“No,We Should Do It”: Youth Training Youth in Activist Research Methods

The Urban Review - This article explores a 9-month process of youth research capacity-building, beginning with the training of high school and college aged researchers in qualitative methodologies...     

Preservice teachers’ use of contrasting cases in mathematics instruction

Drawing comparisons between students’ alternative solution strategies to a single mathematics problem is a powerful yet challenging instructional practice. We examined 80 preservice teachers’ when asked to design a short lesson when given a problem and two student solutions—one correct and one incorrect. These micro-teaching events were videotaped and coded, revealing that fewer than half of participants (43%) made any explicit comparison or contrasts between the two solution strategies. Those who did were still not likely to use additional support strategies to draw students’ attention to key elements of the comparison. Further, correlations suggest that participants’ mathematical content knowledge may be related to whether participants’ showed contrasting cases but not to whether they used specific pedagogical cues to support those comparisons. While these micro-teaching events differ from the interactive constraints of a classroom, they reveal that participants did not immediately orient toward differing student solutions as a discussion opportunity, and that future instruction on contrasting cases must highlight the utility of this practice.     

The effect of beetroot juice supplementation on repeat-sprint performance in hypoxia

This investigation assessed the effect of dietary nitrate (NO₃^?) supplementation, in the form of beetroot juice (BR), on repeat-sprint performance in normoxia and normobaric hypoxia. 12 male team-sport athletes (age 22.3 ± 2.6 y, VO_2peak 53.1 ± 8.7 mL.kg^?1.min^?1) completed three exercise trials involving a 10 min submaximal warm-up and 4 sets of cycling repeat-sprint efforts (RSE; 9 × 4 s) at sea level (CON), or at 3000 m simulated altitude following acute supplementation (140 mL) with BR (HYP_BR; 13 mmol NO₃^?) or NO₃^–depleted BR placebo (HYP_PLA). Peak (PPO) and mean (MPO) power output, plus work decrement were recorded during the RSE task, while oxygen consumption (VO₂) was measured during the warm-up. There were no significant differences observed between HYP_BR and HYP_PLA for PPO or MPO; however, work decrement was reduced in the first RSE set in HYP_BR compared with HYP_PLA. There was a moderate effect for VO₂ to be lower following BR at the end of the 10 min warm-up (ES = 0.50 ± 0.51). Dietary NO₃^? may not improve repeat-sprint performance in hypoxia but may reduce VO₂ during submaximal exercise. Therefore, BR supplementation may be more effective for performance improvement during predominantly aerobic exercise.     

School-psychological providers: A national survey of state departments of education

To identify professional groups that are providing psychological services in the schools, the present national survey of state departments of education was conducted. Fifty-nine percent of states currently mandate services of school psychologists by law, and a variety of allied professional groups were identified as also providing psychological services in the schools. Specific information about provider groups and service mandates is reported. Recommendations relevant to the provision of quality school-psychological services and utilization of multiple providers are given.     

Bringing Inclusion into Focus: A Camp-based Research Study

ABSTRACT

As an increasing number of Jewish summer camps welcome campers with disabilities, it becomes more important to understand the experience of these campers and that of their neurotypical peers. In this study, campers with disabilities and neurotypical campers participated together in a photography activity. Photographs and their accompanying narratives were analyzed, yielding three categories of results: (1) camp community and responsibility (2) Jewish experience at camp; and (3) challenges and opportunities. Results are discussed in terms of enhancing the experience of inclusion at camp for all campers.     

The development of subjective group dynamics: children's judgments of normative and deviant in-group and out-group individuals

A developmental model of subjective group dynamics suggests that social identity is sustained first by intergroup biases and later by intragroup biases. In this study 476 English children 5 to 11 years old evaluated the English and German soccer teams, and judged in-group or out-group members whose attitudes toward the teams was normative versus antinormative. Children of all ages expressed intergroup bias. Differential evaluation against in-group deviants and in favor of out-group deviants strengthened with age. Understanding of targets' relative acceptability (differential inclusion) among in-group and out-group members mediated the effects of age and intergroup bias on intragroup bias. Identification with the in-group moderated the effects only among older children.     

New Counselor Educators’ Scholarly Productivity: Supportive and Discouraging Environments

Eighteen new counselor educators shared in‐depth reports of their efforts to establish an early record of scholarly productivity, critical to their success in academe. Analyses of their experiences using consensual qualitative research methods revealed components of both highly positive and highly discouraging program environments and their impact on participants’ research goals.     

Pupil involvement in special educational needs disagreement resolution: some perceived barriers to including children in mediation

Recent legislation in England has encouraged the use of disagreement resolution and mediation and emphasised the need to involve pupils in their own schooling. These policies apply in the educational system generally, but are particularly significant in the area of special educational needs (SEN). Kirstie Soar, a lecturer in the School of Psychology at the University of East London; Katie Burke, a PhD student at Salford University, Manchester; Katia Herbst, an independent researcher offering research and development services to the not-for- profit sector; and Professor Irvine Gersch, Director of the MSc educational psychology programme at the University of East London, set out to examine how pupil involvement in informal disagreement resolution has developed across 11 English regions since its introduction. The research consisted of 12 in-depth interviews with local education authority (LEA) SEN officers, mediators and parent partnership officers (PPOs) involved in informal special educational needs disagreement resolution. The aims of the study were to determine how far children were actually involved in mediation and what, if any, barriers existed which were seen to restrict such pupil involvement. A thematic analysis of interview content was conducted. Four major themes emerged, including: the distinction between direct and indirect pupil involvement; the importance of the child's view and how it is elicited; the role of other agencies; and other barriers to pupil involvement in informal disagreement resolution. Direct pupil involvement was found to be limited and variable, but indirect pupil involvement was more prevalent. In this article, the authors note a series of recommendations concerning pupil involvement in the mediation process and, in conclusion, put forward the implications of their work for future policy, practice and research.