Association of leisure time and occupational physical activity with obesity and cardiovascular risk factors in Chile

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study was to investigate the association between physical activity (PA), both occupational (OPA) and during leisure time (LTPA), with obesity and cardiovascular risk factors in Chilean adults. 5,157 participants from the Chilean National Health Survey 2009–2010 were included in this study. OPA and LTPA levels were assessed using the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire. The association between both PA with obesity and cardiovascular risk factors was determined using logistic regression. Our findings showed a significant trend between higher LTPA and lower odds for obesity (OR 0.64 [95% CI: 0.53; 0.76], central obesity 0.52 [0.44; 0.61]) and other cardiovascular risk factors including diabetes (OR: 0.72 [0.55; 0.94]), hypertension (OR: 0.59 [0.50; 0.71]) and metabolic syndrome (OR: 0.62 [0.50; 0.78]). In contrast, OPA was only associated with lower odds of diabetes (OR: 0.79 [0.65; 0.98]) and hypertension (0.85 [0.74; 0.98]). In conclusion, LTPA was associated with a lower risk of all major cardiovascular risk factors, whereas OPA was only associated with a lower risk of diabetes and hypertension.     

Changing Research Perspectives on the Management of Higher Education: Can Research Permeate the Activities of Manager‐Academics?

The paper considers whether, and if so how, research evidence can permeate the world of higher education (HE) management in publicly funded institutions. The paper explores the author's experience of two recent research projects (1998–2000 and 2004) on aspects of managing UK HE institutions and issues arising from the preparation of the HE element of a third study of leadership and public service change agendas in education and health during 2004. Despite the topicality in education and other public services of debates about evidence‐based practice, there is little indication that this debate has permeated HE management qua management. The paper utilises Bourdieu's work on academics and social and cultural capital to explore why manager‐academics may resist taking the findings of research seriously in relation to their own work. It is suggested that, where there is reluctance to learn from research, this may reflect the changing nature of HE, the status of HE research as an academic field and form of academic capital and the relative paucity until recently of training in management for most UK manager‐academics.     

Prior knowledge and primary pupils' interaction with a museum display

Conclusion The study was developed within the constructivist tradition which stresses the importance of prior knowledge in determining learners' interaction with the world around them. Accordingly, information was gathered about primary school children's ideas about diet and dentition in animals, since it was assumed that this would determine the learning that would take place when they observed a display of skulls based on a structure-function generalization about teeth. In retrospect it seems a pity that the subjects weren't asked what they thought were the purposes of labels in the museum, as an appropriate use of labels seems to be crucial in determining whether the objective of the display is realized.     

The function of response mode in the coordination of perspectives

Visual perspective taking has attracted research interest as a result of Piagetian formulations regarding its ontogenesis. Some investigators have interpreted failure as a consequence of egocentrism while others have hypothesized task variables as the source of failure. The present study directly compared the effects of a picture selection response with a rotational one. Forty 3-year-olds and forty 4-year-olds were compared on the response modes. Half the children indicated perspective inferences by selecting from a set of photographs while the others rotated a replica. Children were tested on three nonegocentric perspectives. The data were analyzed with a 2(age) × 2(response mode) ANOVA. Significant effects were found for response mode and the age × response interaction. It was concluded that while both 3- and 4-year olds were able to demonstrate perspective-taking competence, the 3-year-olds performed better with the turning task; 4-year-olds were equally successful in either mode.     

Lifelong learning to empowerment: beyond formal education

Abstract

This paper discusses the relevance of lifelong learning vis-à-vis the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and stresses the need for an approach blending formal education, non-formal and informal learning. The role of Open and Distance Learning (ODL) in moving beyond formal education and the importance of integrating pedagogy, andragogy and heutagogy in lifelong learning are raised as key factors in ensuring that education and learning can generate positive externalities and impact livelihoods. Through a case study in the agricultural sector, this paper analyses the role of lifelong learning in empowering smallholders of backyard poultry enterprises in Kenya and argues that lifelong learning needs to be placed in appropriate social and economic contexts to generate outcomes and impacts such as empowerment.     

‘A Revolution Now Absorbed’: girls in former boys’ schools

A number of elite boys’ schools in England have admitted girls for over 30 years, some thereby becoming mixed schools. In other schools, girls remain a very small minority. This paper focuses upon prospectuses from the latter type of school, arguing that prospectuses are particularly valuable as a basis for judging schools’ policies and practices in their own terms. The researchers ask questions about the nature of this form of ‘co-education’, particularly as it affects girls’ educational and social opportunities. On balance, the prospectuses paint a picture of boys’ schools which happen to have girls in them rather than of schools whose policies and practices have become genuinely co-educational.     

Explaining Student Achievement: the Influence of Teachers’ Pedagogical Content Knowledge in Statistics

Statistics is an increasingly important component of the mathematics curriculum. StatSmart was a project intended to influence middle-years students’ learning outcomes in statistics through the provision of appropriate professional learning opportunities and technology to teachers. Participating students in grade 5/6 to grade 9 undertook three tests, a pre-test, a post-test and a longitudinal retention test over a period of 2 years. Their teachers completed a survey that included items measuring pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) for teaching statistics. Despite the development of valid instruments to measure both student and teacher content knowledge and teachers’ PCK, linking teachers’ knowledge directly to students’ learning outcomes has proved elusive. Multilevel modelling of results from 789 students for whom there were 3 completed tests and measures from their teachers indicated that students’ outcomes were influenced positively by their initial teacher’s PCK. Extended participation of teachers in the project also appeared to reduce negative effects of changing teachers.