‘Special sport’ for misfits and losers: educational triage and the constitution of schooled subjectivities

This paper investigates the recent move by the federal government in Australia to manage more closely the primary sector of education through the use of national performance standards. The increasing importance placed on such benchmarks in Years 3, 5 and 7 raises questions about the perceived need to survey and thereby manage the education systems by using this technology as a means of achieving the goals of performativity - accountability and competition. Setting this agenda in a globalized context, it is acknowledged that although the mechanisms for setting and raising standards are very different across the world, the discourse resonates. The paper documents the specifically Australian, and more particularly Queensland, responses to the culture of performance. In this imperative to improve educational outcomes by using national tests, the paper raises persistent questions about the suitability of such tests for children who, for a host of reasons, are different from the monocultural able-bodied mainstream. Through its argument that inclusive practices in primary education are being jeopardized by creeping standardization practices, and despite policy rhetoric to the contrary, the paper demonstrates the seemingly unstoppable forces of performativity evidenced through national standards.     

Persisters and nonpersisters: Identifying the characteristics of who stays and who leaves from adult literacy interventions

Adult literacy programs are characterized by high attrition rates. Rigorous exploration of student persistence in adult reading classes is lacking. This study was an attempt to understand the profiles of adults who completed reading classes compared to a group of adults who made it to the midpoint and a group of adults who did not make it to the midpoint. Students were offered 100 h of instruction. Of the 395 students who attended the first day of class, only 198 completed the program. Results indicated that English language status, age, some reading related skills, class assignment, avoidance of reading, previous adult education experience, and Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) benefit receipt variables significantly predicted persistence. The significance of some of these predictors varied based on analyzing midpoint completion or full completion. To further explore the characteristics of the sample, the most representative participants were selected from the group that did not make it to midpoint and from the group that completed the program. Results indicated that the most representative members of these two groups differed in English language status, gender, age, some reading related skills, and information access.     

Programming Pluralism: Using Learning Analytics to Detect Patterns in the Learning of Computer Programming

New high-frequency, automated data collection and analysis algorithms could offer new insights into complex learning processes, especially for tasks in which students have opportunities to generate unique open-ended artifacts such as computer programs. These approaches should be particularly useful because the need for scalable project-based and student-centered learning is growing considerably. In this article, we present studies focused on how students learn computer programming, based on data drawn from 154,000 code snapshots of computer programs under development by approximately 370 students enrolled in an introductory undergraduate programming course. We use methods from machine learning to discover patterns in the data and try to predict final exam grades. We begin with a set of exploratory experiments that use fully automated techniques to investigate how much students change their programming behavior throughout all assignments in the course. The results show that students’ change in programming patterns is only weakly predictive of course performance. We subsequently hone in on 1 single assignment, trying to map students’ learning process and trajectories and automatically identify productive and unproductive (sink) states within these trajectories. Results show that our process-based metric has better predictive power for final exams than the midterm grades. We conclude with recommendations about the use of such methods for assessment, real-time feedback, and course improvement.     

Creatine kinase, myosin heavy chains and magnetic resonance imaging after eccentric exercise

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between myosin heavy chain (MHC) release as a specific marker of slow-twitch muscle fibre breakdown and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of skeletal muscle injury after eccentric exercise. The effects of a single series of 70 high-intensity eccentric contractions of the quadriceps femoris muscle group (single leg) on plasma concentrations of creatine kinase and MHC fragments were assessed in 10 young male sport education trainees before and 1 and 4 days after exercise. To visualize muscle injury, MRI of the loaded thigh was performed before and 4 days after the eccentric exercise. All participants recorded an increase (P < 0.05) in creatine kinase after exercise. In five participants, T2 signal intensity was unchanged post-exercise compared with pre-exercise and MHC plasma concentration was normal; however, they showed an increase (P < 0.05) in creatine kinase after exercise. For the remaining five participants, there was an increase in T2 signal intensity of the loaded vastus intermedius and vastus lateralis. These changes in MRI were accompanied by an increase in MHC plasma concentration (P< 0.01) as well as an increase in creatine kinase (P < 0.01). We suggest that changes in MRI T, signal intensity after muscle damage induced by eccentric exercise are closely related to damage to structurally bound contractile filaments of some muscle fibres. Additionally, MHC plasma release indicates that this damage affects not only fast-twitch fibres but also some slow-twitch fibres.     

Some new applications of physics to medical investigation

Roentgen's discovery of X-rays in 1895 found almost immediate application in medical diagnosis and soon afterwards in therapy. It remains of great importance in both these fields, but in recent years other forms of penetrating radiation have been used in medical investigation. This article reviews recent progress and future possibilities in the light of the basic principles involved.     

Exploring the links between students' engagement in cooperative learning, their goal preferences and appraisals of instructional conditions in the classroom

Previous research suggested that social support, belongingness and mastery goals were related to the quality of cooperative learning (CL). In this in-depth study we explored how to differentiate between four effective CL teams and four ineffective CL teams, in terms of students' goals and perceptions of instructional conditions. Apart from the earlier mentioned goals we found students' preference for social responsibility, learning for a certificate and entertainment goals to be salient in the CL setting. Mastery and social responsibility goals were prevalent in effective teams, while learning for a certificate and entertainment goals were prevalent in ineffective teams. Moreover, the type of task, group composition and teacher support were mentioned as reasons for effective or ineffective CL.     

Gender differences in Brazilian street youth's family circumstances and experiences on the street

OBJECTIVES: It has been proposed that homeless street girls are more likely to be from dysfunctional families and exhibit psychological distress than homeless street boys, reflecting cultural factors that result in differential norms for male and female behavior. The current analysis examined whether male and female street youth in a mid-sized Brazilian city differed in their family circumstances and day-to-day functioning on the street. METHODS: The opportunity sample consisted of 33 male (mean age 14.3, range 10-17 years) and 33 female (mean age 14.6, range 11-18 years) street youth who participated in a sentence completion task and structured interview examining family experiences and ability to meet daily needs on the street. RESULTS: Consistent with the cultural hypothesis, girls described more negative family backgrounds than boys (e.g., they were more likely to have left home because of conflict or abuse, and reported more negative relationships with their parents). However, girls' functioning on the street was similar to, and in some cases more positive than, that of boys (e.g., fewer girls reported police violence and begging to earn money). CONCLUSIONS: The few gender differences that emerged in this study offer little support for the cultural hypothesis. The findings make sense if local factors, such as services available for male and female youth and public response to street youth, are considered. It appears that street youth differ in their experiences depending on local circumstances, highlighting the need for caution in generalizing about the situation of street youth in different countries.     

Augmenting the Simple View of Reading for Struggling Adult Readers: A Unique Role for Background Knowledge

This study explored the background knowledge (BK) and reading comprehension (RC) relationship for struggling adult readers. Using confirmatory factor analyses, a single-factor BK model exhibited better fit than a two-factor model separating academic knowledge and general information, which indicates that BK represents a unidimensional construct for this population. In addition, one measure of oral vocabulary loaded with a latent factor of BK, which was separable from a latent factor of two additional oral vocabulary subtests. Using structural equation modeling, we found that BK exhibited a direct effect on RC after controlling for participants’ grade level, decoding, listening comprehension, and oral vocabulary.     

Keeping Up Appearances: Uniform Policy for School Diversity?

This paper analyses policies pertaining to school dress codes which have been formulated recently by all state education bureaucracies in Australia. It examines these policies and their implementation in the context of devolution, the marketisation of schools, and cognate social legislation. In doing so it seeks to understand the textual hiatus between government policy and schooling practices.