Getting personal: Writing-stories

The author participated in the Border Studies Program in the fall of 2000, and during that time she conducted a field study at the Center for Environmental Resource Management in El Paso, Texas. Most of her time was devoted to a project that built composting toilets in two communities on the periferia of Ciudad Juárez. The author's work on this environmental project provided her a lens into social interpretations of the two sides of the Mexico-U.S. border. This ethnography looks at language dichotomies - the social construction of difference - in order to analyze how stereotypes functioned in the maintenance of structural inequalities.     

A Practical Tennis Serve Test: Measurement of Skill under Simulated Game Conditions

The Avery-Richardson Tennis Service Test was constructed to maximize the practical relationship between skills tests and playing situations. The test incorporates the game-like criteria of two balls per trial, service attempts to both right and left service courts, and comparable credit for flat, slice, and spin serves. In addition, norms were established for both college males and females at beginning and intermediate skill levels in tennis. Construct validity was established for the service test. There was a significant difference [F (1, 306) = 30.18, p < .00001] between beginning males and intermediate males, as well as a significant difference [F (1, 334) = 48.39, p < .00001] between beginning and intermediate females. To determine reliability, 93 males and 59 females were given the test on two separate occasions. Cronbach's alpha coefficients were calculated with resulting reliability estimates which ranged from .64 to .80 for the groups studied.     

Motivations for choosing teaching as a career: An international comparison using the FIT-Choice scale

Motivations for preservice teachers' choice of teaching as a career were investigated using the Factors Influencing Teaching Choice scale (FIT-Choice scale; Watt & Richardson, 2007). This scale was initially developed and validated in the Australian context; our study applied it across international samples from Australia, the United States, Germany, and Norway. Support for strong factorial invariance implied the scale functioned similarly, and could fruitfully be employed in different contexts. Sample comparisons revealed that motivations for teaching were more similar than they were different across these samples; whereas, perceptions about the teaching profession tended to reflect country differences.     

Process and collaboration: Assessing digital humanities work through an embedded lens

ABSTRACT

To assess the implications of supporting and participating in a digital humanities project team as embedded subject librarians, those involved must examine the dynamic of the group responsible for the work and the processes or infrastructure employed to support this work. Using the Critical Incident Technique (CIT) method with interview questions based on the American Historical Association's “Career Diversity Five Skills,” this case study interviews respondents involved in “‘A Shaky Truce’: Starkville Civil Rights Struggles, 1960–1980,” a digital public history project created in 2015 by a team of subject librarians, history graduate students, history faculty, and undergraduates.     

Curriculum Integration: Helping Career and Technical Education Students Truly Develop College and Career Readiness

All students need to learn how to read, write, solve mathematics problems, and understand and apply scientific principles to succeed in college and/or careers. The challenges posed by entry-level career fields are no less daunting than those posed by college-level study. Thus, career and technical education students must learn effective math, literacy, and scientific concepts and processes. The National Center for Career and Technical Education Research completed three separate experimental design studies about the integration of math, literacy, and science in CTE courses. Across the studies, integration of core academics in CTE courses improved students' academic achievement as measured by standardized assessments.     

Wide Awake at 4 AM: A Study of Late Night User Behavior,Perceptions and Performance at an Academic Library

The expectation for extended library hours including 24 h access presents many questions about late night library users and the value of this service to the library and their corresponding institutions. Using data gathered about patrons who use the library after 11 pm and before 7 am, a study was conducted to discover who the library users were, what services and facilities they made use of, and what, if any, concerns they have regarding the late night library. The usage patterns provide evidence that that while more usage occurs during traditional hours, users who prefer late night do so consistently. The researchers found the late night library was serving patrons who were cross sections of university community with higher than average grade point averages and retention rates when compared to university averages. These figures can have a significant effect on institutional recruitment and retention presenting the library as an indispensable resource to the community.     

Educational equity,academic standards,and countercontrol: Preventing academic deficits with supplemental interdependent rewards

School psychologists have been involved with developing and installing individual contingencies designed to remedy individual students' academic deficits. Group-oriented contingencies can be applied to broader efforts designed to prevent learning problems class-wide. Independent group-oriented rewards are frequently used in school settings to enhance learning by rewarding strong academic performance (e.g., reward for each student who maintains a 90% average). Research suggests overreliance on these contingencies may not be educationally equitable because they may be less effective or ineffective in influencing the behavior and learning of students with weaker academic skills. Theoretical and applied research is analyzed which suggests that maintaining ubiquitous independent rewards and providing supplemental interdependent group-oriented bonus rewards may allow educators to a) maintain their academic standards, b) enhance educational equity by improving learning in students who may not respond to typical independent group-oriented rewards, and c) enhance classroom climates. Also, recommendations are provided that may allow educators to mitigate concerns over perceived unfairness associated with interdependent group-oriented rewards.     

Fit Fans: perspectives of a practitioner and understanding participant health needs within a health promotion programme for older men delivered within an English Premier League Football Club

Fit Fans was a men’s health promotion intervention delivered within an English Premier League Football Club (2010–2011), which aimed to support the local community dwelling older men in lifestyle promotion (physical activity [PA], diet and well-being). The purpose of this study was to provide a reflexive account of a practitioner and the needs of participants. Seven men (mean age 58?years) attended weekly PA and lifestyle sessions over an eight-month period. Baseline physiological measurements included body mass index, resting blood pressure and abdominal girth. Principles of ethnography and observational research (i.e. field notes, reflective diary) were adopted by the practitioner. Unexpectedly, the cohort exhibited a range of serious diagnosed illnesses that challenged the practitioner’s skill base and experience in the delivery of the intervention. Reflections of the practitioner and the stories of the progression that participants made add insight to future football in the community programmes.