The effect of sex and localised fatigue on triceps surae musculoarticular stiffness

Purpose: The main purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of fatigue on musculoarticular stiffness (MAS) of the ankle joint across sexes. Methods: Twenty-seven males and 26 females participated in the study. After baseline assessment of MAS and related variables, localised fatigue was induced in triceps surae using the standing heel-rise test during which the subjects were instructed to lift and drop the heel at a frequency of 0.5?Hz. When subjects were unable to continue due to exhaustion the test was terminated and another MAS test was performed soon after. Results: Significant higher triceps surae MAS was found in men compared to women (p?p??1 and from 14.5 to 13.9?KN?m^?1 in men and women, respectively. Percentage changes revealed, however, that in relative terms the changes in all the variables evaluated were similar (p?>?.01) between sexes, with MAS less than 5%. Conclusion: Despite the sex-related differences at baseline, fatigue seems to affect biomechanical properties of the ankle joint similarly in men and women.     

The mediation of teaching and learning processes through identity artefacts. A Vygotskian perspective

The aim of this paper is to address the teaching and learning processes in schools from a Vygotskian perspective based on the notion of identity artefacts (IAs) which, for our purposes, consist of documents created by the learners about themselves, in which they try to capture all the things that make sense and are meaningful to them and which, subsequently, can be used by teachers to work on curricular and pedagogical content. We conceptualise the notion of the identity artefact from the broader notions of mediation and cultural artefacts. We also provide a critical analysis of some examples of IAs.     

Threshold concepts in higher education: a synthesis of the literature relating to measurement of threshold crossing

In relation to teaching and learning approaches that improve student learning outcomes, threshold concepts have generated substantial interest in higher education. They have been described as ‘portals’ that lead to a transformed way of understanding or thinking, enabling learners to progress, and have been enthusiastically adopted to inform teaching approaches and curriculum design. A growing body of literature has critiqued the relevance and applicability of the threshold concept theory and identified threshold concepts relevant to specific disciplines. More recent research has identified how students cross these thresholds and provided measures of the successful acquisition of threshold concepts. This literature synthesis critiques existing evidence on threshold crossing and acquisition to provide a succinct and informative overview of the outcomes to date. Key questions relevant to educators and researchers investigating whether students acquire the threshold concepts associated with their teaching, arose from the literature synthesis. These were: whether or not threshold crossing can be measured; how variation in student learning can be addressed during measurement; tools that can be used for measuring threshold crossing; whether the way units or concepts are taught should alter prior to measurement, and the challenges and limitations of measuring threshold crossing.     

Effect of 6-weeks WBVT on the behaviour of the lower limb muscle fibres during vertical jumping

The purpose of the current study was to examine the effect of 6 weeks of whole body vibration training (WBVT) on body composition, muscle activity of the gastrocnemius and vastus lateralis, gastrocnemius muscle architecture (static and dynamic) and ground reaction forces (performance jump) during the take-off phase of a countermovement jump in young healthy adult males. A total of 33 men (23.31 ± 5.62 years) were randomly assigned to a whole body vibration group (experimental group, EG_WBVT: n = 17; 22.11 ± 4.97 years) or a control group (CG: n = 16; 24.5 ± 6.27 years). The total duration of the intervention phase (WBVT) was 6 weeks with a frequency of 3 sessions per week. Statistically significant differences were observed (P ≤ 0.05) between pre- and post-test in the power peak (Δ 1.91 W · kg^?1; P = 0.001), take-off velocity (0.1 cm · s^?1; P = 0.002) and jump height (Δ 0.4 cm; P = 0.002) for EG_WBVT. There were no statistically significant differences in any of the body composition and muscle architecture variables. Moreover, no significant differences were found between EG_WBVT and CG nor changes in muscle activity during take-off phase of the gastrocnemius and vastus lateralis pre- versus post-training. This study suggests that a 6-week WBVT programme with increasing intensity improves jump performance but does not alter muscle activity nor muscle architecture in healthy young men.     

The effects of service convenience and perceived quality on perceived value,satisfaction and loyalty in low-cost fitness centers

Due to its importance in fitness centers, a number of authors have explored and analyzed loyalty. However, two characteristics not yet examined are service convenience in fitness center chains and low-cost fitness centers (an emerging business model). In the present study, the authors sought to understand the relationship among perceived quality and service convenience on perceived value, satisfaction, and client loyalty in low-cost fitness centers. Clients (N = 763; 381 women and 382 men) from three low-cost Spanish fitness centers were surveyed, revealing a positive relationship among the variables studied. Findings demonstrate the importance of proper management of non-monetary sacrifices and perceived quality by the managers of these sport organizations, since client loyalty could depend on factors of these emerging sport models.     

The role of the referee in physical education lessons: student experience and motivation

Introduction: Social roles in physical education (PE) classes have been much studied, especially mentoring and coaching roles. The studies have shown that mentoring and coaching are beneficial not only for motor learning, but also for methodological and social learning. To our knowledge, the role of the student referee in PE lessons has never been specifically studied. Yet refereeing is essential in many sports, including team sports, and provides an experience of responsibility that many teachers want to offer their students. Encouraging students to take on this role can nevertheless be difficult.

Objective: The objective of the present study was to gain access to students’ lived experiences as referees in order to determine their strategies for being effective. We particularly wanted to determine which concerns organized their activity so that we could identify a refereeing typology that would be useful for PE teaching. Our study is original in that we did not rely exclusively on experiential data to understand student refereeing activity. We also collected data on the students’ motivation in order to better understand their experiences. For this purpose, the study was conducted within the methodological framework of course-of-action theory and self-determination theory.

