Shame in sport

ABSTRACT

To date, there has been little philosophical consideration of the concept of shame in sport, yet sport seems to be an environment conducive to the experience of shame due to its public and unequivocal nature demonstrating failure and success. Whilst much of the philosophical commentary of shame in sport suggests it acts as a quasi-virtue that holds the spirit of sport together and prevents cheating and other bad behaviour, I will argue that the real experience of shame (in contrast to embarrassment or guilt) is an adverse emotion, that undermines athlete well being and a good sports experience. This paper will provide an analysis of the concept of shame and its relation to other similar emotions, consider its ethical function, and evaluate its effect upon elite athletes in sport. I will conclude by arguing that those involved in sport need to recognise the destructive effect that shame can have upon individuals, how it can manifest itself in other negative emotions such as anger and depression and how sports authorities need to work harder to counter the pervasive and negative effects of shame in sport.     

A Further Study of Personalized Instruction for Students in Large University Classes

The 161 students enrolling in a beginning psychology course were taught using a variant of Keller’s personalized instructional procedures. Course material was divided into twelve units and complete mastery of the material in each unit was demonstrated with a short written examination and a brief interview conducted by a more advanced student. Students could progress through the course material at their own rate. Data are reported on the number of students who withdrew from the course, when they withdrew, and characteristics of their performance prior to withdrawal. For students who completed the course, data on rate of completion of course requirements and level of mastery of course material are presented. Furthermore, student evaluation of various facets of the course are summarized. Of special interest is the finding that student test evaluators were rated as a very favorable feature of the course, and that there was no apparent distinction made between graduate-student and undergraduate evaluators. This suggests that the instructional manpower pool might be extended through the careful use of undergraduates in the college classroom.     

Innovation,Creativity, and Meaning: Leading in the Information Age

Today's fast paced global environment requires information professionals to be leaders keeping pace with user needs. Two academic research libraries share their work seeking to ensure and leverage the creativity in their organizations focusing on the most meaningful innovative opportunities. The premise is that usefulness and appropriateness is achieved through strategic alignment, thereby opening the door of opportunity for innovative products and services. The ability to seize the opportunity each group seeks to meet is due to the recognition by the organization of that alignment. And so, organizational perception, awareness, and value all affect the successful implementation of creativity. The products and services presented in this article, Harvard's Baker Library Historical Collections Online and Purdue University's career wiki, stem from organizational alignment, and the work of the leadership teams to influence perception, create awareness, and demonstrate value.     

Does engagement in Forest School influence perceptions of risk,held by children,their parents,and their school staff?

In a climate where, it is claimed, children now spend very little time out of doors because adults fear for their safety and impose a ‘zero risk childhood’ on them, Forest School aims to offer learners the opportunity to take ‘supported risks’. This study investigated perceptions of risk associated with the outdoors, held by children, their parents and practitioners, and whether accessing Forest School impacts on these perceptions of risk. Practitioners were generally either strongly risk-averse or strongly permissive; Forest School influenced them to be less risk-averse in some respects. Parents held ambiguous perceptions, wanting to keep their children very safe but also to help them develop strong and confident attitudes to risk. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Narrative elaboration and participation: two dimensions of maternal elicitation style

This study investigated the narrative scaffolding styles of Spanish-speaking and English-speaking mothers as they engaged their preschool-aged children in family reminiscing and book sharing interactions. Specifically, the study examined the dimensions of narrative elaboration and participation in mothers' scaffolding styles across the 2 narrative tasks. Cluster analyses identified 2 styles of maternal scaffolding for each context, differing in the degree to which mothers elaborated, the manner in which they did so, and the extent to which they encouraged child participation. Findings highlight the importance of both narrative elaboration and narrative participation as defining dimensions of maternal scaffolding styles. Results are discussed in relation to variations in socialization practices and the role these practices might play in children's development.     

Expediency‐based practice? Medical students' reliance on Google and Wikipedia for biomedical inquiries

Internet usage logs captured during self‐directed learning sessions were used to determine how undergraduate medical students used five popular sites to locate and access biomedical resources. Students' perceptions of each site's usefulness and reliability were determined through a survey. Google and Wikipedia were the most frequently used sites despite students rating them as the least reliable of the five sites investigated. The library—the students' primary point of access to online journals—was the least used site, and when using Google less than 40% of pages or resources located by students were from ‘high’ quality sources. Students' use of all sites' search tools was unsophisticated. Despite being avid users of online information and search tools, the students targeted in this study appeared to lack the requisite information‐seeking skills to make the most of online resources. Although there is evidence that these skills improved over time, a greater emphasis on information literacy skills training may be required to ensure that graduates are able to locate the best available evidence to support their professional practice.     

Mind what mother says: narrative input and theory of mind in typical children and those on the autism spectrum

In 2 studies mothers read wordless storybooks to their preschool-aged children; narratives were analyzed for mental state language. Children's theory-of-mind understanding (ToM) was concurrently assessed. In Study 1, children's (N=30; M age 3 years 9 months) ToM task performance was significantly correlated with mothers' explanatory, causal, and contrastive talk about cognition, but not with mothers' simple mentions of cognition. In Study 2, the same pattern was found in an older sample of typically developing children (N=24; M age 4 years 7 months), whereas for children on the autism spectrum (N=24; M age 6 years 7.5 months), ToM task performance was uniquely correlated with mothers' explanatory, causal, and contrastive talk about emotions.     

Student perception of assessment practices: towards ‘no loser’ classrooms for all students in the ethnic minority schools in Hong Kong

As part of a wide-scale education reform, Hong Kong schools have been focusing on the creation of ‘no loser’ classrooms that support learning for all students (Education Commission 2000). This article examined both groups of ethnic minority and Chinese students’ perception of assessment practices and the extent to which classroom practice is consistent with preferred assessment practices. The 11 items of assessment practices list, developed by Brown et al. (2009a), were used to investigate the perceptions of 1,518 student respondents from 15 primary and secondary schools, in which a large number of ethnic minority students were accommodated. A confirmatory factor analysis showed that the respondents in the group from secondary schools viewed teacher-dominated assessment as the most important assessment practice in the model examined (Brown et al. Learning and Instruction, 19(2), 97–111, 2009b) whereas those in the primary group considered teacher-student interactive assessment as the most important practice. Also, three perceptions of assessment practices of ethnic minority students were confirmed: teacher-dominated, student-centred and teacher-student interactive. Amongst them, the most preferred one was the teacher-student interaction assessment practice. Finally, the implications of the creation of a no loser classroom for all students are discussed.     

Empowering student learning through Tablet PCs: A case study

Empowering students to learn through ICT is seen as a way to address the growing awareness and demand for preparing students to effectively participate in the emerging global knowledge economy. It is believed that, in order to maintain competitiveness in a global economy, traditional classroom practices must be re-conceptualized in a way that enables students to engage themselves in knowledge building, to become more self-directed, and to assume greater autonomy and social responsibility over their own learning. In this article, we report a case study on the use of Tablet PCs to support teaching and learning in a primary school in Hong Kong, and provide insights into how schools can harness and capitalize on the opportunities offered by such emerging technologies.