The "Digital Divide": Hispanic college students' views of educational uses of the Internet

Concern has been expressed recently regarding the presence of a digital divide between majority and minority groups. Surveyed were 226 Hispanic college freshmen enrolled at a doctoral intensive institution in the Southwest regarding their attitudes toward educational uses of the Internet and their uses of technology. Statistically significant differences were found between males and females in their attitudes toward and uses of the Internet and computer technology. Differences were also revealed between students whose primary language spoken at home was English and students whose primary language spoken at home was Spanish in their attitudes toward and uses of the Internet and computer technology. Interestingly, no differences were present between first-generation and non-first-generation college students. Implications of our findings and relationships to existing literature are provided.     

Caffeine improves muscular performance in elite Brazilian Jiu-jitsu athletes

Scientific information about the effects of caffeine intake on combat sport performance is scarce and controversial. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of caffeine to improve Brazilian Jiu-jitsu (BJJ)-specific muscular performance. Fourteen male and elite BJJ athletes (29.2?±?3.3?years; 71.3?±?9.1?kg) participated in a randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled and crossover experiment. In two different sessions, BJJ athletes ingested 3?mg?kg^?1 of caffeine or a placebo. After 60?min, they performed a handgrip maximal force test, a countermovement jump, a maximal static lift test and bench-press tests consisting of one-repetition maximum, power-load, and repetitions to failure. In comparison to the placebo, the ingestion of the caffeine increased: hand grip force in both hands (50.9?±?2.9 vs. 53.3?±?3.1?kg; respectively p?p?=?.02), and time recorded in the maximal static lift test (54.4?±?13.4 vs. 59.2?±?11.9?s; p?p?=?.02), maximal power obtained during the power-load test (750.5?±?154.7 vs. 826.9?±?163.7?W; p?p?=?.04). In conclusion, the pre-exercise ingestion of 3?mg?kg^?1 of caffeine increased dynamic and isometric muscular force, power, and endurance strength in elite BJJ athletes. Thus, caffeine might be an effective ergogenic aid to improve physical performance in BJJ.     

Growth and maturity status of elite British junior tennis players

Growth and maturation impact the selection, development and progression of youth athletes. Individual differences in the growth and maturity may afford a performance advantage, clouding coaches and practitioners’ perceptions regarding current ability and future potential. This may result in the exclusion of talented, yet less physically gifted athletes. Participants were 91 male (n = 47) and female (n = 44) elite British Junior tennis players, 8–17 years of age (12.5 ± 1.9 years). Height and body mass were measured and compared to growth charts; hand-wrist radiographs were taken. Skeletal age (SA) was estimated with the Fels method and contrasted to chronological age (CA). Mean height and body mass of individual players ranged between the 50th and 90th centiles for age and sex. Females were advanced in SA relative to CA (0.3–0.89 years.) from 8 years. Males were average to delayed in maturation from 8 to 12 years, but advanced in SA from 14 to 16 years (0.75–1.23 years). Individual differences in growth and maturation appear to contribute towards the selection of elite junior tennis players, with a bias towards males and females who are advanced in maturation and comparatively tall and heavy for their age. This has important implications for talent identification and development.     

Wavelet-based deconvolution of ultrasonic signals in nondestructive evaluation

INTRODUCTION Deconvolution of ultrasonic signals is defined as the solution of the inverse problem of convolving an input signal, known as the system function h(n), with a medium reflectivity function x(n) and can be rep- resented by y(n)=h(n)*x(n) η(n), (1) where y(n) is the measured signal, * denotes the convolution operation and η(n) is the additive noise. Recovering x(n) from the observation y(n) leads to improving the appearance and the axial resolution of the RF-signals by removin…     

Analyzing learners’ engagement and behavior in MOOCs on programming with the Codeboard IDE

Educational technology research and development - Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) can be enhanced with the so-called learning-by-doing, designing the courses in a way that the learners are...     

Understanding textbook quality in the USA: How governments distort the market

Textbooks deliver education and shape the daily routines of classrooms. Even in countries where schools enjoy ample and various instructional resources, text-books are the single most important support for teachers and students. It is not surprising, then, that textbooks are a major concern of states, schools, teachers, parents, publishers, and the research community. But textbooks often become a scapegoat for educational evils. In the USA, government regulation, special interest groups, and publishers exert pressure on textbook policies and state and local adoption processes. The result: textbooks are published to conform to a market distorted by government regulation. This paper discusses how their quality is constrained by government and special interest groups that interfere with the natural course of regulations and markets.

