Effects of active,passive or no warm-up on metabolism and performance during high-intensity exercise

The aim of this study was to determine the influence of type of warm-up on metabolism and performance during high-intensity exercise. Eight males performed 30 s of intense exercise at 120% of their maximal power output followed, 1 min later, by a performance cycle to exhaustion, again at 120% of maximal power output. Exercise was preceded by active, passive or no warm-up (control). Muscle temperature, immediately before exercise, was significantly elevated after active and passive warm-ups compared to the control condition (36.9 - 0.18°C, 36.8 - 0.18°C and 33.6 - 0.25°C respectively; mean - sx ) ( P ? 0.05). Total oxygen consumption during the 30 s exercise bout was significantly greater in the active and passive warm-up trials than in the control trial (1017 - 22, 943 - 53 and 838 - 45 ml O 2 respectively). Active warm-up resulted in a blunted blood lactate response during high-intensity exercise compared to the passive and control trials (change = 5.53 - 0.52, 8.09 - 0.57 and 7.90 - 0.38 mmol· l -1 respectively) ( P ? 0.05). There was no difference in exercise time to exhaustion between the active, passive and control trials (43.9 - 4.1, 48.3 - 2.7 and 46.9 - 6.2 s respectively) ( P = 0.69). These results indicate that, although the mechanism by which muscle temperature is elevated influences certain metabolic responses during subsequent high-intensity exercise, cycling performance is not significantly affected.     

Responses to Interpersonal and Physically Provoking Situations: The utility and application of an observation schedule for school‐aged students with and without attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder

The present research describes the development and pilot testing of a new instrument, the Responses to Interpersonal and Physically Provoking Situations Schedule (RIPPS), designed to measure the reactivity of students with and without attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) in the naturalistic setting of the classroom. For this study, 29 pre‐service teachers from one university graduate school of education conducted structured observations on two students each, one clinically diagnosed student with AD/HD and the other with no diagnosed disorder, resulting in 58 Year 8–11 students (aged 13–17 years) participating in the study. Each student pair was observed for 40 minutes, with alternating observational blocks of two minutes per student. Observational data in the form of responses to emotionally provoking events and the triggers to the responses were clustered together and systematically coded, resulting in four distinct categories for responses and four distinct categories for triggers. Students with AD/HD exhibited significantly more solitary off‐task behaviours, interactional off‐task behaviours, and challenging behaviours than their non‐AD/HD peers. There were no differences between the students in the perceived severity of responses. For triggers, failure to begin assigned tasks and peer‐initiated triggers were the most common, with nearly half of the solitary off‐task behaviours being attributed to environmental distractions and over a quarter attributed to teacher behaviours. While the RIPPS is a relatively new instrument, important data have been gathered in ecologically valid contexts and provide the framework for further development of an instrument of this nature.     

Assessment of aerobic endurance: a comparison between CD-ROM and laboratory-based instruction

Traditional approaches to teaching exercise physiology are costly in terms of staff time and consumable expenses. Ethical considerations, large student numbers and availability of technical expertise magnify the delivery problems. In an attempt to overcome these problems, a CD-ROM version of a basic course in exercise physiology was designed and delivered to a group of undergraduate sport and exercise science students. It simulated five tests of aerobic endurance which are traditionally taught using laboratory methods. A controlled experiment was conducted to compare the two delivery methods, as part of an independent, formative evaluation. Although there were equal knowledge gains and the CD-ROM design and content were well rated by students who used it, this approach has engendered less student interaction, commitment to wider reading and in-depth understanding. Tutorials and other approaches designed to promote more active learning are now being introduced to accompany the use of the CD-ROM.     

A procedure for determining the level of abstraction of science reading material

The objectives of this study were to develop a method for scoring the level of abstraction (LOA) of science reading material and explore its relationship with other methods for assessing curriculum materials. LOA is defined as the ratio of the nonconcrete concepts to the total number of concepts in a written passage expressed as a percent. Using passages taken from life, earth, and physical science textbooks written at three different levels, data were collected to obtain preliminary agreement from science educators in the classification of concepts, determine interscorer reliability, and compare student and passage variables. Participants consisted of 24 science educators, 60 science teachers from elementary, middle, and high schools, and 425 urban students in Grades 5, 7, and 10. Instruments used were (a) the procedure to determine level of abstraction developed in this study, (b) the cloze procedure, and (c) “Reading Level: Programs for Teachers.” No significant correlations were found between (a) passage LOA and passage readability level, (b) student cloze scores and passage LOA, (c) passage LOA and teacher prediction of student success, and (d) student cloze scores and passage readability level. However, the lack of significant correlations between LOA and cloze scores combined with the fact that the LOA is based upon deep structure rather than surface structure of written material indicate the possible uniqueness of the LOA and highlight the importance of further investigation of the LOA in its relationship to student comprehension of written material.     

Gender equality in German universities: vernacularising the battle for the best brains

We examine how global pressures for competitiveness and gender equality have merged into a discourse of ‘inclusive excellence’ in the twenty-first century and shaped three recent German higher education programmes. After placing these programmes in the larger discourse about gender inequalities, we focus on how they adapt current global concerns about both being ‘the best’ and increasing ‘gender equality’ in locally specific ways, a process called vernacularisation. German equality advocates used ‘meeting international standards’ as leverage, drew on self-governance norms among universities, used formal gender plans as mechanisms to direct change, and set up competition to legitimate intervention. This specific incremental policy path for increasing women's status in German universities also mobilised the national funding agency and local gender equality officers as key actors, and placed particular emphasis on family friendliness as the expression of organisational commitment to gender equality.     

The Reader in the Writer

This article discusses the role of reading, especially the reading of literature, in the development of writing. It suggests that the direct teaching of written language features is no substitute for extensive experience of written language. It gives a brief preliminary account of a recent centre for language in Primary Education (CLPE) research project on the influence of children’s reading of literature on their writing at KS2. Through analysis of children’s writing, the project explored the influence of children’s reading on their writing. Its findings highlighted the value of children working and writing in role in response to literary texts. It looked closely at the kinds of teaching which made a significant difference to children’s writing and documented the impact on teachers’ practice of the introduction of the National Literacy Strategy.     

Prekindergarten screening: How well does it predict readiness for first grade?

Construction of different predictive models for readiness for first grade, using data from prekindergarten screening, was examined. Instruments included Hainsworth Preschool Screening System, parent and teacher questionnaires, and Quincy Observation Scale. Readiness for first grade was rated by teachers at end of kindergarten for 601 students. Predictor variables included information processing, verbal reasoning, mother's education, ratings of motor activity, and parental ratings of attention, aggression, and speech development. From 45.6% to 75.9% of the children were correctly classified. Results indicate that less emphasis should be given to collecting historical screening data. Additionally, many social/emotional problems may go undetected or be mislabeled.