Bilateral practice improves dominant leg performance in long jump

Benefits of bilateral practice both for the non-dominant and for the dominant body side have been shown in several studies. Thereby, most of the studies included movement tasks of the upper extremity or investigated sports games in which the ability of acting bilaterally is an essential basis for success and, thus, a bilateral practice is reasonable anyway. Individual unilaterally performed sports including movement tasks of the lower extremity are rarely investigated. Therefore, the aim of our study was to test if contralateral transfer due to bilateral practice can be found in an unilaterally performed sport including the lower extremity. We trained and tested 61 adolescent athletes in long jump to compare the jumping performance of the dominant leg after a 12-week practice period between two groups: a bilateral practice group that practiced specific long jump exercises with both the dominant and non-dominant leg and an unilateral practice group that practiced specific long jump exercises only with the dominant leg. Results showed a superior effect of bilateral practice compared to unilateral practice regarding the jumping performance of the dominant leg. The performance increase at post-test and retention-test for the dominant limb was significantly higher for the bilateral practice group (pre-to-post: 5.2%, pre-to-retention: 7.4%) compared to the unilateral practice group (pre-to-post: 3.4%, pre-to-retention: 4.5%). Thus, bilateral practice should be established in the early practice programmes of track and field athletes to improve the performance of the dominant take-off leg.     

X marks the spot: Creating and managing a single service point to improve customer service and maximize resources

ABSTRACT

This article will describe how merging service points in an academic library is an opportunity to improve customer service and utilize staffing resources more efficiently. Combining service points provides libraries with the ability to create a more positive library experience for patrons by minimizing the ping-pong effect for assistance. The Access Services Department at the University of North Texas Libraries was charged with management of the circulation and reference services offered at the service desk. Streamlined planning and modernized management of the desk and its impact on customer service in a changing library environment will be discussed.     

The impact of standards-based assessment on knowledge for history education in New Zealand

This paper examines how a standards-based form of assessment in operation in New Zealand has impacted upon the knowledge taught to secondary history students. The segmentation of history into assessable components along with assessment mechanisms which encourage the reduction in the number of standards being attempted has impacted upon both the breadth and range of historical content in history programmes. The reduction in knowledge is problematic as it diminishes learners’ opportunities to draw connections between inter-related historical concepts from a wider knowledge base. Social realists have raised concerns about the reduced focus on knowledge in education and its effects in restricting students’ development of conceptual knowledge which enables higher order, more abstract thinking. Experiences of standards-based assessment for history in New Zealand are indicative of this reductive phenomenon. In a culture of accountability, standards-based assessment, as enacted in New Zealand, may impede delivery of critical knowledge.     

Education,Welfare Reform and Psychological Well-Being: A Critical Psychology Perspective

There are established links between education and well-being, and between poverty and education. This article draws on interviews with parents of school-aged children impacted by a policy in the UK commonly referred to as the ‘bedroom tax’. A critical psychology perspective to education is put forward, acknowledging the complex interrelationships between psychological well-being, sociopolitical factors and education.     

Studies on attitude toward teaching science and anxiety about teaching science in preservice elementary teachers

