Assessing the special education professional development needs of northern Malawian schoolteachers

This research examines special needs education professional development needs among both general and special education schoolteachers in northern Malawi. A semi‐structured questionnaire with open and close‐ended questions was used for the research. Quantitative and thematic analyses were conducted to determine the extent to which teachers believe that students with disabilities should be educated together with students without disabilities, the importance of professional development for teaching students with disabilities, prioritised professional development needs regarding special education knowledge, and self‐identified needs for successful special education classrooms. Results indicate that teachers are generally in favour of inclusive practices and identify a high need for special education professional development. Participants identified training and resources to teach students with visual impairments or auditory impairments as a high priority. Participants noted a need for improved infrastructure, more educational materials, and recognition by the government for work in special education.     

Kindergarten Children's Executive Functions Predict Their Second-Grade Academic Achievement and Behavior

Whether and to what extent kindergarten children's executive functions (EF) constitute promising targets of early intervention is currently unclear. This study examined whether kindergarten children's EF predicted their second-grade academic achievement and behavior. This was done using (a) a longitudinal and nationally representative sample (N = 8,920, M_age = 97.6 months), (b) multiple measures of EF, academic achievement, and behavior, and (c) extensive statistical control including for domain-specific and domain-general lagged dependent variables. All three measures of EF—working memory, cognitive flexibility, and inhibitory control—positively and significantly predicted reading, mathematics, and science achievement. In addition, inhibitory control negatively predicted both externalizing and internalizing problem behaviors. Children's EF constitute promising targets of experimentally evaluated interventions for increasing academic and behavioral functioning.     

夜的声音

The sound so beautiful
Yet cold inside
Cleela, Cleela,
The crckets chirp.     

Reliability and validity evidence for the EARLI literacy probes

The purpose of this study was to examine the reliability and validity of scores from six early literacy probes developed for use with preschool‐age children. The literacy probes were administered to 84 preschoolers at three time points over a 6‐month period. Also, a criterion measure of early literacy skills was administered to a subset of students. Results indicated that the probes demonstrate adequate reliability for screening decisions, moderate to strong concurrent relationships with a criterion measure, and developmentally appropriate changes in children's early literacy skills over time. These results add to the growing body of evidence supporting the technical adequacy of general outcome measurement for use in monitoring the progress of preschoolers' academic skill development. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Effect of a randomised 12-week resistance training programme on muscular strength,cross-sectional area and muscle quality in women having undergone Roux-en-Y gastric bypass

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of a 12-week resistance training programme on fat-free mass (FFM), muscle cross-sectional area, muscular strength and muscle quality in women who underwent Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery. Participants were 16 women (mean age = 44.9 ± 10.2 years) from bariatric surgical groups who were randomly assigned into either a control or an intervention group. Air displacement plethysmography measured FFM and magnetic resonance imaging measured quadriceps muscle cross-sectional area and whole thigh muscle cross-sectional area. Muscular strength and quality was assessed using an estimated 1-Repetition Maximum assessment. All measurements were collected twice, at baseline and at a 12-week follow-up. There were significantly greater improvements in leg press strength (mean differences = 55.4%, P < 0.001, Cohen’s d = 2.4), leg extension strength (mean differences = 18.0%, P = 0.014, Cohen’s d = 0.86) and leg press muscle quality (mean differences = 54.5%, P < 0.001, Cohen’s d = 1.9) in the intervention group compared to the control group following the resistance training programme. The resistance training intervention significantly improved muscular strength and quality; however, it did not illicit changes in FFM or muscle cross-sectional area in women who underwent Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery.     

Applying decision tree induction for identification of important attributes in one-versus-one player interactions: A hockey exemplar

Abstract

Decision tree induction is a novel approach to exploring attacker-defender interactions in many sports. In this study hockey was chosen as an example to illustrate the potential use of decision tree inductions for the purpose of identifying and communicating characteristics that drive the outcome. Elite female players performed one-versus-one contests (n = 75) over two sessions. Each contest outcome was classified as either a win or loss. Position data were acquired using radio-tracking devices, and movement-based derivatives were calculated for two time epochs (5 to 2.5 seconds, and 2.5 to zero seconds before the outcome occurred). A decision tree model was trained using these attributes from the first session data, which predicted that when the attacker was moving at ≥ 0.5 m · s^?1 faster than the defender during the early epoch, the probability of an attacker's win was 1.00. Conversely, when the speed difference at that time was below this threshold the probability of a loss was 0.78. Secondary attributes included defender speed in the lateral direction during the early epoch, and angle of attack (i.e., angle between the respective velocity vectors of the attacker and defender) during the late epoch. The model was then used to predict outcomes of one-versus-one contests from the second session (accuracy = 0.643; area under the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve = 0.712). Moreover, decision trees provide an intuitive framework for relating spatial-temporal concepts to coaches, and the suitability of decision trees for analysing the features of one-versus-one exchanges are discussed.