Inclusive and exclusive aspects of diagnosed children's self-concepts in special needs institutions

Eight children between 7 and 11 years of age were interviewed about their understanding of their own diagnoses. The diagnoses in question were attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism and nonverbal learning disorder. They were from different special schools that are segregated from state schools. In addition to the interviews, a role play setting with dolls representing a school teacher, parents, peers, a school psychologist and a doctor was used as a basis for speaking about the children's understanding of the special school in relation to their diagnoses. The study revealed that the children use a simplified medical model for understanding their diagnoses and behaviour. Furthermore, they partly perceive the special school as a medical institution, as well as an educational institution. Finally, the study showed that the children consider themselves different from normal children and incapable of participating in shared learning communities such as state schools. This is of particular interest in relation to these children's future transition from special schools to public learning institutions, especially with regard to their inclusion in the latter.     

The role of coach-athlete relationship quality in team sport athletes’ psychophysiological exhaustion: implications for physical and cognitive performance

The present study aimed to examine associations between the quality of the coach-athlete relationship and athlete exhaustion by assessing physiological and cognitive consequences. Male and female athletes (N = 82) representing seven teams across four different sports, participated in a quasi-experimental study measuring physical performance on a 5-meter multiple shuttle test, followed by a Stroop test to assess cognitive performance. Participants provided saliva samples measuring cortisol as a biomarker of acute stress response and completed questionnaires measuring exhaustion, and coach-athlete relationship quality. Structural equation modelling revealed a positive relationship between the quality of the coach-athlete relationship and Stroop performance, and negative relationships between the quality of the coach-athlete relationship and cortisol responses to high-intensity exercise, cognitive testing, and exhaustion. The study supports previous research on socio-cognitive correlates of athlete exhaustion by highlighting associations with the quality of the coach-athlete relationship.     

Designing Science Learning in the First Years of Schooling. An intervention study with sequenced learning material on the topic of ‘floating and sinking'

Research on learning and instruction of science has shown that learning environments applied in preschool and primary school rarely makes use of structured learning materials in problem-based environments although these are decisive quality features for promoting conceptual change and scientific reasoning within early science learning. We thus developed and implemented a science learning environment for children in the first years of schooling which contains structured learning materials with the goal of supporting conceptual change concerning the understanding of the floating and sinking of objects and fostering students' scientific reasoning skills. In the present implementation study, we aim to provide a best-practice example of early science learning. The study was conducted with a sample of 15 classes of the first years of schooling and a total of 244 children. Tests were constructed to measure children's conceptual understanding before and after the implementation. Our results reveal a decrease in children's misconceptions from pretest to posttest. After the curriculum, the children were able to produce significantly more correct predictions about the sinking or floating of objects than before the curriculum and also relative to a control group. Moreover, due to the intervention, the explanations given for their predictions implied a more elaborated concept of material kinds. All in all, a well-structured curriculum promoting comparison and scientific reasoning by means of inquiry learning was shown to support children's conceptual change.     

Techniken für Web-basierte Datenbankanwendungen: Anforderungen, Ans?tze, Architekturen

Zusammenfassung.   Die rasche Verbreitung und einfache Nutzungsm?glichkeit des World Wide Web (WWW) hat heute schon zu einer Vielzahl Web-basierter Datenbankanwendungen geführt. Man geht jedoch davon aus, da? das eigentliche Wachstum des WWW und seiner Anwendungen durch die Fortschritte in der Kommunikations- und Informationstechnik erst noch bevorsteht [10]. In diesem Beitrag stellen wir die bei der Realisierung Web-basierter DB-Anwendungen eingesetzten Techniken vor. Hierzu untersuchen wir zun?chst typische DB-Anwendungen, die über das WWW abgewickelt werden, um sie anhand ihrer Kriterien charakterisieren zu k?nnen. Daran anschlie?end diskutieren und analysieren wir nach einem überblick die unterschiedlichen Realisierungstechniken im Detail. Eingegangen am 22. Juli 1998 / Angenommen am 22. Oktober 1998     

Exploring the relationship between hope and burnout in competitive sport

Researchers have postulated that hope may be an important factor associated with burnout. Consistent with hope theory contentions, low-hope individuals may be susceptible to burnout because they are prone to experience goal blockage, frustration, and negative affect, all of which likely increase the risk of burnout. We examined the relationship between hope and athlete burnout among 178 competitive athletes (63 females and 115 males) aged 15-20 years. Hope was significantly and negatively correlated with all three burnout subscales: emotional/physical exhaustion, a reduced sense of accomplishment, and sport devaluation. Moreover, results of a multivariate analysis of variance showed that low-hope athletes scored significantly higher than medium- and high-hope athletes on all three burnout dimensions. Finally, results revealed that agency thinking was a significant predictor of all burnout dimensions. Frustration over unmet goals and a perceived lack of agency, a characteristic of low-hope athletes, might pose a risk factor in athlete burnout, whereas being able to maintain hope appears to be associated with health and well-being.     

A model for conducting and assessing interdisciplinary undergraduate dissertations

This paper presents an effort to create a unified model for conducting and assessing undergraduate dissertations, shared by all disciplines involved in computer game development at a Swedish university. Computer game development includes technology-oriented disciplines as well as disciplines with aesthetical traditions. The challenge has been to create a unified process and assessment procedure while maintaining the individual disciplines’ academic standards. The unification has been achieved through the development of the Interdisciplinary Dissertation Model – a shared model where the assessment is focused on fundamental academic principles, and there is a clear separation between summative and formative assessment and well-defined interaction loops between examiners, supervisors and students. Examiners from all involved disciplines have regular meetings focusing on creating an interdisciplinary view on the summative assessment of undergraduate dissertations. The model developed has been successful in that it allows for a unified process for disciplines from fundamentally different academic traditions. The quality of the examined dissertations has been evaluated in a national evaluation. The result shows that all participating disciplines meet the requirements from their respective communities. This shows that the proposed model successfully unifies disciplines without sacrificing the quality in any discipline.