Observing response processes with eye tracking in international large-scale assessments: evidence from the OECD PIAAC assessment

This paper reports on a pilot study that used eye tracking techniques to make detailed observations of item response processes in the OECD Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC). The lab-based study also recorded physiological responses using measures of pupil diameter and electrodermal activity. The study tested 14 adult respondents as they individually completed the PIAAC computer-based assessment. The eye tracking observations help to fill an ‘explanatory gap’ by providing data on variation in item response processes that are not captured by other sources of process data such as think aloud protocols or computer-generated log files. The data on fixations and saccades provided detailed information on test item response strategies, enabling profiling of respondent engagement and response processes associated with successful performance. Much of that activity does not include the use of the keyboard and mouse, and involves ‘off-screen’ use of pen and paper (and calculator) that are not captured by assessment log-files. In conclusion, this paper points toward an important application of eye tracking in large-scale assessments. This includes insights into response processes in new domains such as adaptive problem-solving that aim to identify individuals’ ability to select and combine resources from the digital and physical environment.     

The national politics of educational advocacy in the context of global governance: international funding and support for civil society engagement in Cambodia

This paper examines the Civil Society Education Fund’s (CSEF) impact on the non-governmental organisation education partnership (NEP) in Cambodia. With financial backing from the World Bank and the Fast Track Initiative, the CSEF is an initiative that is managed internationally by the Global Campaign for Education. Its goal is to help national networks of non-governmental organizations participate in education decision-making and to serve as a watchdog for progress related to internationally agreed upon goals. Through the CSEF, the deployment of various strategies, and other external factors, the NEP was able to able to achieve recognition, legitimacy and influence at the national level. However, the NEP has had to balance working with the state and working for the state. This case study highlights strategies used by civil society actors to engage state actors, the efficacy of international support, and the conflicts inherent in both.     

Failing with grace: kids,Improv and embodied literacies

In this article, we explore the idea that comedy, with its often unorthodox ways of looking at, experiencing, and responding to the world, offers untold possibility for classroom literacy instruction. The article focuses on the potential of Improv comedy as socio‐materialist literacy in the classroom. It provides an account of Improv as a form of embodied literacy that operates as an assemblage created collectively between many people, practices, and material objects. We present findings from interviews with professional comedians regarding the possibilities of comedy for language and literacy instruction with elementary school children. The article then examines a moment from the subsequent classroom phase of the study to look at ways Improv can help students create stories and ways that laughter can be used to create a cohesive assemblage based around students' spontaneous creation of texts. The aim of the article is to provide educators with a practical means to apply socio‐materialist literacy in their classrooms through Improv, which will, in turn, allow students to create collectively generated texts and assemblages.     

Leveraging community sport organizations to promote community capacity: Strategic outcomes,challenges, and theoretical considerations

Community sport organizations (CSOs) provide valuable contexts for promoting community development. These initiatives are most effective when they involve local stakeholders in the process of development. A key first step to achieving this objective is building community capacity, defined as local stakeholders’ skills, knowledge, and resources that may be leveraged for change. Interestingly, despite this conceptual importance, few researchers have focused on capacity building in the sport context. This has limited the theoretical advancement of community capacity theory as it relates to CSOs and community development. Using a qualitative case study approach, the authors analyze the outcomes and challenges of implementing community capacity building strategies in an American CSO, and draw on the empirical data to contribute to this theoretical conversation. Interviews, participant observation, and document analysis were used to generate data, and deductive techniques were used for thematic analysis. The results highlight the outcomes of the capacity building strategies and challenges associated with implementation. In addition, the conclusion focuses on theoretical contributions to community capacity theory, namely the role of sport in facilitating inter-community relations across social groups and the link with process models of organizational capacity.     

