Thinking beyond the score: Multidimensional analysis of student performance to inform the next generation of science assessments

Conventional assessment analysis of student results, referred to as rubric-based assessments (RBA), has emphasized numeric scores as the primary way of communicating information to teachers about their students’ learning. In this light, rethinking and reflecting on not only how scores are generated but also what analyses are done with them to inform classroom practices is of utmost importance. Informed by Systemic Functional Linguistics and Latent Dirichlet Allocation analyses, this study utilizes an innovative bilingual (Spanish–English) constructed response assessment of science and language practices for middle and high school students to perform a multilayered analysis of student responses. We explore multiple ways of looking at students’ performance through their written assessments and discuss features of student responses that are made visible through these analyses. Findings from this study suggest that science educators would benefit from a multidimensional model which deploys complementary ways in which we can interpret student performance. This understanding leads us to think that researchers and developers in the field of assessment need to promote approaches that analyze student science performance as a multilayered phenomenon.     

International Examinations: The new credentialism and reproduction of advantage in a globalising world

International examinations are increasingly being used by local élites to reproduce their advantage in the face of growing educational competition and the changing economic order associated with globalisation and 'post-Fordism'. Evidence from opportunity samples of students taking these examinations in five countries suggests how this may be working in practice. The evidence indicates that the patterns of use are various and are influenced both by local educational cultures and by broader considerations of location in relation to global economic 'cores'. International credentials bring a qualitatively new dimension to the issue of credentialism and credential inflation as they exclude the majority from participation in the new competition for access to the most advantageous occupational opportunities.     

The influence of hip mobility and quadriceps fatigue on sagittal spinal posture and muscle activation in rugby scrum performance

Rugby Union scrumming puts the spine under a high degree of loading. The aim of the current study was to determine how sagittal hip range of motion and quadriceps fatigue influence force output, spinal posture, and activation of the trunk and quadriceps muscles in rugby scrumming. Measures of sagittal hip flexion/extension range of motion were collected from 16 male varsity and club first XV level participants. Sagittal spine motion (electromagnetic motion capture), trunk and quadriceps activation (electromyography), and applied horizontal compressive force (force plate) were measured during individual machine scrumming. Participants performed a 5-trial scrum block involving 5?s of contact with 1–2?min recovery between each trial. They then performed a fatiguing protocol (wall sit to failure) and immediately returned to the scrum machine to perform another five trials. Though there was no significant influence of fatigue on the horizontal compressive force applied during contact (P?=?.83), there was a 52% increase in cervical flexion (P?P?P?相似文献   

Effects of a phase change cooling garment during exercise in the heat

The purpose of our study was to examine the physiological, perceptual, and performance effects of wearing a phase change cooling garment (CG) during an interval exercise routine in the heat. Sixteen male participants (age 23?±?3 years, ht 1.76?±?0.11?m; wt 78.5?±?11.2?kg; body fat 15.2?±?5.8%) completed two trials (one with phase change inserts, CG, and one control without inserts) consisting of two submaximal exercise portions separated by 5-minute seated rest, and a final maximal effort performance bout. Each submaximal bout involved 30?seconds or 1?minute of muscular endurance and agility exercises and 5?minutes of treadmill jogging and step-ups. The performance bout included 30?seconds or 1?minute of muscular endurance and agility exercises, with participants completing as many repetitions as possible, followed by a 15-minute recovery (active and passive). Rectal temperature (T_re) and heart rate were not different between trials, however change in T_re from baseline was improved during 10 and 15 minutes of recovery with the CG (P?<?.05). Mean skin temperature was lower using the CG vs control throughout the trial (P?<?.05). Thermal sensation was lower when using the CG compared to control (P?<?.001). There were no differences in any outcomes of the performance exercises (P?>?.05). These findings indicate that the continuous use of a CG during an interval style workout in the heat provides improvements in thermal sensation, however, only minimal thermophysiological benefits, and no performance augmentation.     

Spectacles in hybrid Japan: Deconstruction,semiotic excess,and obtuse meanings in Lost in Translation

This essay’s purpose is to recover Fiskean deconstructive criticism as a means of examining the complexities of texts. Specifically, we argue that Lost in Translation’s moments of spectacle reveal that even in a text that reinforces White Orientalist views of Japan, the text’s obtuse meanings subvert, though not upturn, this dominant narrative. The film’s text reifies heteronormative masculinity and femininity with the blending of the pre- and postmodern Japan, yet obtuse meanings subvert the Western gaze and present hybrid queer spaces that complicate Western neocolonial domination. Subversion cannot completely overturn those meanings, but guerrilla opportunities allow for tactical resistance.