Active Families in the Great Outdoors: a program to promote family outdoor physical activity

This study evaluated a 4-week program to increase the time families spent engaging in outdoor activity. Parents were provided strategies to increase family outdoor activity and locations to be active. Sixteen families completed the program. Duration and number of family outdoor activity bouts per week, type of activities, locations, and family member attendance were measured using logs. Pre/post surveys were conducted to determine the usefulness of providing educational resources and maps. Compared to baseline (216.1±127.3 min/week), family outdoor activity for weeks 1 (316.1±180.2 min/week), 2 (351.1±209.1 min/week), and 4 (317.5±186.8 min/week) were significantly greater at follow-up. At follow-up, parents reported increased regular exercise and encouragement for their child to be active. Children reported adults engaged in physical activity with them and increased transportation to places to be active. This novel program increased family outdoor activity levels and contributes to limited research on strategies to increase outdoor activity in youth.     

Students' perceptions of academic dishonesty in the chemistry classroom laboratory

Although the literature on both academic dishonesty and scientific misconduct is extensive, research on academic dishonesty has focused on quizzes, exams, and papers, with the virtual exclusion of the classroom laboratory. This study examined the distinctions undergraduate chemistry majors made between academic dishonesty in the classroom laboratory and scientific misconduct in the research laboratory. Across the spectrum of undergraduate chemistry courses, from the introductory course for first‐semester chemistry majors to the capstone course in instrumental analysis, we noted that students believe the classroom lab is fundamentally different from a research or industrial lab. This difference is so significant that it carries over into students' perceptions of dishonesty in these two environments. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 41: 47–64, 2004     

OUTCOMES OF ELDERHOSTEL PARTICIPATION

A qualitative phenomenological study was conducted to determine in what ways and to what extent elderly women perceived a change in their knowledge, attitudes, or behaviors as result of participation in an Elderhostel program. In‐depth interviews were conducted with 12 participants of five Elderhostel programs in a western state. Glaser and Strauss's (1967) method for developing grounded theory was used to analyze the interview information. Interviews produced six general‐outcome themes and 11 subthemes. General‐outcome themes were appreciations, Elderhostel support, social contact, travel, learning, and follow‐up activities. The 11 subthemes were cultural appreciation, other appreciation, self‐appreciation, historical appreciation, Elderhostel loyalty, recruitment of others, social contact, travel, content learning, general learning, and follow‐up activities. The particular educational needs of the elderly described by McCluskey (1971)—coping, influence, expressive, and contributive needs—were met for these women through their Elderhostel participation. Some higher education goals (e.g., cognitive learning, direct satisfaction and enjoyment of higher education, and advancement of knowledge in social welfare) were also met by this program.     

Taking things apart: ovario-hysterectomy--textbook knowledge and actual practice in veterinary surgery

Veterinary surgery provides an interesting context in which to address important questions about the links between formal 'book' learning and actual, personal experience of the phenomena in question, and to examine the processes through which these links are forged. Participant observation of surgical procedures suggests that surgeons initially learn about anatomy from books, pictures and demonstrations, and become skilled 'operators' through the application of enhancement and reduction procedures that have the effect of transforming the living body into something more closely resembling anatomical pictures of it. Some of these procedures can be seen as a set of formalized 'rules' for performing operations, and like most rules, they appear to decrease in importance as a surgeon gains experience. They may, however, regain importance when a practitioner meets with an anatomical variant that he or she has not previously encountered. Other practices appear to be less formalized, requiring creative, constructive use of visual aids or language practices outside formal textbook knowledge. The links between actual bodies (and operations) and textbook representations of them are thus formed within a community of 'operators'.     

Characteristics of Successful Collaborations to Produce Educated Software Engineering Professionals

Currently, a large gap exists between the number of open software engineering positions and the number of qualified software engineers to fill those positions. The Industry/University (I/U) subgroup of the Working Group on Software Engineering Education and Training (WGSEET) is investigating active collaborations between companies and universities in which non-software professionals and practitioners without formal software education are reeducated to become software engineers. This paper describes the current status of work performed by the I/U subgroup in the investigation of reeducation collaborations. It is our goal to identify the common characteristics of successful collaborations in order to provide guidance to universities and companies when constructing a collaborative program, as well as to promote future collaborations. In this paper, we report on the current activity of the I/U subgroup, describe the features of successful collaborations identified so far in our research, and provide some conclusions as to the usefulness of such collaborations.     

The Measuring Early Learning Quality & Outcomes initiative: purpose,process and results

ABSTRACT

Measuring Early Learning Quality & Outcomes (MELQO) was initiated to address needs for child development and quality of early childhood education (ECE) data, specifically for low- and middle-income countries. Drawing from existing tools, MELQO convened a consortium to create open-source tools to be adapted to national contexts, simultaneously informing global and national population-level monitoring. Beginning with the rationale and context for creating MELQO, we outline the process of creating the tools; highlight results from psychometric evaluation; and describe how the data have been used to reveal patterns of inequity and levels of learning and classroom quality. While psychometric analyses of MELQO indicate that scores should not be used to compare quality of child development between countries, country experiences suggest that data from MELQO tools within countries identify priorities for improvement of preprimary classrooms. MELQO also highlights the importance of local leadership to generate high-leverage data on ECE.     

Physical Education: What Future(s)?

This paper seeks to prompt professional debate about the future of physical education and, specifically, the form that curricula should take in rapidly changing times and societies. Arguments focus upon a reorientation and restructuring of the subject to address educational needs and interests relevant to the 21st century. The current revision of the National Curriculum for Physical Education in England and Wales is used as a basis from which to present a case for a distinctly new orientation to be reflected in the design of PE curricula, units of work and lessons. The work of Bernstein and Young is utilised in deconstructing long-established practices and outlining their potential reconstruction in ways that are informed by, and express, a 'critical pedagogy for social justice' [Fernandez-Balboa (1997) Critical Post Modernism in Human Movement, Physical Education and Sport (New York, State University of New York Press)]. A curriculum framework privileging learning achieved in and via activity contexts, as compared to learning of activities, is presented. The developments that are proposed are identified as highly challenging but arguably long overdue in physical education, and as matters of relevance to international professional communities, not only those in England and Wales.     

Book reviews

In the context of uncertainty and ongoing reform of senior secondary education in Australia, this paper addresses inclusivity in the design and implementation of senior physical education (PE) courses. Critical analysis of course developments in two states in Australia; Queensland and Western Australia, demonstrates ways in which course design, school and teacher decisions can all have wide reaching significance for students’ educational and vocational futures. Course developments in the two states are identified as pursuing inclusivity in different ways and as featuring significant flexibility in their requirements. Enactment of the embedded commitment to inclusivity and accompanying flexibility is shown to present considerable ‘scope for slippage’ from the intentions embedded in the official course texts. It is argued that curriculum developers, teachers and researchers should continue to seek to disrupt processes of generation, maintenance and transmission of inequalities within and beyond PE.