Cultures of running: characteristics and determinants

Based on the studies of Mauss (1935 Mauss, M. 1935. “Les techniques du corps.” Journal de Psychologie 32: 271–293. [Google Scholar]) and Bourdieu (1980 Bourdieu, P. 1980. Le Sens pratique. Paris: Editions de Minuit. [Google Scholar]) on the determination of body techniques by culture and social background, this study seeks to describe the rules, dispositions and habits specific to different forms of athletic running. It is based on a sample of 732 athletes, all of them are the members of French athletics clubs, comprising 220 sprinters, 213 half-distance runners and 299 long-distance runners. Sports practices are different depending on sub-culture affiliation, sociological characteristics and forms of commitment. This being said, simple links between variables should not be transformed into causal connections. Before drawing such conclusions, it is important to identify the nature of the sport studied. This shows that middle-distance and long-distance enthusiasts, traditionally classified in the same family, have less, in common, than those practising sprint and middle distance. These results potentially question the methodological groups and sociological interpretations made by researchers and sports science.     

Exploring an intervention’s impact on everyday school activities

The focus of this paper is on a group of pupils with reading and writing difficulties who have been participating in an intervention study using assistive technology. That intervention study contained supervised training sessions with reading and writing tasks using an iPad with special supportive applications. The current study is a qualitative investigation of whether there has been any transfer from the intervention, to the pupils’ everyday school activities. Interviews with pupils and their teachers and observations during classroom lectures have been used to collect data. The results show that the pupils were positive to the assistive technology (the applications on the iPads), they found the apps easy to learn how to use and they appreciated the benefits they could give. Even so, only a few of the pupils had found use for and continued to use the tools after the intervention period finished. Possible reasons are that when the novelty wore off, students reverted to their usual study habits and that older students with many teachers and different classrooms were less able to adapt to using the apps. To improve transfer, it is suggested to introduce assistive technology earlier to students, in the younger grades, before study habits have been formed and to inform teachers about the use of AT in the classroom, including what is available and how it can benefit students.     

Children's ideas about the reliability of experimental data

This paper reports some of the findings of the Procedural and Conceptual Knowledge in Science (PACKS) project. It documents children's ides about the reliability of experimental data, an important element of their understanding of science procedures. These ideas were elicited using a written survey instrument completed by over 1000 students aged 11, 14 and 16, chosen to be representative of the full ability range. The results show progression with age in understanding of empirical data. A range of ideas about the function of repeat measurements, how to handle repeat measurements and anomalous readings, and the significance of the spread of a set of repeated measurements emerge and are discussed.     

The Artist Initiative at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

The Artist Initiative at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is piloting models for increased collaboration between conservators and curators through joint work with artists. We seek a more integrated, holistic approach to the care and research of our collection. The project, funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, comprises five robust research engagements that serve the curatorial collecting departments of the museum (Photography, Painting and Sculpture, Media Art, and Architecture and Design). Three of the projects are monographic studies, examining the work of Ellsworth Kelly, Vija Celmins, and Julia Scher in depth, while two more are thematic, exploring modes of displaying digitally-driven design objects, and developing strategies for addressing the problem of color shift common to photographic prints made with experimental materials during the 1970s and 1980s. The Artist Initiative is also charged with developing hybrid working spaces to advance collaborative approaches to collections research at the museum's new downtown campus and at SFMOMA's new Collections Center in South San Francisco. These spaces include the Collections Workroom, a 56?sq?m (600?sq?ft) space that functions as a studio for visiting artists, a conservation laboratory, an interview suite, and a classroom at SFMOMA's downtown campus. At the Collections Center, a 121?sq?m (1300?sq?ft) Mock-Up Gallery has been built as a working model of one of the museum's new galleries. A functional exhibition space, the Mock-Up Gallery is also a venue for interviewing artists, prototyping exhibition formats, and meeting with students, scholars, museum staff, and community members. With the goal of contributing to critical discourses in contemporary art history, art conservation, and public engagement, each of the Artist Initiative projects includes a colloquium that will bring experts from multiple fields together with the featured artists. Thereafter we aim to share our findings widely through public programs and a range of publications, both digitally and in print.     

Student,home, and school socio-demographic factors: links to school,home, and community arts participation

This study explored the role of student (e.g., age, language background, gender), home (e.g., parent/caregiver education), and school (e.g., school type, size) socio-demographic factors in students’ school (e.g., in-school arts tuition, arts engagement), home (e.g., parent/caregiver–child arts interaction), and community (e.g., arts attendance, arts tuition) arts participation. The sample comprised 1172 elementary and secondary school students from 15 schools. Findings revealed that student and home socio-demographic factors were the most salient in predicting arts participation across school, home, and community contexts. Age, gender, and prior achievement were the key student socio-demographic factors, while parent/caregiver education and occupation were also associated with students’ arts participation. Implications for practice and intervention pertinent to young people’s arts participation are discussed.     

Learning,Media and Technology—40 years on

This is a brief historical review of the key content and influence of the three predecessor publications to Learning, Media and Technology, the NECCTA Bulletin (1968–1975), the Journal of Educational Television (1975–1995), and the Journal of Educational Media (1996–2004). Study of these publications affords an overview of 40 years of using technology in the service of education.     

Hearing “Quack” and Remembering A Duck: Evidence for Fluency Attribution in Young Children

Previous research has suggested that fluency does not influence memory decisions until ages 7–8. In two experiments (n = 96 and n = 64, respectively), children, aged 4, 6, and 8 years (Experiments 1 and 2), and adults (Experiment 2) studied a list of pictures. Participants completed a recognition test during which each study item was preceded by a sound providing either a highly predictive or mildly predictive context in order to make some test items more conceptually fluent. Overall, highly predictive items were recognized at a higher rate than mildly predictive items demonstrating an earlier development of the fluency heuristic than previously observed. The study provides insight into how children develop metacognitive expectations and when they start to use them to guide their memory responses.     

Selection for special education services: the role of gender and socio-economic status

Children from some demographic groups disproportionately receive special education (SE) services. Due to methodological shortcoming in existing work, it remains unclear whether this is due to real differences in academic needs or cultural selection/bias. Hence, in a community sample of 1250 Norwegian children, we examined the role of third grade SE services, academic test scores, behavioural problems, and teacher’s level of helplessness in mediating the effect of family socio-economic status (SES) and students’ gender on fifth-grade SE services. Results revealed no direct effects of either gender or SES on fifth-grade SE, but four mediated pathways were identified: (1) Boys had a greater likelihood of receiving fifth-grade SE services when (a) they previously received SE and (b) they experienced more ADHD symptoms, both in third grade. (2) Students from low-SES families were more likely to receive SE services in fifth grade when (a) they performed poorly in math in third grade and (b) their teacher reported greater feelings of helplessness when teaching these students. The findings are discussed with respect to the differential-needs hypothesis, mechanisms of cultural selection and the possibility of gendered selection for SE at younger ages.