A Comparison of Knowledge Obsolescence of Graduating Seniors and Practitioners in the Field of Physical Education

Abstract

The issue of defining and measuring professional obsolescence among physical educators is examined through a comparison of the current knowledge base of graduating physical education seniors and physical education practitioners in Pennsylvania. In a previous study, the “Inventory of Recent Knowledge in Physical Education,” a 260-item sample of current knowledge as defined by content experts was developed by the authors and administered by mail to the population of 2,737 male professional members of the public school districts' departments of physical education in Pennsylvania. In the present study, results from the first study were compared with those from an administration of the same instrument to 462 female and male physical education majors graduating from nine Pennsylvania higher education institutions. Both studies employed multiple-matrix procedures for item-person sampling and data analysis. An analysis of the results for both groups showed essentially similar performance profiles on the Inventory. Average scores of the two groups tended to be low and neither met preestablished minimum standards for defining up-to-date or nonobsolete performance. These results point to a clear conflict between what experts think up-to-date persons in the field of physical education should know and the knowledge performance of practitioners and students.     

Accuracy of a Perspective Control Lens

Abstract

The contextual interference (CI) effect has been replicated many times since its first demonstration by Shea and Morgan (1979) in the motor learning domain (see Brady, 1998; Magill&;Hall, 1990). The CI effect is characterized by the observation that experiencing greater interference during acquisition is detrimental to immediate performance but enhances delayed performance as measured on retention or transfer tests. High CI is most often created by random practice in which the learning of multiple tasks occurs in a single training. In contrast, low CI is frequently created by using a blocked practice format in which all the practice trials of one task are completed before another task is introduced. One theoretical account that has been forwarded to account for the CI effect is labeled the action plan reconstruction hypothesis (Lee&;Magill, 1983, 1985). This position intimates that before a movement occurs an “action plan” must be prepared. In blocked practice, a previously prepared “action plan” is readily available from trial to trial, but it suffers from lack of attention on trials following initial retrieval from working memory. In random practice, however, each time a task must be executed a “reconstruction” of the action plan must be processed, because the interchange of information from trial to trial never allows the same information to remain in working memory for an extended amount of time. Presumably, the additional trial-to-trial preparation used by the random practice participant during practice results in a more resilient memory representation that better supports long-term recall efforts compared to their blocked practice counterparts.     

The Use of Television in Public Examinations

This paper analyses the use of a television film, David Leland's Flying into the Wind, in O Level English Literature examinations in 1986. This is the first use of television material in an examination of this kind. After studying the video as part of a two‐year course, candidates were shown part of the television film during the examination and asked to comment upon it. An analysis of candidates' responses suggests television is a suitable medium for use in public examinations, as well as a popular choice with the candidates themselves. Certain aspects of the candidates' responses suggest the importance of visual imagery, and this in turn may have implications for theories concerning how we understand television. Finally, the subsequent use of Flying into the Wind and the current use of Gregory's Girl in GCSE examinations, and the place of television in the new National Curriculum orders are briefly considered.     

Reading disability and chromosome 6p21.3: evaluation of MOG as a candidate gene

Linkage analysis has localized a gene influencing specific reading disability (dyslexia) to 6p21.3. The myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) gene, which maps to this region, was selected as a candidate. Myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein is a membrane protein, a member of the immunoglobin superfamily, that is found on the outermost lamellae of mature myelin. Although the exact function of this protein is unknown, its presence in the central nervous system and the hypothesized relationship between dyslexia and temporal processing rate as well as a suggested relationship with intelligence made this gene a candidate for dyslexia. Analysis of the coding exons and adjacent splice sites in a subset of 22 children with dyslexia from 10 sibships found a missense mutation in exon 4 in 2 of the sibships. This change from the published sequence also occurred in 86 of 96 random controls, making it considerably less frequent in this small sample of individuals with dyslexia. Subsequent typing of this single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in 74 nuclear families in which at least one child had reading disability showed no significant difference in frequency from the controls, however. Sib-pair linkage analysis with these families did not show significant linkage with the SNP nor with a separate polymorphic dinucleotide repeat marker in the MOG gene (MOG31/32), but association analysis identified two alleles of MOG31/32 that were associated with reading disability phenotypes with a low level of significance. Thus, although alleles in the MOG gene may be in linkage disequilibrium with a locus that contributes to reading disability, it is unlikely that the MOG gene itself is involved.     

