Nonshared environmental influences on individual differences in early behavioral development: a monozygotic twin differences study

The monozygotic (MZ) twin differences method was used to investigate nonshared environmental (NSE) influences independent of genetics. Four-year-old MZ twin pairs (N = 2,353) were assessed by their parents on 2 parenting measures (harsh parental discipline and negative parental feelings) and 4 behavioral measures (anxiety, prosocial behavior, hyperactivity, and conduct problems). Within-pair differences in parenting correlated significantly with MZ differences in behavior, with an average effect size of 3%. For the extreme 10% of the parenting-discordant and behavior-discordant distributions, the average NSE effect size was substantially greater (11%), suggesting a stronger NSE relationship for more discordant twins. NSE relationships were also stronger in higher risk environments, that is, families with lower socioeconomic status, greater family chaos, or greater maternal depression.     

Insiders’ perspectives: a children's rights approach to involving children in advising on adult-initiated research

Consulting with children is widely recognised as an essential element in building understanding about children's lives. From a children's rights perspective, it is also a legal requirement on professionals working with children. However, translating the rhetoric into research and practice is still evolving. Previous studies report on working with children as co-researchers where children are involved in different phases of the research process in a bid to provide their unique perspectives. This small-scale study takes the view that children not only have the right to be involved in the research process but they also have the right to be informed and have their understanding developed about the issues being researched. This allows for a more apprised view which can enhance children's participation in advising on the research and interpreting data. Therefore, this small-scale study reports on working with a children's research advisory group in developing their understanding about popular culture and writing in the primary classroom before involving these children as advisors in the research process.     

The Role of Postural Support in Young Adults’ Control of Stationary Kicking

Purpose: The requirement for postural stability during the performance of motor skills has been clearly demonstrated in infants, but the necessity for such a postural substrate is not well documented in adults. The present study investigated the role of postural stability during a ballistic ball-kicking task in adults by providing varying degrees of external postural support. Method: In the 1st experiment, 30 participants performed 20 maximal-velocity kicks under each of 3 conditions: grasping a rigid stable handle, light fingertip touch, and grasping a suspended elastic tube. A 2nd experiment with 16 participants varied the position of the stable handle to examine if the handle position in Experiment 1 might simply act as a fulcrum to enhance torque generation. Results: In Experiment 1, ball velocity was significantly higher in the stable-grasp condition in both men and women with the men showing greater improvement relative to the other conditions. Experiment 2 showed that the position of the stable handle did not significantly affect kicking velocity, indicating that the handle was not simply acting as a fulcrum during the kick. Conclusion: Together, the findings suggest that postural stability may be a rate limiter in the performance of dynamic motor tasks in adults.     

Professional Control and Lay Governance in Schools: Implications for Addressing Student Diversity

While we commonly accept that the purpose of schools properly focuses on teaching and learning, the focus of control over these functions has traditionally resided far from the school-site level of the professional, and with the lay board of education. The potential impact of the tension between these arenas of professional control and lay governance as it relates to the development of instructional strategies for addressing issues of student diversity within schools remains largely unexamined. This reviews some new and different models of school governance which have been generated to consider how those models, while continuing to offer a needed lay perspective on public education, may also better accommodate teacher professionalism outcomes for addressing student diversity.     

Teaching teachers: An investigation of beliefs in teacher education students

Influenced by work on learner-centred education, teacher efficacy and teachers’ concerns, we conducted an investigation of the influence of 185 preservice teachers’ teacher efficacy and concerns on their learner-centred beliefs. Learner-centred beliefs were selected for the purposes of this study as the best indicator of future teaching actions because these preservice teachers had not yet entered the classroom or engaged in teaching practices. Preservice teacher efficacy and concerns, individually and collectively, significantly influenced learner-centred beliefs. These findings indicate that teacher education can facilitate the development of learner-centred beliefs by addressing these trainable characteristics and demonstrate the need to further explore both teacher efficacy and concerns as they relate to learner-centred education within teacher education programs.     

Physical literacy and inclusion: A scoping review of the physical literacy literature inclusive of individuals experiencing disability

PROSPECTS - Although inclusion is a fundamental tenet of physical literacy (PL), its applicability and inclusivity related to individuals experiencing disability has been assumed but is not well...