An examination of the jump-and-lift factors influencing the time to reach peak catch height during a Rugby Union lineout

The goal of an offensive Rugby Union lineout is to throw the ball in a manner that allows your team to maintain possession. Typically, the player catching the ball jumps and is lifted upwards by two teammates, reaching above the opposing player who is competing for the ball also. Despite various beliefs regarding the importance of the jumper’s mass and attempted jump height, and lifters’ magnitude and point of force application, there is negligible published data on the topic. The squeeze technique is one lifting method commonly employed by New Zealand teams during lineout plays, whereby the jumper initiates the jump quickly and the lifters provide assistance only once the jumper reaches 20–30 cm. While this strategy may reduce cues to the opposition, it might also constrain the jumper and lifters. We developed a model to explore how changes in the jumper’s body mass and attempted jump height, and lifters’ magnitude and point of force application influence the time to reach peak catch height. The magnitude of the lift force impacted the time-to-reach peak catch height the most; followed by the jumper’s (attempted) jump height and body mass; and lastly, the point of lift force application.     

A Competency-Based Approach to Secondary Student Teaching in Physical Education

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a competency-based approach to secondary student teaching in physical education. Secondary physical education student teachers (N = 7) were observed along with one class of students from each teacher's assignment during baseline and intervention conditions. Seven categories of teacher behavior and two categories of student behavior were observed with an interobserver reliability of 94%. Behaviors were observed by event and placheck recording procedures and were converted to rates per minute and percentages. These rates per minute and percentages were analyzed by behavior profiles and a multiple baseline design. Teacher behaviors included positive reactions to on-task behavior, negative reactions to off-task behavior, positive instructional feedback both general and specific, corrective instructional feedback both general and specific, and pupil contacts using the pupil's first name. The student behaviors included appropriate/inappropriate behavior and active/inactive behavior. Intervention consisted of a competency-based learning module, instructions, graphic feedback, cuing, reinforcement, weekly goals, and terminal goals. The module contained specific definitions of the behaviors, examples of when to emit the behaviors, baseline means for the behaviors, and a final, terminal goal for each behavior. Results indicated that the intervention strategy appeared to have a large positive effect on the following teacher behaviors: positive general feedback, positive specific feedback, specific corrective feedback, and the use of pupil's first names. Smaller increases occurred in the categories of positive reactions to on-task pupil behavior and general corrective feedback. A small decrease occurred in the negative reactions to off-task pupil behavior. Both categories of pupil behavior showed a small increase in the desired direction. Based on these results and the limits of the study, the data-based observation system combined with the competency-based format appeared to exert a measure of accountable control over the behavior of seven teachers and the behavior of their classes.     

Emergent pedagogy: learning to enjoy the uncontrollable—and make it productive

This essay reflects the shared experiences of four college faculty members (a biologist, a psychologist, a computer scientist, and a feminist literary scholar) working together with K-12 teachers to explore a new perspective on educational practice. It offers a novel rationale for independent thinking and learning, one that derives from rapidly developing interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary inquiries in the sciences and social sciences into what are known as “complex” or “emergent” systems. Using emergent systems as a model of teaching and learning makes at least three significant contributions to our thinking bout teaching, in three very different dimensions. It invites us into an awareness that the brains of individual students and teachers operate as emergent systems that are neither possible nor desirable to control fully. It invites us to appreciate as well that the activities and benefits of a classroom are not all individual interactions between teacher and student. Interactions among students and teachers are collectively contributing to a somewhat unpredictable project with an insistently social dimension, which is in turn crucial to the individual achievements of all involved. Finally, emergent pedagogy encourages us to consider more carefully the relations between the individual classroom and the larger educational community of which it is a component, including a challenge to rethink the matter of assessment.     

Radical enquiry

A radical reconceptualisation of the human self and the relevant context is proposed as a subject for educational enquiry in the 1990s.     

Instructional procedures for teaching reversible passive voice and clause constructions to three mildly handicapped children

Previous behavioural research in the language domain has been largely concerned with the effects of consequent events on the comprehension and production of relatively simple language forms. The present study investigated the application of systematic instructional procedures in simplifying complex sentence forms (reversible passives and clause constructions). A multiple baseline was employed to assess treatment effects across three subjects. The conditions were screening, baseline, prepassage and passage training, and passage training only. In addition, two maintenance measures were taken. The findings indicate that applied behavioural analysis focusing on antecedent events of comprehension training can teach subjects to comprehend reversible passive and clause constructions.     

Understanding the impact of guiding inquiry: the relationship between directive support,student attributes,and transfer of knowledge,attitudes, and behaviours in inquiry learning

Guiding inquiry learning has been shown to increase knowledge gains. Yet, little is known about the effect of guidance on attitudes and behaviours, its interaction with student attributes, and transfer of impact once guidance is removed. We address these gaps in the context of an interactive Physics simulation on electric circuits (https://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/circuit-construction-kit-dc). 49 students in the Non-Directive condition received a set of goals to focus their inquiry, in addition to implicit support built into the simulation. 48 students in the Directive condition received, in addition to these, also detailed directions and prompts. Log-file analysis found that directive support led to more formal testing and less exploration. Clustering identified two groups of learners: one with higher incoming knowledge (Higher Knowledge), the other with higher incoming perceptions of competence and control (Higher PoCC). Working with the simulation improved knowledge and attitudes across cluster groups, so that prior differences all but disappeared. With regard to guidance, adding directive support improved knowledge gains for the Higher Knowledge group, yet suppressed their attitudinal growth. The same support had no effect on knowledge gains for the Higher PoCC group, yet it boosted their attitudinal growth. A transfer activity, where directive support was no longer available, found that impact on attitudes carried forward, yet impacts on behaviours and knowledge were short-lived. Overall, the study highlights the complex interaction between guidance and student attributes. For some, supporting short-term knowledge gains may inadvertenly lead to longer term negative impact on attitudes towards inquiry.     

Episodic and semantic memories of a residential environmental education program

This study used a phenomenological approach to investigate the recollections of participants of an environmental education (EE) residential program. Ten students who participated in a residential EE program in the fall of 2001 were interviewed in the fall of 2002. Three major themes relating to the participants’ long‐term memory of the residential EE program were identified: (a) recollections were highly influenced by actions taken by the students; (b) program content/subject matter was retained by all of the students to varying degrees; and (c) emotional reactions to the experience were present. The results seem to support the notion that active experiences have an important role in episodic recall. Results also suggest semantic memory was achieved. The authors offer a potential model of learning for residential EE programs that is structured on episodic/semantic memory systems and is reflective of the results of this study as well as current research in cognitive sciences.