Changes in children’s anger,sadness, and persistence across blocked goals: Implications for self-regulation

The current study took a person-centered approach to examine the heterogeneity of changes in children’s emotions and persistence during a goal-blocking task and examined how different profiles of emotions and persistence related to children’s self-regulation. Children’s anger, sadness, and persistence were rated in a goal-blocking task in toddlerhood (T1; N = 140, 72 boys, M_age = 2.67 years, 90.7% White) and preschool (T2). Children’s self-regulation, specifically sustained attention and engagement, was assessed at T1, T2, and early school-age (T3) from 2005 to 2012. Growth mixture modeling revealed two classes of children at T1 and three classes at T2 with different patterns of anger, sadness, and persistence. Children’s classification at T2, but not T1, significantly predicted their sustained attention and engagement both concurrently and longitudinally.     

Evidence of efficacy of the Integrated Literacy Study Group professional learning program to enhance reading instruction for students with emotional and behavioral disorders

This article reports on a pilot study of the Integrated Literacy Study Group, a digitally delivered professional learning intervention to prepare elementary school teachers to provide evidence-based reading instruction and behavioral strategies to students with or are at risk for emotional and behavioral disorders. Using broadcast methods, we recruited 72 teachers across five states in the western United States to participate in the randomized controlled trial. Intervention teachers, relative to controls, made significant gains in self-efficacy and use of the reading and behavioral strategies learned in the professional learning program. Students with or at risk of emotional and behavioral disorders served by participating teachers made significant improvements in academic competence and engagement. Teacher professional learning can improve teacher knowledge of evidence-based reading and behavioral strategies for students with (or at risk for) emotional and behavioral disorders, teacher self-efficacy, and teacher practice, with positive impacts on student early literacy and academic competence.     

Field and laboratory measurements of softball player swing speed and bat performance

The swing speed of the bat is one of the most important factors affecting the hit-ball speed. Most field studies tend to focus on measuring ball speed, which is easier to measure and quantify than bat speed. For this reason, relatively little data exist describing bat motion in field conditions. The following describes a relatively large swing speed field study involving bats of the same model with nearly constant weight and varying inertia. The study was conducted using right-handed batters on a regulation outdoor field with a live pitcher. Swing speed was measured by tracking markers on the bat with two high-speed video cameras so that the bat markers could be traced in three-dimensional space. The ball motion was tracked using the same high-speed video cameras and a three-dimensional Doppler radar system. Bat swing speed was observed to be proportional to the batter skill level and the normalised swing speed increased with decreasing bat inertia. The bat centre of rotation during impact was close to the knob of the bat. The bats were tested under controlled laboratory conditions using a standardised performance test. The field and laboratory results showed good agreement including the hit-ball speed and the subtle effect of bat inertia on the maximum performance location. The vibrational response of the bats was considered using modal analysis. The maximum performance location was correlated with the node of the first vibrational mode.     

Introduction to Sample Size Choice for Confidence Intervals Based on t Statistics

Sample size can be chosen to achieve a specified width in a confidence interval. The probability of obtaining a narrow width given that the confidence interval includes the population parameter is defined as the power of the confidence interval, a concept unfamiliar to many practitioners. This article shows how to utilize the Statistical Analysis System (SAS) proc power procedure to determine an appropriate sample size and achieve sufficient power for a specified confidence interval. Two examples in sport and exercise science are used to illustrate sample size determination for confidence intervals in the dependent and independent t tests. The relevant SAS code and output are provided with detailed annotations. As the use of confidence intervals becomes a more integral part of studies in sport and exercise science, the reporting and analysis of their power should be considered much like that of hypothesis tests.     

Everyone's a Criminal? Reflections on Critical Reading in the Primary Classroom

Calls for children to be taught to read critically become ever louder. This article asks what teaching for critical reading might look like in the primary school. It presents accounts of two group reading lessons from a Year 3 classroom. It examines the interactions that take place: the questioning of the teachers and the responses of the children. It suggests that where children are given the power to make meaning for themselves, they are more likely to learn to read critically than those who are not.