Social interaction of intellectually handicapped children in integrated and segregated preschools

The social participation during free play activities of intellectually handicapped children in regular preschools was compared with that of their non‐handicapped age‐mates in the same preschools, and with that of intellectually handicapped children in a special preschool. While both groups of intellectually handicapped children showed, significantly lower levels of social participation than the non‐handicapped children, the intellectually handicapped children attending the special preschool were significantly lower in terms of social participation than those attending the regular preschools. The results were discussed in terms of the probable advantages of regular preschools as social learning environments for intellectually handicapped children.     

Space matters: framing the New Zealand learning landscape

Learning Environments Research - Significant funding is devoted across the world to transforming traditional classrooms into flexible learning environments. These efforts are often...     

Handicapped Children of Preschool‐ and School‐age in New Zealand: Special Educational Needs and Available Services

Very little research has been undertaken to date into the epidemiology of handicaps in New Zealand children of preschool and school age. Overseas prevalence estimates suggest that in this country only a small proportion of children within each category, apart from visual handicap, are receiving special educational provisions. While not necessarily an undesirable state of affairs, several studies conducted as part of Project MASE indicate that many handicapped children in regular classes whom teachers and parents believe require special educational services are not being referred for, and thus do not receive such provision. Possible reasons for non‐referral and strategies for locating such children during the preschool and school years are considered, and the need for greatly expanded research attention to the progress and adjustment of the majority of handicapped children who remain in regular classes is underlined.     

Service-Learning Projects in an Undergraduate Gerontology Course: A Six-Stage Model and Application

Service-learning opportunities are prominent on many college campuses. The process of designing and implementing service-learning experiences, especially for students of gerontology, however, has rarely been addressed. The current article briefly reviews the background and utility of service-learning in gerontology courses, describes our service-learning project, outlines a general six-stage model for developing service-learning projects in gerontology courses, and describes our process of integrating the service-learning project into an introductory gerontology course. Finally, we demonstrate that in conjunction with the promotion of evaluative practices, service-learning in the gerontology classroom presents a promising practice for creating healthier communities.     

The reform process of Portuguese higher education institutions: from collegial to managerial governance

Tertiary Education and Management - Portuguese public higher education institutions have been undergoing a major reform process since 2007. The most noticeable changes were introduced by Law...     

The Effect of Social Influences and General Metacognitive Knowledge on Metamemory Judgments

This study investigated whether social information can affect Ease-of-Learning (EOL), Judgments-of-Learning (JOL), and Feeling-of-Knowing (FOK) and their accuracy. Participants first learned associated word pairs and made the above-mentioned judgments. They were later divided into two groups of metacognitive ability in order to assess if they had been affected differently by the social cues, which consisted of information about previous performances of college students. Results revealed that the magnitude of the metamemory judgments assessed was significantly affected by the social cues and that participants with a Low level of metacognitive ability were more influenced than those with High metacognitive ability. Concerning accuracy, however, only the recall accuracy of JOL judgments was affected. Further, different patterns of influence across the three judgments were observed for the two ability groups. Results and educational implications were discussed.     

Gender (im)balance in the pool of graduate talent: the portuguese case

Tertiary Education and Management - Doctoral education has grown substantially, resulting in a larger and diverse pool of graduates for research. Simultaneously, gender balance in research has...     

Dynamics of players’ relative positioning during baseline rallies in tennis

Abstract

This study analysed how the relative positioning of players on court influenced patterns of interpersonal coordination in baseline rallies in tennis. We developed a model (PA index) that assigns a weight to the position of each player on court and determines a positional advantage, based on the relative proportionality between the lateral and longitudinal displacement values during rallies. To test the model, data from 27 randomly-selected baseline rallies from three ATP World Tour matches (professional tennis players' tournaments organized by Association of Tennis Professionals) on clay were analysed. Results revealed that the PA index of players on court described their interpersonal coordination dynamics during baseline rallies. It also identified the emergence of rally breaks in the interpersonal coordination patterns of competing dyads that led to a point being scored. Data suggest that positional advantage data may assist coaches in the design of training tasks to enhance players' court coverage and performance during competitive interactions, acting as a valuable tool for performance analysis in tennis.     

Reaction time and muscle activation patterns in elite and novice athletes performing a taekwondo kick

ABSTRACT

Fractionated reaction time can be used to determine distinct epochs known as pre-motor, response and movement times (MTs) of a reaction time task. The purpose of this study was to compare elite and novice athletes performing a taekwondo kick in terms of the fractionated reaction time and electromyography (EMG) activation patterns of the muscles of the striking lower limb and the lower back. We hypothesised that the pre-motor time, response time (RT) and MT would be the shorter for elite athletes compared to novices. We collected data on 13 elite and 10 novice athletes when performing a roundhouse kick. The experiment included EMG electrodes placed on five low back and lower extremity muscles and an electrogoniometer placed on the kicking knee. We found that pre-motor time was shorter and the RT was longer for elite athletes than novice athletes. Moreover, the integrated EMG of the main knee extensor does not differ between groups though other leg and trunk muscles do. The results allow coaches and teachers to understand this particular taekwondo kicking movement which could ultimately improve the technique in order to establish training and teaching goals.     

Connecting the dots: Theorizing and mapping learning entanglement through archaeology and design

Designing for digitally enhanced learning has increased in complexity. In response, this paper calls for a reconceptualization of technology—as the reconfiguring of space, place, materials, time and social relations—enrolled and refashioned in emergent learning activity. Such reconceptualization requires analytical tools, methods and processes to map heterogeneous assemblages of people, tools and tasks. Educational researchers and designers are in need of approaches and theories that move beyond deterministic accounts about the utility of individual learning technologies, to connect theory, research and practice. Our research shows that in learning to distinguish between elements that are open to alteration through design and those that are not, educational designers gain deeper insights into the flows of matter, information and humans characteristic of productive networked learning environments. And this, in turn, gives rise to valued qualities of emergent learning activity in alignment with current theories about learning. In this paper, we present a series of methods adapted from archaeology and design, illustrating their power in tracing the complex webs of dependence characteristic of productive learning entanglement, with the aim of supporting future design for learning.