Effects of Headings on Text Summarization

A summarization task was used to study whether headings influence readers' representations of the topic structure of a text. College students (Experiments 1-3) and sixth- and eighth-graders (Experiment 3) summarized a multiple topic text that (a) included headings introducing every new subtopic, (b) included headings introducing half of the new subtopics, or (c) included no headings. In all experiments, topics were more likely to be included in a summary if they were signaled than if they were not signaled. This effect was magnified when the text was only half signaled: Signaled topics were more likely to appear in a summary if only half the text topics were signaled than if all of the topics were signaled; however, unsignaled topics were less likely to appear in a summary if half of the text topics were signaled than if none of the text topics were signaled. The findings demonstrate that readers rely heavily on headings in a task that emphasizes attention to a text's topic structure. It is suggested that previously observed signaling effects on text recall are mediated by effects on how readers represent a text's topic structure. Copyright 2001 Academic Press.     

Peeling Back the Layers of Policy and School Reform: Revealing the structural and social complexities within

This article explores the complex process of school change over a six‐year period in one high‐poverty, urban elementary school in a northeastern city of the United States. The school included in this instrumental case study was identified by its State Department of Education as “being in need of improvement” in March 2000. Findings suggest that creating opportunities for context‐based solutions, curricular coherence, and responsive and consistent coaching were the necessary means for leveraging change at this school. Further, responding to the layers and iterations of educational policy, and addressing the deeper social issues intimately associated with serving high‐poverty communities, was essential. We identify policy issues that contributed to the complexity of this school’s improvement efforts. Our analysis extends beyond surface‐level documentation of the school’s inputs and outputs, and illustrates what it means to meet individual students’ needs in complex social and institutional spaces. We also discuss social justice issues that are linked with current policies targeting improved outcomes for all children.     

Learning to talk: community support and views of parents from socially disadvantaged families

Part of a multimethod ethnographic study that aimed to explore the knowledge of local parents concerning children learning to talk is described. The study was carried out with parents from several different ethnic and language groups in a socially disadvantaged part of Sheffield, a large city in the northeast of England.
In the phase of the study reported here, parents (either English, Urdu/Punjabi and Arabic speakers) took part in interviews, as well as contributing to the validation of the project. This study found that parents from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds living in this socially disadvantaged area, believed learning to talk to be very important and that family, community, including faith community, and professionals, have roles in promoting learning to talk. They indicated that local community groups, including faith communities, could play a positive role in supporting and developing their knowledge.
This paper will be of interest to those seeking innovative ways to support parents in socially excluded communities, particularly parents of children learning to talk, and so contribute to better outcomes for children, families and communities. It also contributes to our understanding of the development of parental knowledge about learning to talk in socially disadvantaged communities.     

Opportunities and constraints when studying social learning: Developmental approaches and social factors

Identifying social learning in wild populations is complicated by the relative lack of ability to conduct controlled experiments in natural habitats. Even in more controlled captive settings, tracking the innovation and spread of behavior among known individuals can be challenging, and these studies often suffer from a lack of ecological validity. In recent years, a host of new approaches have been undertaken to attempt to provide more quantitative control and empirical demonstration of social learning, both in the wild and in captive settings that more closely mimic natural contexts. Developmental approaches are being undertaken more regularly that allow us to study the ontogenetic trajectory of complex skills in a variety of taxa. Likewise, a spirited focus on the social context of social learning has emerged, and researchers have begun to meticulously analyze the influences of social systems and the characteristics of demonstrators and observers. Here, we provide a review of these studies and summarize the opportunities and constraints that exist when one attempts to study learning in social species. We suggest that although the study of social learning in nonhuman animals is becoming much more complex, addressing this complexity provides a fruitful model for understanding the evolution of human cultural behavior.     

In-season changes in ventricular morphology and systolic function in adolescent female athletes

Purpose: To evaluate the influence of physical maturity on the changes in ventricular morphology and function with sport training in female youth athletes.

Methods: Thirty-two female athletes (age 13–18 years) underwent height and weight measurement and 2-D echocardiographic evaluation immediately prior to, and following, a 20-week soccer season. Pre- and post-season left ventricular end-diastolic diameter (LVEDD), end-diastolic volume (LVEDV), ejection fraction (LVEF), stroke volume (LVSV), mass (LVM), and posterior wall thickness (LVPWT), right ventricular end-diastolic diameter (RVEDD), end-diastolic area (RVEDA), and fractional area change (RVFAC), and interventricular septal thickness (IVST) were compared. In-season change in each variable was compared across pre-season hours of vigorous physical activity (0–1, 2–3, >3 hours).

