How teachers learn: the roles of formal,informal, and independent learning

A qualitative study of math and science teachers at two middle schools identifies how their system for learning to integrate technology into their teaching goes beyond what school leaders typically consider when planning for teachers’ learning. In addition to (a) the district-initiated, or formal, system of professional development (PD) and professional learning communities (PLCs), it includes (b) teacher-initiated, or informal, learning with colleagues as well as (c) teachers’ independent learning activities. Analysis of why and how they form their system highlights how by only supporting the formal PD activities and PLCs, the district not only loses the valuable collective knowledge of the districts’ teachers derived from their informal and independent learning activities, but also diminishes the learning teachers derive from the formal PD activities since informal collaborations and independent work after formal PD activities often helps to bring the learning from the training room to the classroom. We present teachers’ insights and then discuss implications for the design of a holistic approach to facilitate teachers’ formal, informal, and independent learning that is tied together and supported by technology. While research on formal, informal and independent teacher learning exists, with technology frequently mentioned as a potential support for each of these three modes, these approaches have not been considered together as interdependent parts of the same holistic system for teacher learning nor has the way technology might knit these modes of teacher learning together been imagined as a part of that system.     

Enhancing Students’ Learning Process Through Self-Generated Tests

The use of new technologies in higher education has surprisingly emphasized students’ tendency to adopt a passive behavior in class. Participation and interaction of students are essential to improve academic results. This paper describes an educational experiment aimed at the promotion of students’ autonomous learning by requiring them to generate test type questions related to the contents of the course. The main idea is to make the student feel part of the evaluation process by including students’ questions in the evaluation exams. A set of applications running on our university online learning environment has been developed in order to provide both students and teachers with the necessary tools for a good interaction between them. Questions uploaded by students are visible to every enrolled student as well as to each involved teacher. In this way, we enhance critical analysis skills, by solving and finding possible mistakes in the questions sent by their fellows. The experiment was applied over 769 students from 12 different courses. Results show that the students who have actively participated in the experiment have obtained better academic performance.     

How do preservice teachers perceive ‘environment’ and its relevance to their area of teaching?

The environment is not only an ecological entity distinct from people but a cultural, social, and political construct. Understanding how learners conceptualize ‘environment’ may contribute to more effective environmental education (EE). This study investigated, in a paired pre–post design, 215 students’ understandings of ‘environment’ and perceptions of its relevance to their teaching area, at the onset and toward the end of their studies in teacher-education colleges in Israel. While student teachers, regardless of their major, acknowledged the importance of EE to their future function as teachers, they do not demonstrate an adequate understanding of the concept environment: humans are not viewed as part of the environment nor is the environment understood as a complex web of interactions among people, man-made systems and natural ecosystems. The fact that toward the end of studies, student teachers’ understandings of environment remained essentially basic indicates the necessity to reorient teacher-education programs toward EE. The various ways in which students perceived the relevance of environment to their teaching area are the starting points for this change.     

Determining Intensity Levels of Selected Wii Fit Activities in College Aged Individuals

The purpose of this study was to determine the intensity of Nintendo Wii Fit games using indirect calorimetry. Twenty-five college students completed Wii Fit activity sessions at two difficulty levels within aerobics, strength, and yoga categories. Resting metabolic rate and exercise oxygen uptake were measured, and metabolic equivalents were calculated. Measured metabolic equivalents and calculated metabolic equivalents ranged from 2.30 ± .42 and 2.44 ± .38 for Yoga to 5.73 ± 1.36 and 6.04 ± 1.09 for aerobics, respectively. All selected Wii Fit activity intensities were significantly higher than resting, p < .001; aerobic and strength activities met the moderate intensity threshold (three metabolic equivalents, p < .001), while yoga activities did not (p < .005). Aerobic and yoga activities of medium difficulty were more intense than the corresponding easy-rated activities (p < .005). There were no statistical differences between measured and calculated metabolic equivalents. Wii Fit has potential as an effective tool for helping college-aged individuals increase their physical activity.     

Development and validation of a method to directly measure the cable force during the hammer throw

The development of cable force during hammer-throw turns is crucial to the throw distance. In this paper, we present a method that is capable of measuring cable force in real time and, as it does not interfere with technique, it is capable of providing immediate feedback to coaches and athletes during training. A strain gauge was mounted on the wires of three hammers to measure the tension in the wire and an elite male hammer thrower executed three throws with each hammer. The output from the gauges was recorded by a data logger positioned on the lower back of the thrower. The throws were captured by three high-speed video cameras and the three-dimensional position of the hammer's head was determined by digitizing the images manually. The five best throws were analysed. The force acting on the hammer's head was calculated from Newton's second law of motion and this was compared with the force measured via the strain gauge. Qualitatively the time dependence of the two forces was essentially the same, although the measured force showed more detail in the troughs of the force–time curves. Quantitatively the average difference between the measured and calculated forces over the five throws was 76 N, which corresponds to a difference of 3.8% for a cable force of 2000 N.     

Heart Rate Variability

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the influence of two exercise intensities (moderate and severe) on heart rate variability (HRV) response in 16 runners 1 hr prior to (-1 hr) and at +1 hr, +24 hr, +48 hr, and +72 hr following each exercise session. Time domain indexes and a high frequency component showed a significant decrease (p < .001) between -1 hr and +1 hr for severe intensity. The low frequency component in normalized units significantly increased (p <.01) for severe intensity at +1 hr. Only severe exercise elicited a change in HRV outcomes postexercise, resulting in a reduction in the parasympathetic influence on the heart at +1 hr; however, values returned to baseline levels by +24 hr.     

Medical students and patient-centred clinical practice: the case for more critical work in medical schools

In the last two decades, undergraduate medical education in the United Kingdom has undergone several important changes. Many of these have revolved around a paradigmatic shift from ‘paternalistic’ to ‘patient-centred’ approaches to healthcare. Adopting a Foucauldian understanding of power and borrowing from Freire’s critical pedagogy, in this paper I draw upon ethnographic data from one UK medical school to illustrate the recurrence among medical students of narrow and uncritical understandings of patient-centred practices. These understandings highlight a tension between the ideals and frameworks of medical education policy and students’ conceptualisations of professional learning and practice. I explore this tension by tracing some possible links between students’ views of patient-centredness and the teaching practices at the medical school. I argue that more critical approaches to medical learning are sorely needed and suggest some directions for medical education that would help support the personal and professional development of more critically aware practitioners.     

Immigrant–Native Differences in Child Health: Does Maternal Education Narrow or Widen the Gap?

Abundant U.S. research documents an “immigrant advantage” in children’s physical health. This article extends consideration to the United Kingdom, permitting examination of a broader group of immigrants from disparate regions of the world and different socioeconomic backgrounds. Drawing on birth cohort data (ages 0–5) from both countries (n = 4,139 and n = 13,381), the analysis considers whether the children of immigrants have a physical and mental health advantage around the beginning of elementary school, and whether advantage is more pronounced among low‐educated populations. Findings indicate that the children of immigrants are not uniformly healthier than those in native‐born families. Rather, there is heterogeneity in the immigrant advantage across outcomes, and evidence of both greater advantage and disadvantage among children in low‐educated immigrant families.