Body sway,aim point fluctuation and performance in rifle shooters: inter- and intra-individual analysis

In this study, we examined the relationships between body sway, aim point fluctuation and performance in rifle shooting on an inter- and intra-individual basis. Six elite shooters performed 20 shots under competition conditions. For each shot, body sway parameters and four aim point fluctuation parameters were quantified for the time periods 5 s to shot, 3 s to shot and 1 s to shot. Three parameters were used to indicate performance. An AMTI LG6-4 force plate was used to measure body sway parameters, while a SCATT shooting analysis system was used to measure aim point fluctuation and shooting performance. Multiple regression analysis indicated that body sway was related to performance for four shooters. Also, body sway was related to aim point fluctuation for all shooters. These relationships were specific to the individual, with the strength of association, parameters of importance and time period of importance different for different shooters. Correlation analysis of significant regressions indicated that, as body sway increased, performance decreased and aim point fluctuation increased for most relationships. We conclude that body sway and aim point fluctuation are important in elite rifle shooting and performance errors are highly individual-specific at this standard. Individual analysis should be a priority when examining elite sports performance.     

‘How Can We Know the Dancer from the Dance?’ Personal Concern and Sexual Desire in the Educational Relationship

Drawing on both philosophical and imaginative sources, this article explores the profile of concern and caring in the teacher–learner relationship. Following a defence of the role of narrative in educational theory, the nature of the teacher–learner relationship and the role of concern in the relationship are addressed. The main part of the essay draws on the autobiographical fiction The Pupil: A Memory of Love by Irish author Monk Gibbon to demonstrate the process whereby shared passion for literature can become—on the part of the teacher—an obsessive sexual desire for the learner. Eschewing virtue‐signalling and moral grandstanding, the third and concluding part of the essay endeavours to explain the inappropriateness of the erotic in the teacher–learner relationship.     

LONGITUDINAL STUDIES OF TEST-WISENESS

Longitudinal studies were conducted to examine test-wiseness (tw) with respect to (a) grade differences, (b) grade by sex interaction, and (c) stability. Included in the tw measure were stem-option, absurd-options, similar-options, and specific-determiners. Ss were students in grades 5 through 11; 539 Ss were observed twice with a 2 year interval between observations.
Results indicated (a) significant increases on tw in four of five cases, (b) no sex by grade interaction, and (c) tw as a stable characteristic over the grade levels studied.     

Constructing Parental Involvement in an Education Action Zone: Whose need is it meeting?

This paper illustrates some of the tensions and contradictions in schools' attempts to develop parental and family involvement through a case study of parental involvement in an Education Action Zone. It focuses on how schools constructed parental involvement, the kinds of work they engaged in, the issues raised in managing and resourcing parental involvement projects, the perceived benefits of running the projects and the likelihood of the projects being sustainable. It is argued that the models of parental involvement that schools developed had important consequences for the role parents were allowed to play. Varying roles impose different kinds of demands on schools and parents and require different kinds of relationship between schools, parents and the local community. The more expansive the view of parental involvement, the greater the costs in running such projects and, hence, particularly in poor areas, the less chance of them being sustainable. Moreover, there were evident contradictions between the standards and inclusion dimensions of parental involvement projects. In particular, there was, and is, an evident tension for the schools around constructing parents as a resource for schools to tap into in the drive to raise standards and constructing the school as a resource for parents and the wider community to tap into in the drive to promote local regeneration and inclusion. This is being resolved in favour of the standards agenda.     

THE EFFECT OF PRACTICE SESSIONS ON THE USE OF SEPARATE ANSWER SHEETS BY FIRST AND SECOND GRADERS

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of formal practice sessions on the ability of first and second graders to use separate answer sheets on the California Test of Mental Maturity. The Ss were all 79 pupils enrolled in these grades at one elementary school. Academically, these Ss were above average. Through the use of a counterbalanced design, the CTMM was administered twice to all Ss; once employing the usual answer marking format contained in the test booklet and once employing a separate answer sheet preceded by a formal practice session. Significant mean raw score differences between formats of 10.30 and 7.19 were obtained for Ss in grades one and two respectively in favor of the booklet format. Accuracy scores, which removed the effect of speed from raw score performances, were also analyzed and the results confirmed the superiority of the booklet format. It was concluded that even with prior practice sessions, above average pupils in grades one and two are unable to utilize separate answer sheets in an effective manner.     

Family Background,Individual and Environmental Influences,Aspirations and Young Adults' Educational Attainment: A follow-up study

In this follow-up study of an earlier investigation (Marjoribanks, 2002a), relationships were examined between adolescents' educational aspirations and young adults' educational attainment, after taking into account measures of family background, individual characteristics and proximal learning settings. Data were collected as part of a longitudinal survey of Australian youth (3772 females and 3476 males). The findings from the two analyses suggest that: (a) family background, individual characteristics and proximal learning settings combine to have large associations with adolescents' aspirations, and these aspirations have the largest relationship with young adults' eventual educational attainment; and (b) there are ethnic group differences in the linear and curvilinear nature of relationships involving measures of individual characteristics, adolescents' educational aspirations and young adults' educational attainment. An 'aspiration 2 attainment 2 background' model is proposed to examine the ongoing and different interactions between aspirations and academic outcomes for students from various family backgrounds.