These studies examined attitude toward teaching science (ATTS) using an adaptation of the Bratt Attitude Test (M-BAT); anxiety about teaching science (ANX-TS), as measured by the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI A-State); and selected demographic variables in preservice elementary teachers for the 1977–1978 and 1978–1979 academic years and a follow-up of those students who completed their student teaching in May 1979. The M-BAT and STAI were administered in September at the beginning of Science 6 (earth science and biology course), in December on the next to last day of Science 6, in May on the next to the last day of Science 5 (physical science), and in May 1979 after student teaching. In the two academic years, both ATTS and ANX-TS became more positive during the sequence Science 6-5. Both changes in ATTS and ANX-TS continued to change in a positive direction after completion of Science 6-5, after student teaching. There were differences in the times that the greatest changes in ATTS and ANX-TS occurred. In both studies, the greatest change in ATTS took place between September and December, during Science 6. The greatest change in ANX-TS, however, took place during Science 5 between December and May in the 1977–1978 study. In the 1978–1979 study, the greatest changes in ANX-TS occurred in Science 6, between September and December. The delayed reduction of ANX-TS in the 1977–1978 study may be explained by differences in teaching patterns. In 1977–1978, two teachers taught only their academic specialty, biology or earth science, to students who switched teachers midsemester. In 1978–1979, the same two instructors taught both biology and earth science to the same students. Correlation coefficients for successive and corresponding administrations of both the M-BAT and STAI suggest these variables are related. Students with more positive ATTS tended to have reduced ANX-TS. Neither the number of high school or college science and math courses completed nor the level of enjoyment of these courses appears to be related to ATTS or ANX-TS for the initial administration of the M-BAT and STAI. Closer examination of data, however, indicates that students with negative ATTS and high ANX-TS were fairly evenly divided in their enjoyment of mathematics, while students with positive ATTS and low ANX-TS enjoyed math in a 3:1 like/dislike ratio. The relationship between both ATTS and ANX-TS and achievement is reasonalbly consistent for Science 6. In Science 5, however, the relationship between ATTS and achievement is inconsistent and there is no indication of a relationship between achievement and ANX-TS.     

Assessing Undergraduate Education from Graduating Seniors’ Perspective: Peer Institutions Provide the Context

This paper presents a comparative research study as a model for assessing undergraduate education. This evaluation model used Factor Analysis to create scales, tested the reliability of these scales, and used Analysis of Variance to compare the primary institution with five types of comparable institutions. The value of this statistical/methodological evaluation model was shown. Results are based on Class of l998survey responses from 244 graduating seniors at the primary institution and 1481 students at 39peer institutions. Comparative analyses identified business courses, faculty, career preparation and impact on students’ technological skill as strengths and students’ knowledge of arts and foreign languages and campus social life as areas for improvement at the primary institution. Recommendations advocated publicising students’ superior satisfaction with courses, faculty and career preparation; using these results as baseline data for future curriculum evaluation; and continuing efforts to enhance campus social life. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The Labour Market of Schooling: Maltese girls in education and economic planning

This article uses the case of Maltese girls and women to examine the relationship between schooling and the economy. It is clear that not only have education and economic planners sought to strengthen the links between school and work in planning for different courses for children of different sexes, but also that the allocation of pupils to subjects has in itself worked as a labour market. Interestingly, private schools have also responded to their interpretations of labour market demand in producing feminised choices for girls. Some Maltese girls do achieve well, compared both to Maltese boys and their European counterparts. This is largely due to a combination of single‐sex and selective secondary education. Nevertheless, these same girls continue to have lower and feminised occupational aspirations which mirror the job opportunities in the labour market. Others are incapacitated by their schooling and have until recently been channelled into the labour intensive jobs on which Malta's economy depended in the first phase of industrialisation in the 1960s and 1970s. Of late it seems as if rising educational standards and social awareness (propagated by women's organisations) have led to reluctance on the part of these girls and women to participate in the same way in the workforce. With struggle, the needs of patriarchy and capitalism will not always be perfectly served.     

Developmental links of very early phonological and language skills to second grade reading outcomes: strong to accuracy but only minor to fluency

The authors examined second grade reading accuracy and fluency and their associations via letter knowledge to phonological and language predictors assessed at 3.5, 4.5, and 5.5 years in children in the Jyv?skyl? Longitudinal Study of Dyslexia. Structural equation modeling showed that a developmentally highly stable factor (early phonological and language processing [EPLP]) behind key dyslexia predictors (i.e., phonological awareness, short-term memory, rapid naming, vocabulary, and pseudoword repetition) could already be identified at 3.5 years. EPLP was significantly associated with reading and spelling accuracy and by age with letter knowledge. However, EPLP had only a minor link with reading fluency, which was additionally explained by early letter knowledge. The results show that reading accuracy is well predicted by early phonological and language skills. Variation in fluent reading skills is not well explained by early skills, suggesting factors other than phonological core skills. Future research is suggested to explore the factors behind the development of fast and accurate decoding skills.     

Conference day

Early Childhood Education Journal - My first graders arrive with their parents for conference time. Conferencing involves a three-way triad—student, parent, teacher. The lines of...