Effects of Strategy Instruction on Summary Writing of College Students

Unskilled writers in a large urban university were taught summarization strategies based on T. A. van Dijk and W. Kintsch's (1983) text-processing theory. College freshmen enrolled in a prefreshman writing course (n = 147) were randomly assigned to three conditions for 2 days of classroom instruction in constructing a summary. Summarization instruction conditions were argument repetition or generalization with a control group taught to examine personal judgments of importance. Analysis of test summaries showed instruction in generalization was significantly more effective for stating a thesis statement. Both argument repetition and generalization were significantly more effective than the control condition in judging the importance of content. Implications for further research and for reading instruction are discussed. Copyright 2001 Academic Press.     

Physical demand of seven closed agility drills

The present study aimed to quantify the demand of seven generic, closed agility drills. Twenty males with experience in invasion sports volunteered to participate in this study. They performed seven, closed agility drills over a standardised 30-m distance. Physical demand measures of peak velocity, total foot contacts, peak impacts, completion time, and maximum heart rate were obtained via the use of wearable sensor technologies. A subjective rating of perceived exertion (RPE) was also obtained. All measures, with the exception of maximum heart rates and RPE were able to delineate drills in terms of physical and physiological demand. The findings of this study exemplify the differences in demand of agility-type movements. Drill demand was dictated by the type of agility movement initiated with the increase in repetitiveness of a given movement type also contributing to increased demand. Findings from this study suggest agility drills can be manipulated to vary physical and physiological demand. This allows for the optimal application of training principles such as overload, progression, and periodisation.     

A biomechanical comparison in the lower limb and lumbar spine between a hit and drag flick in field hockey

Research has revealed that field hockey drag flickers have greater odds of hip and lumbar injuries compared to non-drag flickers (DF). This study aimed to compare the biomechanics of a field hockey hit and a specialised field hockey drag flick. Eighteen male and seven female specialised hockey DF performed a hit and a drag flick in a motion analysis laboratory with an 18-camera three-dimensional motion analysis system and a calibrated multichannel force platform to examine differences in lower limb and lumbar kinematics and kinetics. Results revealed that drag flicks were performed with more of a forward lunge on the left lower limb resulting in significantly greater left ankle dorsiflexion, knee, hip and lumbar flexion (Ps<0.001) compared to a hit. Drag flicks were also performed with significantly greater lateral flexion (P < 0.002) and rotation of the lumbar spine (P < 0.006) compared to a hit. Differences in kinematics lead to greater shear, compression and tensile forces in multiple left lower limb and lumbar joints in the drag flick compared to the hit (P < 0.05). The biomechanical differences in drag flicks compared to a hit may have ramifications with respect to injury in field hockey drag flickers.     

On using wearable tri-axial accelerometers to examine the striking phase kinematics of expert specialist drag flickers on-field

Analysing player kinematics during a match using “gold-standard” 3D video-based motion analysis techniques is a difficult prospect indeed. The development of small, wireless, wearable sensors offers the potential to reduce the challenges of measuring kinematics during match-play without hindering performance. The present study examined the viability of using wireless tri-axial accelerometers to examine whether key performance measures of drag flicks executed by expert specialist drag-flickers are predicted by the kinematics of the striking phase. Linear mixed models were used to examine whether the speed and accuracy of players’ drag flicks were predicted by the duration of stick-ball contact, and the kinematics of the lead lower limb at stick-ball contact and ball release. Results revealed that stick and lead lower limb kinematics significantly predicted shot accuracy but not shot speed. Shorter drag-time predicted more accurate flicks (p = 0.03) as did a more vertical leg at stick-ball contact (p = 0.016) and a more horizontal thigh at ball release (p = 0.001). This may indicate that there are more ways to produce fast drag flicks than accurate ones. This study illustrates that wireless tri-axial accelerometers can be used on-field to measure the effects of kinematics on key performance measures.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">Passing Time</Emphasis>: An Exploration of School Engagement among Puerto Rican Girls

This article presents data from an ethnographic study focused on the school engagement of Puerto Rican girls. I explore the school engagement of Puerto Rican girls through the metaphor of passing. The findings demonstrate that despite variation between individual girls in academic achievement, all of the girls in the study suffered negative consequences from the limited ways that school engagement was constructed at their school. I argue that to understand and address the opportunity and achievement gap between Puerto Rican girls and other students, we must pay close attention to how this group of students is passing their time at school and to what passes as school engagement.     

Minute math: An action research study of student self-assessment

Forty-one students in two third grade classes, including special education students, participated in an action research project conducted jointly by two university supervisors, three teachers, and three student teachers. The “Minute Math” project involved students in predicting and graphing their test scores on a weekly conventional timed test of the 0–9 multiplication facts. Students also reflected each week on their progress and the success of their studying and problem-solving strategies. Student self-assessment was successful at turning the rote memorization task of learning the times tables into a deeper experience for students about monitoring their own mathematics learning. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Universities and National Development: an introduction

Volume 23 (1) of this journal was a special issue on Education and Development guest-edited by Fred Lazin (Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel), Samuel Aroni (University of California at Los Angeles, USA) and Yehuda Gradus (Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel). The guest editors comment in this article on the issues which arise from the papers they selected for inclusion in the special issue. In developing countries higher education has to face the problems associated with nation-building and the drive towards fast economic growth; in more developed countries there is the challenge implicit in the social and economic changes necessarily associated with the transition to post-industrial societies. Further comments are made on each of the articles in the special issue.