Discipline social identification,study norms and learning approach in university students

Adopting a deep approach to learning is associated with positive academic outcomes. In the current paper, we extend this analysis in a university context by recognising that learners are not isolated individuals, but share important social identifications with others. Using online surveys at an Australian university, we examine the effects of discipline social identification and educational norms on the adoption of learning approaches. Students from a range of academic disciplines indicated their social identification with their discipline, their perceptions of peer norms within their discipline of study, and what their own learning approaches were. Results demonstrate a significant role of discipline-related social identification in predicting learning approaches, even after controlling for personal factors and quality of teaching. Moreover, perceived norms moderated this effect. Students’ approaches to learning are affected not simply by their salient self-concepts, but by their salient discipline-related self-concepts and the norms embodied in the learning environment.     

Exercise-induced hypoalgesia: Pain tolerance,preference and tolerance for exercise intensity,and physiological correlates following dynamic circuit resistance exercise

Previous research has demonstrated significant decreases in pain perception in healthy individuals following both aerobic and upper body resistance exercise, but research on circuit training has been limited. The purpose of the study was to determine the effects of a strenuous bout of dynamic circuit resistance exercise on pain threshold and pain tolerance in conjunction with changes in blood lactate levels, heart rate (HR), and perceived exertion. A sample of 24 college-age students participated in 2 sessions: (1) a maximal strength testing session and (2) a circuit training bout of exercise that consisted of 3 sets of 12 repetitions with a 1:1 work to rest ratio at 60% one-repetition maximum (1-RM) predicted from a three-repetition maximum (3-RM) for 9 exercises. Participants exhibited increases in pain tolerance, blood lactate levels, HR and perceived exertion following resistance exercise. Preference for exercise intensity was positively correlated with lactate post exercise and tolerance for exercise intensity was positively correlated with pain tolerance and lactate post exercise. In conclusion, this is the first study to demonstrate increases in pain tolerance following a dynamic circuit resistance exercise protocol and disposition for exercise intensity may influence lactate and pain responses to circuit resistance exercise.     

Statistics related to profile interpretation of the Peabody Individual Achievement Test

The Peabody Individual Achievement Test has attained widespread use in the academic assessment of school-age children. Despite its popularity, little has been published regarding the appropriate interpretation of the five subtests making up the PIAT. The present paper provides standard errors of measurement of scaled scores for each subtest at five grade levels. Differences in scaled score units required at .05 and .01 significance levels for comparing each subtest to the mean subtest score are provided, and implications for interpretation are discussed.     

Standard score tables for the McCarthy drawing tests

Few adequately normed drawing tests are available for current practice. Two subtests of the McCarthy Scales, Draw-A-Design and Draw-A-Child, are the best normed of all drawing tests for children aged 2½ to 8½ years: however, no age-corrected deviation scaled scores are available for interpretaion, only raw scores and age equivalents. This paper presents scaled scores for use in interpretation of these two drawing tests.     

The Use of Dynamic Assessment by Educational Psychologists in the UK

Training in Dynamic Assessment (DA) was rarely available in the UK until 1994. This is the first study to explore the outcomes of its availability in terms of the practice of DA and perceptions about it among educational psychologists (EPs). One hundred and nineteen EPs, who had taken positive steps to inform themselves about DA by undertaking some degree of training or by joining a DA interest group, were surveyed to explore the extent of their initial training in DA, subsequent use of it and issues of implementation. Overall, the 88 responses (74%) received suggest, among those surveyed, widespread awareness of DA as a model of cognitive assessment and positive attitudes to it, coupled with a low level of implementation. The low level of use was frequently attributed to insufficient training in DA, to lack of time due to other assessment priorities, often set by the local education authority, and to lack of the ongoing expert support felt to be necessary to maintain use of a demanding form of assessment. The authors take the position that the EP's repertoire would be enriched by improved knowledge of and training in DA. The research raises important issues for cognitive assessment and raises the broader question whether there is a need for the more proactive involvement of educators in enhancing the cognitive functioning of children.     

Standards and Professional Practice: The TTA and Initial Teacher Training

This article examines the implications of the change from competences to standards for initial teacher training. It analyses the implicit interpretation of quality and standards of practice in Teacher Training Agency (TTA) documentation and compares it to that of the Management Charter Initiative in their new management standards. The TTA approach is challenged as incomplete.     

The molecular scattering of light from certain organic liquids

An attempt is made to discover in the molecular scattering of light a method by which atomic linkages in molecules may be recognized. The essential features of the method are described. There are rather serious difficulties in its application to complex molecules, two of which are suggested. Nevertheless, it may be claimed that the work is not without result, because frequencies attributable to linkages which hold externally substituted atoms or groups seem to be relatively undisturbed by positional effects.In conclusion, the authors wish to express their indebtedness to Mr. G. M. J. Mackay whose interest in this problem made the present work possible.     

The Effects of Augmented Levels of Stress on Reaction Time in the Peripheral Visual Field

Abstract

Eleven physically conditioned (CS) and 12 unconditioned (US) college women were tested perimetrically while being exposed to augmented levels of stress (ALS) on a bicycle ergometer; conditioning levels were determined by recovery rates of Ss. The Ss performed two tasks while riding; (a) keeping a central light lit, and (b) extinguishing peripheral lights when they were detected. All Ss reacted to a 12-min program of peripheral lights during three sessions: (a) one baseline trial in which Ss were not riding but reacting to the program, and (b) riding trials (RID) in which the Ss pedaled and reacted to the program. During RIDs the Ss pedaled a workload that was automatically altered to maintain a HR of 160 bpm. The data were organized into two groups: (a) reaction time data, and (b) missed light data (MLD). The RT data were analyzed through an ANOVA. It was concluded that: peripheral RT was not significantly affected by ALS; USs were affected more negatively than CSs; and there was not uniform narrowing of the peripheral visual field as expected in the hypothesis. Analyses of MLD resulted in a difference between sides, more lights were missed on the left than on the right: and again the USs were affected more negatively.