Engaging in Science: A Feeling for the Discipline

Most accounts of affect and motivation in the science education literature have discussed them as relevant to, but distinct from, disciplinary pursuits. These include Pintrich’s seminal work on affective and motivational factors in learning science (P. R. Pintrich, 1999, 2003; P. R. Pintrich & E. De Groot, 1990; P. R. Pintrich, R. W. Marx, & R. A. Boyle, 1993). Our purpose here is to build on those ideas, drawing as well on accounts of scientists’ practices (e.g., H. E. Gruber, 1974; E. F. Keller, 1983) and of students’ taking up of disciplinary pursuits (R. A. Engle & F. R. Conant, 2002; R. Lehrer, 2009; M. Scardamalia & C. Bereiter, 1991, 2006) to propose that affect and motivation are inherent in the disciplinary practices of science. Thus, we introduce notions of epistemic affect and epistemic motivation, and we illustrate how these are evident in a case study of a student we have followed from 4th to 7th grade. We consider how this perspective aligns with and contributes to research on interest (e.g., S. Hidi, 2006; S. Hidi, K. A. Renninger, & A. Krapp, 2004; C. Sansone, 2009), and we discuss implications for research and instruction in science education. We argue that part of what should happen in the science class is to cultivate students’ feelings and motivations within the discipline.     

Property,privacy and personhood in a world of ambient intelligence

Profiling technologies are the facilitating force behind the vision of Ambient Intelligence in which everyday devices are connected and embedded with all kinds of smart characteristics enabling them to take decisions in order to serve our preferences without us being aware of it. These technological practices have considerable impact on the process by which our personhood takes shape and pose threats like discrimination and normalisation. The legal response to these developments should move away from a focus on entitlements to personal data, towards making transparent and controlling the profiling process by which knowledge is produced from these data. The tendency in intellectual property law to commodify information embedded in software and profiles could counteract this shift to transparency and control. These rights obstruct the access and contestation of the design of the code that impacts one’s personhood. This triggers a political discussion about the public nature of this code and forces us to rethink the relations between property, privacy and personhood in the digital age.     

Green Open Access in Astronomy and Mathematics: The Complementarity of Routines Among Authors and Readers

Minerva - Open access (OA) to publications has become a major topic in science policy. However, electronic publication providing free access to research via the internet is more than a decade...     

Gross efficiency predicts a 6-min double-poling ergometer performance in recreational cross-country skiers

The purpose of the study was to investigate which physiological parameters would most accurately predict a 6-min, all-out, double-poling (DP) performance in recreational cross-country skiers. Twelve male recreational cross-country skiers performed tests consisting of three series lasting 10 s, one lasting 60 s, plus a 6-min, all-out, DP performance test to estimate mean and peak power output. On a separate day, gross mechanical efficiency (GE) was estimated from a 10-min, submaximal, DP test and maximal oxygen consumption (VO₂ max) was estimated from an incremental treadmill running test. Power was measured after each stroke from the acceleration and deceleration of the flywheel that induced the friction on the ergometer. The power was shown to the skier on a small computer placed on the ergometer. A multivariable correlation analysis showed that GE most strongly predicted 6-min DP performance (r = 0.79) and interestingly, neither DP VO₂ max, nor treadmill-running VO₂ max, correlated with 6-min DP performance. In conclusion, GE correlated most strongly with 6-min DP performance and GE at the ski ergometer was estimated to be 6.4 ± 1.1%. It is suggested that recreational cross-country skiers focus on skiing technique to improve gross mechanical efficiency during intense DP.     

Accuracy between optical and inertial motion capture systems for assessing trunk speed during preferred gait and transition periods

Motion capture through inertial sensors is becoming popular, but its accuracy to describe kinematics during changes in walking speed is unknown. The aim of this study was to determine the accuracy of trunk speed extracted using an inertial motion system compared to a gold standard optical motion system, during steady walking and stationary periods. Eleven participants walked on pre-established paths marked on the floor. Between each lap, a 1-second stationary transition period at the initial position was included prior to the next lap. Resultant trunk speed during the walking and transition periods were extracted from an inertial (240 Hz sampling rate) and an optical system (120 Hz sampling rate) to calculate the agreement (Pearson’s correlation coefficient) and relative root mean square errors between both systems. The agreement for the resultant trunk speed between the inertial system and the optical system was strong (0.67 < r ≤ 0.9) for both walking and transition periods. Moreover, relative root mean square error during the transition periods was greater in comparison to the walking periods (>40% across all paths). It was concluded that trunk speed extracted from inertial systems have fair accuracy during walking, but the accuracy was reduced in the transition periods.     

Wentzel,Kathryn R & Brophy,Jere E (2014) Motivating students to learn Routledge (New York & London) isbn 978‐0‐415‐89352‐7 301 pp £39.99 http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415893527/

The authors of Motivating students to learn offer teachers evidence‐based classroom strategies to motivate their students. This fourth edition draws comprehensively on current psychological and educational research on student motivation and extrapolates this to implications for teaching practice in the classroom. This book's aim is primarily school teachers but it may also be of interest to people in further and higher education. If you think this book's content could be relevant, I suggest you borrow a copy to decide whether it's worth buying. Sara Hammer     

Depression,Control, and Climate: An Examination of Factors Impacting Teaching Quality in Preschool Classrooms

Research Findings: This study investigated the relationship of preschool teachers’ self-reported depressive symptomatology, perception of classroom control, and perception of school climate to classroom quality as measured by the Classroom Assessment Scoring System Pre-K. The sample consisted of 59 urban preschool classrooms serving low-income and linguistically diverse students in the northeastern and southeastern United States. Results of hierarchical linear modeling revealed that teachers’ individual reports of depressive symptomatology were significantly and negatively predictive of the observed quality of their instructional support and classroom organization. Practice or Policy: The findings of this study have implications for increasing access to mental health supports for teachers in an effort to minimize depressive symptoms and potentially improve classroom quality.     

Crisis negotiations: A Preliminary investigation of facework in naturalistic conflict discourse

This article views crisis negotiations from an interaction goal perspective, with facework constituting a significant and heretofore unexplored dimension of interaction. We present a three‐dimensional model of facework used in coding perpetrator and negotiator discourse for face behaviors within three authentic negotiation interactions. Results indicate that Restore Other's Face and Restore Self's Face were the two predominant facework behaviors. While negotiators were the primary users of Restore Other's Face acts, perpetrators used mostly Restore Self's Face behaviors. No Attack Other's Face acts were observed. However, of five Attack Self's Face behaviors enacted, four occurred in a negotiation which ended in the suicide of the perpetrator. Lag sequential analysis revealed a general cycle of perpetrator use of Restore Self's Face and negotiator use of Restore Other's Face. Implications of these findings for future research and for training crisis negotiators are discussed.