Performance strategies of US Olympians in practice and competition

Until recently, no self‐report instruments have examined psychological skills use in both practice and competition. In light of the significant role of practice in sport performance outcomes, a need exists to measure these skills in both domains. This study was designed to investigate differences in performance strategies of US Olympians in both practice and competition. The Test of Performance Strategies was administered to 176 US participants in the 2000 Sydney Olympic Summer Games. Discriminant function analyses demonstrated significant differences between medalists and nonmedalists in both the competition and practice performance strategies. Furthermore, significant gender and age differences were identified for competition strategies only. The 16 subscales of the TOPS, with two exceptions, create an internally stable instrument with moderate predictive ability relative to quality of sport performance, gender, and age in this elite sample of athletes.     

Ohne Schulabschluss in die Berufsausbildung: Ergebnisse einer Längsschnittuntersuchung

Young people who leave school without obtaining a secondary school certificate bear an increased risk of not completing vocational training and being excluded from stable employment in their working life. However, some of these young people do achieve access to vocational training and employment. Based on a longitudinal study of school-to-work transitions of a representative sample of graduates from Praxisklassen in Bavaria (a course especially designed for potential school drop outs at the lower secondary school – Hauptschule), patterns of transition that lead into vocational training and employment are compared with patterns that end up in exclusion from education, training and employment. Determinants of successful transitions, which can be targeted by pedagogical measures, are inter alia: participation in internships in enterprises during the last year of schooling, help and support received from parents and professional career guidance. However, besides these influential factors, regional labor market conditions are important for a successful school-to-work transition. This close link to the labor market ultimately limits the effects of educational interventions.     

Practices and Innovations in Australian Science Teacher Education Programs

This paper reports part of a larger study which was designed to investigate current practices in initial teacher education programs in Australia. The main data collection was by telephone interviews, which were carried out with science education specialists and program coordinators at all institutions which offer primary teacher education or secondary science teacher education. The interviews focused on practices in relation to program structures, science content studies, science methods studies and links to science-related school projects or to science business/industry. A large number of innovative practices were described. In addition, several case studies were carried out, which focused on particular innovations. The study identified several aspects of science teacher education which were of concern.     

A Longitudinal Study of Predictors of Spatial Ability in Adolescent Females

This study examined the longitudinal predictability of spatial ability in late-adolescent females by retesting 11-year-old girls studied by Newcombe and Bandura at age 16. Spatial ability at age 16 was predicted longitudinally from masculinity of the ideal self on a scale of intellectually relevant attributes at age 11, wanting to be a boy at age 11, and, negatively, by feminine expressivity at age 11. No timing of puberty or lateralization effects were observed. The findings strengthen evidence that sex-related differences in spatial ability could be experientially determined, and help to focus the search for exactly how this occurs. The findings also cast doubt on the idea that sex-related differences in spatial ability could be caused by sex differences in timing of puberty or lateralization, although other biological mechanisms remain plausible.     

Science education research in Papua New Guinea 1978–1990

This paper presents a science/science education bibliography, to assist science educationalists interested in Papua New Guinea. 392 articles were reviewed. The bibliography was then categorised in a number of ways to indicate patterns of research productivity in various areas of science education, and at different levels of education. A questionnaire was devised to obtain information from former and current researchers in the field about their own contributions. This exercise produced some surprising information about science education research in Papua New Guinea. Specializations: science teacher education, chemical education, science education in developing countries, educational issues.     

The development of personalized inferences: understanding other people's emotional reactions in light of their prior experiences

We examined children's ability to take another person's prior experiences into account when making inferences about that person's current emotional reactions. Kindergartners, second graders, fifth graders, and college students were told stories in which the first event might reasonably change the protagonist's appraisal of the second event. Subjects were asked to predict and explain the protagonist's appraisal of the second event. There was a gradual age-related increase in the ability to interpret an event from another person's perspective in light of that person's prior experiences. Various alternative explanations for this developmental trend are considered. These are evaluated using data from subjects who received prompts or who heard partial stories (containing only the first event or only the second event).