Beyond health messaging: a behavioural economics approach to increasing self-selected distance during an acute bout of cycling

The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of the perceived purpose of exercising on the self-selected distance peddled during an acute cycling task. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups (health, wealth, charity). All participants watched a video emphasizing the health benefits of performing at least 30?min of daily exercise. Those in the health group were not provided any additional information. Those in the wealth group were then informed that they would earn money for every two kilometres cycled. Those in the charity group were informed that they would earn money for a charity for every two kilometres cycled. Participants were not given a time/distance limit and were instructed to cycle until they chose to stop. Analyses revealed that participants in the wealth and charity group cycled significantly farther than those in the health group (approximately twice as far). Additionally, a significant sex by group interaction showed that women cycled farther for charity while men cycled farther for wealth. These results suggest that health messages used to increase exercise behaviour may benefit from exploring how paradigms from behavioural economics influence behaviors that have relevance to public health.     

Private Speech Moderates the Effects of Effortful Control on Emotionality

Research Findings: In addition to being a regulatory strategy, children’s private speech may enhance or interfere with their effortful control used to regulate emotion. The goal of the current study was to investigate whether children’s private speech during a selective attention task moderated the relations of their effortful control to their anger and sadness. The private speech of 156 preschoolers (age in months: M = 52.10, SD = 9.24, min = 36.20, max = 69.50) was transcribed and coded during a selective attention task. Effortful control was observed and reported by parents. Anger and sadness were reported by parents and observed in a frustration task. Children who used more inaudible muttering had higher levels of sadness. Effortful control interacted with private speech to explain anger. The negative relation of effortful control to anger was significant for children who used low and moderate but not high levels of task-irrelevant private speech. Practice or Policy: The presence of private speech, although it may support regulatory abilities within a task, may be an additional form of evaluation that might help teachers and caregivers decide how best to support children’s learning. These findings suggest that private speech can be used as an indicator of how well children use other regulatory abilities, such as effortful control.     

The effect of marathon running on carnitine metabolism and on some aspects of muscle mitochondrial activities and antioxidant mechanisms

Carnitine is an essential co‐factor in the catabolism of fats as an energy source. The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of running a marathon on the metabolism of carnitine by endurance‐trained athletes, and to evaluate the effect of carnitine administration on the performance of such exercise. The effects of marathon running on mitochondrial enzymes and cellular anti‐oxidants were also examined to assess whether the expression of these activities is altered by exercise. Subjects were 10 experienced male marathon runners aged between 19 and 25 years. Running a marathon caused a fall in the plasma content of unesterified carnitine (37%) and an increase in the level of acetylcarnitine present (288%). Loading of the athletes with L‐carnitine for 10 days before running a marathon abolished the exercise‐induced fall in plasma‐free carnitine (P<0.05) whilst amplifying the production of acetylcarnitine (P<0.05). Carnitine loading of the athletes studied made no detectable improvement in performance of the marathon (P > 0.05). Cytochrome oxidase, succinate cytochrome C reductase and Superoxide dismutase activities present in skeletal muscle were unaltered by marathon running. However, such exercise caused a large increase in the tissue content of oxidized glutathione (189%) at the expense of reduced glutathione (–18%).     

Exercise does not necessarily influence the phase of the circadian rhythm in temperature in healthy humans

Seventeen healthy adults exercised for 30 min (70% V O 2max ), at different times of the day and night throughout a 24 h period. The effect on the phase of core temperature rhythm was assessed by comparing the rhythms on the day immediately before and immediately after the day of exercise with the participants living normally on these 2 days. Assessments were made upon data that had been corrected for the thermogenic effects of sleep and activity. When exercise was performed in the period between 4 h before and 1 h after the temperature minimum, there was a phase delay of 1.03 - 0.78 h (mean - s ; n = 6); when performed between 3 and 8 h after the temperature minimum, there was a phase advance of 1.07 - 1.23 h ( n = 9). Both means were significantly different from zero (Student's one-sample t -tests: P ? 0.05). Performed at other times, exercise had no significant effect on the phase of the temperature rhythm. The phase changes were not significantly different from those previously observed by us in sedentary individuals exposed to domestic lighting. We conclude that the amount of physical activity has very little effect on the body clock.