Results: Significant increases were identified in LVEDV (51.3?±?10.4?v 56.4?±?9.6?ml/m², p?=?0.001) and RVEDA (10.5?±?1.9?v 11.3?±?2.5?cm²/m², p?=?0.040), but not LVEDD, LVM, LVPWT, LVSV, RVEDD, RVEDA, RVFAC, or IVST (p?>?0.05 for all). In-season changes in echocardiographic variables did not differ across hours of pre-season vigorous physical activity (p?>?0.05 for all).

Conclusion: Among female adolescent soccer players, in-season training elicits changes in resting ventricular volume, but not wall thickness or systolic function. These adaptations do not appear to be influenced by pre-season physical activity level.     

Book reviews

Clinical sports medicine, Robert C. Cantu, (ed.), The Collamore Press, Lexington, Massachusetts, Toronto, 1984. 219 pp, £19.95 (hb), ISBN 0 669 06842 X

Sports injuries, a self‐help guide, Vivian Grisogono, John Murray Ltd, London, 1984. 293 pp, £7.95 (hb), ISBN 0 7195 4111 5

Athletes’ guide to mental training, Robert N. Nideffer, Human Kinetics, Champaign, Illinois (distributed in the UK by Eddington Hook & Co.) 1985. vii +156 pp, $9.95 (pb), ISBN 0 931250 96 X

Scientific foundations of coaching, R.R. Pate, B. McClenaghan and R. Rotella, Saunders College Publishing, Philadelphia, 1984. xii + 344 pp, £21.95(hb), ISBN 0 03 057961 9

Mathematics in sport, M. Stewart Townend, Ellis Horwood, Chichester, 1984. 202 pp (hb), ISBN 0 85312 717 4

Frontiers of exercise biology, ’Big Ten Body of Knowledge’ symposium series, Vol. 13 K.T. Borer, D.W. Edington and T.P. White (eds), Human Kinetics Publishers Inc., Champaign, Illinois, (distributed in the UK by Edington Hook & Co.), 1983. vii + 295 pp, $31.95(hb), ISBN 0 931250 49 8

The knee, Philippe Segal and Marcel Jacob, Wolfe Medical Publications, Frome, Somerset, 1984. 143 pp (hb), £15, ISBN 2 224 00887 2

Psychological foundations of sport, J.M. Silva and R.S. Weinberg (eds), Human Kinetics, Champaign, Illinois, (distributed in the UK by Eddington Hook & Co), 1984. xxiv + 528 pp, £22.50 (hb), ISBN 0 93 1250 59 5

Physical activity and the social sciences, W. Neil Widmeyer, Mouvement Publications Inc., Ithaca, 1983. 472 pp, £9.00 (pb), ISBN 0 932392 13 X     

Understanding and measuring coordination and control in kicking skills in soccer: Implications for talent identification and skill acquisition

In this review, we explore the role of motor control and biomechanics in developing an understanding of soccer skills using kicking as the main vehicle. The links between these sub-disciplines of sport science have not been well established in the past because of an emphasis on cognitive processes in traditional accounts of motor behaviour. We argue that a dynamical systems interpretation of the processes of coordination and control in movements with multiple degrees of freedom signals a new era in the relationship between the sub-disciplines of motor control and biomechanics. Although research on coordination and control of soccer skills is currently sparse, there are indications that the relationship between motor control and biomechanics could form a significant component of scientific programmes in talent identification and skill development. Further interdisciplinary work is needed to enhance understanding of coordination and control of soccer skills.     

A three-dimensional kinematic analysis of the long jump take-off

The long jump has been widely studied in recent years. Two models exist in the literature which define the relationship between selected variables that affect performance. Both models suggest that the critical phase of the long jump event is the touch-down to take-off phase, as it is in this phase that the necessary vertical velocity is generated. Many three dimensional studies of the long jump exist, but the only studies to have reported detailed data on this phase were two-dimensional in nature. In these, the poor relationships obtained between key variables and performance led to the suggestion that there may be some relevant information in data in the third dimension. The aims of this study were to conduct a three-dimensional analysis of the touch-down to take-off phase in the long jump and to explore the interrelationships between key variables. Fourteen male long jumpers were filmed using three-dimensional methods during the finals of the 1994 (n = 8) and 1995 (n = 6) UK National Championships. Various key variables for the long jump were used in a series of correlational and multiple regression analyses. The relationships between key variables when correlated directly one-to-one were generally poor. However, when analysed using a multiple regression approach, a series of variables was identified which supported the general principles outlined in the two models. These variables could be interpreted in terms of speed, technique and strength. We concluded that in the long jump, variables that are important to performance are interdependent and can only be identified by using appropriate statistical techniques. This has implications for a better understanding of the long jump event and it is likely that this finding can be generalized to other technical sports skills.