Test-retest reliability of a battery of field-based health-related fitness measures for adolescents

The main aim of this study was to determine the test-retest reliability of existing tests of health-related fitness. Participants (mean age 14.8 years, s?=?0.4) were 42 boys and 26 girls who completed the study assessments on two occasions separated by one week. The following tests were conducted: bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) to calculate percent body fat, leg dynamometer, 90° push-up, 7-stage sit-up, and wall squat tests. Intra-class correlation (ICC), paired samples t-tests, and typical error expressed as a coefficient of variation were calculated. The mean percent body fat intra-class correlation coefficient was similar for boys (ICC?=?0.95) and girls (ICC?=?0.93), but the mean coefficient of variation was considerably higher for boys than girls (22.2% vs. 12.2%). The boys' coefficients of variation for the tests of muscular fitness ranged from 9.0% for the leg dynamometer test to 26.5% for the timed wall squat test. The girls' coefficients of variation ranged from 17.1% for the sit-up test to 21.4% for the push-up test. Although the BIA machine produced reliable estimates of percent body fat, the tests of muscular fitness resulted in high systematic error, suggesting that these measures may require an extensive familiarization phase before the results can be considered reliable.     

A history of morphine-induced taste aversion learning fails to affect morphine-induced place preference conditioning in rats

Drugs of abuse have both rewarding and aversive effects, as indexed by the fact that they support place preferences and taste aversions, respectively. In the present study, we explored whether having a history with the aversive effects of morphine (via taste aversion conditioning) impacted the subsequent rewarding effects of morphine, as measured in the place preference design. In Experiment 1, rats were exposed to a taste aversion procedure in which saccharin was followed by morphine. Place preference conditioning was then initiated in which animals were injected with morphine and placed on one side of a two-chambered apparatus. Animals with a taste aversion history acquired place preferences to the same degree as controls without such a history, suggesting that morphine’s affective properties condition multiple effects, dependent on the specific stimuli present during conditioning. To determine whether these results were a reflection of processes operating in traditional associative conditioning, in a modified blocking procedure, place preference conditioning was attempted in the presence of a taste previously associated with morphine (Exp. 2). Under these conditions, animals still acquired morphine-induced place preferences comparable to those of animals without a morphine or conditioning history. These results are consistent with the position that drugs of abuse have multiple stimulus effects (positive and negative) that are differentially associated with specific stimuli (environmental and taste) that drive different behavioral responses (approach and avoidance).     

Literature of broadcasting: Books in review

TELEVISION AND RADIO ANNOUNCING. By Stuart W. Hyde. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1959. 451 pp. $6.00.

TELEVISION ADVERTISING. By Clark Aknew and Neil O'Brien. New York: McGraw‐Hill Book Company, 1958. 330 pp. $9.50.

INTRODUCTION TO MASS COMMUNICATIONS RESEARCH. Edited by Ralph O. Nafziger and David Manning White. Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Louisiana State University Press, 1958. 244 pp. $5.00.

THE MERGER. By Sterling Quinlan. New York: Doubleday & Co., Inc., 1958. 331 pp.

SCREEN WRITING AND PRODUCTION TECHNIQUES. By Charles W. Curran, New York. Hastings House, 1958. 240 pp., illus. $4.95.     

‘Trying,failing, succeeding,and trying again and again’: perspectives of teachers of pupils with severe profound multiple learning difficulties

This article explores the perspectives of seven teachers in England who teach pupils with severe profound and multiple learning difficulties about their learning to teach this group of students. Teachers’ views were captured through a combination of synchronous and asynchronous online communications. Four themes emerged from teachers’ perspectives about their own learning: learning through doing in the classroom, learning through self-inquiry and research, learning from and with others and more formal learning opportunities. A constructivist approach to teacher learning is affirmed as a helpful lens to further understand how teachers learn to teach pupils with complex learning profiles. The article supports teacher learning as a holistic process that takes place throughout teachers’ careers. It highlights the value teachers place on learning through doing in the classroom, learning through self-inquiry and research, learning from and with others, as well as formal learning.     

Teaching, Teacher Knowledge and Constructivism

An effective education program delivers a satisfactory level of achievement for every student. For this to happen, we must examine carefully the implications of educational theories and research for teaching and learning. The way a teacher conducts his or her lessons must also be examined critically. This paper will deal with teaching, teacher knowledge and constructivism. For teaching, some reasons were suggested for the observation why it had not changed significantly since the last 40 years in Asian classrooms. In the area of teacher knowledge, the authors report a recent research finding on pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) development. The paper concludes with a discussion on whether constructivism is indeed a better way to teach. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Interpersonal Relations: Some Suggestions for Theory Development

This article argues the need for theory development in the field of interpersonal relations training. Criteria, based on the four major divisions of philosophic inquiry (ontology, logic, axiology, and epistemology), are presented for assessing the substantive adequacy of interpersonal relations training theories. Three views of interpersonal relations—Ivey and Authier's Microcounseling, Kagan's Interpersonal Process Recall, and Strong's Social Psychological Approach—are then examined using these four criteria.