Does regional disadvantage affect health-related sport and physical activity level? A multi-level analysis of individual behaviour

This study examines the role of regional government quality in health-related participation in sport and physical activity among adults (18–64 years) in 28 European countries. The importance of the analysis rests in the relative autonomy that regional and local governments have over policy decisions connected with sport and physical activity. While existing studies have focussed on economic and infrastructural investment and expenditure, this research investigates the quality of regional governments across 208 regions within 28 European countries. The individual-level data stem from the 2013 Eurobarometer 80.2 (n?=?18,675) and were combined with regional-level data from Eurostat. An individual's level of participation in sport and physical activity was measured by three variables reflecting whether an individual's activity level is below, meets, or exceeds the recommendations of the World Health Organization. The results of multi-level analyses reveal that regional government quality has a significant and positive association with individual participation in sport and physical activity at a level meeting or exceeding the guidelines. The impact is much larger than that of regional gross domestic product per capita, indicating that regional disadvantage in terms of political quality is more relevant than being disadvantaged in terms of economic wealth.     

Talent identification and selection in elite youth football: An Australian context

We identified the perceptual–cognitive skills and player history variables that differentiate players selected or not selected into an elite youth football (i.e. soccer) programme in Australia. A sample of elite youth male football players (n?=?127) completed an adapted participation history questionnaire and video-based assessments of perceptual–cognitive skills. Following data collection, 22 of these players were offered a full-time scholarship for enrolment at an elite player residential programme. Participants selected for the scholarship programme recorded superior performance on the combined perceptual–cognitive skills tests compared to the non-selected group. There were no significant between group differences on the player history variables. Stepwise discriminant function analysis identified four predictor variables that resulted in the best categorization of selected and non-selected players (i.e. recent match-play performance, region, number of other sports participated, combined perceptual–cognitive performance). The effectiveness of the discriminant function is reflected by 93.7% of players being correctly classified, with the four variables accounting for 57.6% of the variance. Our discriminating model for selection may provide a greater understanding of the factors that influence elite youth talent selection and identification.     

Diversity in the Information Seeking Behaviour of the Virtual Scholar: Institutional Comparisons

The logs of four universities using the OhioLINK journal system were evaluated for a period of fifteen months using deep log analysis methods in order to compare and contrast the information seeking behaviour of their users. Large differences were found, especially between the research and teaching universities. Methodological problems associated with making the comparisons are discussed in some detail especially in terms of defining online sessions.     

Website usage metrics: A re-assessment of session data

Metrics derived from user visits or sessions provide a means of evaluating Websites and an important insight into online information seeking behaviour, the most important of them being the duration of sessions and the number of pages viewed in a session, a possible busyness indicator. However, the identification of session (termed often ‘sessionization’) is fraught with difficulty in that there is no way of determining from a transactional log file that a user has ended their session. No one logs out. Instead a session delimiter has to be applied and this is typically done on the basis of a standard period of inactivity. To date researchers have discussed the issue of a time out delimiter in terms of a single value and if a page view time exceeds the cut-off value the session is deemed to have ended. This approach assumes that page view time is a single distribution and that the cut-off value is one point on that distribution. The authors however argue that page time distribution is composed of a number of quite separate view time distributions because of the marked differences in view times between pages (abstract, contents page, full text). This implies that a number of timeout delimiters should be applied. Employing data from a study of the OhioLINK digital journal library, the authors demonstrate how the setting of a time out delimiter impacts on the estimate of page view time and the number of estimated session. Furthermore, they also show how a number of timeout delimiters might apply and they argue that this gives a better and more robust estimate of the number of sessions, session time and page view time compared to an application of a single timeout delimiter.     

一个工程系的创办和ABET评估认证:东卡罗来纳大学案例分享

从受评方的角度,总结了创办一个工程系和准备美国ABET工程技术专业认证的整个过程.首先对ABET和东卡罗来纳大学工程系进行必要的介绍,然后完整讲述了为准备ABET认证的组织协调,人员配置,评估计划书的制定,受评方与ABET的沟通,以及评估小组进校考察的前后过程.并且提供了课程-产出映射关系的具体实例.希望为中国工程教育同行今后准备此类认证工作提供实用的参考.     

