Neuromuscular characteristics of endurance- and power-trained athletes

In response to chronic physical training, the human neuromuscular system undergoes significant and specific adaptations. More importantly, these influences are the result of the type and quantity of physical activity. One of the simplest neuromuscular mechanisms is the spinal stretch reflex. The reflex system was previously viewed as inflexible, with a relatively fixed response that could vary only slightly. However, more recent data have identified an adaptive plasticity in the reflex system. In this respect, the reflex system can be used to assess training and aging adaptations of the human neuromuscular system. Due to their methodological simplicity, both the tendon-tap reflex and the electrically evoked Hoffmann reflex (H-reflex) can be used to assess training adaptations of the human neuromuscular system. The purpose of this paper is to review briefly the tendon-tap and H-reflex paradigms and delineate the research findings pertaining to changes in the reflex system with physical training. For purposes of clarity, this discussion will be divided into the following: (a) differences observed in the tendon-tap reflex, (b) differences observed in the H-reflex, and (c) role of interneurons in mediating these changes.     

Helping students to become capable learners

The main aim of this article is to argue that the need for teachers and their schools to prepare their students for life beyond their school-days must be met by requiring teachers themselves to both achieve this aim and produce the evidence of their students’ capability as learners. In so doing, they must change their classroom teaching from a focus on transmission of content knowledge to the active involvement of students in open-ended and collaborative learning. Achievement of this aim requires that some specific features of pedagogy be implemented in classrooms. In order to do this, teachers will have to develop the linked skills of design of activities, of guidance of students’ progress, of the adaptation of the design through teacher-student and student-student interaction, and of making assessments at the many stages of implementation and as a final summation of achievement. So a secondary aim of this article is to review the evidence for work which has studied the development of these skills with and by teachers.     

“What Is Said Here”: Reflections on an Informal Community for Black Men at an Historically White Institution

Ray Black describes the need for a community for black male undergraduates, the benefits to its student members, and the responsibilities of its elders.     

Learning to detect error in movement timing using physical and observational practice

Three experiments assessed the possibility that a physical practice participant's ability to render appropriate movement timing estimates may be hindered compared to those who merely observed. Results from these experiments revealed that observers and physical practice participants executed and estimated the overall durations of movement sequences similarly and more accurately than those who were not privy to any previous practice. This was true for a case in which (a) the execution demands for the physical practice participant were relatively high when multiple movement sequences were practiced with a consistent relative time structure but different overall durations (Experiment 1) and (b) the execution demands were relatively modest when only a single sequential motor task was learned (Experiment 2). Moreover, this general set of findings remained true for individuals who had previous experience with physical or observational practice, even when timing estimations were made during tests with no execution demands (Experiment 3). Thus, executing a movement sequence does not appear to interfere with the development of a learner's subjective evaluation of overall timing performance. Specifically, these data provided evidence that recognizing error in movement timing can be accomplished via observation, and, more generally, they add to the growing evidence supporting the claim that observational practice is a legitimate method facilitating the acquisition of sequential movement behaviors.