Correlates of Physical Activity Behavior in Rural Youth

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify correlates of physical activity behavior in a sample of rural, predominantly African American youth. Three hundred sixty-one fifth-grade students from two rural counties in South Carolina (69% African American, median age = 11 years) completed a questionnaire designed to measure beliefs and social influences regarding physical activity, physical activity self-efficacy, perceived physical activity habits of family members and friends, and access to exercise and fitness equipment at home. After school physical activity and television watching were assessed using the Previous Day Physical Activity Recall (PDPAR). Students were classified as physically active according to a moderate physical activity standard: two or more 30-min blocks at an intensity of 3 METs (metabolic equivalents) or greater, and a vigorous physical activity standard: one or more 30-min blocks at an intensity of 6 METs or greater. According to the moderate physical activity standard, 34.9% of students were classified as low-active. Multivariate analysis revealed age, gender, television watching, and exercise equipment at home to be significant correlates of low activity status. According to the vigorous physical activity standard, 32.1% of the students were classified as low-active. Multivariate analysis revealed age, gender, television watching, and self-efficacy with respect to seeking support for physical activity to be significant correlates of low activity status. In summary, gender and the amount of television watching were found to be the most important correlates of physical activity in rural, predominantly African American youth.     

White Paper: functionality and efficacy of wrist protectors in snowboarding—towards a harmonized international standard

The wrist is the most frequently injured body region among snowboarders. Studies have shown that the risk of sustaining a wrist injury can be reduced by wearing wrist protection. Currently, there are a wide variety of wrist protection products for snowboarding on the market that offer a range of protective features. However, there are no minimum performance standards for snowboarding wrist protectors worldwide. The International Society for Skiing Safety convened a task force to develop a White Paper to evaluate the importance and necessity of a minimum performance for all wrist protectors used in snowboarding. The White Paper outlines the need for a general framework for a harmonized international standard and reviews the existing evidence. Therefore, this White Paper may serve as a common base for future discussions. The broader goal of developing and implementing such a standard is to reduce the incidence and the severity of wrist injuries in snowboarding without increasing the risk of adverse events, such as upper arm or shoulder injury. The European standard for inline skating wrist protectors (EN 14120) can serve as a starting point for efforts related to a standard for snowboard wrist protectors, but certain modifications to the standard would be required. It is hypothesized that implementation of a snowboarding wrist protector standard would result in fewer and less severe wrist injuries in the sport and could translate into more riding days for healthy snowboarders and significant health-care costs savings.     

Research on Social Integration: What Are The Problems?

THIS LIMITED REVIEW of research on the social integration of children with disabilities in mainstreaming programs showed that there are several factors which may explain the apparent inconsistencies within the research literature. The diverse groups of individuals involved necessitate that attention be paid to pertinent variables and that care must be taken when findings are generalized to other groups of children with disabilities. An issue of particular concern was the simplistic measuring techniques employed in some research, particularly where studies relied on a single technique such as sociometry. There is limited evidence to support the increased use of multivariate statistical procedures as a means of producing more consistent findings. While most studies reviewed did not incorporate special treatments, that is other than integrated settings, invariably such treatments produced positive outcomes. Studies involving research designs which used the social acceptance of normal children as the basis for assessing social integration frequently resulted in negative findings.     

Wider access and progression among full-time students

By 2010 the UK government intends to widen access and provide experience of higher education to half of those aged up to 30. Unlike many institutions, University of Paisley (UP) has exceeded its individual target on access. It has done this by providing entry routes for students with ‘non-traditional’ qualifications. It is feared that low entry qualifications will adversely influence performance and progression statistics as wider access is pursued. Drawing on a student-attrition theory, performance and progression are investigated using data for students enrolling at UP for the first time in 2000. At UP non-traditional entry coincided with the enrolment of many students over 21. The relationships between age and performance and between age and progression are nonlinear and involve interactions with gender. Also, there are interactions between entry qualification and field of study. These relationships and interactions could complicate the important task of translating wider access into academic success.     

Long-term impacts of two secondary school environmental studies programs on environmental behaviour: the shadows of patriarchy and neoliberalism

Abstract

A survey of alumni of two longstanding interdisciplinary secondary school environmental studies programs revealed that the vast majority of alumni reported being engaged in pro-environmental behaviours, which they attributed to participation in the programs five to twenty-three years prior. That finding in itself is worth sharing. Digging deeper, however, revealed that most reported behaviours were in the private rather than public sphere. Women alumni reported engaging in more household and marketplace-oriented behaviours. Further, a small number of men from the rural school expressed hostility towards environmental concerns using aggressively sexist and homophobic discourse. A feminist analysis takes into account structural forces such as patriarchy and neoliberalism to interpret the findings and illuminates gendered dimensions of pro- and anti-environmental behaviours.     

