Middle leadership in international schools: evidence from Malaysia

This paper examines middle leadership of the heads of English, maths and science departments in four international secondary schools in Malaysia. It focuses on their roles, responsibilities, role relationships, instructional engagement and leadership involvement within the theoretical framework of instructional, distributed and teacher leadership. The study is a qualitative multi-method case study, involving observation, documentary analysis, and semi-structured interviews with 12 heads of department, 36 teachers, and four principals. With respect to the middle leaders’ roles and responsibilities, the findings illustrate cross-school and in-school differential developments, with contextual factors contributing to uneasy role relationships. The results also show that, while broad-based leadership opportunities are limited for the middle leaders and teachers, the most powerful and common feature of all these international schools is the centrality of teaching and learning.     

Optimal presentation of graphic organizers and text: A case for large bites?

In three experiments, we investigated the optimal presentation of graphic organizers (GOs) and text by having undergraduates read a chapter-length text in its entirety, a few pages at a time, or a few sentences at a time, before or after viewing seven GOs in their entirety (large bites), one at a time (small bites), or one cell at a time (animated). Large bites were better than small bites for learning concept relations and applying that knowledge, and for recalling macropropositions when the GOs were presented before text. Animated GOs offered no advantages over the large-bites GOs at first presentation and considerably extended total study time. Presenting several GOs first, followed by the entire text, appears to be optimal in directing students’ attention to across-chapter relations in text.     

Developing Human Capital: training and mentoring for principals

The links between educational development and economic capability are widely recognised and have provided part of the rationale for the shift to market concepts of education in many countries. As more functions have been devolved to school level, it has become increasingly evident that principals require training and development to carry out their new responsibilities and to lead improvement in their schools. In Singapore, aspiring principals take a 1‐year training course which includes mentoring by an established principal. In England and Wales, the new National Professional Qualification for Headship is undertaken on a part‐time basis and adopts a quasi competence model without a mentoring dimension. This article compares the two approaches and concludes that training is likely to be more effective if mentoring is a central component of the process.     

Phases of match-play in professional Australian Football: Distribution of physical and technical performance

ABSTRACT

The current study aimed to describe the distribution of physical and technical performance during the different phases of play in professional Australian Football. The phases of play (offence, defence, contested play, umpire stoppages, set shots and goal resets) were manually coded from video footage for a single team competing in 18 matches in the Australian Football League. Measures of physical performance including total distance (m), average speed (m · min^?1), low-speed running (LSR, <14.4 km h^?1), high-speed running (HSR, >14.4 km h^?1), accelerations (2.78 m · s^?2) and decelerations (?2.78 m · s^?2) were derived from each phase of play via global positioning system (GPS) devices. Technical skill data including tackles, handballs and kicks were obtained from a commercial statistics provider and derived from each phase of play. Linear mixed-effects models and effect sizes were used to assess and reflect the differences in physical and technical performance between the six phases of play. Activity and recovery cycles, defined as periods where the ball was in or out of play were also described using mean and 95% confidence intervals. The analysis showed that several similarities existed between offence and defence for physical performance metrics. Contested play involved the highest total distance, LSR, accelerations, decelerations and tackles compared to all other phases. Offence and defence involved the highest average speed and HSR running distances. Handballs and kicks were highest during offence, while tackles were highest during contested play, followed by defence. Activity and recovery cycles involved mean durations of ~110 and ~39 s and average speeds of ~160 and ~84 m · min^?1, respectively. The integration of video, GPS and technical skill data can be used to investigate specific phases of Australian Football match-play and subsequently guide match analysis and training design.     

A continuous integraph

A mechanical integraph has been developed which plots continuously the integral of the product of two functions. It uses the principle of the electrical integrating watthour-meter combined with a moving table. Errors of the machine have been reduced to an average of 1 per cent. for common uses. By cross-connecting the device in a simple mechanical way, it is possible to solve certain types of integral equations. A link motion has been added which plots the product of two given functions. Various uses have been made of the instrument for solving problems in connection with electrical circuits, continuous beams, etc., and certain problems involving integral equations.     

Mandated state-level open government training programs

Although every state in the country has recognized the importance of government transparency by enacting open government provisions, few of those statutes require training programs to encourage records custodians to comply with the law. Ten states mandate training in how to legally respond to public records requests, and some mandates are stronger than others. Using the qualitative research methods of legal statutory analysis, interviews, and content analysis, this paper explores how those states comply with the training mandates. The paper evaluates trainers' pedagogical goals, their opinions of the process, and their perceptions of the people they train. It concludes with suggestions for how states can develop open government training programs.     

“We've Got to Keep Meeting Like This”: A Pilot Study Comparing Academic Performance in Shifting-Membership Cooperative Groups Versus Stable-Membership Cooperative Groups in an Introductory-Level Lab

This study examined possible ways to increase student engagement in small sections of a large, introductory-level, required university course. Research shows that cooperative group learning boosts achievement through fostering better interpersonal relationships between students. Cooperative group learning is an evidence-based instructional practice engaging students in active learning. The present study investigated whether cooperative groups with sustained-membership functioned more effectively for boosting performance than shifting-membership cooperative groups. Findings indicated that the amount of class time spent in groups influenced the impact of shifting or sustained-membership. A significant difference in performance was found for sustained-group students when group activities were used the majority of the time during recitation.     

Teaching Peacemaking in Criminal Justice: Experiential Applications

As educators, we recognize that students often come to the classroom with preconceived notions about the criminal justice system that shape their subsequent learning. One such notion revolves around the effectiveness of the “war on crime” model of the criminal justice system. Many students feel that this model is the best way to achieve “justice.” Teaching peacemaking represents an opportunity to introduce the students to a new way of thinking about the criminal justice system. This paper explores how experiential learning strategies can facilitate students’ learning of peacemaking. Suggestions also are made about how peacemaking can be implemented into the pedagogy of criminal justice professors.