Home Visits: How Do They Affect Teachers’ Beliefs about Teaching and Diversity?

Based on Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory, this qualitative study examined the impact of home visits on a group of six Head Start educators. Each participant conducted two home visits. For the first home visit, participants were not provided any guidance. On the second visit, participants were provided a handout with questions intended to guide their visit. The participants were asked to document, in a reflective journal, their feelings and attitudes toward the children’s families on two visits. Additionally, participants commented on their teaching beliefs and practice as impacted by their home visit. Results of the study indicated that home visits enabled participants to see the families and children that they work with from a different and more positive perspective. The guided home visit questions allowed participants to better understand children and their families from historical and cultural perspectives. Also, participants were better able to create a more multicultural learning environment and lesson plans for their children.     

Encounters of the Traditional Kind: Reflections on the In‐Service Teacher Training of Traditional Filipino Arts

This article presents the second segment of a qualitative study on the integration of traditional arts in tertiary level art and design education in the Philippines. It is focused on the experience of artist‐teachers as participants in an in‐service teacher training programme that aimed to prepare the teachers for the trial integration of traditional Filipino arts in art and design courses. Taking the view of the participants, journals written by the artist‐teachers were sourced for their reflections about their encounter with traditional Filipino artists during field visits. This phase of the study takes the form of action research as it involves the participants in gathering data that could inform the methods and content of the learning of traditional Filipino arts in the schools of art and design. The findings reveal that artist‐teachers acknowledge the traditional artist as a valuable source of traditional knowledge and expertise. They also recognise their own essential role in the transmission of learning between the traditional artists and the students. The prerequisites of the course take the artist‐teachers beyond teaching in the classroom and extend their tasks to research.     

Mehr als eine Mathematikstunde: Platons Menon

For the past two hundred years in German educational science the ‘maths lesson’ of Plato’s Meno has received attention – always to be celebrated as a masterpiece of Socratic teaching. Yet, by taking only the ‘maths lesson’ into account the negative ending of Meno is overlooked. Thus, because generally the ‘maths lesson’ is used as an example for a positive Socratic maieutic teaching method, a second possible medical, ‘therapeutic’ link between a midwife, with which Socrates compares himself in Plato’s Theaetetus, and a torpedo fish, with which he equates himself in Meno, is usually overlooked.     

Perform kicking with or without jumping: joint coordination and kinetic differences between Taekwondo back kicks and jumping back kicks

We investigated joint coordination differences between Taekwondo back kicks and jumping back kicks, and how jumping (in performing the latter) would alter engaging ground reaction forces (GRF) in executing kicking. Ten skilful athletes volunteered to perform both kinds of kicking within the shortest time for three successful trials. Three high-speed cameras and two force platforms were used for data collection, and the trial with the shortest execution time was selected for analysis. Movements were divided into the rotation and attack phases. With comparable execution time and maximum joint linear/angular speeds, back kicks and jumping back kicks differ mainly in larger GRF in the latter, and in greater target acceleration in the former probably because the support leg prevented athletes’ rebounding after impact. In addition, more prominent antiphase and in-phase coordination between the shoulder segment and knee joint, and elongated rotation phase were found in jumping back kicks. Larger GRF values in jumping back kicks were generated for jump take-off rather than for a more powerful attack. In back kicks although the support leg remained ground contact, greatly decreased GRF in the attack phase suggested that the support leg mainly served as a rotation axis.     

Self-report vs. kinematic screening test: prevalence,demographics, and sports biography of yips-affected golfers

The yips is considered a task-specific movement disorder. Its estimated prevalence, however, is high compared to similar neurological movement disorders, possibly resulting from previous studies’ restriction of samples based on skill level, and self-report bias. Alternatively, this high prevalence might be an indication of additional aetiologies, for example the influence of previously played racket sports. We estimated the prevalence of the putting yips across the skill range, using self-reports in one study and a screening test in a second study. We explored if previously played sports matter for the development of the yips. In study 1, yips prevalence (N = 1,306) and golfers’ sports biographies (n = 264) were examined via two online surveys, in which golfers indicated if they were yips-affected. In study 2, golfers (N = 186) putted in a standardised putting test while kinematic and performance measures were recorded. Prevalence was estimated via a kinematic threshold. Sports biographies (n = 119) were obtained via an online survey. Prevalence of currently yips-affected golfers was 22.4% in study 1 and 16.7% in study 2. In both studies, more yips-affected than unaffected golfers had experience in playing racket sports. Yips prevalence remained higher than previously estimated prevalence of other movement disorders but decreased when the whole skill range including professionals and novices was considered. Future studies should use the kinematic screening test instead of self-reports to detect the yips and further investigate the influence of previously played racket sports.     

