A community approach to pre-school provision

The National Year of Reading and the National Literacy Strategy have created demand for the involvement of professional writers, and partnerships between arts agencies and LEAs. The author explores the values and perspectives writers bring to regulated and politicised versions of reading and literacy and argues that writers can create a larger vision of reading and writing skills than is contained in functional versions of literacy, drawing on case studies of two projects organised with support from the Arts Council of England's National Year of Reading Writers in Schools scheme.     

British running performances in the eighteenth century

Our aims were to improve our understanding of human performance before 1850 and to put nineteenth- and twentieth-century performances into a broader historical context. Consequently, 536 foot-races performed in Britain in the 'long' eighteenth century were identified, 53 of which were analysed in detail. The best performances at the end of the eighteenth century were compared with those at the end of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The data for the nineteenth century were marginally better than those for the eighteenth century up to 20 km, but beyond that Thomas Carlisle's time, set in about 1740, of 2 hours for 21 miles was outstanding. Current records are shown to be better than earlier records at all distances from 5 km up to the marathon, the superiority being most pronounced from 15 km upwards.     

The baton exchange during the 4×100 m relay: a mathematical analysis

Using mathematical analysis, we examined the three baton exchanges that occur during a 4×100 m relay. Identical representative 100 m running performances were assumed for each of four elite male athletes, and the calculations were made for optimal or near-optimal positions of the baton exchanges and starting positions of the athletes running the second, third and fourth legs as determined by Ward-Smith and Radford (2002). In this paper, we focus on the calculation of the checkmark position and demonstrate the complexity of the baton exchange process. The results of the mathematical analysis show that, for optimal performance, the checkmark should be located differently for each of the three exchanges in a single race, and is further affected by lane draw and free distance (the distance between the runners at the baton exchange). For a representative free distance of 1 m at each exchange, the checkmark distance ranges from a minimum of 11.04 m at the third exchange in Lane 1 to 12.20 m for the first exchange in Lane 8. Failure by teams and their coaches to consider adequately the complexities of the baton exchanges may help explain why 25.5% of teams in recent World Championships were disqualified or did not finish.     

The “Living” Case: Structuring Storytelling to Increase Student Interest,Interaction, and Learning

Storytelling has always been a powerful form of teaching and continues to be a compelling way to build and communicate theory. Storytelling brings learning to life, helping students grasp the intricacies and nuances of today's challenging decision‐making environment. One form of classroom storytelling involves the use of guest speakers. Carefully selected guest speakers bring a unique credibility to the classroom. However, integrating guest speakers into the curriculum is not without challenges. For example, although they possess valuable experience, not all guest speakers are (1) engaging, (2) familiar with the course content and learning objectives, and (3) versed in effective pedagogy. According to student feedback, poorly planned guest speaker interactions can actually diminish the learning experience. Bringing greater structure to the guest speaker's visit can help mitigate these challenges and make the most out of precious class time and guest speaker experience. Structured storytelling via guest‐speaker‐specific case studies perform this role.

相似文献   

Impaired performance of children with dyslexia on a range of cerebellar tasks

It is now thought that the cerebellum is involved in the acquisition of “language dexterity” in addition to its established role in motor skill acquisition and execution. Mild cerebellar impairment, therefore, provides a possible explanation of a range of problems shown by children with dyslexia. The authors have established suggestive evidence in support of this hypothesis in tests of balance and of time estimation. In a further test of the hypothesis, a battery of clinical tests for cerebellar impairment, including tests of muscle tone and of coordination, was administered to matched groups of children with dyslexia and control children aged 10, 14, and 18 years (55 subjects in all). The children with dyslexia showed highly significant impairments on all the cerebellar tests, and significant impairment compared even with reading age controls on 11 of the 14 tasks. Deficits on the majority of tests were among the largest found in our research program. The findings, therefore, provide further intriguing evidence of cerebellar impairment in dyslexia. We speculate that the well-established phonological deficits in dyslexia may arise initially from inefficient articulatory control attributable to cerebellar impairment.     

Computer-assisted reading intervention in a secondary school: an evaluation study

There is widespread concern over literacy standards in UK schools and growing evidence that problems become increasingly intractable as children grow older. Computer-based reading instruction may provide a 'fresh start' that helps a child to rediscover the path to literacy. Recent controlled studies demonstrated that infant and junior school children could be given very cost-effective support using RITA, a computer-based literacy support system that assists, rather than replaces, the teacher in providing support tailored to each child's profile of reading attainments. The present study evaluated the effectiveness of RITA in secondary school with 8 children (mean age 11.7 years) who were initially very seriously disadvantaged in terms of literacy skills (mean reading age 7.3 years). The RITA intervention over a 10 week period led to effective and cost-effective literacy gains. Significant overall improvements were made in the skills targeted, including reading standard scores, and reading speed, accuracy and comprehension. All children reacted positively to the RITA lessons, and most made good progress towards their Individual Education Plans. It is suggested that computer-assisted reading support can be effective in supporting the majority of children with reading failure, even in secondary school.     

Investigating expectations and experiences of audio and written assignment feedback in first-year undergraduate students

Previous research suggests that audio feedback may be an important mechanism for facilitating effective and timely assignment feedback. The present study examined expectations and experiences of audio and written feedback provided through turnitin for iPad^® from students within the same cohort and assignment. The results showed that although initially sceptical of audio compared to written feedback, there were no significant differences in students' experiences of audio and written feedback. Students' performance on the assignment was not associated with their experiences of audio feedback but first-class performing students (?>?70%) had more positive experiences of written feedback than those who received an upper second-class grade (60–69%). In general, the results imply that audio feedback provided through turnitin for iPad^® is a viable alternative to written feedback. The findings are discussed in relation to past research findings.