‘If you miss the ball,you look like a total muppet!’ Boys investing in their bodies in physical education and sport

Connections have been drawn between masculinity, muscularity and physical or social status in sport. Not only are sporting bodies often related to masculinity but also to whiteness, leading to the devaluing of Asian boys' bodies and sporting experiences. This paper draws on three British Asian teenage boys' visual and verbal narratives to enquire how they negotiate these connections in their physical education and recreational sport experiences. Bourdieu's notion of capital is used to make sense of boys' ways of investing in their bodies to manage their status in school. Drawing from focus-group interviews which used participant-driven photography and photo elicitation techniques, the research indicates how three boys invested in their bodies by doing particular types of physical activity that would enable them to develop muscularity, fitness and/or motor competence, to attain or retain physical and social capital in school. Along the way, they add pertinent comments on the intersections of masculinity and ethnicity in constructing and performing a sporting body.     

Girls’ active identities: navigating othering discourses of femininity,bodies and physical education

Within physical education and sport, girls must navigate discourses of valued athletic and gendered bodies that marginalise or ‘other’ non-normative performances through systems of surveillance and punishment. The purpose of this paper is to share girls’ perspectives on how these discourses affected their gender performances and activity engagement. Students aged 13–14 in one ethnically diverse UK secondary school were invited to create a photo diary of the physical activities they engaged in. Photo-elicitation interviews in small groups followed. The girls positioned themselves as physically active but had to carefully manage their activity choices and gender performances in a single-sex physical education environment that regulated deviation from the fit, slender, girly-girl. Although the girls demonstrate the difficulty of resisting, they indicate moments of positioning themselves against norms that suggest the possibilities of shifting gendering processes. The paper points out the importance of listening to ‘other’ girls’ narratives in building positive physical education engagements.     

Teaching Science as a Process,Not a Set of Facts

Science & Education - The widespread misperception of science as a deliverer of irrefutable facts, rather than a deliberative process, is undermining public trust in science. Science education...     

Balancing Cultural Diversity and Social Cohesion in Education: The Potential of Shared Education in Divided Contexts

This article considers how the education systems of divided societies have been shaped in response to the experience of ethnic and religious conflict. The analysis identifies two competing priorities in such contexts – the development of social cohesion and the protection of cultural, ethnic and religious identities – and explores how these may be reconciled through a model of ‘shared education’. Drawing on research evidence and recent experience of shared education in Northern Ireland, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Cyprus, we reflect on the advantages and challenges of this model in areas experiencing conflict and division.     

Stress responses during aerobic exercise in relation to motivational dominance and state

We examined the hypothesis that congruence between motivational dominance and state results in optimal psychological responses and performance during exercise. Twenty participants (10 telic dominant and 10 paratelic dominant) rated their stress at 5 min intervals as they cycled on an ergometer at gas exchange threshold for 30 min in both telic and paratelic state manipulated conditions. Participants then performed a test to exhaustion at a resistance equivalent to 110% of VO(2max). The hypothesized interaction between condition and dominance was significant for internal tension stress, as paratelic dominants were more stressed than telic dominants when exercising in the telic state and telic dominants were more stressed than paratelic dominants when exercising in the paratelic state. Similarly, the condition × dominance interaction for internal stress discrepancy was significant, as paratelic dominants reported greater internal stress discrepancy exercising in the telic compared with the paratelic state. Findings are discussed in relation to the application of reversal theory for understanding stress responses during aerobic exercise.     

Esports players,got muscle? Competitive video game players’ physical activity,body fat,bone mineral content,and muscle mass in comparison to matched controls

BackgroundEsports players, like traditional athletes, practice for long hours and, thus, are vulnerable to the negative health effects of prolonged sitting. There is a lack of research on the physical activity and the health ramifications of prolonged sitting by competitive players. The purpose of this study was to investigate activity levels, body mass index (BMI), and body composition in collegiate esports players as compared to age-matched controls.MethodsTwenty-four male collegiate esports players and non-esports players between 18 and 25 years of age signed a written consent to participate. Physical activity was examined using daily activity (step count) with a wrist-worn activity tracker. A questionnaire assessing physical activity was also administered. Secondary outcomes included body-fat percentage, lean-body mass, BMI, and bone mineral content measured using dual X-ray absorptiometry.ResultsThe step count in the esports players was significantly lower than the age-matched controls (6040.2 ± 3028.6 vs. 12843.8 ± 5661.1; p = 0.004). Esports players exhibited greater body-fat percentage (p = 0.05), less lean body mass (p = 0.003), and less bone mineral content (p = 0.03), despite no difference in BMI between the esports and non-esports players.ConclusionAs compared to non-esports players, collegiate esports players were significantly less active and had a higher body-fat percentage, with lower lean body mass and bone mineral content. The BMIs showed no difference between the 2 groups. Esports athletes displayed significantly less activity and poor body composition, which are all correlated with potential health issues and risk of injury. BMI did not capture this difference and should not be considered as an accurate measure of health in competitive esports players.     

An exploration of teacher's use of iPads for students with learning support needs

This project explored how iPads were being used in a range of K‐12 schools to support the learning of students with a range of learning support needs. Groups of teachers (and other professionals) from the USA, Canada, Australia and the UK were invited to complete an online survey focused on the use of iPads in their classrooms, perspectives of their skill level, and how their school and school districts support the use of iPads. The survey focused on iPad use in classrooms (curriculum and skills); teachers’ skill levels; whether iPads are addressed in the Individualised Education Program (IEP); the systemic support for the iPads; and the perceived benefits and barriers. The results reveal that respondents are using iPads across many areas of the curriculum, which affirms the research in the emerging literature base. However, there are teacher reported differences in the manner and scope of iPad use in the classrooms and also the integration of the iPad in the IEP. The research also highlights variability in reported skill level for the iPad and an increased need for enhanced systemic support, such as training, funding, technical support and administrative support for the use of the iPad as a pedagogical tool.