Opting in and Creating Demand: Why Young People Choose to Teach Mathematics to Each Other

Journal of Science Education and Technology - Access to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields serves as a key entry point to economic mobility and civic enfranchisement. Such...     

Perspectives on the National Curriculum in Primary and Secondary Schools

Data on responses to the National Curriculum were gathered from personal interviews with a sample of 50 primary school head teachers, 304 primary class teachers and 223 secondary heads of department. In the primary schools concern centred around an anticipated increase in the level of assessment and record‐keeping and curriculum documentation. Increased levels of science and technology in the curriculum were also anticipated and these were the areas in which primary teachers felt in greatest need of support. In secondary schools changes were anticipated in individual subject curricula, especially in the fields of science and modem languages. The results suggest that there is great concentration in schools on a few specific areas of concern and that this may be at the expense of wider issues involved in the National Curriculum.     

Academic Values And Academic Practice In The New Universities

This paper reports some data of an ARC funded study of academic staff in a number of disciplines in colleges of advanced education and universities. Generally, more university than college academics scored high on academic motivation, on teaching‐research synergy and promotion of student independence, with college academics scoring higher on good teaching practice. There are disciplinary differences, too.

Slightly more than an average proportion of staff in the Social Sciences report good teaching practices. They are highly committed to promoting student independence, experience a fairly high level of teaching‐research synergy and have high intrinsic academic motivation. There is large‐scale consensus among Arts staff with university Arts academics scoring highest on promoting student independence, academic motivation, and teaching‐research synergy, and academics in CAE Arts departments scoring highest of all on good teaching practices.

Science staff seem to have different academic values and practices. Their academic motivation is about “average”, and fewer science academics report good teaching practices or practices that promote student independence. In their own work they also experience less teaching‐research synergy. Engineering staff show the lowest academic motivation, least commitment to student independence, experience least teaching‐research synergy, and report below average good teaching practices.

Health Science staff are akin to staff in Arts and Social Sciences in areas concerned with students, e.g. good teaching practices and promotion of student independence. In the areas which tap into their values as academics, e.g. academic motivation and teaching‐research synergy, they seem to be more like science and engineering staff.

Commerce/Law staff were on all aspects somewhere in the middle.     

History of Targeted Family Verbal Aggression and Informational Reception Apprehension as Predictors of Anger-Coping Behaviors

This study examined anger-coping behaviors as a function of both history of targeted family verbal aggression in childhood and informational reception apprehension. Specifically, this article investigates the degree to which childhood experiences of direct verbal attacks from family members impact anger-coping responses and the moderating influence of informational reception apprehension. To examine this, 159 college-aged students completed measures assessing their history of targeted family verbal aggression, informational reception apprehension, and anger-coping behaviors. History of targeted family verbal aggression was associated with anger-in, anger-out, and anger-control, and these associations were moderated by listening anxiety and intellectual inflexibility.     

As the climate changes: Intergenerational action-based learning in relation to flood education

It is a concern that children represent an under-researched group in flood education and preparedness because as adults they are more likely to experience flooding as the climate changes, and because it suggests their potential today, as agents of change, is being undervalued. Using action-based, participatory methodology with seven to nine-year-old children, a creative and inclusive flood education resource was developed as a stimulus for learning. Evaluation revealed that young children can learn about flooding and preparedness, and that intergenerational learning from child to parent can also occur, with children transferring the messages learned in school to home. However, thematic analysis suggests key factors such as family relationships (empowerment of children) and the parents’ disconnection and dissociation from risk limit the success of intergenerational learning. The implications of these in relation to flood education, flood preparedness, and household resilience levels are explored.     

Aspiring School Administrators' Perceived Ability to Meet Technology Standards and Technological Needs for Professional Development

The merits of technology in general and of educational technology specifically are well documented. The use of educational technology has been shown to improve teaching and learning and the overall educational quality of schools. However, the successful integration of educational technology in schools hinges on school administrators' technology leadership abilities. The purpose of this study was to investigate aspiring school administrators' perceived ability to meet technology standards established by ISTE Standards for Administrators (formerly known as the NETS·A) and to determine which standards they wished to pursue for future professional development. Utilizing the ISTE Standards–A as a framework, a survey was created to decipher how aspiring school administrators perceived their own abilities to become leaders with foundational technology leadership skills. The findings showed that (a) the aspiring school administrators were more likely to indicate a need for professional development in technology utilization to meet the standards than they were to indicate their perceived current competence in meeting the technology standards and effectively utilizing technology in their schools; (b) when interests were examined by race, African American aspiring school administrators were more interested in pursuing professional development to enhance their abilities to perform the tasks than were Caucasian aspiring school administrators; and (c) there was a statistically significant difference between aspiring school administrators' average Perception and Interest scores. It appeared that in general, the participants perceived a greater need for professional development in technology standards than their perceived current ability to perform the standards.     

