Patents: a neglected source in the history of education

Education is a technology, a production system whose elements comprise material, linguistic and conceptual inventions. This multi‐dimensional sense of educational technology is useful whenever attempts are made to understand educational practice. To this end, my paper examines a small corner of the historical or technological record, ‘patents of invention’, a set of sources that has seldom, if ever, been used in English‐language histories of education. To evaluate this source, my attention focuses on the ‘abridgements’, published between 1855 and 1930, where patent applications were grouped according to their use (e.g. as ‘furniture’ or ‘stationery’); and the diversity of these records will be illustrated by reference to an invention – the school desk – that was prominent over the same period.     

Deliberative policy analysis: adult literacy assessment and the politics of change

The field of adult literacy in England has a long history, but has particularly developed during the last three decades. Along with the rest of post‐school education and training, it has been substantially reshaped by national policy initiatives since the 1970s. During this period it has struggled to assert itself as a legitimate area of policy and practice through changing political, economic and cultural times. This article draws upon a research project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) that tracked the development of adult literacy, numeracy and ESOL from the 1970s to 2000 using life history interviews and documentary policy analysis to compare policy, practitioner and learner perspectives. The article discusses the key influences that have shaped this new field. It describes the deliberative policy analysis framework used to analyse the data and to identify tensions and gaps that have existed between practice, policy and research. It illustrates the analysis by applying it to one key thematic area that emerged from the study, that of assessment.     

Extending an information processing model of language intensity effects

The information processing model of persuasion was used as the basis for a mathematical model of language intensity effects. The model proposes that attitude change is a product of message discrepancy, source evaluation, and message strength. The results show strong support for the model. The salient source evaluation dimension was perceived trustworthiness. Language intensity enhanced attitude change directly, by acting as a multiplier of message strength, and indirectly, by increasing message discrepancy. These effects held for female as well as male sources. Path analysis indicated the presence of source evaluation heuristics. Intensity enhanced source ratings through a positively linked causal chain from intensity to dynamism to expertise to trustworthiness. Intensity also had negative effects on post‐message expertise and trustworthiness unmediated by dynamism.     

Contextualized Learning May Redefine Remedial Education

Paul Fain (2011 Fain , P. ( 2011 , September 26 ). Questioning assumptions. Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved from http://www.insidehighered.com/  [Google Scholar]), cited community college leaders who overwhelmingly voted at the Reimagining Community Colleges invitation-only conference held September 23, 2011 in New York City, for team teaching and other innovations as the most important fix for remedial education in community colleges. Team teaching is not common in postsecondary education and is difficult to do well. This paper presents the argument that it is the contextualized material that leads to team teaching success. Contextualized learning has not been rigorously researched, and it is far from having enough research for most community colleges to learn from and adapt. Although Perin (2011 Perin , D. ( 2011 ). Facilitating student learning through contextualization: A review of evidence . Community College Review , 39 ( 3 ), 268 – 295 .[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) found that contextualized learning had been used in various ways in educational literature, this paper focuses on the integration of remedial education materials into a community college career technical skills coursework.     

Viability of exploratory factor analysis as a precursor to confirmatory factor analysis

As part of the development of a comprehensive strategy for structural equation model building and assessment, a Monte Carlo study evaluated the effectiveness of different exploratory factor analysis extraction and rotation methods for correctly identifying the known population multiple‐indicator measurement model. The exploratory methods fared well in recovering the model except in small sample sizes with highly correlated factors, and even in those situations most of the indicators were correctly assigned to the factors. Surprisingly, the orthogonal varimax rotation did as well as the more sophisticated oblique rotations in recovering the model, and generally yielded more accurate estimates. These results demonstrate that exploratory factor analysis can contribute to a useful heuristic strategy for model specification prior to cross‐validation with confirmatory factor analysis.     

Physiological characteristics of successful mountain bikers and professional road cyclists

The aims of this study were to compare the physiological and anthropometric characteristics of successful mountain bikers and professional road cyclists and to re-examine the power-to-weight characteristics of internationally competitive mountain bikers. Internationally competitive cyclists (seven mountain bikers and seven road cyclists) completed the following tests: anthropometric measurements, an incremental cycle ergometer test and a 30 min laboratory time-trial. The mountain bikers were lighter (65.3 - 6.5 vs 74.7 - 3.8 kg, P = 0.01; mean - s ) and leaner than the road cyclists (sum of seven skinfolds: 33.9 - 5.7 vs 44.5 - 10.8 mm, P = 0.04). The mountain bikers produced higher power outputs relative to body mass at maximal exercise (6.3 - 0.5 vs 5.8 - 0.3 W·kg -1 , P = 0.03), at the lactate threshold (5.2 - 0.6 vs 4.7 - 0.3 W·kg -1 , P = 0.048) and during the 30 min time-trial (5.5 - 0.5 vs 4.9 - 0.3 W·kg -1 , P = 0.02). Similarly, peak oxygen uptake relative to body mass was higher in the mountain bikers (78.3 - 4.4 vs 73.0 - 3.4 ml·kg -1 ·min -1 , P = 0.03). The results indicate that high power-to-weight characteristics are important for success in mountain biking. The mountain bikers possessed similar anthropometric and physiological characteristics to previously studied road cycling uphill specialists.     

Dietary antioxidants and exercise

Muscular exercise promotes the production of radicals and other reactive oxygen species in the working muscle. Growing evidence indicates that reactive oxygen species are responsible for exercise-induced protein oxidation and contribute to muscle fatigue. To protect against exercise-induced oxidative injury, muscle cells contain complex endogenous cellular defence mechanisms (enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants) to eliminate reactive oxygen species. Furthermore, exogenous dietary antioxidants interact with endogenous antioxidants to form a cooperative network of cellular antioxidants. Knowledge that exercise-induced oxidant formation can contribute to muscle fatigue has resulted in numerous investigations examining the effects of antioxidant supplementation on human exercise performance. To date, there is limited evidence that dietary supplementation with antioxidants will improve human performance. Furthermore, it is currently unclear whether regular vigorous exercise increases the need for dietary intake of antioxidants. Clearly, additional research that analyses the antioxidant requirements of individual athletes is needed.     

Caregivers' beliefs about library visits: A theory-based study of formative research

Currently, no research has systematically investigated the beliefs underpinning caregivers' intentions to visit public libraries with their young children. Drawing from the theory of planned behaviour, this study adopted a three-phase program of formative research to examine the decision making processes of parents and carers with young children living in a low socio-economic area. Phase 1 identified seven behavioural, five normative, and ten control beliefs as modal salient beliefs held by parents and carers. Phase 2 identified a variety of key behavioural, normative, and control beliefs as significant predictors of intention to visit the library with their young child. Phase 3 elicited the reasons underpinning these key beliefs guiding parents' and carers' intentions, identifying 34 reasons that could be used in messages to promote library visits. The results provide useful information that intervention designers, councils, and library services can use to encourage library use among parents and carers with young children.