Students’ Energy Concepts at the Transition Between Primary and Secondary School

Energy is considered both a core idea and a crosscutting concept in science education. A thorough understanding of the energy concept is thought to help students learn about other (related) concepts within and across science subjects, thereby fostering scientific literacy. This study investigates students’ progression in understanding the energy concept in biological contexts at the transition from primary to lower secondary school by employing a quantitative, cross-sectional study in grades 3–6 (N?=?540) using complex multiple-choice items. Based on a model developed in a previous study, energy concepts were assessed along four aspects of energy: (1) forms and sources of energy, (2) transfer and transformation, (3) degradation and dissipation, and (4) energy conservation. Two parallel test forms (A and B) indicated energy concept scores to increase significantly by a factor of 2.3 (A)/1.7 (B) from grade 3 to grade 6. Students were observed to progress in their understanding of all four aspects of the concept and scored highest on items for energy forms. The lowest scores and the smallest gain across grades were found for energy conservation. Based on our results, we argue that despite numerous learning opportunities, students lack a more integrated understanding of energy at this stage, underlining the requirement of a more explicit approach to teaching energy to young learners. Likewise, more interdisciplinary links for energy learning between relevant contexts in each science discipline may enable older students to more efficiently use energy as a tool and crosscutting concept with which to analyze complex content.     

Collaboration among teachers,researchers and in-service trainers to develop an integrated science curriculum

The German contribution to the OECD SMTE Project is based on an evaluation of the PING Project (Practising Integration in Science Education) where teachers, researchers and in-service trainers collaborate in the development of an integrated school science programme emphasizing the relationship between humanity and nature. Collaboration among teachers, administrators, a research institute and in-service activities allowed the development of materials whichreflect the students' relationship withnature, promote responsible action, andare sensitive tothe cultural aspects of the topic. There is acoordinating networkwhich gives teachers information and access to materials, and a coordinating center for organizational development, information exchange, collection of relevant literature, revision of existing materials and subsequent distribution. Workshops are heldfor teacher education andfor dissemination.     

Calibration of two objective measures of physical activity for children

A calibration study was conducted to determine the threshold counts for two commonly used accelerometers, the ActiGraph and the Actical, to classify activities by intensity in children 5 to 8 years of age. Thirty-three children wore both accelerometers and a COSMED portable metabolic system during 15 min of rest and then performed up to nine different activities for 7 min each, on two separate days in the laboratory. Oxygen consumption was measured on a breath-by-breath basis, and accelerometer data were collected in 15-s epochs. Using receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) analysis, cutpoints that maximised both sensitivity and specificity were determined for sedentary, moderate and vigorous activities. For both accelerometers, discrimination of sedentary behaviour was almost perfect, with the area under the ROC curve at or exceeding 0.98. For both the ActiGraph and Actical, the discrimination of moderate (0.85 and 0.86, respectively) and vigorous activity (0.83 and 0.86, respectively) was acceptable, but not as precise as for sedentary behaviour. This calibration study, using indirect calorimetry, suggests that the two accelerometers can be used to distinguish differing levels of physical activity intensity as well as inactivity among children 5 to 8 years of age.     

Celebration and Separation: A Troublesome Approach to Multicultural Education

Middle school classrooms can be fertile ground for positively impacting students' cultural and racial assumptions and understanding, given an effective multicultural curriculum and school structure. This article presents a narrative of the author's contrasting experiences teaching a text with racial themes. Applicable literature provides a framework for explaining the students' differing levels of receptivity towards the text. Three particular areas of study provide the framework for explaining student response: a school's approach to multicultural literature; school structure, in particular, tracking; and theories of racial identity development. In addition, the author challenges adults involved in the educational system to implement truly multicultural approaches to learning, despite the potential discomfort or unpopularity of such change.     

Short-term performance peaking in an elite cross-country mountain biker

ABSTRACT

Endurance athletes usually achieve performance peaks with 2–4 weeks of overload training followed by 1–3weeks of tapering. With a tight competition schedule, this may not be appropriate. This case investigates the effect of a 7-day overload period including daily high-intensity aerobic training followed by a 5-day step taper between two competitions in an elite cross-country mountain biker. Pre-test peak oxygen consumption was 89 ml·kg^?1·min^?1, peak aerobic power 6.8 W·kg^?1, power output at 2 mmol·L^?1 blood lactate concentration 3.9 W·kg^?1, maximal isometric force 180 Nm and squat jump 21 cm. During overload, perceived leg well-being went from normal to very heavy. On day 1 after overload, vastus lateralis and vastus medialis EMG_mean activity was reduced by 3% and 7%, respectively. Other baseline measurements were reduced by 3–7%. On day 4 of the taper, he felt that his legs were good and all measurements were 3–7% higher than before overload. On day 6 after the taper, his legs felt very good. This case shows that an elite mountain biker (11th in UCI World Cup one week prior to the pre-test) could achieve a rather large supercompensation by using a 12-day performance peaking protocol.     

General Communication

COMMUNICATION RESEARCH: ISSUES AND METHODS by James A. Anderson (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1987--price not given)

MASS MEDIA RESEARCH: AN INTRODUCTION by Roger D. Wimmer and Joseph R. Dominick (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1987---price not given)

SEARCH STRATEGIES IN MASS COMMUNICATION by Jean Ward and Kathleen Hansen (New York: Longman, 1986---$34.95/15.95)

THE KNOWLEDGE INDUSTRY IN THE UNITED STATES: 1960-1980 by Michael Rogers Rubin and Mary Taylor Huber (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1986---$40.00)

KNOWLEDGE GENERATION, EXCHANGE, AND UTILIZATION edited by George M. Beal, et al. (Houlder,CO: Westview Press, 1986---$38.00, paper)

OVERLOAD AND BOREDOM: ESSAYS ON THE QUALITY OF LIFE IN THE INFORMATION SOCIETY by Orrin K. Klapp (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1986---$29.95)

INTERNEDIA: INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION IN A MEDIA WORLD edited by Gary Gumpert and Robert Cathcart (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986---$16.95, paper)

MAPPING THE INFORMATION BUSINESS by John McLaughlin and Anne Lousie Antonoff (Cambridge: Harvard University Program on Information Resources Policy, 1986---price not given, paper)