Just picking it up? Young children learning with technology at home

We describe a two year empirical investigation of three‐ and four‐year‐old children's uses of technology at home, based on a survey of 346 families and 24 case studies. Using a socio‐cultural approach, we discuss the range of technologies children encounter in the home, the different forms their learning takes, the roles of adults and other children and how family practices support this learning. Many parents believed that they did not teach children how to use technology. We discuss parents' beliefs that their children ‘pick up’ their competencies with technology and identify trial and error, copying and demonstration as typical modes of learning. Parents tend to consider that their children are mainly self‐taught and underestimate their own role in supporting learning and the extent to which learning with technology is culturally transmitted within the family.     

Breast motion asymmetry during running

Breast asymmetry is common in females, despite a similar driving force; dynamic activity may result in asymmetrical breast motion. This preliminary study investigated how breast categorisation (left/right or dominant/non-dominant) may affect breast support recommendations and its relationship with breast pain. Ten females ran on a treadmill at 10 kph in three breast supports (no bra, everyday bra, sports bra). Five reflective markers on the thorax and nipples were tracked using infrared cameras (200 Hz) during five running gait cycles in each breast support. Multiplanar displacements of both breasts were calculated relative to the thorax. Although the maximum individual participant difference was 2.4 cm (mediolaterally) between the left and right breast, no left/right differences were found in any direction or support condition. Notably, correlations between breast pain and anterioposterior breast displacement were stronger with the left breast (r = 0.614) and moderate with the right breast (r = 0.456). Following participant categorisation according to the greatest magnitude of superioinferior breast displacement (dominant breast), results showed significant differences in displacement for all directions across different breast supports. When using breast kinematic data to examine relationships with breast pain or to recommend breast support requirements, data on both breasts should be collected.     

Magnitude of multiplanar breast kinematics differs depending upon run distance

Recommendations for breast support, dynamic breast pain assessment, and implications for sports performance have been made within breast biomechanics research; however, these studies have been based upon short exercise protocols (2–5 min). The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of breast support on multiplanar breast kinematics over a 5-kilometre run. Ten female participants (34D or 32DD) conducted two 5-kilometre runs, in a low and high breast support. Relative multiplanar breast kinematics were averaged over five gait cycles at six intervals of a 5-kilometre run. Increases in multiplanar breast kinematics were reported from the start to the end of the run, with the greatest rate of increase in breast kinematics reported within the first two kilometres of running. The greatest relative increases in breast range of motion (34%), velocity (33%), and acceleration (41%) were reported in the superioinferior direction at the fifth kilometre (33 min of running) in the high breast support. Key findings suggest that the run distance, and therefore run duration, employed for both fundamental research and product validation protocols should be carefully considered and it is suggested that running protocols for assessing breast biomechanics should exceed 7 min.     

Game playing and fluctuations in emotional climate

The inclusion of games in mathematics programmes is widely believed to foster the enjoyment of mathematics. The focus of this paper is on fluctuations in emotional climate during the playing of whole-class mathematics games. A multimethod approach drawing on the sociology of emotions was employed to explore changes in the classroom emotional climate that were associated with game playing. The event-oriented inquiry was conducted with two teachers and a class of 10- to 13-year-olds in a New Zealand classroom during mathematics sessions. Over a series of eight mathematics lessons, there were three noticeable fluctuations in emotional climate, all of which occurred during whole-class games. Our analysis of these three events identified a successful interaction with dramatic emotional energy associated with a positive emotional climate, a successful interaction with undramatic emotional energy associated with positive emotional climate, and an unsuccessful interaction associated with negative emotional climate with interactional repair. The third event also illustrated how the incomplete nature of a game’s rules can provide an opportunity for a negative emotional climate to be associated with game playing. The taken-for-granted wisdom that whole-class mathematics games can enhance emotional aspects of a classroom learning environment is supported by some of our evidence.

     

‘It’s not what it looks like. I’m Santa’: Connecting Community through Film

The lived experiences of young people are becoming increasingly marginalised within the narrowly defined curricula of neoliberal contexts. Many young people are also cast within the media according to deficit discourses of youth, which contributes to the fragmentation of communities and the limitation of interaction between generations. This article describes a film project in which young people living in an ex-mining community in the Midlands of England worked in and with their community to create a representation of where they live. As part of the process, the young filmmakers did more than connect to other people’s memories as repositories of information; both as process and as product, their film can be seen to connect shared narratives of people and place, across time and space. We argue that this project offers a timely opportunity to reflect upon the ways in which we understand learning in and out of English classrooms.     

Creativity in the Bronze Age: Bringing Archaeological Research into Contemporary Craft Teaching and Learning through a Live Project

The CinBA Live Project sought to engage students of contemporary craft courses in the UK with Bronze Age creativity. We aimed to explore the ways in which the creativity inherent in prehistoric craft may be used as inspiration in contemporary making. It simultaneously offered institutions a unique opportunity to offer a practice‐led, research‐based live project which was distinct to those generally known to be available to art and design institutions. It offered a different experience within this established pedagogical model in art and design education by using the Bronze Age as a source of inspiration for creative practice through practice‐based research in contemporary craft within the framework of an international academic research project, and suggesting new roles for the interpretation of the prehistoric past through creative work. This article reports on the CinBA Live Project. It outlines the context of the opportunity, details our methods of facilitation, describes the activities undertaken by the students and considers the outputs and post‐project impact of the activity.     

Evening electronic device use: The effects on alertness,sleep and next-day physical performance in athletes

The aim of the present study was to investigate the influence of different types of tasks performed with or without an electronic device (tablet) on pre-sleep alertness, subsequent sleep quality and next-day athletic performance. Eight highly trained netball players attended a sleep laboratory for pre-sleep testing, polysomnographic sleep monitoring and next-day physical performance testing on 5 separate occasions (1 familiarisation and 4 experimental sessions). For 2 h prior to bedtime, athletes completed cognitively stimulating tasks (puzzles) or passive tasks (reading) with or without a tablet. Sleepiness tended to be greater after reading compared to completing puzzles without a tablet (d = 0.80), but not with a tablet. Melatonin concentration increased more so after reading compared to completing puzzles on a tablet (P = 0.02). There were no significant differences in sleep quality or quantity or next-day athletic performance between any of the conditions. These data suggest that using a tablet for 2 h prior to sleep does not negatively affect subsequent sleep or next-day performance in athletes.