Self-reported ability assessment in rock climbing

Level of ability within rock climbing is generally expressed in terms of a "best ascent", rated using various grading systems within the sport. The most common method of obtaining this information is via self-report. The aim of this study was to examine the validity of self-reported climbing grades. Twenty-nine competitive rock climbers (17 males, 12 females) were first asked to report their current (defined as within the last 12 months) best on-sight lead ascent grade (Aus/NZ). The participants then climbed a specifically designed indoor route, under on-sight conditions (one attempt, no route practice or preview), to obtain an assessed grade. The route increased in difficulty, and was such that the distance achieved by the climber corresponded to a particular grade. The mean (±standard deviation) self-reported and assessed grade was 22.6?±?3.4 and 22.0?±?3.0 (Aus/NZ) respectively. Despite slight over- and underestimations in males and females respectively, there was no statistically significant difference between self-reported and assessed on-sight climbing grades. The results of this study suggest that self-reported climbing grades provide a valid and accurate reflection of climbing ability.     

斯巴里德·佐安尼奥帝斯（希腊） 年龄越大,就越出色

希腊选手斯巴里德.佐安尼奥帝斯将要征战他本人的第四次奥运会。他在上海金山举行的第14届国际泳联世锦赛公开水域男子10公里的比赛中打败了令人生畏的德国选手托马斯.鲁尔兹（Thomas Lurz）,以1：54.24.7的成绩获得冠军,比鲁尔兹快2.5秒。     

That’s Not For Our Kids: The strange death of philosophy and ethics in a low socioeconomic secondary school

Abstract

This article reflects on the successes and failures of a new Philosophy and Ethics course in a low socioeconomic context in Perth, Western Australia, with the eventual demise of the subject in the school at the end of 2010. We frame this reflection within Deleuzian notions of geophilosophy to advocate for a Philosophy and Ethics that is informed by nomadic thought, as this offers a critical freedom for students to transform themselves and their society and suggests practical ways both of overcoming the prejudices which led to its demise and of student reluctance to engage in open discussion in class. We consider the demise of the course a ‘missed opportunity’ because it had so much potential to be transformative of student subjectivities in schools.     

Impact of Adaptive Materials on Teachers and their Students with Visual Impairments in Secondary Science and Mathematics Classes

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, important in today’s world, are underrepresented by students with disabilities. Students with visual impairments, although cognitively similar to sighted peers, face challenges as STEM subjects are often taught using visuals. They need alternative forms of access such as enlarged or audio‐converted text, tactile graphics, and involvement in hands‐on science. This project focused on increasing teacher awareness of and providing funds for the purchase of supplemental adaptive resources, supplies, and equipment. We examined attitude and instructional changes across the year of the programme in 15 science and mathematics teachers educating students with visual impairments. Positive changes were noted from pretest to posttest in student and teacher perspectives, and in teacher attitudes towards students with disabilities in STEM classes. Teachers also provided insights into their challenges and successes through a reflective narrative. Several adolescent students resisted accommodations to avoid appearing conspicuous to peers. Teachers implemented three strategies to address this: providing the adaptations to all students in the class; convincing the student of the need for adaptation; and involving the class in understanding and accepting the student’s impairment. A variety of teacher‐created adaptations for various science and mathematics labs are reported. Another finding was many adaptations provided for the student with visual impairment benefitted the entire class. This study supports the claim that given knowledgeable, supportive teachers, and with appropriate accommodations such as tactile or auditory materials, students with visual impairments can be as successful and engaged as other students in science and mathematics.     

Rethinking our underlying assumptions about what we do and why we do it: academic development as a case

In this paper, academic developers from universities in three countries explore underlying assumptions about what we as developers do and why we do it in relation to evaluating development programs. Through addressing three questions, key ideas emerge that highlight what is often overlooked in day-to-day practice: the fact that academic development has a ‘signature pedagogy’ defined by the ‘learning paradigm’; the potential role of different stakeholders in setting criteria for evaluation; and the inclusion of non-traditional academic development literatures (e.g., adult education, educational change, organizational development) to avoid perpetuating established practices. Our intent is to intellectually challenge ourselves and others to move beyond sharing program and evaluation activities to explore ideas and literature not often considered in our day-to-day work. While the context is academic development, we believe the questions and the answers that emerged are of value to all involved in staff and professional development.     

Supporting families: a nurturing teacher education strategy in Nauru

There has been little recent documentation concerning Pacific family support for family members locally involved in university study in their Pacific home country and how such responses affect both parties. Some studies dealing with family support for student family members, including Pacific families residing in the USA, have been published. A New Zealand Ministry of Education report on Pasifika students’ educational success rates raised the need for effective family support contexts. Another study researched the family support negotiation patterns of mature-age part-time students in Australia, Hong Kong and Papua New Guinea. Only one University of the South Pacific research focused on Pacific family and community expectations of family members studying and residing with their families in their Pacific home countries. This Nauru-based study describes mixed support responses from Nauruan families towards their teacher education student family members and Nauru Department of Education student engagement and well-being development strategies.     

Tensions in Community Health Improvement Initiatives: Communication and Collaboration in a Managed Care Environment

Between the years 1993 and 2000, the W. K. Kellogg Foundation sponsored the Comprehensive Community Health Models (CCHMs) Initiative in three Michigan counties. CCHMs was comprised of three closely related community initiatives carried out in the midst of a failed national health care reform effort and the continued penetration of managed care arrangements into many health care systems. This experimental initiative set out to test the hypothesis that traditional healthcare system animosities and exclusionary practices could be overcome by stakeholder participation in an ongoing, structured, collaborative dialogue about improving access to health services. In the process of collecting data through surveys, interviews, content analysis, and observation, we were struck by the occurrence of several overarching tensions that we perceive to exist in our data. The present article elucidates five such tensions and suggests how third parties such as communication researchers, evaluators, and practitioners can facilitate community health improvement initiatives and better their own data interpretation by acknowledging and understanding these tensions.     

The Triple Jump Exercise in Inquiry‐based Learning: a case study showing directions for further research

The Triple Jump is a versatile but under‐studied instrument, used both for developing and assessing problem‐based learning (PBL). This paper evaluates its assessment of inquiry‐based learning (IBL) in a graduate course, along with a Group Assessment Task. Students' performance on the Triple Jump was not related to satisfaction with their small‐group discussion prior to completing a self‐directed learning task. Analysis of the self‐directed learning task in terms of academic or pragmatic focus showed consistent differences between two markers — suggesting the need for more research into inter‐rater reliability and other characteristics of the Triple Jump exercise. Some simple strategies are recommended to make this instrument cost‐effective for assessing large classes.