Early Crying,Sleeping, and Feeding Problems and Trajectories of Attention Problems From Childhood to Adulthood

This study investigated if crying, sleeping or feeding problems that co-occur (multiple regulatory problems [RPs]) or are persistent predict attention problems and diagnoses of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in childhood and adulthood. Participants were 342 individuals who were assessed at 5, 20, and 56 months for crying, sleeping, and feeding (RPs) and at 6, 8, and 28 years for ADHD diagnoses, attention problems, and attention span. Infants/toddlers with multiple/persistent RPs had an increased risk of receiving an ADHD diagnosis both in childhood and adulthood compared to those who never had RPs. Multiple/persistent RPs were further associated with a high-decreasing attention problems trajectory from childhood to adulthood. Interventions to alleviate early RPs may prevent the development of attention problems.     

Professional knowledge affects action-related skills: The development of preservice physics teachers' explaining skills during a field experience

Professional knowledge is an important source of science teachers' actions in the classroom (e.g., personal professional content knowledge [pedagogical content knowledge, PCK] is the source of enacted PCK in the refined consensus model [RCM] for PCK). However, the evidence for this claim is ambiguous at best. This study applied a cross-lagged panel design to examine the relationship between professional knowledge and actions in one particular instructional situation: explaining physics. Pre- and post a field experience (one semester), 47 preservice physics teachers from four different universities were tested for their content knowledge (CK), PCK, pedagogical knowledge (PK), and action-related skills in explaining physics. The study showed that joint professional knowledge (the weighted sum of CK, PCK, and PK scores) at the beginning of the field experience impacted the development of explaining skills during the field experience (β = .38**). We interpret this as a particular relationship between professional knowledge and science teachers' action-related skills (enacted PCK): professional knowledge is necessary for the development of explaining skills. That is evidence that personal PCK affects enacted PCK. In addition, field experiences are often supposed to bridge the theory-practice gap by transforming professional knowledge into instructional practice. Our results suggest that for field experiences to be effective, preservice teachers should start with profound professional knowledge.     

“When you're down,stay down”: A lesson for all competitive alpine skiers supported by an ACL rupture measured in vivo

BackgroundDuring an experiment, a ski racer equipped with various measurement devices suffered an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) rupture in his right knee. The aim of this study was to describe the underlying injury mechanism from a functional perspective.MethodsEight giant slalom turns (i.e., 4 left turns), followed by 1 left turn at which the ACL injury occurred, were recorded by 2 video cameras, electromyography of 4 relevant muscle groups, inertial measurement units to measure knee and hip angles, and pressure insoles to determine ground reaction forces.ResultsDue to a loss of balance, the ski racer began to slide sideways at the apex of a left turn. During sliding, his right (outside) leg was actively abducted upward without touching the ground. The ski racer then attempted to stand up again by dropping his leg back towards the snow surface. The end of this dropping was accompanied by a decrease in electromyographic activity in the knee stabilizing muscles. Once the inside edge of the outer ski caught the snow surface, a rapidly increasing peak force, knee flexion, and an aggressive sudden activation of the vastus medialis muscle were observed, while biceps femoris and rectus femoris further decreased their activation levels. This likely resulted in excessive anterior translation of the tibia relative to the femur, causing damage to the ACL.ConclusionOur example emphasizes that ski racers should not get up until they stop sliding. Remember: “When you''re down, stay down.”     

Digitale Spiele

Digital games are experiencing a boom—not just in Germany. In view of their considerable prevalence, it is surprising that sports science (still) only addresses specific aspects of digital games. Based on a definition and differentiation of digital games, this contribution demonstrates that digital games pose numerous important questions, which can and should be considered by sports science. In many ways, digital games can serve as a research topic in sports science or be applied as an instrument for data collection and intervention for study and teaching purposes.     

Counterfactual Reasoning: Developing a Sense of "Nearest Possible World"

This study investigated at what point in development 3- to 6-year-old children begin to demonstrate counterfactual reasoning by controlling for fortuitously correct answers that result from basic conditional reasoning. Basic conditional reasoning occurs when one applies typical regularities (such as "If 'whenever' it doesn't rain the street is dry") to counterfactual questions (such as "If it had not rained, would the street be wet or dry?") without regard to actual events (e.g., if street cleaners had just been washing the street). In counterfactual reasoning , however, the conditional reasoning must be constrained by actual events (according to the "nearest possible world"). In situations when counterfactual reasoning and basic conditional reasoning would yield the same answers, even the youngest children gave mostly correct answers. However, tasks in which the 2 reasoning strategies resulted in different answers proved unusually difficult even for the older children.     

形成性评价（Formative Assessment）的本质及其对教与学的影响

长期以来,很多学者一直倡导指导教学的评价,即通过评估学生需求和监测其学习进展,适当地设计学习顺序,调整教学策略,改良学习计划,以便有效地促进学习目标的完成。本研究调查了形成性评价在美国中学科学课中的实施情况,并分析其对学生学习进步的影响。研究表明,教师都在努力使用形成性评价来指导教学,而学生取得的成绩各不相同。     

Childhood depression: Rethinking the role of the school

Schools play a privileged and strategic role in the lives of children acting as their principle environment away from home. Additionally, schools act as part of the community linking families and neighborhoods. These characteristics make schools a relevant setting for mental health service delivery and support to children and parents. In this article the role of the school environment on the development of childhood depression and as a leverage point in the prevention and treatment of depression will be discussed. Rationales for this viewpoint, as well as practical suggestions for reducing the deleterious effects of schooling on children's emotional well‐being, are offered. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Expertise of Team Leaders in Analysing Team Conflicts

Team leaders are expected to adequately analyse team conflicts. Both content and analytical depth of cognitive processes determine team leaders’ performance and are assumed to differ with level of expertise. A study is reported in which team leaders at four different levels of expertise (novices, semi-experts, experts, mediators) were compared in their analysis of a team conflict presented in a computer-based simulation. Few differences were found between novices and semi-experts, whereas team leaders and mediators differed both in content and in analytical depth of cognitive processes. It is not the amount of practice time itself, which substantially impacts the content and depth of team leaders’ analyses of conflicts. Rather the quality of experience is crucial for developing the ability to conduct an elaborated analysis of team conflicts.     

Forging harmony in the social organism: industry and the power of psychometric techniques

This article analyses the initiating role of the steel industry in educational selection by means of psychometric techniques used in the psycho-physiological laboratory associated with a vocational school in Luxembourg founded in 1914. It first considers the origins of, and initial meanings bestowed upon, this first (and perhaps also last) Luxembourg Laboratory of Psychophysiology. Second, it investigates whether and, if so, to what extent psychometric techniques developed in this laboratory for vocational orientation were used strategically to foster an ethic of individual harmony by means of objectified observation and categorisation of the aptitude. What hidden agendas underpinned the industry’s rhetoric regarding the rebirth of the individual and the empowerment of personal vocation through science-oriented processes like quantification, measurement and rational assessment? Did such rhetoric legitimise the industry’s self-image as a privileged force in structuring the social fabric as well as individual lives?