Providing students with voice and choice: lessons from intervention research on autonomy-supportive climates in physical education

This article examines the latest thinking about autonomy-supportive climates within physical education. The basis for the inclusion of these climates are self-determination and achievement goal theories which suggest that a teacher's motivating style towards students can be conceptualised along a continuum that ranges from highly controlling to highly autonomy supportive. In general, autonomy-supportive teachers facilitate, whereas controlling teachers interfere with, the congruence between students' self-determined inner motives and their classroom activity. Drawing upon research involving interventions at pre-school, primary and secondary school levels, the paper examines how 27 studies that demonstrate providing pupils with opportunities to become self-directed leads to higher levels skill attainment, physical activity and perceived competence. Implications for curriculum, pedagogy and assessment are addressed and directions for future research are noted.     

Steps to Global Licensing Success

The impact of evolving technology on those who create content and those who use it has raised many interesting copyright-related challenges that legislators, copyright experts, authors, publishers and licensing organizations around the world are looking to address. Several international initiatives underway highlight the evolving global copyright landscape, including a report commissioned by the UK government calling for the creation of a “Digital Copyright Exchange.” Through such international efforts—and through the content licensing experience of collective management organizations—the best solutions to the copyright challenges of our time can deliver efficiency to everyone involved.     

The BASES expert statement on emotion regulation in sport

Emotions experienced before and during sports competition have been found to influence sports performance. Emotion regulation is defined as the automatic or deliberate use of strategies to initiate, maintain, modify or display emotions (Gross & Thompson, 2007) and is proposed to occur when a discrepancy exists between current and desired emotions. Two distinct motivations to regulate emotion - hedonic and instrumental (in short, for pleasure or for purpose) - have been proposed (Tamir, 2009). The instrumental approach might provide a more fruitful area of investigation for sports researchers as some athletes hold beliefs that supposedly pleasant emotions such as happiness and calmness associate with poor performance and supposedly unpleasant emotions such as anxiety and anger associate with good performance (Hanin, 2010). Athletes are more likely to try to regulate an emotion if they believe that doing so will facilitate performance. Strategies that encourage re-appraisal of factors that trigger emotions are proposed to be preferable. In this British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (BASES) expert statement, a summary of the key theoretical issues are offered leading to evidence-based recommendations for practitioners and researchers.     

Correlates of school-day physical activity in preschool students

This study examined the relationship among sex, body mass index, motor skill competence (MSC), perceived physical competence (PPC), and school-day physical activity in preschool students (N = 34). Physical activity was assessed by steps accumulated during the school day, while MSC and PPC were assessed with the Test of Gross Motor Development-2nd edition (Ulrich, 2000) and the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and Social Acceptance (Harter & Pike, 1984). Regression analyses revealed that preschool students' locomotor ability accounted for 21 % (p = .007) of the variance associated with school-day physical activity. The findings support an association between participants' ability to locomote and be physically active. The findings warrant future investigations to examine the relationship between locomotor skills and physical activity behaviors.     

数学真理的问题

在当前数学实践中,数学知识(如果有这样的知识的话)是通过在定义和公理的基础上证明定理来获得的.问题在于该怎样理解证明中所得到的东西是如何构成知识的,具体而言,即是要给出一个关于数学真理和数学知识的统一的解释,该解释能够揭示两者的内在联系.此处的困难是,根据贝纳塞拉夫的为人熟知的论证,由于塔斯基语义学认为真与对象的联系(通过单称词项或通过量词)是不可消去的,因此在数学中无法将塔斯基语义学与完整的认识论相结合:数学知识要么是通过证明得到的,这种情况下数学知识与数学对象是无关的,因此我们就无法解释数学真理;要么数学对象是数学真理的构件,从而数学知识不是通过证明得到的,这种情况下我们就无从理解数学知识.接着,本文通过一系列阶段,将这些困难一直追溯到最基本的逻辑观念,即将之看作形式的和纯粹解释性的:如果数学是从概念出发仅仅使用逻辑的推理实践,依照康德,那么数学应该是分析的,也即,仅仅是解释性的,根本就不是通常意义上的知识.我认为,这对数学真理是真正困难的问题.本文概括了四种回应,其中仅有一个有希望解决我们的困难,也即皮尔斯和弗雷格的回应.根据他们的方案,逻辑是科学,因此是实验性的和可错的;符号语言是有内容的,尽管并不涉及与任何对象的关联;证明是构成性的,因此是富于产出的过程.通过充分发展这些观点,我们将有可能最终解决数学真理的问题.     

Promises and Challenges for the Use of Adapted Primary Literature in Science Curricula: Commentary

The papers in this collection provide compelling arguments that the use of Adapted Primary Literature (APL) in science education holds great promise for enriching inquiry science instruction at the secondary level. The integration of this genre of written text into science curricula illustrates the ways in which reasoning in reading and reasoning in science are tightly connected. I discuss three major themes that arise from a reading of the papers in this set: (1) the concept of authenticity as an adherence to scientific reasoning and practice within science education, and the ways in which APL is a welcome complication to simpler notions of “authentic” experiences for learners, (2) issues around the use of tools such as APL in science curriculum design and implementation, including the need to consider discipline-specific science reading strategies and ways to support teachers in their use of APL, and (3) the possible implications for extending the concept of APL into younger (primary age) and older (college age) classrooms than those examined in these papers.     

An accurate VO2max nonexercise regression model for 18-65-year-old adults

The purpose of this study was to develop a regression equation to predict maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) based on nonexercise (N-EX) data. All participants (N = 100), ages 18-65 years, successfully completed a maximal graded exercise test (GXT) to assess VO2max (M = 39.96 mL x kg(-1) x min(-1), SD = 9.54). The N-EX data collected just before the maximal GXT included the participant's age; gender; body mass index (BMI); perceived functional ability (PFA) to walk, jog, or run given distances; and current physical activity (PA-R) level. Multiple linear regression generated the following N-EX prediction equation (R = .93, SEE = 3.45 mL x kg(-1) x min(-1), % SEE = 8.62): VO2max (mL x kg(-1) x min(-1)) = 48.0730 + (6.1779 x gender; women = 0, men = 1) - (0. 2463 x age) - (0.6186 x BMI) + (0.7115 x PFA) + (0.6709 x PA-R). Cross validation using PRESS (predicted residual sum of squares) statistics revealed minimal shrinkage (R(p) = .91 and SEE(p) = 3.63 mL x kg(-1) x min(-1)); thus, this model should yield acceptable accuracy when applied to an independent sample of adults (ages 18-65 years) with a similar cardiorespiratory fitness level. Based on standardized beta-weights, the PFA variable (0.41) was the most effective at predicting VO2max followed by age (-0.34), gender (0.33), BMI (-0.27), and PA-R (0.16). This study provides a N-EX regression model that yields relatively accurate results and is a convenient way to predict VO2max in adult men and women.     

The impact of sequencing and prior knowledge on learning mathematics through spreadsheet applications

According to cognitive load theory, instruction needs to be designed in a manner that facilitates the acquisition of knowledge in long-term memory while reducing unnecessary demands on working memory. When technology is used to deliver instruction, the sequence in which students learn to use the technology and learn the relevant subject matter may have cognitive load implications, and should interact with their prior knowledge levels. An experiment, using spreadsheets to assist studient learning of mathematics, indicated that for studients with little knowledge of spreadsheets, sequential instruction on spreadsheets followed by mathematics instruction was superior to a concurrent presentation. The reverse was found for studients with more knowledge of spreadsheets. These results are explained in terms of cognitive load theory.