A coach’s political use of video-based feedback: a case study in elite-level academy soccer

This paper examines the video-based pedagogical practices of Terry (pseudonym), a head coach of a professional junior academy squad. Data were collected through 6 in-depth, semi-structured interviews and 10 field observations of Terry’s video-based coaching in situ. Three embracing categories were generated from the data. These demonstrated that Terry’s video-based coaching was far from apolitical. Rather, Terry strategically used performance analysis technologies to help fulfil various objectives and outcomes that he understood to be expected of him within the club environment. Kelchtermans’ micropolitical perspective, Callero’s work addressing role and Groom et al.’s grounded theory were primarily utilised to make sense of Terry’s perceptions and actions. The findings point to the value of developing contextually grounded understandings of coaches’ uses of video-based performance analysis technology. Doing so could better prepare coaches for this aspect of their coaching practice.     

Exploring the everyday realities of grass-roots football coaching: towards a relational perspective

While scholars have increasingly engaged with the (micro)political and emotional experiences of coaches in professional and semi-professional football, little attention has been given to grass-roots coaches’ understandings of these issues. The aim of this paper is to outline one possible research agenda that could contribute to the development of a rich and increasingly nuanced understanding of the everyday realities of being a grass-roots football coach. In particular, we consider (volunteer) coaches’ participation in grass-roots football to be an inherently relational endeavour. Following the presentation of a creative fiction that is based upon our shared experiences of being grass-roots football coaches, we then illustrate how relational thinking might be productively applied to exploring the social, (micro)political and emotional features of grass-roots football coaching.     

A Self-Regulated Learning Approach to Teaching Educational Psychology

In this paper, we describe an undergraduate educational psychology course that utilizes self-regulated learning as the organizing principle. The course aims to facilitate students' development in self-regulated learning and to promote students' understanding of how to embed instruction for self-regulated learning strategies into classroom teaching. In the first section of the paper, we develop the rationale for this position and identify underlying assumptions we believe should guide the development and implementation of such a program. In the second section of the paper, we demonstrate how we have incorporated these assumptions in a basic educational psychology course.     

Establishment of dominance in domestic Norway rats: Effects of the degree of captivity and social experience

Learning & Behavior - The effect of the level of captivity and prior social experience on the establishment of dominance was examined in 16 colonies of albino rats. Males were assigned to one...     

The recognition of facial expressions in the first two years of life: mechanisms of development

In recent years the infant's ability to recognize facial expressions of emotion has attracted considerable attention from developmental psychologists. The rationale guiding much of this research has been that this ability plays an important role in later socioemotional development. In the present article, the research relating to this topic is reviewed and synthesized. It is concluded that the recognition of facial expressions develops slowly over the first 2 years of life, and that even at the end of the second year the infant's understanding of facial expressions is still quite rudimentary. Following this review is a discussion of 2 unresolved issues regarding the development of this ability. 1 issue relates to the biological/experimental basis on which the ability to recognize facial expressions develops. Research with primates is brought to bear on this point, and useful analogues with human infants are sought. From this research it is suggested that a component of the ability to recognize facial expressions is unlearned, although experience of some as yet undetermined nature affects this biological readiness. The second issue relates to the possible neurological mechanisms that mediate this ability. Research with primates, normal adults, and brain damaged adults is used to support the speculation that a posterior region of the right hemisphere is responsible for mediating the recognition of facial expressions.     

A “twisted” microfluidic mixer suitable for a wide range of flow rate applications

This paper proposes a new “twisted” 3D microfluidic mixer fabricated by a laser writing/microfabrication technique. Effective and efficient mixing using the twisted micromixers can be obtained by combining two general chaotic mixing mechanisms: splitting/recombining and chaotic advection. The lamination of mixer units provides the splitting and recombination mechanism when the quadrant of circles is arranged in a two-layered serial arrangement of mixing units. The overall 3D path of the microchannel introduces the advection. An experimental investigation using chemical solutions revealed that these novel 3D passive microfluidic mixers were stable and could be operated at a wide range of flow rates. This micromixer finds application in the manipulation of tiny volumes of liquids that are crucial in diagnostics. The mixing performance was evaluated by dye visualization, and using a pH test that determined the chemical reaction of the solutions. A comparison of the tornado-mixer with this twisted micromixer was made to evaluate the efficiency of mixing. The efficiency of mixing was calculated within the channel by acquiring intensities using ImageJ software. Results suggested that efficient mixing can be obtained when more than 3 units were consecutively placed. The geometry of the device, which has a length of 30 mm, enables the device to be integrated with micro total analysis systems and other lab-on-chip devices.