On the Street: A Content Analysis of Body Imagery in Streetstyle Fashion Blogs

This study investigated whether streetstyle blogs provide an alternative to the thin-ideal found in traditional media. We analyzed images of 481 individuals from 5 streetstyle blogs. The majority of women (72%) and men (62%) were coded as below-average weight. Most women (60%) positioned themselves in accordance with Goffman’s gender-role stereotypes. Further, men were portrayed as more facially prominent than women, indicating that men are valued for their intellect whereas women are valued for their bodies. Although these Web sites have been celebrated for their use of “ordinary people,” the results suggest that they promote the same body ideals found in mainstream media     

Educational TV Consumption and Children’s Interest in Leisure Reading and Writing: A Test of the Validated Curriculum Hypothesis

The relationship between children’s TV consumption and literacy outcomes is currently unclear, as past research has identified both linear and curvilinear trends. One explanation for the contradictory results is the varying content children consume; specifically, researchers have argued that research-based educational TV programming should be positively related to literacy outcomes whereas non research-based programming should be negatively related to literacy outcomes (what we refer to as the validated curriculum hypothesis). To test this hypothesis, students in grades 4 and 5 N = 120) completed a survey assessing educational TV consumption and leisure reading/writing behaviors. The results upheld the validated curriculum hypothesis and revealed several key moderators including composite TV consumption and parents’ reading behavior.     

Contents of Volume 6

Volume Contents

Contents of Volume 6     

The National Student Survey: validation in Portuguese medical students

The UK National Student Survey (NSS) is a sound and widely used instrument for assessing students’ academic experiences. We aimed to translate the NSS for Portuguese students and to validate the instrument in a sample of medical undergraduates. The research team translated and adapted the NSS for Portuguese students (NSS-P). The survey was administered on an online platform to 1,256 final-year students at eight Portuguese medical schools. A total of 329 medical students (69.9% female) replied to the NSS-P, a response rate of 26.2%. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the original six-factor structure had an adequate fit to the data. Adequate internal consistency was observed for all the subscales. Medium to large correlations were found among all the subscale scores and between the subscale scores and the students’ overall satisfaction. Multiple regression showed that the scores on the Teaching, Organization and Management and Personal Development subscales significantly predicted the students’ overall satisfaction. Approximately 64% of the students reported being satisfied with the quality of their courses. Significant differences among the medical schools in their NSS-P scores were found. The NSS-P is a valid and reliable measure for assessing medical students’ perceptions of academic quality.     

Comparing determinants of perceived and actual recycling skills: The role of motivational,behavioral and dispositional factors

An empirical investigation assessed the role of different factors of motivational, behavioral, and dispositional nature in the prediction of both perceived and actual skills concerning household waste recycling. A structured questionnaire (measuring attitudes, social norms, perceived control, need for cognitive closure, self-reported household recycling behavior and perceived recycling skills) and a simulation task (assessing actual recycling skills) were administered to 300 participants in Italy. Results indicate that, although positively related, perceived and actual skills are two distinct constructs differently related to motivational, behavioral, and dispositional factors. Implications for designing educational interventions to increase citizens' recycling skills are discussed.     

Le conte Africain: L'univers de l'oralite dans le systeme de l'enseignement

Résumé Dans les interprétations les plus courantes, les contes de la tradition orale africaine constituent une riche source de thèmes qui se prêtent à l'éducation morale. Les contes axés sur les rapports entre frère et soeur, par exemple, développent le thème de l'équilibre que chaque individu doit établir entre les relations consanguines et les relations d'alliance. L'auteur explore d'autres clés de lecture et suggère comment ces textes peuvent être mis à profit dans le cadre d'un programme pédagogique multicultural, en raison de leur richesse aux niveaux linguistique, narratif et thématique.

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According to current interpretations, the stories preserved in the African oral tradition constitute a rich source of themes for the purposes of moral education. The stories focusing on the relationship between brother and sister, for example, develop the theme of how each individual must find a balance between consanguineous and marital relationships. The author also explores other keys to the interpretation of these stories and argues that they could profitably be used within the framework of a multicultural educational programme, on account of their linguistic, narrative and thematic richness.

