Communication apprehension and general anxiety in the prediction of public speaking anxiety

The communication apprehension (CA) construct is based on the assumption that information about a person's tendency to experience anxiety in communication situations provides unique information, beyond that provided by assessing that person's predisposition to experience anxiety in general, in predicting anxiety when forced to communicate. However, the validity of this assumption is uncertain. In the present study, the predictive power of the PRCA‐24 and a general anxiety measure was examined at three separate intervals during a semester long public speaking course. Results indicated that, at the outset, the PRCA‐24 and the general anxiety measure predicted anxiety experienced during public speaking with equal power. By the end of the semester, the PRCA‐24 was clearly superior to the general measure in predicting self‐reported performance anxiety.     

“We Must Not Think Evil of This Man”: A Case Study of Amish and English Forgiveness

Previous research on forgiveness has taken place with little accounting for contextual influence, assuming a rather universal definition and practice across different contexts. Using discourse analysis, this study explores the social construction of forgiveness in media texts by comparing discussions of Amish and English forgiveness. The results of this study problematize a singular, uniform notion of forgiveness, instead framing it as a contextually bounded, discursive phenomenon. This study suggests that an alternative approach to studying forgiveness can shed light on otherwise overlooked dimensions of the forgiveness process.     

Science,technology and society in transition year: A pilot study

This is the first report on the findings of a survey carried out on 578 students entering computing courses at seven institutes of technology in Ireland in 2001. The progress of this cohort of students is charted through the four years of their course using questionnaires and interviews. It is envisioned that the study will highlight the different relationships and patterns of association between these students’ progression at college and their entry characteristics. The findings presented in this article are from a section of the questionnaire administered to students in year one of their studies. It was designed to explore students’ experiences of computing prior to their entry to college. The students’ exposure to computing and their enjoyment of computing at second level was documented. Relationships between students’ experiences of computing at second level and their success/failure to progress in their course in third level are investigated.     

Minimal Groups Increase Young Children's Motivation and Learning on Group‐Relevant Tasks

Three experiments (N = 130) used a minimal group manipulation to show that just perceived membership in a social group boosts young children's motivation for and learning from group‐relevant tasks. In Experiment 1, 4‐year‐old children assigned to a minimal “puzzles group” persisted longer on a challenging puzzle than children identified as the “puzzles child” or children in a control condition. Experiment 2 showed that this boost in motivation occurred only when the group was associated with the task. In Experiment 3, children assigned to a minimal group associated with word learning learned more words than children assigned an analogous individual identity. The studies demonstrate that fostering shared motivations may be a powerful means by which to shape young children's academic outcomes.     

Multi-level Discourse Analysis in a Physics Teaching Methods Course from the Psychological Perspective of Activity Theory

In this paper, we present and apply a multi-level method for discourse analysis in science classrooms. This method is based on the structure of human activity (activity, actions, and operations) and it was applied to study a pre-service physics teacher methods course. We argue that such an approach, based on a cultural psychological perspective, affords opportunities for analysts to perform a theoretically based detailed analysis of discourse events. Along with the presentation of analysis, we show and discuss how the articulation of different levels offers interpretative criteria for analyzing instructional conversations. We synthesize the results into a model for a teacher's practice and discuss the implications and possibilities of this approach for the field of discourse analysis in science classrooms. Finally, we reflect on how the development of teachers' understanding of their activity structures can contribute to forms of progressive discourse of science education.     

Changing the Metacognitive Orientation of a Classroom Environment to Stimulate Metacognitive Reflection Regarding the Nature of Physics Learning

Problems persist with physics learning in relation to students' understanding and use of representations for making sense of physics concepts. Further, students' views of physics learning and their physics learning processes have been predominantly found to reflect a ‘surface’ approach to learning that focuses on mathematical aspects of physics learning that are often passed on via textbooks and lecture-style teaching. This paper reports on a teacher's effort to stimulate students' metacognitive reflection regarding their views of physics learning and their physics learning processes via a pedagogical change that incorporated the use of a representational framework and metaphors. As a consequence of the teacher's pedagogical change, students metacognitively reflected on their views of physics and their learning processes and some reported changes in their views of what it meant to understand physics and how they might learn and understand physics concepts. The findings provide a basis for further explicit teaching of representational frameworks to students in physics education as a potential means of addressing issues with their physics learning.     

