‐in‐family enabling students who attended two large regional Australian universities in 2014. Their metaphorical understandings of the university constitute a powerful imaginary about what a university is and can do for individuals and the wider society. For many, the resolution of the individualistic passion for knowledge of ‘ivory tower’ studies and the commitment to the social and economic usefulness of the fully engaged entrepreneurial university can be found in the pursuit of the passionate career.