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Zusammenfassung In den gängigsten Interpretationen bilden die Geschichten der afrikanischen oralen Tradition eine reiche Quelle an Themen für eine moralische Bildung. Die auf den Beziehungen zwischen Bruder und Schwester basierenden Geschichten zum Beispiel, entwickeln das Thema der Ausgewogenheit, die jedes Individuum innerhalb seiner eigenen Familie und seiner angeheirateten Familie erreichen muß. Die Autorin untersucht weitere Schlüsselfaktoren zum Verständnis dieser Geschichten und führt aus, daß solche Geschichten aufgrund ihres linguistischen, erzählerischen und thematischen Reichtums nutzbringend im Rahmen multikultureller Bildungsprogramme angewandt werden können.

     

Teleconferencing tools in enterprises—constraints and opportunities

This paper presents an experimental approach for devising training measures to help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) avail themselves of the new opportunities offered by teleconferencing tools.
The approach includes 1) an analysis of training needs, carried out by means of interviews, so as to propose methodologies and tools that will encourage SMEs to create the conditions under which they can make the most of the opportunities that tele-cooperation offers for raising productivity; and 2) a controlled experiment that seeks to analyse the conditions under which the experimental use of teleconferencing systems may become a valuable vehicle for helping SMEs to construct active awareness about the potential of these tools.     

Role of age and IQ in emotion understanding in Autism Spectrum Disorder: implications for educational interventions

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by impairments in social communication and social cognition. Difficulties in emotion understanding, from emotion recognition to emotion regulation are common features that can affect the inclusion process. One outstanding question is the extent to which age and IQ affect such impairments. The effect of IQ and age on emotion understanding was estimated in 55 children with ASD aged between 5 and 10 and with IQ ranging from 70 to 130. Emotion understanding and non-verbal cognitive ability were assessed, respectively, with the Test of Emotion Comprehension and the Leiter-R scale. The majority of participants scored significantly lower on the TEC compared to the normative sample. Performance compared against norms decreased with age and improved with increasing IQ; children with ‘borderline cognitive functioning’ performed significantly worse than children with ‘normative cognitive functioning’. Emotion understanding skills in children with ASD are affected by cognitive level and age. Implications for educational interventions are discussed.     

Letter names, phonological awareness and the phonetization of writing

Following several studies on the relationship between phonological awareness, children’s knowledge of letter names and their understanding of the alphabetic code, we pose the hypothesis that children’s knowledge of letter names may contribute to their analysis of the oral segments of words, thereby enabling them to produce writing in which some of the sounds are represented by appropriate letters. The participants were 80-syllabic 5-year-old kindergarten children, who were assigned to 2 experimental and 2 control groups and submitted to phonological and letter knowledge tests. We asked the children in the experimental groups to write a set of words in which either the initial sound (Exp. G. 1) or the middle sound (Exp. G. 2) coincided with the name of a letter known by the child; the children in the control groups were asked to write a set of control words. The results show that the introduction of facilitating words prompts syllabic children to produce writing in which some of the sounds are represented by appropriate letters; Exp. G. 1 gave better results than Exp. G. 2. Finally, there is a positive relationship between the results achieved by children in phonological and letter name tests and the number of sounds they write phonetically.     

Multi-segment trunk models used to investigate the crunch factor in golf and their relationship with selected swing and launch parameters

The use of multi-segment trunk models to investigate the crunch factor in golf may be warranted. The first aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between the trunk and lower trunk for crunch factor-related variables (trunk lateral bending and trunk axial rotation velocity). The second aim was to determine the level of association between crunch factor-related variables with swing (clubhead velocity) and launch (launch angle). Thirty-five high-level amateur male golfers (Mean ± SD: age = 23.8 ± 2.1 years, registered golfing handicap = 5 ± 1.9) without low back pain had kinematic data collected from their golf swing using a 10-camera motion analysis system operating at 500 Hz. Clubhead velocity and launch angle were collected using a validated real-time launch monitor. A positive relationship was found between the trunk and lower trunk for axial rotation velocity (r(35) = .47, P < .01). Cross-correlation analysis revealed a strong coupling relationship for the crunch factor (R² = 0.98) between the trunk and lower trunk. Using generalised linear model analysis, it was evident that faster clubhead velocities and lower launch angles of the golf ball were related to reduced lateral bending of the lower trunk.