Causes,prevention, and interventions regarding classroom disruptions in digital teaching: A systematic review

Education and Information Technologies - Digitization and the Sars-CoV-2 pandemic are accelerating the use of digital tools in teaching. Therefore, this systematic literature review offers an...     

Teacher support for collective argumentation: A framework for examining how teachers support students’ engagement in mathematical activities

We propose a framework for examining how teachers may support collective argumentation in secondary mathematics classrooms, including teachers’ direct contributions to arguments, the kinds of questions teachers ask, and teachers’ other supportive actions. We illustrate our framework with examples from episodes of collective argumentation occurring across 2 days in a teacher’s classroom. Following from these examples, we discuss how the framework can be used to examine mathematical aspects of conversations in mathematics classrooms. We propose that the framework is useful for investigating and possibly enhancing how teachers support students’ reasoning and argumentation as fundamentally mathematical activities.     

Mathematics teachers’ representations of authority

Issues of authority abound in education and schooling but have not been interrogated sufficiently. We describe a tool that we have developed to initiate dialogue with teachers about authority in their classrooms—using a diagram to represent authority in their classrooms. Our analysis of the diagrams mathematics teachers created and discussed in our work with them illustrates the importance of understanding teachers’ perspectives about authority. To understand better how mathematics teachers think about the authority in their classrooms, we investigated what sources of authority they represented in their diagrams, and how the teachers related these sources to each other. The diversity in the teachers’ representations exceeded our anticipations, indicating that research on authority in classrooms has merely scratched the surface of understanding the ways mathematics teachers think about authority in their classrooms.     

Physical performance in female handball players according to playing position

Demands for female handball players are not yet sufficiently specified, especially not with respect to position-specific performance. For optimal match preparation, individual training based on specific demands of each position is necessary. Consequently, the aim of the study was to gain insight into position-specific differences in female handball players in order to establish position-specific training recommendations. Data from 652 female players from German leagues of all levels were analyzed using a test-battery assessing handball-relevant physical performance factors. Players were tested during their usual training in their regular training locations for running, throwing speed, jumping height, reaction-speed, basic running endurance, arm and abdominal muscle strength and hamstrings and lower back flexibility. Significant differences between positions were found for several parameters, while the differences were pronounced variably at the different performance levels. For example, goalkeepers performed worst in the Half-Cooper test (p?<?0.001) at elite level with wings displaying the best values. Halfbacks had the highest throwing speed (p?<?0.001) and jumping heights (p?<?0.002) at elite level. Goalkeepers were slowest for best and mean value out of five attempts (p?<?0.001; p?<?0.010) in 20?m sprint but, together with wings outperformed half and centre backs at elite level in 30?m sprint (best out of two attempts, p?<?0.001). Goalkeepers also did fewer chin ups than wing and back players at elite level (p?<?0.003). The present study demonstrated positional differences regarding physical performance parameters, thus suggesting the need to intensify position-specific training, especially for goalkeepers during preparation and in-season. Also, position-specific testing during selection-processes might be indicated.