Enhancing the written medium for culturally diverse learners via reciprocal interaction

A positive view of culturally diverse learners is advocated. The written medium can serve as an opportunity for self-expression and empowerment. A reciprocal interaction model that allows for student control and capitalizes on student interest is far more culturally responsive than current deficit models.     

The influence of aspirations on higher education choice: a telecommunication engineering perspective

This paper analyses the influence of external factors that affect the decision-making process in the selection of telecommunications engineering studies. Particularly, we have studied the influence of factors related to the generation of expectations about the studies. A survey was conducted on a sample of 701 male and female telecommunications engineering students. The results show the existence of a direct relationship between the choice of telecommunications studies in non-vocationally oriented students and their expectations of finding a job more easily, getting higher salaries and more prestige. On the other hand, non-vocationally oriented students show similar academic performance to that of vocationally oriented students.     

Special education in Spain at the beginning of the 21st century: the challenge to educate in an unequal and multicultural society

An overview of the challenges facing the Spanish Special Education system at the turn of the century is presented. Significant changes have occurred in Spain over the last two decades that have affected the landscape of Spanish public schools in an unprecedented way. First, since the late 1980s, students with a variety of disabilities have been attending general education classrooms along with their peers. Additionally, for the last 20 years, Spain has experienced a dramatic increase in immigration patterns from Northern Africa, Eastern Europe and Latin America. Thus, Spanish educators are facing the challenge of educating an increasingly heterogeneous student body. Students' different educational needs are often handed down to the special educator teacher who is faced with the task of ensuring the student's academic and social participation. Reform efforts conducted by Spanish educators to ensure that all students, regardless of their gender, ability level, ethnic and social backgrounds, as well as language and religion of origin, have equal access to a full social and academic participation in their schools and communities are described.     

Unionization and Perceived Control Among Community College Faculty

The research reported in this paper examined what role working in a union or nonunion college has in influencing faculty perceptions of control over their work. Using data from the 1993, 1999, and 2004 National Study of Postsecondary Faculty, this study explored the relative importance of variables in influencing perceived control among full-time teaching faculty in unionized and nonunionized community colleges. Union status was not found to be predictive of perceived control.     

Comprehensiveness and diversity in secondary compulsory education in andalusia: an unresolved challenge

This article outlines the contradictions and challenges of introducing comprehensive, compulsory education in Andalusia for students up to the age of 16. Following a documenting of the developments, it is argued that while the intention was for a significant, planned reform, it is better characterised as one that is, at best, an improvisation. The article discusses the continuing difficulties that may be attributed to a number of policies of the Conservative government of the day, which allowed the development of two systems of education that were not grounded in concepts of equity and social justice to evolve. The work of John Elliott has been acknowledged as an important influence upon the inquiry that was undertaken and the subsequent analysis of its results. Thus, not only are the results of an action-orientated study reported here, but also there is an extensive set of guiding principles that could enable the reform to be truly actualised.     

Effects of different percentages of body weight support on spatiotemporal step characteristics during running

This study aimed to determine the effect of different percentages of body weight support (BWS) on spatiotemporal step characteristics during running. 26 endurance runners (age: 37 ± 9 years) completed a running treadmill protocol consisting of 6 different conditions (BWS combinations: 0–50%), with velocity maintained at 12 km/h. Each condition lasted 1 minute. Step angle, ground contact time (CT), flight time (FT), step length (SL) and frequency (SF), and duration of phases during stance time (phase1: initial contact; phase2: midstance; phase3: propulsion) were measured for every step during the test using a photoelectric cell system. Compared with the baseline condition (100% BW), FT was longer, CT was shorter, SL was longer, SF was lower, and the step angle was higher with each increase in BWS (p < 0.05). Also, some changes were observed in the duration of phases during stance time: phase1 did not experience changes across experimental conditions (p = 0.096), phase2 decreased and phase3 increased as BW was supported (p < 0.05). These results indicate that as BW was supported, runners showed longer FT and SL, shorter CT, lower SF, and greater step angle as well as some changes in the phases during the ground contact. Therefore, this study highlights the effect of different percentages of BWS on spatiotemporal parameters.     

Influence of different attentional focus on EMG amplitude and contraction duration during the bench press at different speeds

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether using different focus affects electromyographic (EMG) amplitude and contraction duration during bench press performed at explosive and controlled speeds. Eighteen young male individuals were familiarized with the procedure and performed the one-maximum repetition (1RM) test in the first session. In the second session, participants performed the bench press exercise at 50% of the 1RM with 3 different attentional focuses (regular focus on moving the load vs contracting the pectoralis vs contracting the triceps) at 2 speed conditions (controlled vs maximal speed). During the controlled speed condition, focusing on using either the pectoralis or the triceps muscles increased pectoralis normalized EMG (nEMG) by 6% (95% CI 3–8%; p = 0.0001) and 4% nEMG (95% CI 1–7%; p = 0.0096), respectively, compared with the regular focus condition. Triceps activity was increased by 4% nEMG (95% CI 0–7%; p = 0.0308) at the controlled speed condition during the triceps focus. During the explosive speed condition, the use of different focuses had no effect. The different attentional focus resulted in comparable contraction duration for the measured muscles when the exercise was performed explosively. Using internal focus to increase EMG amplitude seems to function only during conditions of controlled speed.     

Fostering Transit between Real World and Mathematical World: Some Phases on the Modelling Cycle

This study shows how, in the initial training of mathematics teachers, it is possible to promote processes of abstraction and mathematisation through modelling a real situation with the support of auxiliary material to mediate understanding. By adapting elements of the theoretical and methodological framework called Abstraction in Context (AiC), participants’ discussions while building a mathematical model—in a nested epistemic actions—are analysed. Two specific points are discussed in this paper. The first aims to identify how different types of knowledge emerge when an individual is faced with a modelling task. The second is regarding the use of auxiliary material as a means of metaphorising a situation. It was evidenced how the material favours the construction of a mathematical model through the simplification and idealisation that it brings. The meaning constructed for the model is supported in recognising a decreasing behaviour as a part of a whole.