The fluid and electrolyte balance of New Zealand European and Māori/Pacific Island athletes: An observational study

Observational research on professional athletes from the USA suggests differences may exist in sweat sodium loss based on ethnic differences. The New Zealand (NZ) sporting population is mainly of European or Māori/Pacific Island origin. Therefore, this study aimed to describe the fluid-electrolyte balance of athletes by ethnicity. A total of 20 Māori/Pacific Islanders (MP; body mass 100.97 ± 13.05 kg) and 29 NZ European (NZE; body mass 89.11 ± 11.56 kg) elite male athletes were recruited. Sweat rates were determined by body mass change during a 1-h spin cycle exercise session, during which fluid intakes and heart rate were recorded. Sweat samples were analysed for sodium concentration. Mean ± SD sweat sodium concentrations were 73.4 ± 27.2 mmol·L^?1 and 55.5 ± 26.8 mmol·L^?1 for the MP and NZE groups, respectively (p = 0.070). Sweat rate was 0.93 ± 0.26 L·h^?1 for the MP group and 0.89 ± 0.33 L·h^?1 for the NZE group (p = 0.357). Fluid intake was 1.05 ± 0.48 L and 0.93 ± 0.49 L for MP and NZE, respectively (p = 0.395). Half of the MP group gained weight during the exercise session compared to 37% of the NZE group. Pre-exercise urine specific gravity was significantly lower amongst the NZE group (1.016 ± 0.009 g mL^?1) than the MP group (1.024 ± 0.008 g mL^?1) p = 0.001. There was no significant difference in heart rate between the groups, p = 0.082. Hydration practices of athletes in NZ may differ by ethnicity, and this may highlight the need for more targeted education by ethnicity.     

Interactive learning and technology in the US science and mathematics reform movement

This article presents an overview of the science/mathematics reform movement in the secondary/elementary schools and higher education institutions of the United States. It describes the research and views of educational practitioners regarding the need for change, as well as the particular changes which appear to be required. Emphasis is placed on the roles of interactive learning and technology in meeting reform goals.
Details of a recently completed curricular innovation project in science and mathematics are provided. Funded by the National Science Foundation, the project brought five faculty in the natural sciences together with a learning theorist at Florida Community College at Jacksonville, a large, multi-campus, public institution. The group developed and taught two basic integrated science/mathematics courses in which cooperative and discovery learning, supported by multimedia technology and distance learning, were major components. Details of results are provided as they relate to meeting the goals of the reform movement.     

Creative curriculum: Teaching self-awareness in a day care system

Conclusion It has been several years since I began our center, and as my understanding about self-awareness has become more sophisticated, I have enlarged on the development of the Concept Center ideas. I am now designing a general day care curriculum based on these ideas, because I think it is vital to approach all aspects of the child's development, that is, motor skills, readiness skills, cognitive / intellectual / perceptual skills, readiness skills, language skills, social and emotional skills, from the core of growth which is self-awareness.As teachers we are guides to the adventurous journey of life. Difficult, draining as it is, I think it is a real privilege to act as such guides to the bright and innocent young humans we work with in day care, who are so vigorously acquiring the fluency they need to participate in this life. With a little recognition, support and belief, we have the opportunity to provide the foundation for the development of extraordinary human beings. In doing this we contribute to a more healthful human community. Seen in this area day care is a moveable feast of rich energy and growth. All small contributions to this end mean a future sparkling with promise for our young children of today. I believe it is through tools like the Concept Center that we can begin to make them such a promise.     

Exploring learning goals and assessment approaches for Indigenous health education: a qualitative study in Australia and New Zealand

