Visual body pedagogies: how anti-oppressive education informs the teaching and learning of sporting bodies

In this article, the authors borrow from anti-oppressive education theory for its potential to disrupt how students visually conceive sporting bodies and to problematize the teaching and learning of these bodies within undergraduate physical education (PE) programs. Fourteen photo stories produced by students enrolled in PE programs at two universities were analysed using a semiotic approach to excavate the emergent themes of sporting bodies from the narratives. Relying on Kumashiro's anti-oppressive educational theoretical framework, the authors found that most of stories reified discursive practices that (re)produce gender oppression in sport. Despite these findings, the authors also discovered anti-oppressive pedagogies are useful for teaching against the body oppressions conveyed in the photo stories. How anti-oppressive education informs other areas of PE should be examined in the future.     

Sex-specific associations of moderate and vigorous physical activity with physical fitness in adolescents

The present study examined the sex-specific associations of moderate and vigorous physical activity (VPA) with physical fitness in 300 Japanese adolescents aged 12–14 years. Participants were asked to wear an accelerometer to evaluate physical activity (PA) levels of various intensities (i.e. moderate PA (MPA), 3–5.9 metabolic equivalents (METs); VPA, ≥6 METs; moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA), ≥3 METs). Eight fitness items were assessed (grip strength, bent-leg sit-up, sit-and-reach, side step, 50?m sprint, standing long jump, handball throw, and distance running) as part of the Japanese standardised fitness test. A fitness composite score was calculated using Japanese fitness norms, and participants were categorised according to their score from category A (most fit) to category E (least fit), with participants in categories D and E defined as having low fitness. It was found that for boys, accumulating more than 80.7?min/day of MVPA may reduce the probability of low fitness (odds ratio (ORs) [95% confidence interval (CI)]?=?0.17 [0.06–0.47], p?=?.001). For girls, accumulating only 8.4?min of VPA could reduce the likelihood of exhibiting low fitness (ORs [95% CI]?=?0.23 [0.05–0.89], p?=?.032). These results reveal that there are sex-specific differences in the relationship between PA and physical fitness in adolescents, suggesting that sex-specific PA recommendation may be needed to improve physical fitness in adolescents.     

Comparison of three web-scale discovery services for health sciences research

Objective

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relative effectiveness of three web-scale discovery (WSD) tools in answering health sciences search queries.

Methods

Simple keyword searches, based on topics from six health sciences disciplines, were run at multiple real-world implementations of EBSCO Discovery Service (EDS), Ex Libris''s Primo, and ProQuest''s Summon. Each WSD tool was evaluated in its ability to retrieve relevant results and in its coverage of MEDLINE content.

Results

All WSD tools returned between 50%–60% relevant results. Primo returned a higher number of duplicate results than the other 2 WSD products. Summon results were more relevant when search terms were automatically mapped to controlled vocabulary. EDS indexed the largest number of MEDLINE citations, followed closely by Summon. Additionally, keyword searches in all 3 WSD tools retrieved relevant material that was not found with precision (Medical Subject Headings) searches in MEDLINE.

Conclusions

None of the 3 WSD products studied was overwhelmingly more effective in returning relevant results. While difficult to place the figure of 50%–60% relevance in context, it implies a strong likelihood that the average user would be able to find satisfactory sources on the first page of search results using a rudimentary keyword search. The discovery of additional relevant material beyond that retrieved from MEDLINE indicates WSD tools'' value as a supplement to traditional resources for health sciences researchers.     

“I Heard it through the Grapevine”: Doctoral Student Socialization in Chemistry and History

Twenty doctoral students in the disciplines of chemistry and history were interviewed to better understand the socialization processes that influence their success and how these processes differ by year in the degree program and disciplinary culture. Five major themes emerged describing these socialization processes and how they facilitate or impede degree success, including Ambiguity, describing the programmatic guidelines and expectations that surrounded much of the students’ experience; Balance, pointing to the students’ need to balance graduate school responsibilities along with external relationships and demands; Independence, describing the students’ desire to find equilibrium as they transitioned to the role of independent scholar; Development, highlighting the significant cognitive, personal, and professional development that occurs in these students’ graduate experience; and Support, describing the faculty, peer, and financial support needed for the students’ success in their degree programs. Suggestions for policy, practice, and further research are discussed.     

Establishing a Center to Support Faculty Research

This article describes the establishment in fall 2002 of a School of Education Research Center designed to support faculty in increasing productivity and quality in research. Details are provided about center goals, services, staffing, space, resources, and logistics during the first year of operation. In addition, data are shared about faculty usage of the Center, the level of faculty satisfaction with center services in the first year, and initial increases in faculty productivity. The article concludes with plans for continued data collection to monitor the impact of the Center, a discussion of lessons learned at this point in the Center's development, and possibilities for the evolution of the Center. All authors are at the University of Colorado, Denver. Laura Goodwin, Ph.D., University of Colorado at Boulder, is Interim Associate Vice Chancellor for Faculty Affairs and continues to serve as a Faculty Research Associate. Elizabeth Kozleski, Ed.D., University of Northern Colorado, is the Associate Dean for Research in the School of Education. Lynn Rhodes, Ed.D., Indiana University, is the Dean of the School of Education. Rodney Muth, Ph.D., Claremont Graduate School, is a professor of Administrative Leadership and Policy Studies in the school and chaired the Research Center Advisory Board. Kim Kennedy White, M.A., University of Oregon, was the original School of Education Research Center Coordinator and was responsible for collecting most of the data included in this study.     

The role of education in Jewish continuity: a response to Jonathan Sacks

Contrasting explanations of Jewish survival form the backdrop to this article. For Jonathan Sacks (1994 Sacks, J. 1994. Will We Have Jewish Grandchildren?, Ilford: Vallentine Mitchell.  [Google Scholar]) the crucial factor has been the role played by Jewish education; indeed, he claims that the demographic threat currently facing Anglo‐Jewry is largely the result of the community having neglected the Jewish education of its children over the past 200 years. He advocates reinstating this communal responsibility as the sovereign Jewish value in order to deal with the threat. In my view, the influence that Sacks attributes to education and particularly to Jewish schools is overstated. It stems from a misreading of modern Anglo‐Jewish history and from a failure to take fully into account the ways in which Jewish schools impact on their pupils’ ethnic and religious identity. These considerations apart, I contend that prioritising education will not necessarily strengthen the commitment to Jewish continuity that is the sine qua non of survival.     

The role of educators of the deaf in the early identification of hearing loss

About 16,000 babies each year will be identified with hearing loss by age 3 months once universal newborn hearing screening becomes a reality. Identification of hearing loss in infancy, followed by appropriate intervention by age 6 months, can result in normal language development, regardless of degree of hearing loss. As the average age of identification of hearing loss moves downward toward 2 months, children with hearing loss will enter the educational system earlier and with language skills commensurate with those of their hearing peers. In order to provide appropriate services to children with hearing loss and their families, early interventionists will need to forge links to health care providers involved in universal newborn hearing screening programs, to have specialized training in deafness and hearing loss, and to have expertise in providing services to very young children and to children with hearing loss in the broad range from mild to profound.