Physical Education Teacher Attitudes toward Fitness Tests Scale: Cross-Revalidation and Modification

This study aimed to provide further evidence of validity and reliability for the Physical Education Teacher Attitudes toward Fitness Tests Scale (PETAFTS), which consisted of affective and cognitive domains. There were two subdomains in the affective domain (i.e., enjoyment of implementing fitness tests and enjoyment of using test results) and one domain in the cognitive domain (i.e., beliefs in the usefulness of test results). Full-time physical education teachers (N?=?469) from two southwestern states in the United States participated in the study. Reliability and validity of the scale were examined. Alphas were computed for the entire 16-item scale, the affective and cognitive domains, and the two subdomains, respectively, to test the reliability. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was employed to investigate the construct validity. The commonly used CFA indices, such as the chi square (χ²), the comparative fit index (CFI), the Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI), the goodness of fit index (GFI), and the root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA), were used to assess the fit of the data to the model. The CFA results suggested that the data from the study did not fit the original model proposed by Keating and Silverman (2004b) Keating, X. D. and Silverman, S. 2004b. Physical education teacher attitudes toward fitness test scale: Development and validation. Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, 23: 143–161. [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], resulting in the elimination of item 3. The fitness of the data to the model was improved and deemed acceptable. More studies on the reliability and validity of the scale are needed in the future in order to use the scale with more confidence.     

Phonological working memory: A critical building block for reading development and vocabulary acquisition?

In this article we review findings from a recent longitudinal study of the contribution of phonological working memory to vocabulary acquisition and reading development. A total of 80 children were tested initially at school entry at the age of four years, and were tested in three further waves at ages 5, 6, and 8 years. The results indicate that phonological memory skills constrain vocabulary growth during the first year or so in school but that subsequently, vocabulary knowledge is a pacemaker in the development relationship with memory. Phonological memory skill in prereading children was found to be significantly linked with scores on a reading test at age 8 which encourages the use of a phonological recoding strategy. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings, and important areas for future research, are discussed.     

Utilizing Service Learning in a College-Level Human Sexuality Course

Implementing service learning into college courses has been shown to have positive benefits for both students and community members; however, service learning has not been largely evaluated in the literature on human sexuality courses. Thus, the purpose of the current study was to design, implement, and evaluate a service learning project in a human sexuality class. Students who were enrolled in a human sexuality class designed and delivered two outreach presentations at their university as part of their service learning projects. The presentations were geared toward other college students with specific majors (i.e., future teachers and athletic coaches) and focused on areas related to child and youth sexuality. Overall, the service learning projects garnered positive support from both the students and the attendees at the presentations. Thus, results suggest that service learning is a useful pedagogical tool that college level instructors might consider implementing into their human sexuality courses.     

Disposable parallel poly(dimethylsiloxane) microbioreactor with integrated readout grid for germination screening of Aspergillus ochraceus

In this work a disposable, parallel microbioreactor (MBR) suitable for screening in batch or continuous mode is presented. The reactor consists of five parallel microchambers made of poly(dimethylsiloxane) bonded to a glass substrate. A grid structure is engraved on each chamber, allowing subsequent morphology imaging. Measurements are recorded over the entire cultivation period with constant parameters, namely, position and focus in the z-axis. The microdevice may be used for either parallel, uni- or multiparametric screening, and overcomes the drawback of gridless microwell plates which require expensive equipment such as an inverted microscope with an automatic stage. To validate the scalability from laboratory scale to microscale, and thus the cultivation protocol in the MBR, the germination of fungal spores (A. ochraceus) is evaluated for two different key magnitudes (pH and temperature) and compared to the results obtained from conventional laboratory scale systems (flasks and agar plates). Information on germination capacity with regard to interspecies' variability allows for optimization of industrial processes as optimal pH and temperature matched to the mesoscopic cultivation systems. The germination conditions therefore remain unaffected inside the MBR, while providing the following advantages: (i) dramatic reduction of medium consumption, (ii) submerged cultivation with constant oxygen supply, (iii) assured low cost and disposability, and (iv) possibility of a continuous cultivation mode.