Facilitating the Learning of Transitional Students: strategies for success for all students

This paper outlines successful strategies facilitating the learning of international students making the transition to an Australian university campus from colleges elsewhere. Starting university as “second‐year” students they were without the institutional infrastructure and support normally provided for “first‐year” students. Although the strategies adopted were motivated by a desire to develop the communication skills, critical thinking and independence of transitional students, they were of potential benefit to all students. This paper documents a programme of extra learning support that has evolved through the collaboration of the authors. The results include reduced failure rates and improved student participation and performance through the development of a progressively more interactive approach, although gender differences have become apparent. The findings support the notion that curriculum redesign promoting interaction, autonomy and reflection combined with a collaborative programme integrating appropriate language and learning skills development with course content, can potentially benefit all students, and especially transitional students.     

Evaluation of an extra-curricular school sport programme promoting lifestyle and lifetime activity for adolescents

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of an extra-curricular school sport programme to promote physical activity among adolescents. One hundred and sixteen students (mean age 14.2 years, s = 0.5) were assigned to an intervention (n = 50) or comparison group (n = 66). The 8-week intervention involved structured exercise activities and information sessions. Four days of pedometer monitoring and time spent in non-organized physical activity and sedentary behaviours were measured at baseline and post-test. At baseline, participants were classified using steps per day as low-active (girls <11,000, boys <13,000) or active (girls > or = 11,000, boys > or = 13,000) and the effects of the intervention were assessed using these subgroups. Adolescents in the intervention group classified as low-active at baseline increased their step counts across the 8-week intervention (baseline: 7716 steps/day, s = 1751; post-test: 10,301 steps/day, s = 4410; P < 0.05) and accumulated significantly more steps (P < 0.05) than their peers in the comparison group (baseline: 8414 steps/day, s = 2460; post-test: 8248 steps/day, s = 3674; P = 0.879). The results of the present study provide further evidence that physical activity monitoring using pedometers is an effective strategy for increasing activity among low-active adolescents.     

A prospective study of pedometer-determined physical activity and physical self-perceptions in children

There have been limited prospective studies investigating physical activity and physical self-perceptions in children. In this investigation, mean steps/day did not significantly change from late elementary to junior high for either boys or girls; however; boys accumulated more steps both at baseline and follow-up. Physical self-perception measures were significantly related to changes in steps/day and accounted for 21% (15% adjusted) of the variance after controlling for demographic/biological variables, R2 change = .21, adjusted R2 change = .15, F (5,88) = 4.66, p < .001. Sport competence emerged as the most important predictor t (88) = -3.76, p < .001, and was inversely related to physical activity change. The lack of opportunities to participate in sport activities normally found at the onset of adolescence may help explain this unexpected result.     

Evaluating subscale performance on the adaptive behavior inventory for children

Statistics are presented to allow ipsative interpretation of the scaled scores for the six subscales of individual children on the Adaptive Behavior Inventory for Children. Included are the standard error of the difference between each part score and the mean of all scores and values required for statistical significance at the traditional significance levels of .05 and .01, with the Bonferroni adjustment for the number of comparisons included. The ready availability of this information should enhance application of the ABIC in clinical practice and facilitate research on its efficacy for educational planning and placement of children in various regular and special education programs.     

Potential mediating pathways through which sports participation relates to reduced risk of suicidal ideation

Suicide ranks as the third leading cause of death for American youth. Researchers examining sport participation and suicidal behavior have regularly found inverse relationships. This study represents the first effort to test a model depicting potential mechanisms through which sport participation relates to reduced risk of suicidal ideation. The participants were 450 undergraduate students. Measures assessed participants' involvement in university-run sports and other activities; frequency of physical activity; and perceived social support, self-esteem, depression, hopelessness, loneliness, and suicidal ideation. Regression analyses confirmed a path model and tested for mediation effects. Vigorous activity mediated relationships between sport participation and self-esteem and depression; and self-esteem and depression mediated the relationship between vigorous activity and suicidal ideation. Social support mediated relationships between sport participation and depression, hopelessness, and loneliness; and each of these risk factors partially mediated the relationship between social support and suicidal ideation. However no variable fully mediated the relationship between sport participation and suicidal ideation. This study provides a foundation for research designed to examine pathways through which sport participation relates to reduced risk of suicidal behavior.     

Communicating about gifts of life: the effect of knowledge, attitudes, and altruism on behavior and behavioral intentions regarding organ donation

Much of the limited literature on organ donation has focused on the demographic and psychographic profiles of people who are willing to become organ donors. More information about the relationship of attitudes, values, knowledge, and actual behavior among adults is needed if targeted communication campaigns promoting organ donation are to succeed. The results of a mail survey of 798 adults sampled (via stratified random sampling procedures) from two local sites of a national corporation suggest that attitudes toward donation, knowledge about organ donation, altruism, and perceived social norms are significantly associated with both actual behavior (having signed an organ donor card) and behavioral intent (among non-donors) to sign a card in the future. These findings support the major models of organ donation willingness, especially those advanced by Horton and Horton (1991) and Kopfman (1994). This study also advances current knowledge of organ donation willingness by 1) using a large, relatively diverse population of adults rather than relying on a student sample; and 2) focusing on specific knowledge barriers that distinguish donors from non-donors.     

TWo Quiet Lives

Lord David Cecil's biographical study of Dorothy Osborne and Thomas Grey.
'This book is so good, so perceptive, amusing, unostentatiously learned, above all so alive with sympathy for its characters and their setting, that it is a safe model for all'— John Betjeman
Prescribed for the 1967 Examination in Literature (Advanced) of the Joint Matriculation Board of the Universities of Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Sheffield, and Birmingham
Available at 12s 6d from Constable & Co Ltd 10–12 Orange Street London WC2