Responses to Forces Influencing Cohesion As a Function of Player Status and Level of Male Varsity Basketball Competition

Abstract

This exploratory study determined if the responses of male varsity basketball players to six factors influencing cohesion were a function of level of competitive intensity and/or the importance of the players to their team. Players on intact teams from five levels of competition – elementary school, junior high school, senior high school, small college and large college–responded to a cohesion questionnaire at the end of the season. Coaches designated five players with the most game playing time as “starters” and five players with the least game playing time as “reserves.” A team factor score for Team Performance Satisfaction, Self Performance Satisfaction, Task Cohesion, Affiliation Cohesion, Desire for Recognition and Value of Membership was calculated. Each team factor score served as the dependent variable in a 2 (player status) × 5 (level of competition) analysis ofcovariance design, with teams nested in the second factor. The won-loss record served as the covariate. Results indicated that “starters” were more satisfied with their own performance, were more task conscious, had a greater affiliation desire, and valued their membership on the team to a greater degree than the “reserves.” The elementary and junior high school team members were significantly more satisfied with the team's performance, were more satisfied with their own self performance, were more affiliation conscious, and valued their team membership to a greater degree than did college team members. The interaction between player status and level of competition was not significant for any of the factor scores.     

Prediction of Basketball Skill Using Biomechanical Variables

Abstract

This study was designed to examine the use of selected biomechanical variables in the prediction of basketball skill. The subjects were college women in three mutually exclusive groups of basketball skill: an elite group of six competitors on the United States team in the World University Games, a good group of seven players on a varsity team, and a poor group of nine members of an instructional class. An accuracy test and digitized film records provided the data for 12 variables related to the process or product of free throw shooting. Discriminant analysis was employed to predict the categorical variable of skill. The most discrimination came from variables of accuracy, stability, and height of release rather than from variables of projection. Poor shooters were distinguished by instability; elite shooters were characterized by a high point of release and accuracy under pressure. Depending on the method of prediction, rates for correct classification of subjects ranged from 76–100%. Thus, it appears that discriminant analysis using biomechanical variables can be a successful tool in the prediction of basketball skill.     

Support Base Use in Two Dance Idioms

Abstract

Recovery pulse rates following a 3-min. step test were obtained from 686 junior high school and 1,332 high school age subjects who were students in 55 different secondary schools throughout the six districts of the AAHPER. The pulse rates were converted to cardiovasular efficiency scores and from these, national standards were established for the 9–14 age group and for the 15 19 age group. The standards consisted of six categories from excellent to very poor. In addition, it was found that junior high school subjects scored better than high school subjects; that neither temperature nor time of day of testing had a significant effect on test scores; and that at the high school level the senior high school subjects in the Central district achieved the best scores of the six districts while at the junior high level the Central and Southern districts ranked together as best.     

A web-based breastfeeding education program

Two Web-based breastfeeding programs were developed to provide new parents with necessary information on proper breastfeeding techniques. One version was plain text and the other version combined text with graphics. The computer was viewed as a valuable learning tool. The breastfeeding program that contained graphics was preferred over the text-only program. Educators are encouraged to use Web-based graphic programs to provide breastfeeding education to new parents.     

Sending Minnie the Minx Home: Comics and reading choices

This paper reports on aspects of two qualitative studies which focused on children's interests in comics. The earlier study (Millard, 1997) was part of a larger survey of 254 boys' and girls' reading interests, sampled at the point of transition between primary and secondary school. The second study, which forms the main body of this paper, explores the reactions to a home-school comic lending library based in three primary classrooms over a period of seven weeks. Results from both studies are discussed in this paper and the implications for the development of the primary school literacy curriculum explored.     

Evidence-based policy-making and exam board insider researchers: creating communicative spaces

ABSTRACT

This article conceptualises the relationship between exam board insider research and the policy-making context in which they operate. Exam board researchers are constrained by commercial and political interests in disclosing their knowledge. and face pressures in disseminating research, butalso find themselves working in contexts where calls to ‘evidence-based policy-making’ are ubiquitous. This can deprofessionalise and disenfranchise the researcher.. This article will depict the context faced by exam board researchers attempting to influence policy before portraying possible responses, evaluating how these can be applied to exam board research, with reference to research on standard-setting. The article will build on a conceptualisation of successful exam board insider research as the creation of Habermasian ‘communicative spaces’, applying lessons from research–policy interface literature to that conceptualisation. Inapplying those lessons, the article will suggest possible solutions to the problems faced by that group in their attempts to influence policymakers.     

The professional learning needs and priorities of higher-education-based teacher educators in England,Ireland and Scotland

Against a rapidly changing policy landscape for teacher education, exacerbated by ‘Brexit’ in the UK, findings are presented from an electronic survey of 272 higher-education based teacher educators in England, the Republic of Ireland and Scotland about their experiences of, and priorities for, professional learning. While the data generated were mainly quantitative data, qualitative features were embedded within the survey design. Both types of data have been used to draw out complexities that emerge when exploring a professional group of educators responsible for the preparation of a future generation of teachers. The findings are presented and discussed in relation to the professional demographics of the sample, research expectations placed on them and teacher educators’ priorities for professional learning. Given the unique occupational position of teacher educators, their importance in the quality of teacher education and the lack of formal focus on their professional development, our starting point for teacher educators’ professional development lies in their practice situated and positioned within global, regional, national and local policy contexts.     

Meaningful interaction: toward a new theoretical approach to online instruction

ABSTRACT

Taking full advantage of the educative benefits of interaction in digital learning environments will require the development of new theoretical frameworks that can contribute to a richer understanding of interaction. Literary theory provides an excellent place to develop such a framework and advanced understanding. Literary theory enables us to reconceptualise online courses as ‘texts’, thereby equipping us with more sophisticated modes of analysis for the teaching and learning process. By rethinking online courses as texts, and better yet as what Roland Barthes has described as ‘writerly’ texts, we can improve interaction in the online classroom. More importantly, we can move toward a more meaningful form of interaction, where learners interact with course content at the level of meaning and meaning making, where interaction becomes a full participation in the production of a lesson’s meaning. Indeed, this aim of co-producing meaning should be the primary objective of all learning.     

Six Decades of Picture Book Illustration: The Art of Barbara Cooney

The work of the late Barbara Cooney may be divided into three distinct periods: 1940–1958, a stage of work primarily in scratchboard; 1959–1980, a period in which she experimented broadly; and 1980–1999, the folk art phase in which she worked largely in acrylics. This article explores the development of each stage in detail, and reflects on Cooney's strengths and weaknesses as well as her overall contribution to picture book art. It also explores the contribution of limitations, both technical and artistic, to the general impact of Cooney's work and investigates some of her ideological as well as technical developments.