Reliance to Independence: Approaches to learning in peer‐led undergraduate science,technology, engineering,and mathematics workshops

The phenomenographic ‘approach to learning’ literature holds that students’ approaches to learning can change depending on the learning context. This implies that, by modifying the learning context, teachers can change the way students approach learning, and this can ultimately lead to a change in learning outcomes. The study presented here examines one effort to modify a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning context and the approaches to learning taken by students experiencing this environment. Using a qualitative, phenomenographic approach, we interviewed 45 students in a STEM peer‐led workshop programme at a large US research university. Similar to previous approach‐to‐learning research, the study identified three approaches students took to learning in the peer‐led programme, in which they focused on simply making it through the course, engaging more meaningfully with the material, and gaining better control over their own learning.     

Conceptualizing a Theoretical Model for School-Centered Adolescent Physical Activity Intervention Research

Adolescent physical inactivity has risen to an alarming rate. Several theoretical frameworks (models) have been proposed and tested in school-based interventions. The results are mixed, indicating a similar weakness as that observed in community-based physical activity interventions (Baranowski, Lin, Wetter, Resnicow, & Hearn, 1997). The theoretical models were decontextualized, thus are unable to address issues central to adolescents' physical activity behavior. In this article, we propose using a theoretical model derived from school-based research on learning behavior change. We review related research on adolescents' physical activity to demonstrate the relevance of using the model to study the dynamic impact of personal, school curriculum, and community variables on adolescent physical activity. We also translate the conceptual model into empirically testable cross-sectional and longitudinal latent growth models and propose concrete steps researchers can take to design empirical studies to examine them. We believe that research studies guided by the proposed conceptual and empirical models will provide useful data for us to better understand the mechanisms of adolescent physical activity motivation and behavior change.     

A comparison of methods to determine maximal accumulated oxygen deficit in running

Abstract

The aim of this study was to compare maximal accumulated oxygen deficit (hereafter O₂ deficit) estimated from the methods of Whipp et al. (1986 Whipp, B. J., Ward, S. A. and Wasserman, K. 1986. Respiratory markers of the anaerobic threshold. Advances in Cardiology, 35: 47–64. [Crossref], [PubMed] , [Google Scholar]), Medbo et al. (1988 Medbo, J. I., Mohn, A. C., Tabata, I., Bahr, R., Vaage, O. and Sejersted, O. M. 1988. Anaerobic capacity determined by maximal accumulated O₂ deficit. Journal of Applied Physiology, 64: 50–60. [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), and Hill et al. (1998 Hill, D. W., Ferguson, C. S. and Ehler, K. L. 1998. An alternative method to determine maximal accumulated O₂ deficit in runners. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 79: 114–117. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) to determine whether they agree sufficiently to be used interchangeably. Nineteen moderately to highly trained endurance runners first performed an incremental test to exhaustion for the determination of maximal oxygen uptake ([Vdot]O_2max) and peak treadmill speed, followed by six randomly ordered constant-speed tests at 95, 100, 105, 110, 110, and 120% of peak treadmill speed. All tests were separated by at least 72 h and were performed within 4 weeks. The method of Whipp produced an O₂ deficit estimate that was lower than that derived from the method of Hill or Medbo (bias ± 95% limits of agreement: ?29.6 ± 36.6 and ?26.1 ± 32.8 ml · kg^?1, respectively; P < 0.001). The O₂ deficit did not differ between the methods of Hill and Medbo (bias ± 95% limits of agreement: 3.5 ± 41.6 ml · kg^?1; n.s.). However, poor correlations (0.21 < r < 0.33; n.s.) together with wide limits of agreement between O₂ deficit estimates (70 – 80% of the mean response) clearly question using these methods interchangeably.