The Role of Childhood Executive Function in Explaining Income Disparities in Long-Term Academic Achievement

This study utilized data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (N = 14,860) to examine whether early-life family income (age 0–5) predicted long-term academic achievement (age 16–18) and to investigate the role of executive function (EF) assessed multiple times across age 7–11 in explaining this association. Task-based EF was a significant mediator between early-life family income and later academic achievement in every model. This mediating pathway persisted when adjusting for a comprehensive panel of covariates including verbal IQ, sex, family income at ages 8 and 18, and early-life temperament. Additionally, teacher-rated and parent-rated EF mediated in some models. Overall, these findings suggest that childhood EF may play an important role in perpetuating income-based educational disparities.     

Safe spaces? A social-ecological perspective on student perceptions of safety in the environment of the school canteen

ABSTRACT

Background Research suggests that negative peer interactions that compromise student safety and wellbeing often occur in spaces at school that are not easily visible, not adequately monitored, overcrowded and/or relatively unstructured. In a large online survey conducted in Swedish schools by the anti-bullying organisation, Friends, a small proportion of students indicated that they felt unsafe in the school canteen and responded to a question about why they felt unsafe there. As the canteen is often reported to be a space where negative peer interactions, such as harassment, bullying and other forms of school violence, occur, but little is known about why negative peer interactions occur there, we were particularly interested in exploring why some students perceived their school canteen to be an unsafe space.

Purpose Taking a social-ecological perspective, our aim was to investigate why students reported feeling unsafe in the environment of the school canteen.

Method In order to investigate this question, we analysed 1,547 responses from students in Swedish schools in grades 3–6 (ages 9–12). The responses were from the anti-bullying organisation Friends’ online questionnaires from 2011 to 2016. In the responses, students who indicated that they felt unsafe in the school canteen explained why they felt this way. Data were analysed qualitatively, using a six-step thematic approach.

Findings The analysis identified four key themes: Space constraints, Time restrictions, The risk of social blunders and The negative actions of others. We discuss the findings in terms of the macrosystem, exosystem, mesosystem and microsystem.

Conclusions In matters of student safety and wellbeing, we argue that it is not only important to consider the social context, but also how that context is interconnected with environmental and structural elements.     

Do universal social and emotional learning programs for secondary school students enhance the competencies they address? A systematic review

While universal school‐based social and emotional learning (SEL) programs claim to target various SEL competencies, earlier reviews have not provided a clear overview of the competencies in question. We therefore wished to identify the competencies targeted in SEL programs for secondary school students. We also aimed to examine the effects of these programs on SEL competencies and psychosocial health. The specific SEL competencies directly addressed in the programs' primary learning targets were identified based on the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL) framework for SEL. Five bibliographic databases (PubMed, PsychINFO, Education Resources Information Center (ERIC), Applied Science Premier (ASP), and Web of Science) were searched for relevant research papers published between 2014 and 2018. We included 40 studies that investigated 32 programs focusing on two or more SEL competencies. While most programs targeted four or five of the SEL competencies, many of the included studies did not measure the programs' effects on all the competencies targeted. Our results showed that the SEL programs had substantial effects on the SEL competencies they addressed and on psychosocial health. Although the programs focused predominantly on self‐management skills and relationship skills, the largest summary effects were found for self‐awareness and social awareness.     

Epistemology,practical work and Academic skills in science education

This article discusses the inherent flaws in considering and using the epistemology of the natural sciences as equivalent to a pedagogic basis for teaching and learning in the natural sciences. It begins with a discussion of the difference between practising science and learning to practice science. It follows with a discussion and refutation of three commonly held motives for using practicals in science education. It concludes with the presentation of three new, better motives for their use.