The role of deliberate practice and play in career progression in sport: the early engagement hypothesis

Experts acquire domain‐specific skills as a result of the activities in which they participate throughout their development. We examine the domain‐specific activities in which two groups of elite youth soccer players participated between six and 12 years of age. Our goal was to examine early participation differences between those who progressed to professional status at 16 years of age and those who did not. Data were contrasted to a control group of recreational‐level players and examined in the context of the Developmental Model of Sport Participation, which supports the importance of late specialization and early diversity between six and 12 years of age. The elite players who went on to attain professional status accumulated more hours per year in soccer play activities, but not in soccer practice, competition or other sports, between six and 12 years of age, compared with those who did not progress. The two elite groups averaged more hours per year in soccer practice compared with recreational‐level players, but not soccer play, competition or other sports. We propose the “early engagement hypothesis” to explain our results. Accordingly, practice and play in the primary sport between six and 12 years of age contributes to the development of expert performance in English soccer.     

Self-efficacy theory and the theory of planned behavior: teaching physically active physical education classes

The purpose of our investigation was to examine determinants of teachers' intentions to teach physically active physical education classes (i.e., spend at least 50% of class time with the students engaged in moderate to vigorous physical activity). Based on the theory of planned behavior, a model was examined hypothesizing that teachers' intentions were determined by subjective norm, attitude, and perceived behavioral control. Grounded in self-efficacy theory, it was hypothesized that program goal importance and hierarchical and barrier self-efficacy would also predict intention. Using a series of hierarchical regression analyses, the theory of planned behavior was supported by accounting for 59% of the variance in intention due to attitude, perceived behavioral control, and subjective norm. Self-efficacy theory based variables received minimal support.     

Learning a coordination skill: interactive effects of instruction and feedback

Information prior to and during the acquisition of a continuous bimanual task was manipulated. Participants practiced a difficult coordination pattern, which produced circular shapes on the computer, when they moved their arms correctly. Four groups were examined, which differed in the type and amount of information provided. Either limb or circle feedback was provided in the presence or absence of instructions detailing how to move the limbs. Circle feedback facilitated learning relative to the limb feedback in which the explicit displacements of the limbs was displayed. Under circle feedback conditions, instructions hindered acquisition. Little instructional effects were observed under limb feedback conditions, despite the prediction that instructions would benefit learning when the feedback was more compatible. Findings are discussed in relation to the complexity of the feedback and processing demands.     

Theoretically Speaking: An Examination of Four Theories and How They Support Writing in the Classroom

Writing is complex, and the more researchers understand the cognitive processes and engagement for writing, the more complex the relationships between cognition and producing writing appear. Writing theory is constantly shifting from a focus on mechanics and form to a focus on creativity and sociability. This literature review analyzes four leading theories for writing instruction: the cognitive processes theory, the sociocultural theory, social cognitive theory, and ecological theory. To demonstrate how these theories develop into practice, strategies supporting each theory and classroom examples are provided.     

Teacher Development and Change in South Africa: A critique of the appropriateness of transfer of northern/western practice

This paper discusses the differential distribution of opportunities for professional development of science teachers in post-apartheid South Africa. It is argued that northern/western ideas about teacher change and development are poorly suited to modelling practices and challenges for those who were historically disadvantaged. The environment in which teachers work-physical, social and political-act to select a more limited repertoire of behaviour than those providing in-service might imagine. The paper proposes that evolutionary ideas on teacher change and development offer a more effective model of the constraints under which teachers work. These ideas have general application to educational systems in sub-Saharan Africa. The implications for policy are a need to research current practices more thoroughly and to facilitate change through modest steps.     

The efficacy of demonstrations in teaching children an unfamiliar movement skill: the effects of object-orientated actions and point-light demonstrations

In Experiment 1, adult and child participants were instructed to imitate a video model performing a bowling action with or without a ball. Participants imitated the action with greater accuracy without a ball and in general adults were more accurate than children. In Experiment 2, adults and children were shown a video or point-light display of the bowling action. There was no difference in movement form between the adult point-light and video groups. In contrast, children were poorer at reproducing the action when viewing point-light compared with video sequences (P < 0.05). The novel point-light display hindered the children's ability to provide conceptual mediation between the presented information and action requirements. In Experiment 3, a child point-light group was provided with perceptual-cognitive training. The perceptual-cognitive training group demonstrated better movement reproduction than a group who viewed the point-light displays with no training (P < 0.05), although there were no differences between participants who received training and those who viewed a video. Children are able to perceive and use relative motion information from a display after some general training, and the effectiveness of demonstrations needs to be judged relative to the task context.     

The student's diary

I begin by arguing that East Asia is different from the West in many aspects and that the main contributing factor is societal culture. Only recently have scholars in the field of educational administration begun to pay attention to societal culture as a theoretical construct for the analysis of educational theories. The emerging theme of moral leadership that Sergiovanni, Greenfield, and others in the West discuss is consonant with a long intellectual tradition in Chinese culture. The Chinese have a history of both valuing moral leadership and preparing leaders on moral grounds. I examine the early Confucian thought on moral leadership and suggest how the Chinese experience could provide additional examples of how scholars might conceive of moral leadership in modem times.