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Zusammenfassung Textbücher liefern Bildung und schaffen tägliche Routine im Klassenraum. Sogar in Ländern, in denen Schulen vielfältige und zahlreiche Unterrichtsquellen haben, sind Textbücher die wichtigste Unterstützung für Lehrer und Schüler. Es ist daher keine Überraschung, daß Textbücher ein Hauptanliegen von Staaten, Schulen, Lehrern, Eltern, Herausgebern und der Forschergemeinde sind. Aber Textbücher werden oft zum Sündenbock für erzieherische Fehler gemacht. In den USA üben Regierungsvorgaben, spezielle Interessengruppen und Herausgeber Druck auf die Textbuchpolitik und staatliche und lokale Anwendungsprozesse aus. In diesem Artikel wird diskutiert, wie ihre Qualität durch Interessen von Regierungen und Spezialgruppen beeinflußt wird, die mit dem natürlichen Lauf von Regulierungen und Märkten in Konflikt stehen.

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Resumen Los libros de texto proveen educación y delinean las rutinas diarias en las aulas. Incluso en aquellos países en los que las escuelas disponen de una amplia y variada gama de recursos de instrucción, los libros de texto son por cierto el más importante soporte para docentes y alumnos. No es sorprendente entonces que en los libros de texto se centre el máximo interés de Estados, escuelas, docentes, padres, editores e investigadores. No obstante, los libros de texto frecuentemente se convierten en el chivo emisario de los males de la educación. En los EE UU, la legislaciön, los grupos de interés y los editores ejercen presiones sobre las normas de conducta de los libros de texto y sobre los procesos de adopción estatles y locales. Resultado: los libros de texto se editan adaptándolos a un mercado distorsionado por la legislación. El trabajo plantea el problema de cómo su calidad es restringida por grupos de gobierno y de interés, que interfieren en el curso normal de la regulación y de los mercados.

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Résumé Les manuels scolaires délivrent un enseignement et déterminent la routine des salles de classes. Même dans les pays où les écoles disposent de matériels pédagogiques nombreux et variés, les manuels scolaires restent le soutien le plus important pour les enseignants et les apprenants. Par conséquent, il n'est pas surprenant que les manuels scolaires soient une préoccupation majeure des Etats, écoles, enseignants, parents, éditeurs et chercheurs. Mais les manuels scolaires servent souvent de bouc émissaire aux problèmes éducatifs. Aux Etats-Unis, la législation, les groupes de pression et les éditeurs ont une influence sur l'élaboration et le choix des manuels au niveau local et national. Résultat: les manuels doivent se conformer à un marché faussé par la législation. Cet article montre à quel point leur qualité dépend des décisions gouvernementales et des groupes de pression qui ont une influence sur le comportement des marchés et sur la législation.

     

A distributed systems laboratory that helps students accomplish their assignments through self-regulation of behavior

Educational technology research and development - Recent research has shown a great interest in supporting self-regulated learning (SRL) strategies in online learning. However, there is hardly any...     

Interactive patterns and conceptual convergence during student collaborations in science

This study examines cognitive and social processes in group interactions that shape collaborative learning in science classrooms. Three small groups of students were observed while working collaboratively on explaining the burning of a candle under a jar. The learning environment served as a context for examination of conceptual convergence, a process wherein students construct shared meanings for science concepts through gradual refinement of ambiguous, partial meanings presented in group space. Despite engaging in the same activity with very similar instructional supports, the groups displayed very different patterns of interaction and achieved varied degrees of conceptual convergence. One group collaborated effectively and displayed evidence of individual conceptualizations of science content converging to establish a more well‐informed shared conceptualization. The other groups were not as successful, each for unique reasons. Problems demonstrated in one group included lack of self‐confidence, poor monitoring of group learning, and active avoidance of potentially fruitful conceptual conflicts. The other group struggled primarily because of a combative social context. The major educational significance of this study was the identification of social context and interactive patterns, group approaches to conceptual conflicts, and instructors' roles in collaborative activities as crucial aspects of productive group learning. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 45: 634–658, 2008     

Between Transaction and Transformation: The Role of School Principals as Education Leaders in Spain

Spain is, together with Portugal, the only OECD country where school principals are democratically elected from the teaching staff of each primary and secondary school by a School Council, where all members of the school community are represented. While this unique feature of the Spanish system entails many promises in terms of deep democracy and, equally important, the potential legitimacy of change promoted by school leaders, the reality seems to be somewhat less romantic. This paper explores the limitations and constraints faced by school principals in Spain to actually perform their role as school leaders in primary and secondary schools. Based on a major study that we carried out for the National Institute for Quality and Evaluation (INCE) in 2002, involving more than 20,000 questionnaires and 30 Focus Groups (with teachers, principals, school inspectors, administrators, education experts and parents), the paper deals with the impact of leadership on school improvement and change, especially as far as teaching and learning processes are concerned. Despite their democratic legitimacy, or perhaps precisely because of its unexpected effects, the elected principal in Spain faces constraints which de facto position himself or herself between a practice of permanent transaction with colleagues and the mounting pressure of transformation and accountability coming from outside the school. Results from this research suggest that such constraints are determining that the practice of school leadership in Spain is management and maintenance-oriented rather than change-oriented, thus casting doubts about the very model of school leadership.