Pupils' Voices on Achievement: An alternative to the standards agenda

Raising achievement has become a public issue, with policy strategies focused on target setting. Pupil performance is seen as an indicator of school success; the pupils' perceptions of school life find little place in the standards discourse. A study of under-achievement included group interviews with pupils in the early years of secondary school in Scotland. School experience emerged as a social rather than a pedagogic experience, with instrumental goals and arbitrary criteria. Comparative monitoring of performance and conformity with peer norms shaped pupils' perceptions of achievement. Relationships with teachers were characterised by the absence of a discourse about learning. The study underlined the importance of listening to the pupil's voice in school in order to focus on learning rather than on performance and 'standards' of achievement.     

Habitual physical activity levels and sedentary time of children in different childcare arrangements from a nationally representative sample of Canadian preschoolers

BackgroundChildren spend substantial time in childcare, and the reasons parents choose a particular childcare type may differ by family. However, little is known about how childcare type influences habitual (full day) activity levels among children. Therefore, exploring patterns between childcare type and habitual physical activity (PA) (i.e., light, moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA), and total PA) and sedentary time (ST) in young Canadian children is needed.MethodsA nationally representative sample of preschoolers from Cycles 3 and 4 of the Canadian Health Measures Survey was used in this cross-sectional study. Childcare type (e.g., center-based childcare, home-based childcare, home with parent, kindergarten) was reported by parents. Preschoolers wore an Actical accelerometer for 7 days. Device and population-spcific cut-points were applied to delineate PA intensities and ST. Population means and sample totals were calculated to examine average daily and hourly rates of activity.ResultsPreschoolers’ rates of MVPA and total PA from the 4 childcare arrangements ranged from 65.99 min/day to 74.62 min/day (5.48–6.18 min/h) and 274.20 min/day to 281.66 min/day 22.69–23.21 min/h), respectively, while ST ranged from 443.13 min/day to 460.57 min/day (36.80–37.31 min/h). No significant differences were observed in daily or hourly rates of activity.ConclusionThis study provides a snapshot of the levels of PA and ST among preschoolers in various childcare settings at a national level, with no differences observed in habitual activity levels based on childcare enrollment. Additional research is needed to clarify the relationship between young children's PA and childcare type, with consideration given to the quality of the childcare settings.     

Vive la Resistance! (De)Constructing Classmates in a White Working Class High School

English Language Arts class in a predominantly white suburban high school may seem like an unlikely site for transformational pedagogy. Teachers and students speak the same national language and most of the teachers grew up and were educated in working class communities. Despite these roots, it is far too easy for teachers to forget that our “portfolios of experiences” have created access to middle class cultural values. If teachers unconsciously internalize middle class values, we might unwittingly judge working class students as academically deficient rather than engage in empowering, critical pedagogies. Teachers might reconsider student resistance as a force for co-creating curriculum to empower otherwise marginalized students.

This piece explores the nuances of social class, power, and language through the experiences of a teacher and her 11th grade students as they negotiate two units of study that are heavily laden with social class: poetry and college entrance. Analysis and reflection indicate that students in a white working class high school can benefit from pedagogies that embrace, rather than dismiss, student resistance.     

The diagnostic and prognostic utility of the dual-task tandem gait test for pediatric concussion

Background:The tandem gait test has gained interest recently for assessment of concussion recovery.The purpose of our study was to determine the prognostic and diagnostic use of the single-and dual-task tandem gait test,alongside other clinical measures,within 10 days of pediatric concussion.Methods:We assessed 126 patients post-concussion(6.3§2.3 days post-injury,mean§SD)at a pediatric sports medicine clinic and compared them to 58 healthy controls(age:15.6§1.3 years;43%female).We also compared the 31 patients with concussion who developed persistent post-concussion symptoms(PPCS)(age=14.9§2.0 years;48%female)to the 81 patients with concussion who did not develop PPCS following the initial assessment(age:14.1§3.0 years;41%female).All subjects completed a test battery,and concussion patients were monitored until they experienced concussion-symptom resolution.The test battery included tandem gait(single-task,dual-task(performing tandem gait while concurrently completing a cognitive test)conditions),modified Balance Error Scoring System(mBESS),and concussion symptom assessment(Health and Behavior Inventory).We defined PPCS as symptom resolution time>28 days post-concussion for the concussion group.Measurement outcomes included tandem gait time(single-and dual-task),dual-task cognitive accuracy,mBESS errors(single/double/tandem stances),and symptom severity.Results:The concussion group completed the single-task(mean difference=9.1 s,95%confidential interval(95%CI):6.1-12.1)and dual-task(mean difference=12.7 s,95%CI:8.7
16.8)tandem gait test more slowly than the control group.Compared to those who recovered within 28 days of concussion,the PPCS group had slower dual-task tandem gait test times(mean difference=7.9 s,95%CI:2.0-13.9),made more tandem-stance mBESS errors(mean difference=1.3 errors,95%CI:0.2-2.3),and reported more severe symptoms(mean difference=26.6 Health and Behavior Inventory rating,95%CI:21.1-32.6).Conclusion:Worse dual-task tandem gait test time and mBESS tandem stance performance predicted PPCS in pediatric patients evaluated within 10 days of concussion.Tandem gait assessments may provide valuable information augmenting common clinical practices for concussion management.     

