Portrayals of science and scientists,and ‘science for citizenship’

There are increasing calls in the science education community for ‘science for citizenship’ as an important goal for the school science curriculum of the 21st century. The potential influence of portrayals of science and scientists in popular culture on the achievement of this goal is explored in this paper through a review of the literature. We develop a framework of important questions citizens ask in considering personal and social decision making in relation to science and technology issues, and how portrayals of science and scientists might contribute to this decision making process.     

Overshadowing of geometric cues by a beacon in a spatial navigation task

In three experiments, we examined whether overshadowing of geometric cues by a discrete landmark (beacon) is due to the relative saliences of the cues. Using a virtual water maze task, human participants were required to locate a platform marked by a beacon in a distinctively shaped pool. In Experiment 1, the beacon overshadowed geometric cues in a trapezium, but not in an isosceles triangle. The longer escape latencies during acquisition in the trapezium control group with no beacon suggest that the geometric cues in the trapezium were less salient than those in the triangle. In Experiment 2, we evaluated whether generalization decrement, caused by the removal of the beacon at test, could account for overshadowing. An additional beacon was placed in an alternative corner. For the control groups, the beacons were identical; for the overshadow groups, they were visually unique. Overshadowing was again found in the trapezium. In Experiment 3, we tested whether the absence of overshadowing in the triangle was due to the geometric cues being more salient than the beacon. Following training, the beacon was relocated to a different corner. Participants approached the beacon rather than the trained platform corner, suggesting that the beacon was more salient. These results suggest that associative processes do not fully explain cue competition in the spatial domain.     

Maternal, Teacher, and Child Care History Correlates of Children's Relationships with Peers

Mother and teacher correlates of social competence with familiar and unfamiliar peers in 84 children who entered child care at three different times are examined. Social competence at age 4 was assessed with both familiar and unfamiliar peers. Relationships with both initial and 4-year-old teachers were related to social competence with peers. Maternal attachment relationships at 12 months and at 4 years did not predict social competence with peers.     

Nutritional strategies to support concurrent training

Abstract

Concurrent training (the combination of endurance exercise to resistance training) is a common practice for athletes looking to maximise strength and endurance. Over 20 years ago, it was first observed that performing endurance exercise after resistance exercise could have detrimental effects on strength gains. At the cellular level, specific protein candidates have been suggested to mediate this training interference; however, at present, the physiological reason(s) behind the concurrent training effect remain largely unknown. Even less is known regarding the optimal nutritional strategies to support concurrent training and whether unique nutritional approaches are needed to support endurance and resistance exercise during concurrent training approaches. In this review, we will discuss the importance of protein supplementation for both endurance and resistance training adaptation and highlight additional nutritional strategies that may support concurrent training. Finally, we will attempt to synergise current understanding of the interaction between physiological responses and nutritional approaches into practical recommendations for concurrent training.     

Physiological characteristics of successful mountain bikers and professional road cyclists

The aims of this study were to compare the physiological and anthropometric characteristics of successful mountain bikers and professional road cyclists and to re-examine the power-to-weight characteristics of internationally competitive mountain bikers. Internationally competitive cyclists (seven mountain bikers and seven road cyclists) completed the following tests: anthropometric measurements, an incremental cycle ergometer test and a 30 min laboratory time-trial. The mountain bikers were lighter (65.3 - 6.5 vs 74.7 - 3.8 kg, P = 0.01; mean - s ) and leaner than the road cyclists (sum of seven skinfolds: 33.9 - 5.7 vs 44.5 - 10.8 mm, P = 0.04). The mountain bikers produced higher power outputs relative to body mass at maximal exercise (6.3 - 0.5 vs 5.8 - 0.3 W·kg -1 , P = 0.03), at the lactate threshold (5.2 - 0.6 vs 4.7 - 0.3 W·kg -1 , P = 0.048) and during the 30 min time-trial (5.5 - 0.5 vs 4.9 - 0.3 W·kg -1 , P = 0.02). Similarly, peak oxygen uptake relative to body mass was higher in the mountain bikers (78.3 - 4.4 vs 73.0 - 3.4 ml·kg -1 ·min -1 , P = 0.03). The results indicate that high power-to-weight characteristics are important for success in mountain biking. The mountain bikers possessed similar anthropometric and physiological characteristics to previously studied road cycling uphill specialists.