Children's physical activity and physical self-perceptions

The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between physical self-perceptions and physical activity in Canadian school children aged 10–14 years. The sample consisted of 220 boys and 246 girls in grades 5–8. Physical activity was assessed by 7-day recall using the Physical Activity Questionnaire for Older Children. Selfperceptions of physical conditioning, sports competence, strength, body appearance and general physical selfworth were measured by the Physical Self-Perception Profile (PSPP). We found that boys were more physically active than girls and had higher perceptions of sport competence and strength. All PSPP scales were significantly correlated with physical activity in both boys and girls. Structural equation modelling procedures found the hierarchical PSPP model provided a good fit to the observed data, with little evidence of diff erences between the sexes. Analysis of five alternative structural models of the relationship between the PSPP and physical activity found the most parsimonious model to have significant pathways from both physical conditioning and sport skills to physical activity. Models for the sample as a whole, for boys and for girls were similar, accounting for an R 2 of 0.27–0.29 for physical activity. Our results demonstrate that physical self-perceptions, especially physical conditioning and sport skills, are significant correlates of activity in this population.     

A survey of augmentative and alternative communication used in an inner city special school

This study surveyed staff use of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) within a large inner city special school for children with complex needs and learning disabilities. A questionnaire asked 72 staff members about the range of AAC strategies they typically used during the working day and how often they used it; training they had received about AAC; and which AAC approaches they found easy to use and those they found difficult. A range of AAC approaches were identified by staff. Participant confidence and understanding of the reasons for using identified AAC strategies was reported to be one of the key barriers to implementing AAC effectively. The implications in relation to how children with complex needs receive support for their receptive and expressive communication within an education environment are discussed.     

Educational equity,academic standards,and countercontrol: Preventing academic deficits with supplemental interdependent rewards

School psychologists have been involved with developing and installing individual contingencies designed to remedy individual students' academic deficits. Group-oriented contingencies can be applied to broader efforts designed to prevent learning problems class-wide. Independent group-oriented rewards are frequently used in school settings to enhance learning by rewarding strong academic performance (e.g., reward for each student who maintains a 90% average). Research suggests overreliance on these contingencies may not be educationally equitable because they may be less effective or ineffective in influencing the behavior and learning of students with weaker academic skills. Theoretical and applied research is analyzed which suggests that maintaining ubiquitous independent rewards and providing supplemental interdependent group-oriented bonus rewards may allow educators to a) maintain their academic standards, b) enhance educational equity by improving learning in students who may not respond to typical independent group-oriented rewards, and c) enhance classroom climates. Also, recommendations are provided that may allow educators to mitigate concerns over perceived unfairness associated with interdependent group-oriented rewards.     

Measurement Invariance of the Passion Scale Across Three Samples: An ESEM Approach

Sport and exercise psychology researchers rely on the Passion Scale to assess levels of harmonious and obsessive passion for many different types of activities (Vallerand, 2010). However, this practice assumes that items from the Passion Scale are interpreted with the same meaning across all activity types. Using exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM), we tested this assumption by examining the invariance of scores from the Passion Scale across groups of recreational athletes/exercisers (N = 562), competitive athletes (N = 438), and sports fans (N = 256). We found that the ESEM analysis fit the data better than the more common independent clusters confirmatory factor analysis (ICM-CFA) approach and yielded lower correlations between harmonious and obsessive passion factors. Using ESEM, we found evidence of configural, weak, and partial strong invariance across the three groups. Evidence of partial strong invariance provides tentative support for comparing levels of harmonious and obsessive passion across activities.     

Making Meaning on the Mall: The Smithsonian Folklife Festival as a Constructivist Museum

George Hein, museum education theorist, asserts that there are five qualities a “constructivist exhibition” must have (1998, 35). The authors, assembling observations of visitor engagement and qualitative data from the 2013 Smithsonian Folklife Festival, compare the event to Hein's constructivist exhibition criteria, to assess whether the Festival allowed visitors to “make meaning,” and to see whether visitor meaning‐making meshed with the goals of the curators. The answers have the potential to help improve visitor experiences and learning outcomes at museums and other curated cultural events.     

Designing a connected learning toolkit for public library staff serving youth through the design-based implementation research method

Design-based Implementation Research (DBIR) is an iterative approach to developing practical theory and tools to solve problems of practice and to support innovation in improving teaching and learning, which is rarely used in informal settings such as libraries. This study presents findings from a multi-year researcher-practitioner collaboration in which the authors employed DBIR to iteratively design and implement a professional development resource, the ConnectedLib Toolkit, for use in public libraries across the United States (U.S.). In this study, the authors explain what established DBIR challenges and benefits in K-12 formal educational contexts manifest in the development and implementation of a professional development resource for youth-serving library staff working in diverse public libraries across the U.S. This study also disentangles how these challenges and benefits manifest in this setting. These insights will be useful to researchers and library practitioners who are considering partnerships to address problems of practice in library systems.     

The creation of learner identities as part of social inclusion: gender,ethnicity and social space

This paper reports on a project designed to increase parents' and carers' involvement in learning in a multiply deprived inner city community. The project was part of a broader evaluation of a social inclusion partnership funded under the Single Regeneration Budget. The analysis shows how learner identities are created and cannot just be assumed. Drawing on a community development model, a community worker was able to engage with women through routine encounters in their own social space. The project involved a partnership with schools. Other research has suggested that many school/parent partnerships are based on models of resourceful middle-class femininity. This study found that community education worked through engagement with the social realities of women's lives to foster learning identities. Participants were encouraged to gain accreditation based on developing their own knowledge and skills, and to develop learner identities, which allowed them to access other learning. The paper concludes with the importance of working within the ‘habitus’, and that the association of cultural and social capital with education, which policy makers assume, is not universal.     

Absolutism and the Universities

This paper considers the range of research methods used by the UK education research community. Using insights from 25 interviews with key stakeholders it describes their views on the current strengths and weaknesses in methods, and of what methodological developments are needed for future improvement in this field. Using survey returns from 521 active researchers, the paper goes on to describe the techniques that are available for use, and those where further ‘training’ or experience is required. Using the 8,691 individual RAE returns to education, the paper then summarises the methods reported to be in actual use. Finally, it uses a brief analysis of journal contents as triangulating evidence.Our informants were generally in agreement that there is currently a widespread weakness in the quality of UK education research. Much of this weakness is attributed by them to a shortage of skills in ‘quantitative’ methods. Our other data sources suggest that the latter is less likely than the informants believe. A clear majority of education researchers report having used some quantitative methods, and the substantial number of publications involving quantitative methods supports this view. It is, perhaps, rather the type and quality of both quantitative and qualitative research along with unreasonable expectations by its users that leads to the poor public image of education research. Improvement is not going to come simply by enlarging the group of people using quantitative methods.