Does school physical education really contribute to accelerometer-measured daily physical activity and non sedentary behaviour in high school students?

Physical education has been highlighted as an important environment for physical activity promotion, however, to our knowledge there are no previous studies examining the contribution of physical education to daily accelerometer-measured physical activity and non sedentary behaviour. The purpose was to compare the accelerometer-measured physical activity and sedentary behaviour between physical education, non-physical education and weekend days in adolescents. Of the 394 students from a Spanish high school that were invited to participate, 158 students (83 boys and 75 girls) aged 13–16 years were analyzed (wear time ≥ 600 min). Participants’ physical activity and sedentary behaviour were objectively-measured by GT3X+ accelerometers during physical education (one session), non-physical education and weekend days. Results indicated that overall adolescents had statistically significant greater physical activity levels and lower values of sedentary behaviour on physical education days than on non-physical education and weekend days (e.g., moderate-to-vigorous physical activity = 71, 54 and 57 min; sedentary = 710, 740 and 723 min) (p < 0.05). Physical education contributes significantly to reducing students’ daily physical inactivity and sedentary behaviour. Increasing the number of physical education classes seems to be an effective strategy to reduce the high current prevalence of physical inactivity and sedentary behaviour in adolescence.     

Visuelle Bewegungskontrolle geführter Kraftübungen bei jungen Erwachsenen und Senioren

In the context of strength training in rehabilitation, visual movement control can be helpful to ensure correct movements. However, there are only a few studies that deal with the effectiveness of feedback during resistance exercises. To investigate the effect of feedback during guided exercise, 18 young adults (28.8?±?5.5 years) and 12 senior citizens (67.9?±?4.1 years) were tested. Subjects performed shoulder press exercises (3 sets, 15 repetitions) with and without visual movement control in a randomized order. On day 1, the subjects trained without load, and on day 2 they trained at 50% of their single repetition maximum. Joint articulation at the elbow was recorded using elbow extension and flexion. Autocorrelation was used to determine the reproducibility of movements. Subjects achieved better reproducibility of the movement with feedback than without (χ²?=?19.73; p?<?0.001). There was no effect of the load on motion accuracy (p?>?0.05), but the age group showed a significant effect (χ²?=?6.00; p?=?0.014). The younger group shows a higher degree of movement accuracy. In summary, visual movement control is useful in guided exercises to control movement execution. In clinical setting, this may be a way to control the motion performance of guided strength exercises and to ensure purposeful muscle work. Further studies should clarify the effect of visual feedback on the movement quality in unguided strength exercises.     

The practical management practices of independent HPT consultants

When independent human performance technology (HPT) consultants need practical guidance managing their own firms, they are thrust into a complex, confusing, and uncompassionate network of guides. This article focuses on the practical side of managing an independent HPT consulting practice. Several aspects are considered, including physical setting, legal structure, financial concerns, sales and marketing, pricing, and affiliations or alliances. In addition to a review of relevant literature, a survey of 150 independent consultants was reviewed and several interviews of independent consultants were conducted.     

Challenges and opportunities in mainstreaming environmental education into the curricula of teachers' colleges in Ethiopia

Lack of environmental awareness is one of the underlying causes of severe environmental degradation in Ethiopia. As teachers' colleges are a seedbed of such awareness, assessment of college curricula should shed light on the possibilities they offer to develop capacities to address environmental degradation. This small‐scale study is based on the assessment of the curricula of the Kotebe and St Mary's teachers' colleges, Ethiopia, and the knowledge and opinions of a sample of teaching students on pertinent environmental issues facing the country. Comparative analysis of data generated through questionnaires and interviews was undertaken across college, curricula and gender categories. The results suggest: a ‘paradigm shift’ from a core‐focused to a pedagogical‐focused curriculum in the last three decades; a declining trend in the provision of outdoor environmental education; inadequate levels of factual knowledge amongst current college students; and variations in knowledge levels and attitudes among the respondents taking different curricula. If the work of teachers' colleges is to support wider efforts throughout Ethiopia to address the causes and effects of environmental degradation, the findings of the study underscore the necessity of revisiting the composition of course categories and maintaining the existence of outdoor environmental education in the current college curricula.     

When in Doubt,Go to the Library: The Effect of a Library-Intensive Freshman Research and Writing Seminar on Academic Success

The paper is an extension of a previous study, which examined student perceptions of a unique freshman seminar offered to Criminology and Criminal Justice students at Florida State University. The seminar is characterized by a heavy focus on interactive library sessions in which students learn how to conduct research and write a scholarly paper. The previous article reported on student perceptions of research and writing skills developed in the seminar. This report, using Multivariate Regression and Propensity Score Matching reveals that compared to a carefully constructed comparison group, first time in college students enrolled in the seminar have statistically significantly higher cumulative grade point averages and percentages of graduation within four years. The seminar’s emphasis on the library as a research tool is thought to have contributed to the differences seen on academic outcomes between students who took the seminar and a matched comparison group.     

Recovering Predictor–Criterion Relations Using Covariate-Informed Factor Score Estimates

Although it is currently best practice to directly model latent factors whenever feasible, there remain many situations in which this approach is not tractable. Recent advances in covariate-informed factor score estimation can be used to provide manifest scores that are used in second-stage analysis, but these are currently understudied. Here we extend our prior work on factor score recovery to examine the use of factor score estimates as predictors both in the presence and absence of the same covariates that were used in score estimation. Results show that whereas the relation between the factor score estimates and the criterion are typically well recovered, substantial bias and increased variability is evident in the covariate effects themselves. Importantly, using covariate-informed factor score estimates substantially, and often wholly, mitigates these biases. We conclude with implications for future research and recommendations for the use of factor score estimates in practice.     

Global private higher education: an empirical profile of its size and geographical shape

Societies’ relative use of private and public services is an abiding and significant issue of scholarly and policy interest. For higher education, however, there has hitherto been no comprehensive dataset and, accordingly, no extensive, reliable analysis of the private-public distribution. As this article provides both the dataset and the analysis, it allows us to discover both the size and geographical shape of global private higher education. Having grown greatly for decades, the private sector now holds a third (32.9%) of the world’s total higher education enrollment. We find striking patterns of concentration and dispersion. The several largest country systems account for much of the private enrollment but, simultaneously, private sectors now exist in all but a few systems; a stunning 97.6% of the world’s present enrollment is in systems with dual-sector provision. Societies no longer rely exclusively on public provision. We discover too that private enrollment concentrates mostly in developing regions, though it is noteworthy in developed regions as well. Asia and Latin America are the twin giants but in all regions, at least 10% of students are in the private sector.     

More than smile sheets: Rasch analysis of training reactions in a medical center

Reaction questionnaires administered at the conclusion of a training program are a common method of evaluation. Because such questionnaires are often constructed and analyzed in an ad hoc manner, their usefulness is often difficult to gauge. However, if properly constructed and analyzed, such instruments can help to make clear the strengths and weaknesses of programs. This article presents a framework for questionnaire development and analysis to ensure that such questionnaires are psychometrically sound and useful for decision making. The data used for this research were from over 5,000 questionnaires completed by individuals at the conclusion of educational programs. The Rasch model was used to evaluate the data. Results suggest that the posttraining questionnaire is a valid and reliable indicator of program quality. In addition, the Rasch analysis provided empirically based methods for diagnosing needed improvements to assessment instruments.