Effects of continuing professional development on urban elementary students' knowledge

This study supports the important role teacher training programs can play in increasing physical education knowledge. In this project, teachers were able to increase students' understanding of critical physical activity/fitness knowledge through physical education instruction, without changing the physical education contact time. This link to student needs as well as the school's overall mission is a promising one for students and schools alike.     

Movement patterns and physical strain during a novel, simulated cricket batting innings (BATEX)

A simulated cricket batting innings was developed to replicate the physical demands of scoring a century during One-Day International cricket. The simulated innings requires running-between-the-wickets across six 5-over stages, each of 21 min duration. To validate whether the simulated batting innings is reflective of One-Day International batting, movement patterns were collected using a global positioning system (GPS) and compared with previous research. In addition, indicators of physical strain were recorded (heart rate, jump heights, sweat loss, tympanic temperature). Nine club cricketers (mean ± s: age 20 ± 3 years; body mass 79.5 ± 7.9 kg) performed the simulated innings outdoors. There was a moderate trend for distance covered in the simulated innings to be less than that during One-Day batting (2171 ± 157 vs. 2476 ± 631 m · h?1; effect size = 0.78). This difference was largely explained by a strong trend for less distance covered walking in the simulated innings than in One-Day batting (1359 ± 157 vs. 1604 ± 438 m · h?1; effect size = 1.61). However, there was a marked trend for distance covered both striding and sprinting to be greater in the simulated innings than in One-Day batting (effect size > 1.2). Practically, the simulated batting innings may be used for match-realistic physical training and as a research protocol to assess the demands of prolonged, high-intensity cricket batting.     

Embedding Mathematical Dialogue in Parent–Child Shared Book Reading: A Preliminary Investigation

Research Findings: Shared book reading provides a meaningful context for rich conversations to occur between a child and an adult and offers opportunities for children to be exposed to a range of vocabulary and concepts that often extend beyond their everyday experiences. Few studies have examined parent–child shared book reading as a context for embedding mathematical discussion. The purpose of this study was to examine systematically the effect of training parents to focus on mathematical concepts and vocabulary during shared book reading. Specific research questions were as follows: (a) Did parents increase their use of math talk during shared storybook reading following training? (b) Did parents generalize intervention strategies? And (c) did children increase their use of math talk during shared storybook reading? Results from a yoked multiple-baseline design with 6 dyads indicated variability across the dyads with 2 general patterns. Math talk increased following training for 3 of the dyads, whereas verbal mathematical behavior did not show consistent change for the other 3 dyads. Practice or Policy: Results are discussed in the context of home support for early mathematical development.     

Suicidal Behavior and Help Seeking Among Diverse College Students

Suicidal and help‐seeking behaviors of students of color remain a significant problem on college campuses. Self‐reported suicidal experiences and help‐seeking behavior of diverse students are examined on the basis of results from a national survey of college student mental health. The results suggest significant differences in the expression of suicidal thoughts and behavior across racial and ethnic groups and different experiences in their referral for, and utilization of, professional help.     

Measuring cognitive load and cognition: metrics for technology-enhanced learning

This critical and reflective literature review examines international research published over the last decade to summarise the different kinds of measures that have been used to explore cognitive load and critiques the strengths and limitations of those focussed on the development of direct empirical approaches. Over the last 40?years, cognitive load theory has become established as one of the most successful and influential theoretical explanations of cognitive processing during learning. Despite this success, attempts to obtain direct objective measures of the theory's central theoretical construct – cognitive load – have proved elusive. This obstacle represents the most significant outstanding challenge for successfully embedding the theoretical and experimental work on cognitive load in empirical data from authentic learning situations. Progress to date on the theoretical and practical approaches to cognitive load are discussed along with the influences of individual differences on cognitive load in order to assess the prospects for the development and application of direct empirical measures of cognitive load especially in technology-rich contexts.     

The school in the state and the state in the school: the social re-production of education systems in a mobile modernity

Schools offer powerful scope for viewing and comprehending the wider society in which they are produced and replicated. The ways in which schools are structured, positioned, funded, managed, appreciated, critiqued, cared for and neglected, presents us with a means for seeing beyond the rhetoric of a nation state to the lived realities faced by its citizens. In this paper I want to link the development of Australian educational policies to shifts in socio-cultural thought and practice that reflect and reproduce a mobile modernity. I am interested in school funding policies as they relate to the private, or non-government education sector from the late colonial period to these so-called neo-liberal/late modern times. The interrogated scenes shift about amongst a complex of interrelated fields, from the urban to the rural, the public and the private, as well as the primary, secondary and tertiary layers of educational “offerings”. The periodization reveals a loosening of commitments to a secular, state-centred, welfare-focused modernity, towards a privatizing, individualizing “second modernity”. Drawing from a range of empirical studies of school choice I highlight the shifting ideas and practices of those involved in the re-production of both public and private schools either as professionals/workers in the system, or as “consumers” of the products available in education’s “quasi-markets”.     

