Decision-making skills and deliberate practice in elite association football referees

We examined sport expertise as a function of role. In study 1, referees were better than players in a video-based decision-making task. This provides evidence that there are role-specific skills within one domain or sport. In study 2, we examined the training activities that could be influential in the development of skills in sports officials. Elite association football (soccer) referees retrospectively reported time spent in and perceptions of training activities for three periods: their first year of formal refereeing, 1998 (before formal training programmes were available), and the current year (2003). This allowed us to examine an area of skill with a limited culture of practice, where performance simulations with direct feedback are usually not feasible. The results showed that referees specialize early and, as they develop, they engage in greater volumes and types of training. Competitive match refereeing is considered a relevant activity for skill acquisition that does not fit Ericsson and colleagues' (1993) original definition of deliberate practice. Our findings indicate that actual performance is a significant activity for skill acquisition and refinement.     

Evaluation of a technology unit in a girls' primary school

Rapid advances in technology are changing the structure of the workforce. There are elite highly-paid hi-tech occupations and low status poorly-paid jobs. Women are unfortunately more likely to be found in the latter category. To allow them to qualify and compete for the higher-status positions, girls need to participate in the physical sciences and in technology studies. However, they are rarely attracted to them in secondary school, possibly because they are already alienated from them by the time they leave primary school. This paper reports some of the outcomes of a curriculum unit taught in two primary school classes in an independent school for girls. The unit was cross-curricular, involving technology, science and other fields of knowledge; it made extensive use of LEGO Technic materials. The evaluation of the unit, based on observations, a teacher journal and pupil questionnaires, focussed upon the issue of whether it assisted the girls to feel happier about working with unfamiliar technology and feel more capable of doing so. Implications for teaching technology are also discussed. M.Ed. St student, Monash University.Specializations: primary school science and technology for girls. Dr. Paul Gardner, Reader in Education, Monash University, 3168.Specializations: science and technology education, technology teacher education, educational evaluation, measurement of attitudes and interests.     

WHAT GOOD IS GRATITUDE IN YOUTH AND SCHOOLS? A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW AND META‐ANALYSIS OF CORRELATES AND INTERVENTION OUTCOMES

The development of gratitude in youth has received increasing attention during the past several years, and gratitude‐based interventions have often been recommended for use in schools. Yet, the empirical status of the correlates of gratitude and the effects of gratitude‐based interventions on youths’ outcomes remains unclear. The present study addressed this ambiguity by systematically reviewing and meta‐analyzing original empirical journal articles investigating gratitude in youth through September 2014 (N = 20). Findings from the meta‐analysis of correlates indicate small‐to‐moderate convergent and discriminant evidence for gratitude as a subjective well‐being indicator in youth, yet other results indicate that gratitude measures have relatively poor test–retest reliability and/or predictive validity and that they have questionable concurrent validity with other gratitude measures. Moreover, findings from the meta‐analysis of intervention outcomes indicate that gratitude‐based interventions are, as a whole, generally ineffective and that much more intervention research is warranted. Implications of these findings for theory, future research, and the practice of school psychology are discussed.     

A Methylome‐Wide Association Study of Trajectories of Oppositional Defiant Behaviors and Biological Overlap With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

In 671 mother–child (49% male) pairs from an epidemiological birth cohort, we investigated (a) prospective associations between DNA methylation (at birth) and trajectories (ages 7–13) of oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), and the ODD subdimensions of irritable and headstrong; (b) common biological pathways, indexed by DNA methylation, between ODD trajectories and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); (c) genetic influence on DNA methylation; and (d) prenatal risk exposure associations. Methylome‐wide significant associations were identified for the ODD and headstrong, but not for irritable. Overlap analysis indicated biological correlates between ODD, headstrong, and ADHD. DNA methylation in ODD and headstrong was (to a degree) genetically influenced. DNA methylation associated with prenatal risk exposures of maternal anxiety (headstrong) and cigarette smoking (ODD and headstrong).     

The Shift from Teaching to Learning: Staff Recruitment and Careers Development Policies for the Universities of the Twenty‐First Century

This article examines some of the contextual factors underlying the move from teaching to learning in universities over the next two decades. It considers the major characteristics of and elements in emerging learning processes. It assesses the likely impact of the above on personnel policy and practice in universities and suggests some broader organizational issues for universities as a consequence of the analysis. The article draws on research conducted by the author for two recent international studies, sponsored by the Association of European Universities and UNESCO, and on perspectives derived from various strategic evaluation exercises undertaken under the auspices of CRE.     

Contextualizing the Interpretation of Reliability Data

What is the relationship between the context and substantive meaning of a measure and the assessment of the reliability of the measure? Does the interpretation of a reliability coefficient depend on the nature of the measure? How does this approach to reliability relate to alternative assessments?     

What the Science Standards Say: Implications for Teacher Education

Journal of Science Teacher Education -