The Role of Preschool Relational and Physical Aggression in the Transition to Kindergarten: Links With Social-Psychological Adjustment

Research Findings: The transition to kindergarten has important ramifications for future achievement and psychosocial outcomes. Research suggests that physical aggression may be related to difficulty during school transitions, yet no studies to date have examined the role of relational aggression in these transitions. This article examines how engagement in preschool physical and relational aggression predict psychosocial adjustment during the kindergarten school year. Observations and teacher reports of aggression were collected in preschool, and kindergarten teachers reported on student–teacher relationship quality, child internalizing problems, and peer acceptance in kindergarten. Results suggested that preschool physical aggression predicted reduced peer acceptance and increased conflict with the kindergarten teacher. High levels of relational aggression, when not combined with physical aggression, were related to more positive transitions to kindergarten in the domains assessed. Practice or Policy: These data lend support to the need for interventions among physically aggressive preschoolers that target not only concurrent behavior but also future aggression and adjustment in kindergarten. Thus, educators should work to encourage social influence in more prosocial ways among aggressive preschoolers.     

Collaboration in ePortfolios with Web 2.0 tools in initial teacher training / La colaboración en eportafolios con herramientas de la Web 2.0 en la formación docente inicial

Collaboration is a specific process in the construction of portfolios. In the case of electronic portfolios, Web 2.0 tools make collaboration a key process. The process known as networking refers to the online connection and collaboration with others, which the social web contributes to the literature of electronic portfolios. This research describes and analyses the pilot implementation of an ePortfolio in the Early Childhood degree programme at the Ibiza Campus of the University of the Balearic Islands. The paper presents a qualitative research study which aims to understand collaborative students’ activity from multiple points of view. In view of this, the data collection techniques used are diverse: analysis of work done by students, Likert scale and group discussion. Atlas.ti software has been used to obtain a qualitative analysis of the students’ discourse. In general, the results show positive attitudes, with a gradual increase noticed in the students’ use of the tools and, finally, with collaboration being expressed in peer work, especially in relation to technology. The analysis carried out enables us to observe tensions between open tools, collaboration and assessment. The research has important implications for practice as it allows us to deduce how to improve the collaboration process in ePortfolios thanks to the introduction of Web 2.0 tools.     

5x5x5=Creativity: Art as a Transformative Practice

The purpose of this article is to share ideas from 5x5x5=creativity, a research initiative established in Bath (UK) in 2000, with the aim of developing and embedding a creative and reflective pedagogy in schools and early years settings. 5x5x5=creativity research, in partnership with schools, educators, artists, creative professionals, mentors and cultural centres, aims to raise the aspirations and improve the life chances of children and young people as creative learners. In our research we want to develop creative reflective practice and influence systemic educational change. This research defends the special role of the arts in developing a more flexible concept of education through curiosity and creativity, together with the capacity for the arts for allows ‘possibility thinking’ through a creative and critical pedagogy. In this article we analyse the impact of the artists’ involvement on the development of a creative, reflective pedagogy in schools. As both artists and educators we believe it is necessary to challenge current orthodoxies and establish creative and critical thinking at the heart of learning for both children and adults.     

The effect of crank inertial load on the physiological and biomechanical responses of trained cyclists

The existing literature suggests that crank inertial load has little effect on the responses of untrained cyclists. However, it would be useful to be aware of any possible effect in the trained population, particularly considering the many laboratory-based studies that are conducted using relatively low-inertia ergometers. Ten competitive cyclists (mean VO(2max) = 62.7 ml x kg(-1) x min(-1), s = 6.1) attended the human performance laboratories at the University of Wolverhampton. Each cyclist completed two 7-min trials, at two separate inertial loads, in a counterbalanced order. The inertial loads used were 94.2 kg x m(2) (high-inertia trial) and 2.4 kg x m(2) (low-inertia trial). Several physiological and biomechanical measures were undertaken. There were no differences between inertial loads for mean peak torque, mean minimum torque, oxygen uptake, blood lactate concentration or perceived exertion. Several measures showed intra-individual variability with blood lactate concentration and mean minimum torque, demonstrating coefficients of variation > 10%. However, the results presented here are mostly consistent with previous work in suggesting that crank inertial load has little direct effect on either physiology or propulsion biomechanics during steady-state cycling, at least when cadence is controlled.     