Self‐esteem and National Tests in Years 2 and 6: a 4‐year longitudinal study

ABSTRACT This 4‐year longitudinal study measured the self‐esteem, reading and mathematical attainments of four cohorts of children on two occasions‐‐in Year 2 and again in Year 6. All Year 2 children(N = 842) in five randomly selected primary schools within one Local Education Authority (LEA) comprised the sample, of which 588 were present in Year 6. The Lawseq questionnaire (Lawrence, 1982), Mathematics 7 and 11 (NFER, 1987a, b) and the Primary Reading Test Levels 1 and 2 (France, 1981) were administered to this sample. Results showed that Cohorts 3 and 4 had the lowest self‐esteem scores in Year 2 and the highest in Year 6 (significant at the 0.1% level). Attainments in mathematics were stable over the 4 years, but reading comprehension means were significantly higher in Year 6 than Year 2 (at the 0.1% level). Discussion centres on the age effects of self‐esteem responses as well as the effects of context and domain specific factors on self‐esteem.     

LO + EPSS = just‐in‐time reuse of content to support employee performance

Those involved in training know that creating instructional materials can become a tedious, repetitive process. They also know that business conditions often require training interventions to be delivered in ways that are not ideally structured or timed. This article examines the notion that learning objects can be reused and adapted for performance support systems. By doing so, a performance technologist can develop content for just‐in‐case training and reuse it for just‐in‐time performance support.     

Microfluidic on-chip fluorescence-activated interface control system

A microfluidic dynamic fluorescence-activated interface control system was developed for lab-on-a-chip applications. The system consists of a straight rectangular microchannel, a fluorescence excitation source, a detection sensor, a signal conversion circuit, and a high-voltage feedback system. Aqueous NaCl as conducting fluid and aqueous glycerol as nonconducting fluid were introduced to flow side by side into the straight rectangular microchannel. Fluorescent dye was added to the aqueous NaCl to work as a signal representing the interface position. Automatic control of the liquid interface was achieved by controlling the electroosmotic effect that exists only in the conducting fluid using a high-voltage feedback system. A LABVIEW program was developed to control the output of high-voltage power supply according the actual interface position, and then the interface position is modified as the output of high-voltage power supply. At last, the interface can be moved to the desired position automatically using this feedback system. The results show that the system presented in this paper can control an arbitrary interface location in real time. The effects of viscosity ratio, flow rates, and polarity of electric field were discussed. This technique can be extended to switch the sample flow and droplets automatically.     

Accessed or latent resources? Exploring new secondary science teachers' networks of resources

Although new teachers clearly need resources and support, little is known about the types of resources new science teachers' access during their early years of teaching. To increase knowledge of their needs, the study described in this article focused on the primary resources (i.e., human, material, and social) and secondary resources (i.e., strategic and symbolic) new science teachers' access and how those resources interact in new teachers' instructional contexts. The participants for this qualitative study were 15 new secondary science teachers in the United States, and data sources included a contextual interview, teaching observations, and a follow-up interview. Findings revealed that these teachers had a variety of resources available to them, of which social resources were particularly important. Some resources were not accessed and remained latent resources. In addition, some interactions of resources in the new teachers' context led to the development of the network of resources model to represent how resources can interact in contexts to support a new teacher. This model highlights the importance of considering the interaction of multiple resources in a teaching context.