Experiences of instructors in online learning environments: Identifying and regulating emotions

In an effort to expand existing research on the barriers of instructors experience in online learning environments (OLEs), a qualitative study was conducted at a large mid-Atlantic university. Six instructors teaching in different OLE formats (e.g., asynchronous, hybrid, and synchronous via videoconferencing) participated in two focus groups in order to explore their emotional experiences and ways to regulate the emotions when teaching in OLEs. The overarching themes included emotions of feeling (a) restricted, (b) stressed, (c) devalued, (d) validated, and (e) rejuvenated. The article also provides practical strategies on how participating instructors attempted to manage the challenging emotions. A consensus among all participants is that continuous dialog in a community of practice about strategies to enhance OLEs is imperative.     

An Experiment with Multiple Choice Vocabulary Tests Constructed by two Different Procedures

Marsh and Hau (1996) based the assertion that parsimony is not always desirable when assessing model fit on a particular counterexample drawn from Marsh's previous research. This counterexample is neither general nor valid enough to support such a thesis. More specifically, the counterexample signals an oversight of extant, stochastic models justifying correlated uniquenesses, namely, moving-average and autoregressive moving-average models. Such models provide theoretically plausible motives for a priori specification of error correlations. In fact, when uniquenesses are correlated, stochastic models other than the conventional simplex and quasi-simplex models must be tested before positive identification of the process is possible (Sivo, 1997). In short, exchanging the mechanistic penalties for model complexity for the mechanistic specification of untenable measurement-error covariances offers no solution. Parsimony has not been dismissed based on the argument Marsh and Hau presented concerning longitudinal data.     

The meaning of a democratic school from the standpoint of the child

This study addressed itself to the analysis of the effects of two patterns of interaction, the effects of a program of structured contacts between college sophomores and seventh‐graders on the reading performance of the seventh‐graders and the effects of the program on the attitudes of the college sophomores. The measures used to determine the effects were the Minnesota Teacher Attitude Inventory and three subtests of the Gates Reading Test. The data were analyzed by analysis of variance, t‐tests, and Bartlett's test for homogeneity of variance. The null‐hypotheses, that there would be no significant changes in either reading or attitudes as a result of the structured contacts, were accepted. The complexity of the data, however, prevented too‐simple interpretations of the results of the student‐interactions.     

Who says aging is lonely? A phenomenology of Filipino older adults’ experiences of happiness when joining international group tours

Across the literature, travelling has been viewed as a recurring activity for older adults and is driven by a multitude of purposes and reasons. Previous studies have probed touristic activities of older adults however, little is known about their emotional experiences specifically their sense of happiness when joining international group tours, hence this phenomenological study. A qualitative approach was utilized to gather data from a group of 15 purposively selected participants aged 60 years and above. A two-part instrument consisting of a robotfoto and a semi-structured interview was used in this study. Through vertical and horizontal analyses of the field text, this study afforded the development of The Spiraling Model of Aging Filipino Tourists’ Happiness. This model describes aging tourists’ happiness while travelling as a product of Shared Moments, Shared Culture, Shared Memories, and Shared Transcendence. Summarily, findings of this study may provide significant insights to service providers such as hotels, airlines and travel agencies across the globe in developing innovative marketing strategies that cater to this promising age group. Empirically, this study may stimulate further exploration in the field of Cognitive Psychology aimed at adding large-scale data regarding the study of emotions specifically older adults’ happiness when joining international group tours.