Interpreting Scores from Standardized Tests

This essay seeks to establish a metaphor of the professional practice of teaching to the attributes and training of an offensive lineman in the game of American football. Effective classroom instruction does not rely exclusively on a rare set of talents but rather rests on the commitment to the work of teaching. Like the position of offensive lineman, the profession of teaching is one of service. And more, it is one in which the person's performance can blossom through intense determination. An invitation is offered to serve as an effective teacher.     

Multicutural literature and gifted black students: Promoting self‐understanding,awareness, and pride

Social dominance orientation (SDO), right-wing authoritarianism (RWA), and socially desirable responding were examined among a sample of self-identified supporters of gifted education (N = 341), 70% of whom had an official role in gifted education as researchers, teachers, or gifted-talented (G/T) trainers. The sample was primarily female, White, well-educated, and upper middle class. The relationship of SDO, RWA, socially desirable responding, and support for various gifted education practices such as testing for identification, curricular differentiation in a heterogeneous classroom, and cooperative learning was explored through latent class analysis and logistic regression. Two distinct groups, communitarians and individualists, were found on the basis of their support for different gifted programming. Higher deference to authority among communitarians predicted support for an inclusive social norm, compared to a preference for maximizing potential without regard for inclusion among the individualists, who were less likely to defer to authority.     

Conceptualizing the use of online technologies for gifted secondary students

In an era where technology is advancing at a rapid pace, and where information is readily accessible on the World Wide Web, educators should be capitalizing on these resources for gifted students. This paper proposes a conceptual framework to support individualized and independent learning within a network of peers that will provide challenging interactions through extensive use of online learning. Online resources and technologies promote the exploration of new concepts and sharing of new learning with a group of motivated and “like‐minded” peers.     

Long-term instructional development: A 20-year ID and implementation project

This article describes the development and implementation in the schools over a 20-year period of the Energy Source Program, a comprehensive K-12 energy education curriculum. The program was developed beginning in 1980 using state-of-the-art development procedures for that time and has been used to date by more than 12 million American students to learn about energy and energy issues. End-of-unit posttest scores for the elementary and high school units averaged above 80% for their field tests. Data obtained from a large sample during the first three years of installation of the program in the schools indicated that posttest scores remained at a level during installation similar to that during the field-test phase. A study conducted in the early 1990s by an independent research organization to assess the program's long-term effects revealed that grade 6 students who had used one or more units from the program had significantly greater energy knowledge and better energy conservation habits than students who had not used any units. A set of 10 guidelines are offered for long-term instructional development and implementation projects. He supervised the development of the Energy Source Program from 1980 to 1984 while serving as a consultant to EDS. Kay Ice was Director of Program Development at EDS, and she was a primary writer and developer of the Energy Source Program. She has been president of EDS since 1999. Fred Niedermeyer was the founding president of EDS. He was project director of the Energy Source project, and he played a major role in all aspects of the project from its inception until his retirement in 1999.     

Power output of field-based downhill mountain biking

The purpose of this study was to assess the power output of field-based downhill mountain biking. Seventeen trained male downhill cyclists (age 27.1 +/- 5.1 years) competing nationally performed two timed runs of a measured downhill course. An SRM powermeter was used to simultaneously record power, cadence, and speed. Values were sampled at 1-s intervals. Heart rates were recorded at 5-s intervals using a Polar S710 heart rate monitor. Peak and mean power output were 834 +/- 129 W and 75 +/- 26 W respectively. Mean power accounted for only 9% of peak values. Paradoxically, mean heart rate was 168 +/- 9 beats x min(-1) (89% of age-predicted maximum heart rate). Mean cadence (27 +/- 5 rev x min(-1)) was significantly related to speed (r = 0.51; P < 0.01). Analysis revealed an average of 38 pedal actions per run, with average pedalling periods of 5 s. Power and cadence were not significantly related to run time or any other variable. Our results support the intermittent nature of downhill mountain biking. The poor relationships between power and run time and between cadence and run time suggest they are not essential pre-requisites to downhill mountain biking performance and indicate the importance of riding dynamics to overall performance.