Compatibility and Complementarity of Classroom Ecology and Didactique Research Perspectives in Physical Education

ABSTRACT

A large diversity of theoretical frameworks exists in the physical education literature. This article focuses on two of those frameworks to examine their compatibility and their complementarity. The classroom ecology paradigm concentrates on the balance between three task systems, two vectors, and programs of actions proposed by the physical education teacher and negotiated by students. The didactique research program studies the teaching and learning processes using the concepts of didactic contract and didactic milieu that focus on how the knowledge content emerges within teacher and students’ joint action. The article underlines the complementarity and the compatibility of the two frameworks when analyzing teaching and learning in physical education. It argues that the gray areas left by the classroom ecology paradigm could be filled with the insights of the didactique research program. A concise example of how the two frameworks have already been utilized is presented.     

Museum Assessment and FDH Technology: Towards a Global Approach

This paper presents a global approach for museum assessment. We conceptualise a museum as an entity which needs to be evaluated according to three well defined tasks: preservation, research and communication, and outcomes. We propose a methodology based on the determination of efficiency frontiers. This method uses a deterministic non parametric and non convex technology (Free Disposal Hull). We analyse technical efficiency, but also scale efficiency with a new restrictive scale approach. We present an ordering of museums into classes representing a level of performance with respect to the three required tasks. We illustrate our analysis using a three year database of museums from the French speaking region of Belgium.     

Maarif: transformation of a concept in the Ottoman Empire at the beginning of the nineteenth century

During the Ottoman period, ‘science (ilim, pl. ulûm)’, ‘knowledge (marifet, pl. maarif)’ and ‘technique (fen, pl. fünûn)’ emerged as three important concepts of knowledge. Maarif, which came into prominence with Selim III, began to undergo a semantic transformation together with the concepts of ulûm and fünûn and by the time of Mahmud II it had become an overarching concept representing the knowledge dimension of the new era. This article discusses the semantic transformation of maarif, focusing on the period between 1789 and 1839. This study applies the history of concepts approach developed by Reinhart Koselleck, whereby a synchronic analysis of the concept of maarif is undertaken alongside an examination of its diachronic dimension. This reveals an ambiguous and multi-dimensional structure and helps us to account for its evolution as an umbrella term.     

A description of a mother's play guidance for her child with autism in the process of playing by the rules

The purpose of this study is to describe the strategies used by a mother with a child with autism during games activities with peers to provide the child with social skills. The research method of this study is ‘a qualitative single‐subject case study’. The participants in this research are a mother and her 9‐year‐old child with autism, one brother and three typically developing peers. The research data were collected through field notes, interviews, audio and videotape recordings during natural interactions between the mother and her child. The strategies the mother used were analysed using video records during games activities in a natural park. The interactions of the mother with her child were examined in the context of a hide‐and‐seek game. Micro‐ethnographic‐analysis techniques were used in the analysis of the video records. According to the research data, it was found that the mother with a child with autism made extensive use of 13 different verbal strategies and seven different non‐verbal strategies. It was observed that the mother guided her child and the group during the hide‐and‐seek game, arranged the environment of the games, carried out routine activities both at the beginning and at the end of the games and arranged the games in accordance with the abilities and preferences of the child. These applications bear a resemblance to the model of integrated game groups. As a result, the data from the present research reveal that a mother having a child with autism acts as a guide during the games and uses verbal and non‐verbal interaction strategies in this guidance process and by doing so contributes to the process of participation in the games by the child with autism and in the child's social interaction with his peers.     

Transforming gifts into talents: the DMGT as a developmental theory1

The Differentiated Model of Giftedness and Talent (DMGT) presents the talent development process (P) as the transformation of outstanding natural abilities, or gifts (G), into outstanding systematically developed skills which define expertise, or talent (T) 3 in a particular occupational field. This developmental sequence constitutes the heart of the DMGT. Three types of catalysts help or hinder that process: (a) interpersonal (I) catalysts, like personal traits and self‐management processes; (b) environmental (E) catalysts, like socio‐demographic factors, psychological influences (e.g., from parents, teachers, or peers), or special talent development facilities and programs; and (c) chance (C). The DMGT includes a 5‐level metric‐based (MB) system to operationalize the prevalence of gifted or talented individuals, with a basic ‘top 10 per cent’ threshold for mild giftedness or talent, through successive 10 per cent cuts for moderate, high, exceptional and extreme levels. Complex interactions between the six components are surveyed. The text ends with a proposed answer to a fundamental question: ‘What factor(s) make(s) a difference, on average, between those who emerge among the talented and those who remain average?’     

Introducing novel approaches for examining the variability of individuals’ physical activity

Tudor-Locke and colleagues previously assessed steps/day for 1 year. The aim of this study was to use this data set to introduce a novel approach for the investigation of whether individual’s physical activity exhibits periodicity fluctuating round a mean and, if so, the degree of fluctuation and whether the mean changes over time. Twenty-three participants wore a pedometer for 365 days, recorded steps/day and whether the day was a workday. Fourier transform of each participant’s daily steps data showed the physical activity had a periodicity of 7 days in half of the participants, matching the periodicity of the workday pattern. Activity level remained stable in half of the participants, decreased in ten participants and increased in two. In conclusion, the 7-day periodicity of activity in half of the participants and correspondence with the workday pattern suggest a social or environmental influence. The novel analytical approach introduced herein allows the determination of the periodicity of activity, the degree of variability in activity that is tolerated during day-to-day life and whether the activity level is stable. Results from the use of these methodologies in larger data sets may enable a more focused approach to the design of interventions that aim to increase activity.