Banking Time in Head Start: Early Efficacy of an Intervention Designed to Promote Supportive Teacher–Child Relationships

Research Findings: This exploratory study encompassed a collaboration to implement and evaluate the early efficacy of Banking Time, a dyadic intervention designed to promote supportive teacher–child relationships. Banking Time is a set of one-on-one meetings between a teacher and a child consisting of child-led play and teacher facilitation techniques. The study examined Banking Time effects in relation to changes in teacher-reported relationship quality, teacher-rated child behavioral outcomes, and observer-rated teacher–child interactions during two 6-week intervention periods. Children were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 study conditions: (a) intervention, (b) within-class control, or (c) wait-list control. The sample consisted of 29 Head Start teachers and 116 children. Teachers completed ratings at pre- and posttest. Teachers and children also participated in pre- and posttest videotaped semistructured interactions that were coded on 6 teacher, child, and dyadic ratings. Overall, there were modest effects associated with the use of Banking Time. Teachers participating in Banking Time consistently reported increased perceptions of closeness with children as well as increased frustration tolerance, task orientation, and competence and decreased conduct problems. Teacher beliefs were associated with ratings of child behavior as well as teacher–child interactions. Practice or Policy: Implications for prevention in classroom settings are discussed.     

Acute effects of passive muscle stretching on sprint performance

The results of previous research have shown that passive muscle stretching can diminish the peak force output of subsequent maximal isometric, concentric and stretch-shortening contractions. The aim of this study was to establish whether the deleterious effects of passive stretching seen in laboratory settings would be manifest in a performance setting. Sixteen members (11 males, 5 females) of a Division I NCAA track athletics team performed electronically timed 20 m sprints with and without prior stretching of the legs. The experiment was done as part of each athlete's Monday work-out programme. Four different stretch protocols were used, with each protocol completed on a different day. Hence, the test period lasted 4 weeks. The four stretching protocols were no-stretch of either leg (NS), both legs stretched (BS), forward leg in the starting position stretched (FS) and rear leg in the starting position stretched (RS). Three stretching exercises (hamstring stretch, quadriceps stretch, calf stretch) were used for the BS, FS and RS protocols. Each stretching exercise was performed four times, and each time the stretch was maintained for 30 s. The BS, FS and RS protocols induced a significant (P < 0.05) increase (approximately 0.04 s) in the 20 m time. Thus, it appears that pre-event stretching might negatively impact the performance of high-power short-term exercise.     

Signs in the Workplaces Semiotics and Human Performance Technology

Semiotics, or the study of signs, has much to offer the field of performance technology. In this paper, we examine the process of analysis and illustrate how semiotic theory can inform the way a performance problem is approached, analyzed, and understood. We argue that a semiotic approach to analysis can reveal meanings that would otherwise remain hidden and which can provide valuable information for the design of appropriate interventions. Semiotics is not so much a new theory of performance technology as much as it provides “value added” to current Human Performance Technology processes.