Role of the microcomputer‐based laboratory display in supporting the construction of new understandings in thermal physics

Teachers' failure to use the microcomputer‐based laboratory (MBL) more widely may be a result of not recognizing its capacity to transform laboratory activities. This research aimed to increase understanding of how MBL activities designed to be consistent with a constructivist theory of learning support or constrain student construction of understanding. The first author conducted the research with his Year 11 physics class of 15 students. Dyads addressed 10 tasks in thermal physics using a predict–observe–explain format. Data sources included video and audio recordings of students and teacher during four 70‐minute sessions, students' computer data and written notes, semistructured student interviews, and the teacher's journal. Analysis of students' discourse identified many instances in which students' initial understandings of thermal physics were mediated in multiple ways by the screen display. The findings are presented as eight assertions. Recommendations are made for developing pedagogical strategies incorporating MBL activities that will likely catalyze student construction of understanding. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 41: 165–185, 2004     

Assessment and prediction of success in first year physics at an Australian university

A method of assessment, involving six one-hour tests, with provision to repeat four of them, has been used with favourable student and staff reaction in first year, two semester undergraduate physics courses. The style of question and marking criteria used previously in a conventional examination are retained.The relationship between performance in Physics I, high school background and mark in the first physics test, held in the fifth week of the university course. are investigated through a series of regression analyses. An attempt is made to arrive at an appropriate entry criterion for admission to Physics I.     

Case studies of student research projects in school science

Conclusion These case studies offer strong support for the notion that learning occurs naturally and inevitably when it flows out of a student's desire to extend her own interests and experiences. This view was expressed strongly by the progressives (Dewey [1963], and Kilpatrick [1928, 1952:315]) and more recently by Wilson (1971). They also represent “instances of autonomy” that challenge our normal assumptions of student behaviour. There are, of course, matters of the transmission of those “storehouses of knowledge” that represent the disciplines, and matters of practicality in motivating and managing a class of students pursuing their own interests (Tytler 1983), that would make it impractical to centre all teaching around the IRP or its equivalent. The need to include IRP's at a significant place within the curriculum, however, is indicated not only by the student outcomes that have emerged in this study, but from the fact that an increasing number of teachers have found it to be a satisfying method, involving a more powerful and natural view of the student in relation to the educational process (Tytler, ibid). The case studies have something to say about all such activities (other possibilities are described in Boomer [1983]) that invite students to take responsibility for the serious development of their interests. They stand as examples of the way students work outside the classroom, but also as celebrations of student independence and autonomy. Too often the schooling practices we subscribe to tend to invalidate students' own life experiences. These case studies provide a challenge to us to find educative ways that can match the range of abilities and dispositions that students bring with then to school.     

Concurrent and Subsequent Associations Between Daily Digital Technology Use and High‐Risk Adolescents’ Mental Health Symptoms

Adolescents are spending an unprecedented amount of time using digital technologies (especially mobile technologies), and there are concerns that adolescents’ constant connectivity is associated with poor mental health, particularly among at‐risk adolescents. Participants included 151 adolescents at risk for mental health problems (M_age = 13.1) who completed a baseline assessment, 30‐day ecological momentary assessment, and 18 month follow‐up assessment. Results from multilevel regression models showed that daily reports of both time spent using digital technologies and the number of text messages sent were associated with increased same‐day attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and conduct disorder (CD) symptoms. Adolescents’ reported digital technology usage and text messaging across the ecological momentary assessment (EMA) period was also associated with poorer self‐regulation and increases in conduct problem symptoms between the baseline and follow‐up assessments.     

Disseminating development initiatives in British higher education: a case study

The Effective Teaching and Assessment Programme (ETAP) was commissioned and funded by the Higher Education Funding Councils for England, Scotland and Wales and ran during the academic year 1993–4. Its aim was to identify and disseminate best practice in specific subject areas, student support and resource based learning. ETAP supported five projects, each undertaken by a consortium of British higher education institutions. This paper reports an evaluation of the programme based on interviews with leaders of the individual projects, along with a questionnaire survey of potential users of the products of the programme. A framework is offered for interpreting the results of the evaluation. Six different meanings of the word dissemination are identified, corresponding to the different degrees to which users actively engage with the materials produced. These distinctions are applied to the data collected and the findings are summarised in terms of the key notions of awareness of what is available, the attitude of teaching staff towards centrally-produced materials, and the accessibility of those materials. The implications of these three concepts are discussed in relation to the technical, organisational and presentational issues which promote or hinder the effectiveness of the dissemination. A number of policy recommendations for Funding Councils and institutions are outlined.