The Road from Rio to Johannesburg: Where Are the Footpaths to/from Science Education?

When the United Nations General Assembly authorized holding the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg, it was hardly a secret – or even a point in dispute – that progress in implementing sustainable development had been disappointing since the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. With poverty deepening and environmental degradation worsening, what was necessary, the General Assembly said, was not a new philosophical or political debate, but rather a summit of actions and results (United Nations, 2002). We can question the WSSD accomplishments and whether the subsequent actions and results will contribute in meaningful ways to sustainable development. However, I think it is more important for science educators to ask: What are the implications of WSSD for science education? Why is science education not more intrinsically linked to the goals of human rights, democracy, and social justice? What are the ways in which science education ought to be connected to issues of sustainable development? In essence, where are the footpaths to/from science education? I investigate such questions in this position paper, while arguing that an education in science ought to enable learners to: (a) understand how the natural world works, (b) understand how human systems are interacting with natural systems, (c) assess the status and trends of crucial natural systems, and (d) promote and follow a long-term, sustainable relationship with the natural world. These are the very ways in which an education in science (i.e., science education) ought to be connected to issues of sustainable development.     

Using person response functions to investigate areas of person misfit related to item characteristics

Individual person fit analyses provide important information regarding the validity of test score inferences for an individual test taker. In this study, we use data from an undergraduate statistics test (N = 1135) to illustrate a two-step method that researchers and practitioners can use to examine individual person fit. First, person fit is examined numerically with several indices based on the Rasch model (i.e., Infit, Outfit, and Between-Subset statistics). Second, person misfit is presented graphically with person response functions, and these person response functions are interpreted using a heuristic. Individual person fit analysis holds promise for improving score interpretation in that it may detect potential threats to validity of score inferences for some test takers. Individual person fit analysis may also highlight particular subsets of items (on which a test taker performs unexpectedly) that can be used to further contextualize her or his test performance.     

Student privacy in learning analytics: An information ethics perspective

ABSTRACT

Higher education institutions have started using big data analytics tools. By gathering information about students as they navigate information systems, learning analytics employs techniques to understand student behaviors and to improve instructional, curricular, and support resources and learning environments. However, learning analytics presents important moral and policy issues surrounding student privacy. We argue that there are five crucial questions about student privacy that we must address in order to ensure that whatever the laudable goals and gains of learning analytics, they are commensurate with respecting students' privacy and associated rights, including (but not limited to) autonomy interests. We address information access concerns, the intrusive nature of information-gathering practices, whether or not learning analytics is justified given the potential distribution of consequences and benefits, and issues related to student autonomy. Finally, we question whether learning analytics advances the aims of higher education or runs counter to those goals.     

Do baseball pitchers improve mechanics after biomechanical evaluations?

The purpose of this study was to determine how often flaws in pitching mechanics identified from biomechanical analysis are corrected. The biomechanics of 46 baseball pitchers were evaluated twice, with an average of 12 months (range 2–48 months) between evaluations. Pitchers were healthy at the time of both evaluations, competing at the high school, college, minor league or Major League level. After warming up, each participant pitched 10 full-effort fastballs. Automated three-dimensional motion analysis was used to compute eight kinematic parameters which were compared with a database of elite professional pitchers. Flaws—defined as deviations from the elite range—were explained to each participant or coach after his initial evaluation. Data from the second evaluation revealed that 44% of all flaws had been corrected. Flaws at the instant of foot contact (stride length, front foot position, shoulder external rotation, shoulder abduction, elbow flexion) or slightly after foot contact (time between pelvis rotation and upper trunk rotation) seemed to be corrected more often than flaws near the time of ball release (knee extension and shoulder abduction). Future research may determine which level athletes or which training methods are most effective for correcting flaws.     

Evaluating the contribution of lower extremity kinetics to whole body power output during the power snatch

This study evaluated the contribution of lower extremity (hip, knee and ankle) net joint torques (NJT) to whole body power (WBP) output during the power snatch (PS). Ten experienced weightlifters (five males and five females) performed five trials of the PS with 60% of one repetition maximum. Lower extremity NJT and WBP were extracted through a three-dimensional motion analyses and used for data analyses. Pearson correlation coefficients were obtained to observe the relationship between lower extremity NJT and WBP. Multiple-regression (stepwise) analyses was also conducted to evaluate the contribution of lower extremity NJT to WBP during the PS with the hip, knee and ankle NJT being the independent variables. Hip NJT was characterised as a significant positive correlation with WBP (r = 0.47, p < 0.01), while knee NJT showed a significant negative correlation with WBP (r = ?0.34, p < 0.05). A significant inter-correlation was also observed between hip NJT and knee NJT (r = ?0.66, p < 0.01). Hip NJT was identified as a significant contributor to WBP during the PS. Practically, this study suggested that training skills allowing weightlifters to utilise hip extensor muscle action would help to improve WBP during the PS.     

