Validation of the swimming competence questionnaire for children

ABSTRACT

Two studies were employed to test the reliability and validity of the Swimming Competence Questionnaire (SCQ) among primary school children. Study 1 was a cross-sectional survey in 4959 primary school children. Study 2 was a pre-post-test quasi-experiment among 1609 primary school children who underwent a 20-lesson learn-to-swim programme. In Study 1, exploratory structural equation modelling revealed excellent goodness-of-fit and scale reliability for a two-factor model comprising distance and skill factors, which supported the construct and convergent validity. SCQ scores were significantly and positively correlated with swimming outcomes (i.e., self-efficacy, intention, swimming frequency), which supported SCQ’s concurrent and criterion validity. Average variance extracted for the SCQ factors exceeded cut-off criteria supporting discriminant validity. In Study 2, pre-test SCQ scores correlated significantly and positively with the SCQ scores, self-efficacy, intention, and swimming frequency at post-test, which supported SCQ’s test-retest reliability and predictive validity. Positive intraclass correlation between SCQ scores and coach ratings at post-test provided evidence for SCQ’s inter-rater reliability. SCQ scores significantly improved at post-test, which supported SCQ’s ecological validity. In conclusion, findings indicate that the SCQ is a valid and reliable measure to assess primary school children’s swimming competence, in terms of swimming distance and basic water survival skills.     

The Effects of Paraphrasing Interventions on Problem‐Solving Accuracy for Children at Risk for Math Disabilities

The purpose of this study was to examine effectiveness of paraphrasing interventions on mathematics word problem‐solving accuracy in third grade children (N = 72) at risk for mathematics disabilities (MD). Three instructional conditions directed students’ attention through paraphrasing, via writing, to different propositions within word problems. Students were randomly assigned to one of four intervention conditions: paraphrase question propositions (restate), paraphrase relevant propositions (relevant) and paraphrase all propositions (complete) or an untreated control. A mixed ANCOVA indicated that paraphrasing relevant and complete propositions significantly increased posttest accuracy when compared to the control and restate condition. Results from the study provide support for the effectiveness of paraphrasing interventions that directs students to restate/paraphrase propositions of mathematics word problems relative to the control condition.     

“Lies,damn lies and statistics”: a history of museum visits in Australasia

ABSTRACT

While a great deal of attention has been paid to museum visit data in the last few decades, very little is known about long-term trends. This article examines the distinctive history of museum visits in Australasia through a comparative study of eight key institutions from across the region. Archival research was undertaken at each institution to compile as complete as possible a data set of annual visitation from opening until present day. Any stated changes in funding, admission charges, buildings etc. were also recorded, along with comments indicating contemporary explanations for fluctuations in visitation. Sources included official documents such as annual reports and trustee minutes, as well as visitor books and attendance records. We provide an initial overview of the quantitative and contextual data we collected from the case study museums focusing on a number of key questions: How have museums in Australasia been counting and reporting visit data over the past 150 years? What does this reveal about changes over time in the perceived value of visit data and museum attitudes towards their visitors? What are the key trends in museum attendance at the local, national and regional level in Australia and New Zealand? What contemporary explanations were given for fluctuations in museum attendance and are they supported by a long-term, cross-institutional comparison of the data? The study provides insights into historical shifts in thinking about the importance of visitors, appropriate methods for recording visitation, and the value of this data. The findings are also relevant to how museums today interpret attendance figures. The ways in which visit data were included or excluded from historical narratives about the value of museums highlights the constructed nature of visitor data and raises questions about the role of visitor research in contemporary museums.     

