Preservice Teachers’ Participation and Perceptions of Twitter Live Chats as Personal Learning Networks

This study presents two cases in which undergraduates were introduced to Twitter in their teacher preparation program as a means of developing a personal learning network. Twitter live chats are synchronous discussions that allow education stakeholders to discuss issues and share resources, engaging on potentially a global scale via the social networking platform. This study examines how students participated in these live chats, perceived benefits and challenges and how prior experience and preconceived perceptions of Twitter influenced the live chat experience and intentions for continued participation. Pre-activity reflections, student tweets and post-activity reflections were analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively. While familiarity with Twitter varied, no participants had previously participated in a professional Twitter live chat; the majority of participants indicated a positive perception and intensions to continue participating in Twitter live chats. Plans for introducing, scaffolding and reflecting on initial Twitter live chat experiences are detailed and considerations and implications are discussed.     

Effects of collaborative group composition and inquiry instruction on reasoning gains and achievement in undergraduate biology

This study compared the effectiveness of collaborative group composition and instructional method on reasoning gains and achievement in college biology. Based on initial student reasoning ability (i.e., low, medium, or high), students were assigned to either homogeneous or heterogeneous collaborative groups within either inquiry or didactic instruction. Achievement and reasoning gains were assessed at the end of the semester. Inquiry instruction, as a whole, led to significantly greater gains in reasoning ability and achievement. Inquiry instruction also led to greater confidence and more positive attitudes toward collaboration. Low-reasoning students made significantly greater reasoning gains within inquiry instruction when grouped with other low reasoners than when grouped with either medium or high reasoners. Results are consistent with equilibration theory, supporting the idea that students benefit from the opportunity for self-regulation without the guidance or direction of a more capable peer.     

Teaching Interpreted Counseling Practice: A Step Toward Multicultural Competence

We conducted an interpretative phenomenological analysis of five counseling students' experiences collaborating with American Sign Language–interpreting students during counseling practice sessions. Themes were identified in developmental domains of counselor self-awareness, counseling relationship, and advocacy interventions. Interdisciplinary collaboration led students to address cultural deficiency models and increase multicultural competency and efforts in social justice.     

Maturity-associated considerations for training load,injury risk,and physical performance in youth soccer: One size does not fit all

Biological maturation can be defined as the timing and tempo of progress to achieving a mature state. The estimation of age of peak height velocity (PHV) or percentage of final estimated adult stature attainment (%EASA) is typically used to inform the training process in young athletes. In youth soccer, maturity-related changes in anthropometric and physical fitness characteristics are diverse among individuals, particularly around PHV. During this time, players are also at an increased risk of sustaining an overuse or growth-related injury. As a result, the implementation of training interventions can be challenging. The purpose of this review was to (1) highlight and discuss many of the methods that can be used to estimate maturation in the applied setting and (2) discuss the implications of manipulating training load around PHV on physical development and injury risk. We have provided key stakeholders with a practical online tool for estimating player maturation status (^{Supplementary Maturity Estimation Tools}). Whilst estimating maturity using predictive equations is useful in guiding the training process, practitioners should be aware of its limitations. To increase the accuracy and usefulness of data, it is also vital that sports scientists implement reliable testing protocols at predetermined time-points.     

A Quest for website accessibility in higher education institutions

Researchers increasingly suggest that accessibility remains a prominent issue across the World Wide Web (www). This study raises awareness about issues of access in higher education. This qualitative research design utilized a listserv that invited university based webmasters to use freeware to evaluate the overall accessibility of their institutions' homepage website. Participation was voluntary and evaluations were gathered electronically. Our sample indicated that most universities' homepages were non-compliant with the www.WorldWideWeb Consortium guidelines. One particular institution, however, satisfied all W3C guidelines earning a perfect Triple A. Simply stated, this exemplary website serves people of all exceptionalities. Studying this institution's implementation process, we propose that other institutions might emulate this exemplary model to achieve greater website accessibility for all constituents.     

Becoming creative practitioners: elementary teachers tackle artful approaches to writing instruction

The “creativity gap” is a distressing discrepancy between the ostensible value educators place on creativity and its absence in schools. How do teachers take on the attributes and skills of a creative practitioner? What struggles do they face in doing so? This case study examines the practices of six early elementary teachers who embarked on a professional development experience through which they learned arts-based strategies for prewriting activities. They purposefully practiced cultivating an environment in which student imagination would feed the generation of ideas and details in prewriting exercises. Findings indicate some teachers embraced this departure from the norm, recognizing how loosening their reigns emboldened “voice and choice” in student writing. Others experienced difficulty taking risks and developing spontaneity for accepting and responding to student ideas. Finally, teachers grappled with converging creative practice with everyday practices in the classroom.     

Learning from inquiry‐based laboratories in nonmajor biology: An interpretive study of the relationships among inquiry experience,epistemologies, and conceptual growth

The use of inquiry‐based laboratory in college science classes is on the rise. This study investigated how five nonmajor biology students learned from an inquiry‐based laboratory experience. Using interpretive data analysis, the five students' conceptual ecologies, learning beliefs, and science epistemologies were explored. Findings indicated that students with constructivist learning beliefs tended to add more meaningful conceptual understandings during inquiry labs than students with positivist learning beliefs. All students improved their understanding of experiment in biology. Implications for the teaching of biology labs are discussed. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 40: 986–1024, 2003     

Measurement of intrinsic foot stiffness in minimally and traditionally shod runners using ultrasound elastography: A pilot study

ABSTRACT

Running is an activity with a consistently high injury rate. Running footwear design that mimics barefoot running has been proposed to reduce injury rate by increasing the strength of foot structures. However, there is little evidence to support this. The purpose of the current study is to use shear wave ultrasound elastography to examine material properties (shear modulus) of intrinsic foot structures in experienced minimally and traditionally shod runners. It is hypothesized that minimalist runners will exhibit increased stiffness compared to controls demonstrating the strengthening of these structures. Eighteen healthy runners (8 minimalist and 10 traditionalist), running a minimum of 10 mi · wk^?1, participated. Elastography scans were performed on the left foot of each participant. There is no apparent stiffening of foot structures associated with wearing minimalist shoes. Only the FHB tendon is different between shoe types and, contrary to the hypothesis, was stiffer in traditionalist compared to minimalist runners (257.26 ± 51.64 kPa vs 160.88 ± 27.79 kPa, respectively). A moderate positive (r = 0.7) relationship between training load and tendon stiffness suggests strengthening of tendon when running in traditional shoes. If running in minimalist shoes increases loading on these structures without resulting in stronger tissues, it is possible that minimalist footwear may increase injury risk.