Associations between anxiety,self-efficacy,and outcomes by gender and body size dissatisfaction during fitness in high school physical education

Background: Noteworthy proportions of adolescents – particularly females – report negatively about their experiences regarding fitness and the testing of it during physical education (PE). These accounts often coincide with lower levels of body image, fitness, motivation, and physical activity and higher rates of attrition from optional PE.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to test path relations between body size dissatisfaction (BSD), test anxiety (TA), self-efficacy, and fitness-related outcomes during fitness in PE and to determine whether these differ as a function of gender and level of BSD.

Method: Survey data were collected from 394 9th and 10th-grade students in southern Ontario, Canada. A previously validated BSD measure was used that consisted of a series of nine gender-specific silhouettes ranging from very thin/slender to very large/overweight. Students’ dissatisfaction score involved subtracting self-ratings of their ideal body size from current body size estimates. Fitness indices in PE (FIPE)was the z-score of the sum of self-reported fitness level, fitness grade in PE, and frequency of active exercise at least 30 minutes per day. Self-efficacy and TA were assessed using established scales from the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire.

Data analysis: Multivariate analysis of variance was used to assess group differences whereas gender-specific confirmatory factor and path analyses were used to test the proposed path in which relations between BSD and FIPE were manifest indirectly through TA and self-efficacy.

Findings: The hypothetical path fit the data in the overall sample and fit better for females than for males. Females reported a higher BSD and a lower self-efficacy and FIPE than males. BSD was evident in both genders with most females desiring a thinner body compared to boys who had relatively equal proportions wanting to be bigger and thinner. Males wanting to be smaller reported significantly lower self-efficacy and FIPE than males with little BSD or those wanting to be larger. Females desiring a thinner body reported significantly more TA and lower FIPE than females with no BSD.

Conclusion: Body image concerns and elevated levels of anxiety appear to undergird the influence of self-efficacy on FIPE. This is particularly so in females, although both females and males with a BSD are susceptible to lowered fitness motivation and achievement in PE. Suggestions are provided to help physical educators to structure fitness curricula and pedagogy to better minimize this vulnerability. These include catering to the gender-specific needs and preferences for fitness activities during PE including the testing of fitness.     

The Delhi dilemma: media representation of the 2010 Commonwealth Games

Developing nations increasingly use sporting mega-events to demonstrate capacity, staking a claim to a place on the ‘world map’ by participating in what has been referred to as the ‘global circus’, or alternatively, the ‘prestige model’. The 2010 Commonwealth Games, hosted by India, provide an example of a mega-event which had mixed results in terms of signalling global modernity. This study extends existing media analysis research that found that the Western media’s interpretation of the event was critical overall and employed negative stereotypes that served to undermine India’s status as a modern power. This study employed a comprehensive textual analysis of relevant articles from eight major daily newspapers to reveal that the Australian print media coverage often focused on the inadequacies of India as an appropriate host nation for the Commonwealth Games.     

New Model,New Strategies: Instructional design for building online wisdom communities

We discuss the development of an instructional design model, WisCom (Wisdom Communities), based on socio‐constructivist and sociocultural learning philosophies and distance education principles for the development of online wisdom communities, and the application and evaluation of the model in an online graduate course in the USA. The WisCom model aims to facilitate transformational learning by fostering the development of a wisdom community, knowledge innovation, and mentoring and learner support in an online learning environment, based on a “Cycle of Inquiry” module design, and a “Spiral of Inquiry” program design. Extending beyond current instructional design practice, WisCom provides both a new model for teaching that builds upon the inherent capacity of networked communication to support the growth and intellectual development of communities of practice, and a new model of learning where learners engage in the process of scholarly inquiry that supports individual and collective learning. Evaluation and research data support the WisCom model's ability to design a learning community engaged in the collaborative construction of knowledge.     

The form of timing distributions in pigeons under penalties for responding early

The peak procedure was used in two experiments. Pigeons in the penalty group in Experiment 1 were rewarded with food in the first phase for the first peck after 12.5 sec had elapsed since the onset of a keylight. In the second phase, reward was withheld if the pigeons pecked within 6.25 sec after keylight onset. Responses in time were tabulated on occasional unrewarded tests in which the keylight was left on for 37.5 sec. Under the penalty contingencies, the response distribution in time remained nearly symmetric about the peak, while the spread of the distribution narrowed, and the time of peak responding came slightly earlier. The yoke group underwent a schedule of rewards similar to that for the penalty group, but without the penalty contingencies. Their response distributions remained similar throughout. The results of Experiment 1 were replicated in Experiment 2, which showed further that the changes due to the penalty contingencies did not generalize to the use of another key on which the penalty contingencies were not in effect. The narrower spread under the penalty contingencies is explained in terms of a change in threshold for when to start responding, and more weight being given to timing versus responding in the presence of the signal per se. No explanation was found for the change in the time of peak responding.     