Influence of sex and specialty on the prediction of middle-distance running performances using the Mercier et al.’s nomogram

The aim was to test the influence of sex and specialty (3000, 5000 and 10000 m) on the validity of middle-distance running performance predictions obtained from the Mercier et al.’s nomogram. Consequently, we examined all official French track running rankings for the 3000-, 5000- and 10000-m events (men and women) from 2006 to 2012. A scoring table was used to determine the runners’ specialties. Only runners who performed in the three distance events within the same year were included (75 women and 400 men). The Mercier et al.’s nomogram was used to predict one running performance from the other two. The results showed no significant difference between actual and predicted running performances (P = 0.77). Female runners had significantly lower performances than male runners (P < 0.001). Specialty did not influence performances (P = 0.11). Very high correlations were found between actual and predicted performances (0.91 < r < 0.99), with the exception of women (r = 0.85) in 5000 m. Moreover, low limits of agreement were obtained for male and female runners, whatever the specialty. These results support the validity of the nomogram to predict running performance in the 3000-, 5000- and 10000-m events for male and female runners, whatever the specialty. The predicted running performances may be used in training programmes (e.g., to prescribe tempo runs) and competitions (e.g., to establish split times).     

Development of a grinding-specific performance test set-up

Abstract

The aim of this study was to develop a performance test set-up for America's Cup grinders. The test set-up had to mimic the on-boat grinding activity and be capable of collecting data for analysis and evaluation of grinding performance. This study included a literature-based analysis of grinding demands and a test protocol developed to accommodate the necessary physiological loads. This study resulted in a test protocol consisting of 10 intervals of 20 revolutions each interspersed with active resting periods of 50 s. The 20 revolutions are a combination of both forward and backward grinding and an exponentially rising resistance. A custom-made grinding ergometer was developed with computer-controlled resistance and capable of collecting data during the test. The data collected can be used to find measures of grinding performance such as peak power, time to complete and the decline in repeated grinding performance.     

‘The life of crime does not pay; stop and think!’: the process of co-constructing a prototype pedagogical model of sport for working with youth from socially vulnerable backgrounds

Purpose: This study discusses the process of co-constructing a prototype pedagogical model for working with youth from socially vulnerable backgrounds.

Participants and settings: This six-month activist research project was conducted in a soccer program in a socially vulnerable area of Brazil in 2013. The study included 17 youths, 4 coaches, a pedagogic coordinator and a social worker. An expert in student-centered pedagogy and inquiry-based activism assisted as a debriefer helping in the progressive data analysis and the planning of the work sessions.

Data collection/analysis: Multiple sources of data were collected, including 38 field journal/observation and audio records of: 18 youth work sessions, 16 coaches’ work sessions, 3 combined coaches and youth work sessions, and 37 meetings between the researcher and the expert.

Findings: The process of co-construction of this prototype pedagogical model was divided into three phases. The first phase involved the youth and coaches identifying barriers to sport opportunities in their community. In the second phase, the youth, coaches and researchers imagined alternative possibilities to the barriers identified. In the final phase, we worked collaboratively to create realistic opportunities for the youth to begin to negotiate some of the barriers they identified. In this phase, the coaches and youth designed an action plan to implement (involving a Leadership Program) aimed at addressing the youths’ needs in the sport program. Five critical elements of a prototype pedagogical model were co-created through the first two processes and four learning aspirations emerged in the last phase of the project.

Implications: We suggest an activist approach of co-creating a pedagogical model of sport for working with youth from socially vulnerable backgrounds is beneficial. That is, creating opportunities for youth to learn to name, critique and negotiate barriers to their engagement in sport in order to create empowering possibilities.     

Researching up and across in physical education and sport pedagogy: methodological lessons learned from an intergenerational narrative inquiry

Of issue in this paper are the ways in which different forms of narrative may be of value in undertaking research in potentially thorny situations. The project that inspired this paper saw 30 Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy (PESP) Early Career Academics (ECAs) from more than 20 universities across Australasia, North America and Europe, provide narrative accounts of their ongoing academic experiences. From these stories, three letters seeking advice and guidance from leaders in the field were constructed. Following further feedback from the ECAs, the 3 letters were sent to 11 professors in the PESP field with a request to respond, also in letter form. The composite letters and the professorial responses were then the subject of a symposium at an international PESP conference. While the larger project engages with questions of being and becoming an academic in the neoliberal university, this paper is primarily concerned with methodological issues, including our steps and missteps with narrative, inquiry and the field. More specifically, the focus is on narrative as both the method and phenomena of study. As such, we consider issues associated with using dialogue as data, the provocation of participants, as well as both the presentation and representation of data and the relative power of the participants. In doing so, we critically engage with issues of anonymity (or lack thereof), the practice of ‘researching up’ and finally reach the conclusion that the careful approach to data generation, treatment and presentation necessitated by this project, should be a more regular feature of all qualitative inquiry.