Match running performance and skill execution improves with age but not the number of disposals in young Australian footballers

This study investigated age-related differences in maturity, physical and functional characteristics and playing performance in youth Australian Football (AF). Young male players (n = 156) were recruited from 12 teams across 6 age groups (U10–U15) of a recreational AF club. All players were tested for body size, maturity and fitness. Player performance was assessed during a match in which disposals (kicks and handballs) and their effectiveness were coded from a video recording and match running performance measured using Global Positioning System. Significant main effects (P < 0.01) for age group were observed for age, years to peak height velocity, body mass, height, 20 m sprint, maximal speed over 20 m, vertical jump, 20 m multistage shuttle run, match distance, high-speed running distance, peak speed, number of effective disposals and percentage of effective disposals. Age-related differences in fitness characteristics (speed, lower body power and endurance) appeared to transfer to match running performance. The frequency in which players disposed of the football did not differ between age groups, however the effectiveness of each disposal (i.e., % effective disposals) improved with age. Match statistics, particularly those that evaluate skill execution outcome (i.e., effectiveness), are useful to assess performance and to track player development over time. Differences between age groups, and probably variability within age groups, are strongly associated with chronological age and maturity.     

Reading: A Pastime of the Past?

It is somewhat of a truism to say that reading is not what it used to be. ‘Texts’for reading now include many other media than simply print on pages and this fact has occasioned some concern among those who fear that reading television or computer-based texts may reduce or impoverish children's overall reading experience. Chris Robertson and her students have been investigating these issues through interviews with children and have found that reading and technology are not actually in conflict but can be mutually supportive. This article suggests that teachers need to think more creatively about how to use alternative texts in developing children's reading.     

Scale and the evolutionarily based approximate number system: an exploratory study

ABSTRACT

Crosscutting concepts such as scale, proportion, and quantity are recognised by U.S. science standards as a potential vehicle for students to integrate their scientific and mathematical knowledge; yet, U.S. students and adults trail their international peers in scale and measurement estimation. Culturally based knowledge of scale such as measurement units may be built on evolutionarily-based systems of number such as the approximate number system (ANS), which processes approximate representations of numerical magnitude. ANS is related to mathematical achievement in pre-school and early elementary students, but there is little research on ANS among older students or in science-related areas such as scale. Here, we investigate the relationship between ANS precision in public school U.S. seventh graders and their accuracy estimating the length of standard units of measurement in SI and U.S. customary units. We also explored the relationship between ANS and science and mathematics achievement. Accuracy estimating the metre was positively and significantly related to ANS precision. Mathematics achievement, science achievement, and accuracy estimating other units were not significantly related to ANS. We thus suggest that ANS precision may be related to mathematics understanding beyond arithmetic, beyond the early school years, and to the crosscutting concepts of scale, proportion, and quantity.     

The social justice implications of privatisation in education governance frameworks: a relational account

This paper explores the social justice implications of two, ‘linked’, governance developments which have been instrumental in reshaping many education systems throughout the world: the ‘privatising’ and ‘globalising’ of education (Klees, Stromquist, & Samoff, 2012 Klees, S., Stromquist, N. and Samoff, J., eds. 2012. A critical review of the World Bank’s education strategy 2020, Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.  [Google Scholar]). We argue that such education governance innovations demand an explicit engagement with social justice theories, both in themselves, and as offering an opportunity to address issues of social justice that go beyond the re/distribution of education inputs and outputs, important though these are, and which take account of the political and accountability issues raised by globalising of education governance activity. To do this we draw upon Iris Marion Young’s concept of ‘the basic structure’ and her ‘social connection model’ of responsibility (Young, 2006 Young, I. M. 2006. Taking the basic structure seriously. Perspectives in Politics, 4: 91–97. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]a,b) to develop a relational account of justice in education governance frameworks.     

支持开放教育资源项目的方法

本文考察了英国教育技术互用性标准中心（CETIS）通过支持国家项目（即英国联合信息系统委员会（JISC）和高等教育委员会的英国开放教育资源试点项目,详见http：／／www．jisc．ae．uk／oer）,以促进发布开放教育资源方面的经验,并探索了如何让我们的支持模式对其他相关项目有所启发,并能改编用于鼓励开放课件运动的可持续性技术支持网络。作为一个涵盖英国众多大学的国家层面的创新举措,众多开放教育资源提供者参与了英国开放教育资源（UKOER）,这包括个别教育者、学科联合体和机构。考虑到这种多样性,从一开始我们就意识到没有任何一种技术解决方案能适合所有的项目。因此,也没有委托专门的工具、描述性标准、交流或分发机制（除要求所有制作的资源应该放在国家学习资源库中外,详见http：／／jorum．ae．uk）。为了支持这一项目,我们引导采取不同的方法和形成不同的社群,也许在支持发布开放教育资源方面,任何类似的跨机构创新都将会面临相似的问题。我们的项目支持方法已从具体的细节问题发展到提供基本的支持原则,从而预测其他问题,并推动最佳实践。我们的做法是：通过会议上的技术汇报和讨论机会,以及在博客上发帖,激发讨论;通过技术评论讨论,并记录针对这些公布在网上的讨论的总结性内容,从而调查个别项目的技术选择;针对通过以上方式所发现的问题,以及项目博客上凸显的问题,做出相应的反馈。考虑到如何使这一方法在更广泛的范围内应用,我们也反思了这种公开的工作模式所面临的挑战、这一方法的开支、适应性,以及我们所认为的其在支持开放教育资源管理和传播方面所扮演的角色。     

Proposals for an Associate Degree - the search for the 'missing link' of British higher education

This paper revisits debates about the place of an intermediate qualification in British higher education and suggests that arguments can be revitalised to meet the criticisms of earlier proposals. The paper maintains that a suitably defined interim award remains necessary for the establishment of a national qualifications framework facilitating student choice and progression, and as a vehicle to deliver the next stage of expansion in higher education and beyond. Support for an 'Associate Degree' is likely to depend on characteristics which offer advantages to students and their employers, making it different from previous proposals and other international versions.