Online Teaching Resources

Abstract

Because of the global COVID-19 pandemic during the spring of 2020, colleges and universities found themselves rapidly moving all courses to online modalities, a format that many instructors were not experienced in or comfortable with. Academic librarians were called upon to help support faculty in this sudden transition, as well as migrating their own library services and instruction online. For many, it felt like a mad scramble to find best practices for online teaching, or even just “good-enough” practices, as well as specific tools that instructional faculty and librarians could utilize to keep their students engaged and learning during such a trying time. At the time of this writing, some universities have announced that they will continue to hold most, if not all, courses online in the fall 2020 term. Resources to support online teaching are critical now, and they will continue to be important going forward even after the global pandemic subsides. The reviews in this column cover a variety of online instructional tools and instructional support sites. The resources reviewed range from providing best practices for online pedagogy, creating engaging formative assessment tools, developing video discussion boards, creating interactive images, using virtual bulletin boards for student collaboration, and ensuring online content meets accessibility requirements. These resources will be useful for librarians and instructional faculty as they continue to teach in the online environment.     

Feeling bad can be good?: audience research on Korean reality makeover shows,Get It Beauty and The Body Show

This paper investigates the feelings of individuals who have been exposed to the continuous demands for managing and beautifying the body. Through audience research on Korean reality shows about body/beauty, Get It Beauty and The Body Show, we attempt to understand how the discourses of body care work at the individual level. Our interviewees’ feelings of being stressed, burdened, and annoyed about the discourses in the shows signify their (un)conscious acknowledgment of the false promises of the self-care rhetoric. However, the discourses of willpower and the embedded voyeuristic pleasure of watching the shows make it difficult to place such feelings in the public domain. We conclude that individuals’ feelings lose their potential as resistant voices when “feeling bad” is discounted as personal, while a feeling of individual achievement is excessively celebrated.     

The attribute agenda-setting influence of online community on online newscast: investigating the South Korean Sewol ferry tragedy

The Sewol ferry tragedy was a major event in South Korea in 2014. This study examines the agenda-setting links between a Korean online newscast (Naver) and a Korean online community (Daum). Although each portal initially focused on different crisis attributes and stakeholders regarding the ferry tragedy, their agendas became more alike over time. Notably, the cross-lagged analysis shows significant influence of the online community (Daum) on the online newscast (Naver). This study also expands on Son and Weaver’s [2006, Another look at what moves public opinion: Media agenda setting and polls in the 2000 U.S. election. International Journal of Public Opinion Research, 18(2), 174–197] theoretical model for a stratified agenda, providing a more nuanced look at attribute agenda setting.     

Toward collaborator selection and determination of data ownership and publication authorship in research collaborations

This study examined factors that might affect researchers' willingness to collaborate with a specific researcher and the priorities given to those factors. In addition, it investigated how researchers determined the ownership of collaborative project data and how they determined the order of authorship on collaborative publications in condensed matter physics. In general, researchers rated their intrinsic motivations the highest, such as the quality of ideas a potential collaborator might have and their satisfaction with a past collaboration, followed by their extrinsic motivations, such as the complementary knowledge, skills, or resources the collaborator could provide. In addition, researchers who had a greater number of collaborative projects and researchers who had served as a project PI or co-PI valued the deep-level, personality-related characteristics of a collaborator higher than did those who had not. Younger researchers were more risk averse and more concerned with a collaborator's reputation and the possible cost of a collaboration decision. Additionally, younger researchers indicated more often than older researchers that they did not know whether their project teams followed any rules or norms or engaged in negotiation to determine the order of authorship on collaborative publications.     

A study on the effects of education welfare action zone policy in Korea

This study was designed to analyze the effects of the support programs provided in education welfare action zones. Education welfare action zone policy came into effect by government from 2003 to guarantee actual educational opportunity to disadvantaged children in urban areas by providing educational, cultural, and welfare service. Education welfare action zones were selected in low-income group area in the metropolis. In this regard, both quantitative and qualitative analytical methods were used to ascertain the effects of the program. The qualitative analysis included a preliminary examination of conditions prior to the actual commencement of the program, which was then followed by an investigation of specific schools used, as case studies in order to identify the changes that had taken place during the program’s implementation process, and the program’s effect. Meanwhile, a quantitative analysis was employed to verify the actual changes that took place in several different aspects, changes that were revealed by the case studies.