Psychological support for sport coaches: an exploration of practitioner psychologist perspectives

In the present study we add to the literature by exploring the degree to which UK practitioner psychologists perceive themselves able to support sport coaches, and how professional training prepares psychologists for coach work across performance domains. Ten participants comprising seven sport and exercise psychologists with Health Care Professions Council (HCPC) practitioner psychologist status and three trainee psychologists studying towards the British Psychological Society (BPS) qualification in sport and exercise psychology (QSEP) were individually interviewed. All participants reported prior experience of working with coaches across all performance domains. We explored: practitioner’s understanding of the challenges coaches face within their job; practitioner’s experiences of coach work; perspectives about the ways in which practitioners could and should support coaches; and, the degree to which professional training prepares practitioners for coach work. Using recommended procedures of Connelly and Peltzer, content analysis revealed practitioners perceived the challenges faced by coaches are different at grassroots level compared to those working with elite athletes, and that practitioners require skills to provide one-to-one coach support and group-based interventions. All practitioners perceived that training programmes do not adequately equip trainees with skills required for coach work. We discuss the implications for enhancing practitioner training in the UK.     

Quantitative and qualitative changes in teaching histology by means of virtual microscopy in an introductory course in human anatomy

This study compares overall laboratory averages and individual test scores along with a student survey to determine the effects of using virtual microscopy in place of optical microscopes in a large undergraduate human anatomy course. T‐tests revealed that the first two laboratory examinations (of four) and the overall laboratory averages were significantly increased compared with the previous year. We hypothesize that this is due to students' ability to use and understand the technology quickly as opposed to learning how to maneuver an optical microscope. Students also responded positively in a survey about the virtual microscope, indicating that increased accessibility, ease of use, and the ability to understand the material were important components of the virtual microscope. In addition, an increase in student collaboration was noted because multiple students were able to view the image at a time. This level of acceptance of virtual microscopy has been reported in previous studies, though this level of increased examination scores is rare. We attribute this to differences between the medical students, with whom this technology has been researched in the past, and undergraduate introductory students. Anat Sci Educ 2:218–226, 2009. © 2009 American Association of Anatomists.     

Youths with migration backgrounds and their experiences of physical education: an examination of three cases

While understanding young people has never been easy, migration trends make it increasingly difficult. Many classrooms have become culturally heterogeneous and teachers are often faced with pupils with diverse linguistic and cultural heritages. Current scholarship suggests that as a discipline, physical education has not adapted to this diversity. In fact, commentators have suggested that physical education alienates pupils from minority groups and that traditional practices work to maintain cultural difference. The broad objective of this paper is to provide insights into how physical education intersects with biographies shaped by migration. Drawing from a case study investigation, this paper presents interview data from three youths with migration backgrounds living in a German-speaking region of Switzerland. The cases were selected because they highlight various ways in which physical education (PE) comes to make sense for adolescents. The key arguments that we develop are that ethnicity often works at an implicit level in PE, that young people experience the effects of migration backgrounds in diverse ways, and that migrants themselves support official educational discourses that work to disadvantage people with migration backgrounds. A key implication is that in a cultural milieu in which generalisations are normal and sometimes considered desirable, both researchers and practitioners need to be wary of racialising discourses. As an alternative, it is suggested that focusing on individual processes can improve the conceptualisation and implementation of physical education pedagogies.     

Sport studies

The sport-for-development movement has grown exponentially in the last decade generating increasing academic attention. However, existing research has rarely sought the views of young people despite them being both the main target audience of initiatives and frequently the deliverers. This paper seeks to address young people's absence within research and advocate the importance of engaging them in sport-for-development debates to enhance understanding of current delivery and to improve policy and practice in the future. The paper examines Zambian young people's views of HIV/AIDS peer-led education delivered through sport considering particularly whether young people believe such interventions can encourage empowerment and subsequent behaviour change. The paper outlines the importance of improving understanding of how young people can begin to translate knowledge into agency. The paper concludes with the suggestion that change is more likely if peer-led education through sport programmes are combined with multi-layered interventions directed at all levels of communities.     

Children's chants

Language acquisition is for young children interacting with the language spoken around them. Children learn quite a bit of language by imitation, by repeating the various language forms they hear. It is not enough for children just to hear language; they must also interact with it. When we think of the methods used in teaching high school or college students a second language, we can then understand why interacting in communication is important for young children. One cannot speak Spanish fluently just by reading a Spanish grammar book; one must speak Spanish in order to speak it fluently.Penella Barker teaches in the New York City Public Schools. Pictures taken of Class K-164 by Ms. Loraine Sherod in Manhattan.     

中国在应对反倾销方面存在的问题及对策

加入WTO后，中国将在更广的范围与世界各国和地区开展更深层次的经贸往来活动。针对其中出现的愈益频繁的倾销的斗争，章作出了一些分析，并提出了应对之策。     

A Practical Introduction to Authoring for Computer-Assisted Instruction. Part 7: Graphic support

Images provide a useful method of presenting information to an audience. In a learning situation the use of pictorial forms can offer a high-bandwidth mechanism for the transfer of information between an instructor and a student. This paper discusses some ways of providing graphic support in a computer-based learning environment and describes some approaches to the provision of authoring facilities that utilize this technique.     

Building an online community to support the professional development of casual teachers

Abstract

With the burgeoning casualisation of the higher education workforce, the precarious nature of casual teaching has become increasingly well documented. Universities are recognising that enhancing quality learning and teaching must include attention to the provision of services, support, and professional development for teachers employed on a sessional or casual basis. This paper presents a study investigating an online course for supporting and connecting dispersed and diverse casual teachers at an Australian university. The study explores the role of community and the impact of professional development for casual teachers across discipline boundaries in an institution-wide online course.     

A meta-analysis of reading-level match dyslexia studies in consistent alphabetic orthographies

Annals of Dyslexia - We provide a meta-analytic review of all group-comparison studies that used reading-level match design, were conducted in highly consistent European orthographies, included...     

校本教学研究的实践形式

校本教研是推进教学改革和促进教师专业化成长的根本支撑和内在动力。校本教研中,教学型教研,以教为着眼点,以课例为载体;研究型教研,以研为着眼点, 以课题为载体;学习型教研,以学为着眼点,以阅读为主线。提倡教学型教研,防止校本教研神化;提倡研究型教研,防止校本教研泛化;提倡学习型教研,防止校本教研窄化。这三种校本教研的有机结合完整地体现了校本教研的内涵和外延。