Blunted Myoglobin and Quadriceps Soreness After Electrical Stimulation During the Luteal Phase or Oral Contraception

Purpose: Acute muscle damage after exercise triggers subsequent regeneration, leading to hypertrophy and increased strength after repeated exercise. It has been debated whether acute exercise-induced muscle damage is altered under various premenopausal estrogen conditions. Acute contraction-induced muscle damage was compared during exogenous (oral contraceptive, OC), endogenous (luteal phase, HI), or low (menses, LO) estrogen in healthy young women aged 21 to 30 years old. Methods: Women (OC, n = 9; HI, n = 9; LO, n = 8; total N = 26) performed 1 neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) bout. Soreness, measured via visual analog scale and the Likert Scale of Muscle Soreness for Lower Limb (LSMSLL), quadriceps strength, and plasma myoglobin (Mb), interleukin (IL)-6, IL-8, and granulocyte-colony stimulating factor were measured before and after NMES. Results: NMES performance was similar across groups. Meaningful within-group increases in Mb (effect size [ES] = 1.12) and IL-8 (ES = 0.38) occurred in LO; ES for HI and OC were trivial. ES of the between-group difference in change was moderate for Mb (LO vs. HI = 1.15) and IL-8 (LO vs. HI = 0.86; LO vs. OC = 0.73). 17-β estradiol correlated moderately and negatively with Mb relative change (r = –.52, p < .05). LO had ~5% greater strength loss than OC and HI. The mean change score for the LSMSLL 2 days post-NMES was clinically greater in LO than OC or HI. Conclusions: Acute NMES-induced indicators of muscle fiber damage and qualitative muscle soreness may be attenuated during the luteal phase or active OC pill consumption compared with the menstrual phase.     

Intensity of exercise recovery, blood lactate disappearance, and subsequent swimming performance

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of active versus passive recovery on blood lactate disappearance and subsequent maximal performance in competitive swimmers. Fourteen male swimmers from the University of Virginia swim team (mean age 20.3 years, s= 4.1; stature 1.85 m, s= 2.2; body mass 81.1 kg, s= 5.6) completed a lactate profiling session during which the speed at the lactate threshold (V(LT)), the speed at 50% of the lactate threshold (V(LT.5)), and the speed at 150% of the lactate threshold (V(LT1.5)) were determined. Participants also completed four randomly assigned experimental sessions that consisted of a 200-yard maximal-effort swim followed by 10 min of recovery (passive, V(LT.5), V(LT), V(LT1.5)) and a subsequent 200-yard maximal effort swim. All active recovery sessions resulted in greater lactate disappearance than passive recovery (P < 0.0001 for all comparisons), with the greatest lactate disappearance associated with recovery at V(LT) (P= 0.006 and 0.007 vs. V(LT.5) and V(LT1.5) respectively) [blood lactate disappearance was 2.1 mmol l(-1) (s= 2.0), 6.0 mmol l(-1) (s=2.6), 8.5 mmol l(-1) (s= 1.8), and 6.1 mmol l(-1) (s= 2.5) for passive, V(LT.5), V(LT), and V(LT1.5) respectively]. Active recovery at VLT and V(LT1.5) resulted in faster performance on time trial 2 than passive recovery (P=0.005 and 0.03 respectively); however, only active recovery at V(LT) resulted in improved performance on time trial 2 (TT2) relative to time trial 1 (TT1) [TT2- TT1: passive +1.32 s (s= 0.64), V(LT.5) +1.01 s (s= 0.53), V(LT) -1.67 s (s= 0.26), V(LT1.5) -0.07 s (s = 0.51); P < 0.0001 for V(LT)). In conclusion, active recovery at the speed associated with the lactate threshold resulted in the greatest lactate disappearance and in improved subsequent performance in all 14 swimmers. Our results suggest that coaches should consider incorporating recovery at the speed at the lactate threshold during competition and perhaps during hard training sessions.     

CD-ROM's acquaintances: What to do with the skeletons in our academic libraries

The University of Central Florida (UCF) Libraries had a large number of CD-ROMs accompanying books that had not circulated, did not work, or both. This article outlines the evaluation process of withdrawal.