Method: Seventy-four students from three classes in the third year of middle school (about 13 years old) participated in the study. Among them, four (two girls and two boys and not experts in the sports in which they were going to referee) had volunteered to be filmed and to participate in self-confrontation interviews. The other students completed two questionnaires to provide information on their motivation for refereeing. The situations studied were basketball and handball matches held at the end of the lessons.

Two categories of data were collected: qualitative and quantitative. The qualitative data were based on audiovisual recordings of the students as they refereed matches and verbalization data from self-confrontation interviews; these data were used to document the students’ courses of experience during the activity period under study. The quantitative data were collected using two questionnaires, one to assess the determinants of motivation and the other to assess self-determined motivation.

Results and discussion: The qualitative analysis highlighted three typical student involvements: fulfilling the role of referee, getting help, and occasionally dropping out of the role. The quantitative analysis revealed that the students in the social role of referee mainly expressed amotivation, external regulation, and intrinsic motivation toward knowledge and accomplishment.

The results are discussed around two major points: (1) the students’ strategies of alternation from which their refereeing activity emerged and (2) proposals for PE teacher interventions.     

Dynamics of student interactions: an empirical study of orienteering lessons in physical education

Introduction: Many studies in physical education (PE) have sought to identify and categorize the modes of student interaction in order to gain greater insight into the nature of cooperative activity. More others recent studies have examined how modes of interaction evolve on the basis of the modes of collective activity that they generate. These studies have shown to describe and explain the interactions among individuals and the processes they generate, which then lead to the construction, deconstruction or reconstruction of different interaction modes. Although some studies have sought to describe the dynamics of student interactions, very few have quantified these dynamics. By doing so, however, researchers might gain a new perspective on student interaction modes that inspires new designs for teaching in PE, thereby having professional impact. The present study extends this research by investigating the dynamics of student interaction, with a focus on the emergence of interaction modes during orienteering lessons. For this purpose, the study was conducted within the methodological framework of course of action theory, which is an effective approach for examining activity in natural situations to provide insight into the experience of activity from the actors perspective.

Method: The study was conducted in two classes of seventh-grade students (about 12 years old) in which 16 students volunteered and were available for post-action interviews immediately after the lessons under study. These volunteers were placed in eight affinity-based dyads. The teachers planned orienteering lessons at similar levels of difficulty and duration but modified the lessons across a range of contextual features. Two categories of data were collected: (1) data from audiovisual recordings as the students searched for the checkpoints and (2) verbalization data during the post-action interviews with the students. The data were processed in two steps: one qualitative, the other quantitative. The qualitative step consisted of processing the data of the student experiences to characterize their interactions in the three different contexts. In the quantitative step, the data from the first step were graphically represented to depict the interaction dynamics within the student dyads.

Results and discussion: The qualitative analysis showed the emergence of three modes of student interaction shared across each learning context: co-construction, confrontation and delegation. The quantitative analysis revealed the percentages of the different modes of interaction and therefore characterized the interaction dynamics. Our results showed that the interaction dynamics within the dyads were both unique and similar in the task contexts in terms of both ratios of change and distribution. Results are discussed across two major points of interest: (1) the observation of the same interaction modes whatever the context yet with quite different dynamics and (2) proposals for PE teacher interventions.     

Swimming and peak bone mineral density: A systematic review and meta-analysis

This meta-analysis aims to determine the effects of regular swimming on bone mineral density (BMD) in young adults (18–30 years). A systematic search was performed in Pubmed, SPORTDiscus and the Cochrane Library from the earliest possible year to March 2016. Swimmers were compared to non-athletic controls (CG) and to high-impact athletes (HIGH). Effect sizes with the Hedges g in random effects models were developed. Fourteen studies met the inclusion criteria and were included in the meta-analyses. Swimmers presented similar BMD values to CG in whole-body (g = ?0.20; P = 0.251), femoral neck (g = ?0.05; P = 0.818) and lumbar spine (g = 0.18; P = 0.492); and lower BMD in the whole-body (g = ?1.21; P < 0.001), femoral neck (g = ?1.51; P < 0.001) and lumbar spine (g = ?0.84; P = 0.017) than the HIGH. For the whole-body differences, the higher the latitude the smaller the differences between swimmers and HIGH (B = 0.10; P = 0.001). For the femoral neck differences, age also seemed to reduce the differences between groups (B = 0.19; P = 0.020). Young adult swimmers present similar BMD values than CG and lower values than HIGH.     

Parents’ perceptions of parent–teacher relationship practices in Dutch primary schools – an exploratory pilot study

This paper shows how parents’ perceptions of parent–teacher relationship practices differ between different types of schools with respect to children’s special needs and the socio-economic status of these children. Using a questionnaire, we compare parents’ views from two special education schools, two at-risk schools serving low SES-children, and two mainstream primary education schools in the southern part of the Netherlands. The theoretical framework is based on Epstein’s Model of Parental Involvement. The results illustrate that parents and teachers in special education and at-risk schools are very much accustomed to ‘two-way communication’, in contrast to mainstream schools, and that this is valued highly by these parents. Furthermore, teachers in special and at-risk schools are more familiar with interacting with parents, involve them more in decision-making and more often co-ordinate homework practice with parents.