In higher education, assessment is key to student learning. Assessments which promote critical thinking necessary for sustained learning beyond university are highly valued. However, the design of assessment tasks to achieve these types of thinking skills and dispositions to act in professional practice has received little attention. This research examines how academics design assessment to achieve these learning goals in Indigenous health education. Indigenous health education is an important area of learning for health practitioners to help address worldwide patterns of health inequities that exist for Indigenous people. We used a constructivist qualitative methodology to (i) explore learning goals and assessment strategies used in Indigenous health tertiary education and (ii) examine how they relate to higher education assessment ideals. Forty-one academics (from nine health disciplines) involved in teaching Indigenous health content participated in a semi-structured interview. Thematic analysis revealed learning goals to transform students’ perspectives and capacities to think critically and creatively about their role in Indigenous health. In contrast, assessment tasks encouraged more narrowly bounded thinking to analyse information about historical and socio-cultural factors contributing to Indigenous health. To transform students to be critical health practitioners capable of working and collaborating with Indigenous people to advance their health and well-being, the findings suggest that assessment may need to be nested across many aspects of the curriculum using a programmatic approach, and with a focus on learning to think and act for future practice. These findings accord with more recent calls for transformation of learning and assessment in health education.     

Non-organic failure to thrive: Decision for and videotaped evaluations

Infants hospitalized for non-organic failure to thrive in the first six months of life are in a life-threatening situation and are already at risk for poor bonding with mother. In light of this, the meaning and use of foster care and how this separation affects the developing mother-child relationship are the issues addressed through examination of 16 cases in which 8 of the infants were placed in foster care and 8 discharged home after the failure to thrive hospitalization. This paper examines (1) maternal histories of pregnancy, labor and delivery and the neonatal status of placed and non-placed infants; (2) the developmental and weight status of placed children; (3) the nature of the decision criteria for after-hospital care; and (4) the mother-infant relationship at initial intake in terms of mother's report of events and observations of feeding and play interactions during a videotaped assessment process. The study found that the interactions between mother and infant in those situations which required foster care were clearly more dysfunctional when compared to those in which the baby was discharged home to mother. Babies in the two groups were comparable in weight status at the time of hospitalization although babies in foster placement had slightly lower scores on the Bayley Scales. Maternal histories of pregnancy, labor, and delivery were similar for the two groups as were the birth and neonatal histories of the infants.     

Enrolment,content and assessment: a review of examinable senior secondary (16–19 year olds) physical education courses: an international perspective

Senior secondary physical education courses for certification continue to attract increasing student enrolments amidst international concerns for the state and status of physical education in schools. Curricula analysis of senior secondary physical education has typically focussed on courses in local contexts. This review aims to contribute to the current discussion around physical education curricula through a document analysis of 15 senior secondary physical education courses for certification. Results from the analysis of curricula documents reveal similarities in subject aims, objectives and rationales, subject specific content and assessment. Senior secondary physical education is firmly based in both the biophysical and sociocultural fields of study and draws on a broad range of disciplines from which to study human movement. The stated rationales of the courses reviewed suggested that an understanding of the complex interrelationships between content areas underpins senior secondary physical education; however content was mostly prescribed in stand-alone units. This review identified more similarities than differences in content and assessment practices in senior secondary physical education, a point of distinction between the courses reviewed was those that assess physical performance and those that do not. Internal assessment provided for a variety of tasks to determine student learning, however, external assessment was dominated by a written examination.     

Do levels of pre-school alphabetic tuition affect the development of phonological awareness and early literacy?

It has been suggested that children need exposure to alphabetic tuition before they can develop phonological awareness, especially phonemic awareness. This paper re-examines an existing data set to see whether two groups of pre-school, pre-literate children who differ in their knowledge of letter names (used here as a measure of alphabetic tuition) will also differ in their levels of phonological awareness. Their later performance on measures of school age reading and spelling attainment is also compared. The results show that the two groups of children did not differ significantly in either their phonological awareness or their literacy attainment.     

Charting the past to understand the cultural inheritance of concert hall listening and audience development practices

Although often thought of as a contemporary practice, audience development and pedagogies for listener education can be traced throughout the history of the public concert where their origins were forged. This paper unpacks how western listening and audience practices have developed over time, the changes in listening and behaviour norms, the emergence of early practitioners who developed ideas and pedagogies for listener education within the concert hall in Europe, and exposes the current paucity of research on the educational dimension of audience development and pedagogies of listening in the contemporary orchestral concert hall. It is argued that by understanding the past we can better understand the current concert hall and the ways we ourselves actively participate and create our own histories in the ongoing evolution of classical music performance. The paper concludes that this cultural inheritance has implications for arts organisations, educators, audiences, and listeners alike.