Response Inhibition,Memory, and Attention in Boys with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Newly developed measures of response inhibition, verbal and non-verbal memory, and attention were applied to a sample of boys diagnosed with ADHD (n = 50; 14 predominantly inattentive type and 36 combined type) with no diagnosed comorbid conditions, who had received no stimulant medication for a minimum period of 20 hours prior to test administration. Performance was assessed relative to 50 individually age-matched control boys. Results revealed significant multivariate group differences on all three tests, supported by univariate effects on measures of verbal memory and attentional switching. In all cases, ADHD boys performed more poorly than the control boys. However, contrary to expectations, boys with ADHD made significantly fewer impulsive responses (false positives) on the specific measure of response, despite recording significantly more misses than the controls. Furthermore, no significant differences were observed according to ADHD subtype. The present research therefore demonstrates and more fully characterises the nature of the observed memory and attentional impairments in boys with ADHD and would appear to have clear implications for education and the further development of theory.     

Part of the main: a project for English

The teaching of English in England has been transformed over the last two decades by powerful, top‐down orthodoxies, that in turn relate to a European‐wide shift in education towards market‐orientated, neo‐liberal policy goals. One of the effects of this reshaping is that the openness of English to popular cultures has been lessened and its links to the interests of social movements attenuated. Yet, unlike its conservative predecessor, present‐day policy orthodoxy seeks not so much the obliteration of the cultural interests that sustained English than their translation into a new form, in which ideas of ‘creativity’, ‘personalisation’ and ‘innovation’ are reinterpreted in neo‐liberal terms. The article considers how, in such complex conditions, the principles of a new project for English can be developed.     

‘You’re 18 now,goodbye’: the experiences of young people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder of the transition from child to adult services

The term ‘transition’ is used to refer to the process of moving from child to adult services. Among child and adolescent mental health services attenders, young people with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are less likely to transition successfully, but there is a gap in understanding their views and why they might disengage from services. The aim of this study was to explore the experiences of transition of young people with ADHD in Southwest England using semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis. Seven young people aged 17–19 years participated. Four key themes were identified: professionals’ roles and relationships with young people; the role of ADHD medication, uncertainties around transition and medication management, and identified needs and increasing independence. Although this study presents the experiences of a small number of people, their stories suggest that best practice around transition is not always being followed. There is consequently a need to better understand the facilitators and barriers to best practice implementation.     

Predicting word-spelling difficulty in 7- to 11-year-olds

Some languages have simple grapheme-phoneme codes in which there is a one-to-one mapping, making them easy to teach and learn, while others have more complicated structures and are more difficult for teachers and students. There is now an increasing number of studies which demonstrate that readers in more transparent orthographies such as Italian, Spanish, Turkish, Greek and German have little difficulty in decoding written words, while English children have many more problems. Increasingly, lack of orthographic transparency in English is seen as having a powerful negative effect on the development of literacy skills in English-speaking children. In the present study, the word factors associated with poor spelling in 5 school year-groups (ages 7 to 11 years) are identified as: (a) frequency of the word in the English language, (b) length of the word and (c) a measure of the phoneticity of the word. The concept of word phoneticity is explored and data is presented illustrating the predictive model of spelling. The implications the model has for teaching and learning English are discussed, with particular reference to the beneficial effects that greater orthographic transparency would have for children.     

Notes on a Crisis: The Pandemic and English Schools

ABSTRACT

The Covid-19 pandemic has created global disruption in education. It has served to highlight pre-existing inequalities, at the same time as it has stimulated new forms of educational provision, notably ‘online learning’. This article focuses on the debates and conflicts provoked by the pandemic’s impact on schooling in England. It aims to show how the historic policy preferences of Conservative governments have been carried forwards into a new situation and suggests how such preferences are at odds with ways of working developed by teachers. It places these different orientations in a broader European context and identifies a common tendency to evoke a meaning of teaching represented as at odds with the policy choices that have characterised government response to the pandemic.