Differences in Brain Activation Between Novices and Experts in Science During a Task Involving a Common Misconception in Electricity

Science education studies have revealed that students often have misconceptions about how nature works, but what happens to misconceptions after a conceptual change remains poorly understood. Are misconceptions rejected and replaced by scientific conceptions, or are they still present in students' minds, coexisting with newly acquired scientific conceptions? In this study, we use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to compare brain activation between novices and experts in science when they evaluate the correctness of simple electric circuits. Results show that experts, more than novices, activate brain areas involved in inhibition when they evaluate electric circuits in which a bulb lights up, even though there is only one wire connecting it to the battery. These findings suggest that experts may still have a misconception encoded in the neural networks of their brains that must be inhibited in order to answer scientifically.     

The transfer of social exclusion and inclusion functions through derived stimulus relations

Previous studies have found that social exclusion can cause distress to those excluded. One method used to study social exclusion is through a virtual ball-toss game known as Cyberball. In this game, participants may be excluded from or included in the ball-toss game and typically report lower feelings of self-esteem, control, belonging, and meaningful existence following exclusion. Experiments 1 and 2 sought to explore the transfer of feelings of exclusion and inclusion through stimulus equivalence classes. In both experiments, participants were trained to form two three-member equivalence classes (e.g., A1–B1, B1–C1; A2–B2, B2–C2) and were tested with novel stimulus combinations (A1–C1, C1–A1, A2–C2, C2–A2). Thereafter, participants were exposed to the Cyberball exclusion and inclusion games. In these games, one stimulus (C1) from one equivalence class was assigned as the Cyberball inclusion game name, whereas one stimulus (C2) from the other equivalence class was assigned as the Cyberball exclusion game name. In Experiment 2, participants were only exposed to the Cyberball exclusion game. During a subsequent transfer test, participants were asked to rate how included in or excluded from they thought they would be in other online games, corresponding to members of both equivalence classes. Participant reported that they felt they would be excluded from online games if the games were members of the same equivalence class as C2. In contrast, participants reported that they felt they would be included in online games if the games were members of the same equivalence class as C1. Results indicated the transfer of feelings of inclusion (Experiment 1) and feelings of exclusion (Experiments 1 and 2) through equivalence classes.     

由米网:订制你的那一抹亮色

正本期关键词:定制做适合年轻人需求和消费水平的定制是由米网的特点,目前依靠团体服装或者用品的定制盈利,也开始尝试着做年轻人个人的个性定制。"年轻的心总是悸动不安,渴望寻找属于自己的那一抹亮色。"在敏锐地捕捉到这一特点后,2012年,6名武汉理工大学的男生从定制文化衫起家,创办由米定制网,进驻以C2B(消费者对企业)商业模式为基础的电子商务领域。打开由米定制网的首页,从情侣马克杯、毕业纪念册到创意手工陶瓷、咖啡烘焙课,每一件定制产品都透着青春气息。由米定制网的市场部负责人鲁梦柯说:"我们就是想让年轻人拥有属于自己的不一样的东西。"     

Assessment using the P scales: best fit – fit for the purpose?

In this article, Andrew Martin, deputy headteacher at Greenside School in Stevenage, provides an outline of the development of the P scales as an assessment tool for pupils working below Level 1 of the National Curriculum. He recounts the difficulties his school found in using P scales to track pupil progress from year to year and describes and evaluates a computer package which he devised in order to fulfil this function. He goes on to discuss current issues in the use of P scales, many of which were highlighted through use of the computer package. These issues include inconsistency in the use of the P scales; variations in pupil profiles; difficulties over making 'best fit' judgements; the need for moderation; and relationships with other curriculum and assessment systems in the school years and in the Foundation Stage. Andrew Martin closes his article with a call for consistency in approaches to assessment, particularly in view of the fact that P scale assessments are to be collected as part of statutory end of key stage data collection arrangements in future.