Enabling positive change in primary school: learner-led research in a Scottish context

The relevance and value of increased learner participation in effect change research is increasing in its significance and importance across the education sector, guided by current national governance and the move of local authorities to implement action research models to drive improvement. This paper reports on a study led by primary seven pupils in a remote rural Scottish primary school, working collaboratively towards planning, developing, implementing and evaluating learner-led research. The pupil researchers created their own initiative, introducing dogs to the classroom, which was designed to increase self-esteem and self-efficacy for all learners in their school. Through the implementation of the initiative, they were observed to develop their own social and emotional well-being as they engaged in the process of interviewing, results analysis and subsequent resource dissemination. This article discusses the collaborative and supportive relationship alongside the desire to bring about positive change that must underpin genuine collaboration.     

Action research to improve phonological recognition at Key Stage 1 with reference to pupils with special educational needs

Given the focus on phonological attainment in the National Phonics Screening Check, small‐scale school‐based action research was undertaken to improve phonological recognition and assess the impact on progress and attainment in a sample drawn from Key Stage 1 which included pupils on the Special Educational Needs (SEN) Register. The research objective was to assess the effectiveness of a phonological awareness intervention. A mixed methodologies and methods research strategy was adopted, involving the collection of quantitative score measures, phonics assessments, qualitative intervention records and questionnaire responses. Findings indicated a strong positive correlation between progress in intervention score measures and progress in phonics summative assessment scores. It was concluded that provision for phonological development should be extended throughout the school and its impact closely monitored. The reported research contributed to the National Award for Special Educational Needs Coordination accreditation.     

Early changes in Achilles tendon behaviour in vivo following downhill backwards walking

Downhill backwards walking causes repeated, cyclical loading of the muscle–tendon unit. The effect this type of repeated loading has on the mechanical behaviour of the Achilles tendon is presently unknown. This study aimed to investigate the biomechanical response of the Achilles tendon aponeurosis complex following a downhill backwards walking protocol. Twenty active males (age: 22.3 ± 3.0 years; mass: 74.7 ± 5.6 kg; height: 1.8 ± 0.7 m) performed 60 min of downhill (8.5°), backwards walking on a treadmill at ?0.67 m · s^?1. Data were collected before, immediately post, and 24-, 48- and 168-h post-downhill backwards walking. Achilles tendon aponeurosis elongation, strain and stiffness were measured using ultrasonography. Muscle force decreased immediately post-downhill backward walking (P = 0.019). There were increases in Achilles tendon aponeurosis stiffness at 24-h post-downhill backward walking (307 ± 179.6 N · mm^?1, P = 0.004), and decreases in Achilles tendon aponeurosis strain during maximum voluntary contraction at 24 (3.8 ± 1.7%, P = 0.008) and 48 h (3.9 ± 1.8%, P = 0.002) post. Repeated cyclical loading of downhill backwards walking affects the behaviour of the muscle–tendon unit, most likely by altering muscle compliance, and these changes result in tendon stiffness increases.     

What Reaching Teaches: Consciousness, Control, and the Inner Zombie

What is the role of conscious visual experience in the controland guidance of human behaviour? According to some recent treatments,the role is surprisingly indirect. Conscious visual experience,on these accounts, serves the formation of plans and the selectionof action types and targets, while the control of ‘online’visually guided action proceeds via a quasi-independent non-consciousroute. In response to such claims, critics such as (Wallhagen[2007], pp. 539–61) have suggested that the notions ofcontrol and guidance invoked are unacceptably vague, and thatthat the image of ‘zombie systems’ guiding actionfails to take account of the possibility that there is genuinebut unconceptualized, unnoticed, and/or unreportable experiencetaking place and guiding or controlling the actions. I addressboth sets of concerns. I try to show that refining and clarifyingthe key notions of control and guidance leaves the originalargument intact, as does the appeal to unconceptualized, unnoticed,or unreportable experiences. The exercise serves, however, tohighlight an important complex of considerations concerningthe relations between control, agency, and experience. Betterunderstanding these relations is, I suggest, an important sourceof insights concerning the nature of phenomenal experience.     

Impact of intervening learning on resurgence in humans with Autism Spectrum Disorders

In the present study, we investigated the degree to which responding would resurge in children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) following an intervening training period comprising different schedules of reinforcement. Twenty-four children of the ages 7–15, with a diagnosis of an ASD, were taught a play a sequence on a variable ratio- (VR) 3 schedule of reinforcement, during a 30-min session. The play sequence was then extinguished before the participants were taught a second play sequence, using a VR-4 schedule for 30 min, a VR-4 schedule for 60 min, or a VR-2 schedule for 30 min. A 5-min extinction session was then conducted to determine the impact that the intervening schedules had on the resurgence of the original behavior. The original sequence resurged to a greater extent for Group VR-4 30 min than it did for the other two groups. The results provide evidence that the length of time between initial training and testing is not a prime determinant of the level of resurgence, but that the amount of conditioning may play a stronger role: The greater the number of reinforcers received, the smaller the resurgence effect.