The effects of an increasing versus constant crank rate on peak physiological responses during incremental arm crank ergometry

We examined the effects of concomitant increases in crank rate and power output on incremental arm crank ergometry. Ten healthy males undertook three incremental upper body exercise tests to volitional exhaustion. The first test determined peak minute power. The subsequent tests involved arm cranking at an initial workload of 40% peak minute power with further increases of 10% peak minute power every 2 min. One involved a constant crank rate of 70 rev · min(-1), the other an initial crank rate of 50 rev · min(-1) increasing by 10 rev · min(-1) every 2 min. Fingertip capillary blood samples were analysed for blood lactate at rest and exhaustion. Local (working muscles) and cardiorespiratory ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) were recorded at the end of each exercise stage. Heart rate and expired gas were monitored continuously. No differences were observed in peak physiological responses or peak minute power achieved during either protocol. Blood lactate concentration tended to be greater for the constant crank rate protocol (P = 0.06). Test duration was shorter for the increasing than for the constant crank rate protocol. The relationship between local RPE and heart rate differed between tests. The results of this study show that increasing cadence during incremental arm crank ergometry provides a valid assessment of peak responses over a shorter duration but alters the heart rate-local RPE relationship.     

Activity Achievement Emotions and Academic Performance: A Meta-analysis

Educational Psychology Review - Achievement emotions are emotions linked to academic, work, or sports achievement activities (activity emotions) and their success and failure outcomes (outcome...     

Testing,training and tensions: the expression of health within physical education curricula in secondary schools in England and Wales

This paper utilises critical discourse analysis to explore and discuss the expression of health within physical education (PE) curricula in secondary schools in England and Wales. The study adopted a case study approach, involving three state secondary schools in England and two in Wales. Data were drawn from interviews with PE teachers and health-related school documentation in the five schools plus observation of a health-related unit of work in one of the schools. The expression of health in PE broadly reflected ideologies associated with promoting ‘fitness for life’ and ‘fitness for performance’. The extent to which teachers could express their favoured discourses in policy and practice was partly determined by their position of power, relative to others within the department, although they could find ways of privileging their favoured discourse in their own lessons. Curiously, rhetorical ‘fitness for life’ discourses were commonly expressed through ‘fitness for performance’ practices in the form of testing and training activities. These were found to be the most common contexts for the delivery of health-related learning. In terms of Bernstein's location of discourses within contexts of educational systems, the findings suggest that recontextualisation of statutory PE curricula occurred at the site of the relocation of discourse (in this case, within PE departments in secondary state schools), resulting in the privileging of discourses heavily influenced by sport- and fitness-related ideologies. Improved awareness of the expression of health in secondary school PE curricula should help to better understand and address the complex tensions between health-related policies and practices in schools.     

The up-front legacies of France 2019: changing the face of ‘le foot féminin’

ABSTRACT

The drive to develop women’s football in France, a game 100 years old albeit one long-stigmatised, was thrust into high gear in 2011. Since then, a confluence of events and cultural changes, from on-field results and officials’ investment of greater resources to winning the 2019 World Cup host bid, greater mediatisation of women’s players, and more – including the spectacular 2010 meltdown of Les Bleus in South Africa – have combined to energise and grow the game. This newfound dynamism was unforeseen a decade ago and illustrates some of France’s biggest World Cup legacies: the up-front investments underpinning the sport’s development during the 2010s, and the ways the country has repackaged itself as a champion of women’s football and women in football, forever changing the face of ‘le foot féminin’.     

Potential mediating pathways through which sports participation relates to reduced risk of suicidal ideation

Suicide ranks as the third leading cause of death for American youth. Researchers examining sport participation and suicidal behavior have regularly found inverse relationships. This study represents the first effort to test a model depicting potential mechanisms through which sport participation relates to reduced risk of suicidal ideation. The participants were 450 undergraduate students. Measures assessed participants' involvement in university-run sports and other activities; frequency of physical activity; and perceived social support, self-esteem, depression, hopelessness, loneliness, and suicidal ideation. Regression analyses confirmed a path model and tested for mediation effects. Vigorous activity mediated relationships between sport participation and self-esteem and depression; and self-esteem and depression mediated the relationship between vigorous activity and suicidal ideation. Social support mediated relationships between sport participation and depression, hopelessness, and loneliness; and each of these risk factors partially mediated the relationship between social support and suicidal ideation. However no variable fully mediated the relationship between sport participation and suicidal ideation. This study provides a foundation for research designed to examine pathways through which sport participation relates to reduced risk of suicidal behavior.