The Teacher Research Update Experience: Perceptions of Practicing Science, Mathematics, and Technology Teachers

The purpose of this study was to examine how the practicing science and mathematics teachers participating in the University of Florida's Teacher Research Update Experience (TRUE) perceived their experiences in Summer 2000. We conducted in-depth interviews and collected data from survey questionnaires and addressed research in the following areas: How do participants perceive their experiences during the 7-week program designed to enhance science, mathematics, and technology knowledge and skills? How have these experiences contributed to their professional and personal growth and development, and how will they influence teaching and student learning? Findings from interviews provided insights into the thoughts, motivations, and, in some cases, insecurities of these adult learners. Follow-up studies are indicated on long-term impact of immersion professional development programs.     

Perfectionism in Academically Gifted Students: A Systematic Review

Educational Psychology Review - Perfectionism has long been recognised as a psychological factor that can enhance or interfere with the healthy adjustment of young students who are academically...     

Fear of Death and Examination Performance in a Medical Gross Anatomy Course with Cadaveric Dissection

Cadaveric dissection offers an important opportunity for students to develop their ideas about death and dying. However, it remains largely unknown how this experience impacts medical students' fear of death. The current study aimed to address this gap by describing how fear of death changed during a medical gross anatomy dissection course and how fear of death was associated with examination performance. Fear of death was surveyed at the beginning of the course and at each of the four block examinations using three of the eight subscales from the Multidimensional Fear of Death Scale: Fear of the Dead, Fear of Being Destroyed, and Fear for the Body After Death. One hundred forty-three of 165 medical students (86.7%) completed the initial survey. Repeated measures ANOVA showed no significant changes in Fear of the Dead (F (4, 108) = 1.45, P = 0.222) or Fear for the Body After Death (F (4, 108) = 1.83, P = 0.129). There was a significant increase in students' Fear of Being Destroyed (F (4, 108) = 6.86, P < 0.0005) after beginning dissection. This increase was primarily related to students' decreased willingness to donate their body. Concerning performance, there was one significant correlation between Fear for the Body After Death and the laboratory examination score at examination 1. Students with higher fears may be able to structure their experience in a way that does not negatively impact their performance, but educators should still seek ways to support these students and encourage body donation.     

Too Much Familiarity! The Developmental Path of the Fluency Heuristic in Children

We tested whether changes in attribution processes could account for the developmental differences observed in how children’s use fluency to guide their memory decisions. Children ranging in age from 4 to 9 years studied a list of familiar or unfamiliar cartoon characters. In Experiment 1 (n = 84), participants completed a recognition test during which the perceptual fluency of some items was enhanced using a prime. In Experiment 2 (n = 96), participants completed a source recollection judgment on their recognition decisions. Primed items were recognized at a higher rate than unprimed items. However, while young children rely on fluency for all items, older children use fluency only for unfamiliar items. This pattern came together with a reduction in familiarity-based—but not recollection-based—memory responses.     

Emergent identity and dilemmatic spaces: pre-service teachers’ engagement with EAL collaboration

Integrationist policies that promote the mainstreaming of English language learners are well established in many English-speaking countries. This has led to the embedding of English as an additional language (EAL) methodology in teacher education, and also to the notion of collaboration between English language teachers and content area teachers. Teacher positioning is integral to the processes of collaboration, and in this article it is argued that both sociocultural identity constructs and the notion of dilemmatic spaces can be used jointly to explore this positioning. A framework that draws upon these two theoretical perspectives is discussed. It was developed to investigate pre-service teachers’ (PSTs’) perceptions of collaboration with EAL teachers, and is applied to three secondary PSTs who were undertaking an EAL methodology course in an Australian university.     

Portfolio assessment: An alternate strategy for placement of the RN student in a baccalaureate program

Innovative Higher Education - This article presents portfolio as one alternate approach to assessment of prior learning as a means for placement of registered nurses in a large baccalaureate...     

The autonomy-authority duality of shared decision-making in youth environmental action

While environmental action is recognized as an effective approach for developing young people’s capabilities as citizens and contributing to environmental improvements, little research has addressed how adults facilitate youth action projects. Environmental action involves a partnership among youth and adults characterized by shared decision-making. We sought insights into the adult experience of shared decision-making through phenomenological interviews with 33 educators facilitating youth environmental action in various non-formal and formal settings in the USA. Educators described experiencing tensions in sharing decision-making power, which we conceive of as a duality – two inseparable elements both contradictory and complementary that drive the dynamics of a system. The duality consists of youth autonomy and adult authority, which stems not only from formally vested decision-making power but also adults’ experience and wisdom. Educators navigated this duality through diverse approaches to structuring youth participation, supporting youth, valuing mutual learning, and communicating transparently to develop equitable relationships.     

What Does Prone Skateboarding in the Newborn Tell Us About the Ontogeny of Human Locomotion?

The crawling behavior of sixty 2-day-old newborns was studied while they were supported prone on a mini skateboard and on a pediatric mattress without additional support. Analyses of the number and types of limb movements and their characteristics, the coactivation of limb pairs, and the displacement across the surface, revealed that newborns can crawl with locomotor patterns similar to those documented during quadrupedal locomotion in animals and human adults. This was particularly apparent on the skateboard. This discovery suggests that locomotor circuitry underlying quadrupedal locomotion develops during fetal life. Drawing upon other evidence for a quadrupedal organization underlying bipedal gait, we argue that early quadrupedal training may enhance interventions designed to hasten the onset of independent walking.     

Action learning – an experience working with executives at the IBM corporation

The increasing emphasis on innovation in executive development has important implications for contemporary organizations talent professionals and strategy creators. Providing an experience that addresses individual and team development, strategic innovation, organizational alignment and the integration of values is the objective of the action learning programme at International Business Machines (IBM). This article identifies the frameworks and lessons learned in the action learning experiences of Integration and Values Team, the top 300 executives, at IBM.     

Kinematic adaptations in sprint acceleration performances without and with the constraint of holding a field hockey stick

The aim of this study was to investigate the technique adaptations made when performing sprint-based tasks without (free condition) and with (constrained condition) the constraints of carrying a field hockey stick. Three free and three constrained maximal sprint accelerations were performed by 18 experienced university male field hockey players (age = 20 ± 1 years, body mass = 73.3 ± 7.1 kg, and stature = 1.78 ± 0.05 m). An automatic motion analysis system tracked sagittal plane active marker locations (200 Hz). M sprint velocity during the 18–22 m (free: 8.03 ± 0.43 m/s; constrained: 7.93 ± 0.36 m/s) interval was significantly (p = 0.03) different between free and constrained conditions. While the M stride length and stride frequency was similar between free and constrained conditions in the 2–13 m capture volume, the free condition elicited a 0.10 m/s faster (p = 0.03) stride velocity. Further significant differences were found between free and constrained kinematic profiles (p ≤ 0.05) for the hip angular velocity at touchdown during the 2–12 m interval of the sprints and in the overall sprint technique coordination between free and constrained conditions. Performance and technique adaptations indicated that sprint-training protocols for field sports should integrate specific equipment constraints to ensure explicit replication of the mechanical demands of the skills underpinning superior performance.