Decoding the Digital Campus Climate for Prospective LGBTQ+ Community Colleges Students

LGBTQ+ students are increasingly visible on community college campuses, and a safe and welcoming campus climate is critical to LGBTQ+ students’ academic success and well-being. Campus climate is difficult to assess for prospective LGBTQ+ community college students, and institutional websites may be a source of information about campus climate. This study used content analysis to document and analyze the digital campus climate for prospective LGBTQ+ students in the community colleges context by examining institutional websites. Using a mixed methods approach, website content of nine community colleges was analyzed, and both the quantity and nature of the content were used to make sense of colleges’ digital campus climate for prospective LGBTQ+ students. With the exception of a couple colleges, we found that the digital campus climate was not welcoming to prospective LGBTQ+ students. The results suggest that community colleges need to enhance their website in several ways and expand their overall programming (academic and non-academic) to ensure prospective LGBTQ+ students feel welcomed and safe on community college campuses.     

The quasi-experimental attitude of teachers: the development of a questionnaire

This article reports on the development and testing of a questionnaire that can be used to measure the quasi-experimental attitude (QEA) of teachers. This attitude is reflected in the willingness of teachers to assess and organise their core activities (planning, implementing and analysing lessons) by analogy with experiments in the field of research, in order to gain meaningful experiences from this cyclical process, to evaluate critically these experiences and to draw from them conclusions on how to improve lessons in the future. The sample comprised 512 trainee teachers who had already been teaching independently for 15 months following the conclusion of their university studies. The analysis of the questionnaire showed that the reliability of the scale was satisfactory. Confirmatory factor analyses confirmed the assumption that the quasi-experimental attitude could be modelled in two ways: A first-order model with four intercorrelated factors (meticulous lesson planning, confidence in the predictability of how the lesson will turn out, evidence-based analysis of the lesson and scepticism about mere experience) and a second-order model in which these four factors are loading on the overarching factor QEA. Additionally, the instrument yielded plausible correlations to several validity criteria.     

A multidimensional approach to performance prediction in Olympic distance cross-country mountain bikers

This study adopted a multidimensional approach to performance prediction within Olympic distance cross-country mountain biking (XCO-MTB). Twelve competitive XCO-MTB cyclists (VO₂max 60.8 ± 6.7 ml · kg^?1 · min^?1) completed an incremental cycling test, maximal hand grip strength test, cycling power profile (maximal efforts lasting 6–600 s), decision-making test and an individual XCO-MTB time-trial (34.25 km). A hierarchical approach using multiple linear regression analyses was used to develop predictive models of performance across 10 circuit subsections and the total time-trial. The strongest model to predict overall time-trial performance achieved prediction accuracy of 127.1 s across 6246.8 ± 452.0 s (adjusted R² = 0.92; P < 0.01). This model included VO₂max relative to total cycling mass, maximal mean power across 5 and 30 s, peak left hand grip strength, and response time for correct decisions in the decision-making task. A range of factors contributed to the models for each individual subsection of the circuit with varying predictive strength (adjusted R²: 0.62–0.97; P < 0.05). The high prediction accuracy for the total time-trial supports that a multidimensional approach should be taken to develop XCO-MTB performance. Additionally, individual models for circuit subsections may help guide training practices relative to the specific trail characteristics of various XCO-MTB circuits.     

Environmental Education across the Tertiary Curriculum: a process

There are many examples of environmental courses in tertiary institutions, but the integration of environmental education across the range of courses has generally not occurred. The article describes a project to introduce waste minimisation education into four disciplinary‐based courses. Since waste minimisation was introduced in the context of ecological sustainability, the project provides a model for the introduction of the broader concepts of environmental education. The project began with the assumption that adequate materials were already available if staff wanted to include waste minimisation, but what was needed was a process that would guide them in the revision of their course content, and would support them in making changes. Based on the experiences of the project, approaches for integrating waste minimisation, and more generally environmental education, across tertiary curricula are presented.     

Structure and dynamics of European sports science textual contents: Analysis of ECSS abstracts (1996–2014)

Abstract

The article discusses general structure and dynamics of the sports science research content as obtained from the analysis of 21998 European College of Sport Science abstracts belonging to 12 science topics. The structural analysis showed intertwined multidisciplinary and unifying tendencies structured along horizontal (scope) and vertical (level) axes. Methodological (instrumental and mode of inquiry) integrative tendencies are dominant. Theoretical integrative tendencies are much less detectable along both horizontal and vertical axes. The dynamic analysis of written abstracts text content over the 19 years reveals the contextualizing and guiding role of thematic skeletons of each sports science topic in forming more detailed contingent research ideas and the role of the latter in stabilizing and procreating the former. This circular causality between both hierarchical levels and functioning on separate characteristic time scales is crucial for understanding how stable research traditions self-maintain and self-procreate through innovative contingencies. The structure of sports science continuously rebuilds itself through use and re-use of contingent research ideas. The thematic skeleton ensures its identity and the contingent conceptual sets its flexibility and adaptability to different research or applicative problems.