Prolonged static stretching does not influence running economy despite changes in neuromuscular function

The aim of this study was to examine the acute effects of prolonged static stretching (SS) on running economy. Ten male runners (VO2(peak) 60.1 +/- 7.3 ml x kg(-1) x min(-1)) performed 10 min of treadmill running at 70% VO2(peak) before and after SS and no stretching interventions. For the stretching intervention, each leg was stretched unilaterally for 40 s with each of eight different exercises and this was repeated three times. Respiratory gas exchange was measured throughout the running exercise with an automated gas analysis system. On a separate day, participants were tested for sit and reach range of motion, isometric strength and countermovement jump height before and after SS. The oxygen uptake, minute ventilation, energy expenditure, respiratory exchange ratio and heart rate responses to running were unaffected by the stretching intervention. This was despite a significant effect of SS on neuromuscular function (sit and reach range of motion, +2.7 +/- 0.6 cm; isometric strength, -5.6% +/- 3.4%; countermovement jump height -5.5% +/- 3.4%; all P < 0.05). The results suggest that prolonged SS does not influence running economy despite changes in neuromuscular function.     

A school curriculum for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder: advice from a young adult with FASD

While a significant number of individuals in Canada and globally are affected by prenatal fetal alcohol exposure, scant research exists that focuses specifically on the subjective experiences of this population. Based on a single case study exploring through Photovoice methodology the life experiences of a young adult with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), this research paper utilises Schwab’s curriculum commonplaces as a framework to present results pertinent to the field of Education. Four themes emerged that illuminate the participants’ resilience and self-awareness of issues related to independence versus support, strengths and challenges, attitude and adaptation strategies, and advice for others. Curriculum suggestions based on the findings are offered for educators working with young people with FASD in general education settings. Further implications for Education and suggestions for additional research are included.     

Developing the next generation of diverse computer scientists: the need for enhanced,intersectional computing identity theory

This theoretical paper explores the need for enhanced, intersectional computing identity theory for the purpose of developing a diverse group of computer scientists for the future. Greater theoretical understanding of the identity formation process specifically for computing is needed in order to understand how students come to understand themselves as computer scientists. To ensure that the next generation of computer scientists is diverse, this paper presents a case for examining identity development intersectionally, understanding the ways in which women and underrepresented students may have difficulty identifying as computer scientists and be systematically oppressed in their pursuit of computer science careers. Through a review of the available scholarship, this paper suggests that creating greater theoretical understanding of the computing identity development process will inform the way in which educational stakeholders consider computer science practices and policies.     

Travels in extreme social mobility: how first-in-family students find their way into and through medical education

ABSTRACT

Higher education is understood as essential to enabling social mobility. Research and policy have centred on access to university, but recently attention has turned to the journey of social mobility itself – and its costs. Long-distance or ‘extreme’ social mobility journeys particularly require analysis. This paper examines journeys of first-in-family university students in the especially high-status degree of medicine, through interviews with 21 students at an Australian medical school. Three themes are discussed: (1) the roots of participants’ social mobility journeys; (2) how sociocultural difference is experienced and negotiated within medical school; and (3) how participants think about their professional identities and futures. Students described getting to medical school ‘the hard way’, and emphasised the different backgrounds and attitudes of themselves and their wealthier peers. Many felt like ‘imposters’, using self-deprecating language to highlight their lack of ‘fit’ in the privileged world of medicine. However, such language also reflected resistance to middle-class norms and served to create solidarity with community of origin, and, importantly, patients. Rather than narratives of loss, students’ stories reflect a tactical refinement of self and incorporation of certain middle-class attributes, alongside an appreciation of the worth their ‘difference’ brings to their new destination, the medical profession.     

South Africa’s readiness to integrate ICT into mathematics and science pedagogy in secondary schools

One of South Africa’s identified priorities is the implementation of ICT in education. To this end a phased implementation plan was initiated in 2004 for ICT to be implemented into schools across the country over eight years. During this time South Africa also participated in three international studies undertaken by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) focusing on ICT in Education. Each of these permitted the country to benchmark its progress in terms of other countries and their implementation of ICT in education. The latest study, SITES 2006 provides a useful set of indicators against which South Africa can evaluate its progress with regard to its implementation of ICT. This paper seeks to evaluate South Africa’s readiness to integrate ICT into mathematics and science classrooms. This was done using a number of indicators of “sustainable change” derived from SITES 2006 and then comparing these to countries such as Chile, Thailand and Norway, the former two with similar context and conditions and the latter with contrasting conditions. The findings reveal that whilst South Africa has made some progress since 1998 in terms of the implementation of ICT in education, that the majority of schools are still in their infancy regarding the acquisition of ICT and most of those who have access are still in the process of trying to integrate the ICT into their teaching and learning. It would appear that more fundamental needs in South Africa’s education system have dominated its priorities.     

Nostalgia,homesickness and emotional formation on the eighteenth-century Grand Tour

Nostalgia and homesickness were well-known eighteenth-century ailments. Undertaking protracted travels, Grand Tourists were potential sufferers, yet these emotional afflictions are absent from the Tour's lengthy lists of hazards. Querying this and applying history of emotions approaches to the histories of the Tour, masculinity and the family, this article examines how Tourists and tutors navigated nostalgia and homesickness as emotions that sat uneasily with the Tour's wider aims of masculine formation. Such investigations offer a means of unpicking the complex, contradictory demands placed on young gentlemen during their emotional formation. Through this, it contributes to wider reconsiderations of eighteenth-century masculinity.     

Action learning drives the Emerald Academy

This account examines the action learning process adopted by Emerald Group Publishing Ltd., embedded in the organization through the in-company Emerald Academy. In case study format, the paper emphasizes that in order to align learning with organizational objectives joined up thinking and practice is needed beyond the learning and development function, with ownership taken of the process at all levels. To date the Emerald action learning corporate academy process is in its sixth year. It builds upon a tradition of management development through action learning which goes back to the early days of the company. Organizations seeking to develop a similar process would need to consider organizational commitment and readiness.     

Predicting Suicide Risks Among Outpatient Adolescents Using the Family Environment Scale: Implications for Practice and Research

This study was designed to identify characteristics of family functioning that relate to suicide potential in an outpatient adolescent population. Participants included 51 adolescents between the ages of 14 and 18 who were involved in outpatient counselling. The Family Environment Scale and the Suicide Probability Scale were used to assess adolescents’ perception of family social climate and degree of suicide risk respectively. Results revealed significant correlations between suicide risk and family systems characterized by heightened conflict and lower levels of cohesion, independence, and organization. A stepwise multiple regression analysis suggested that organization (related to clarity and structure in family activities and responsibilities) was the strongest predictor of suicide risk. Implications for research and practice are considered.     

Literacies across sponsorscapes: mobilising notions of literacy sponsorship

Building from the concept ‘sponsors of literacy', the authors revisit three empirical studies to argue for mobilising notions of sponsorship beyond fixed conceptions of individual sponsors and literacy to lifewide perspectives that take into account sponsoring relations across the broader learning lives of youth. The authors take up the theoretical heuristic ‘sponsorscapes' as a lens for attending to the dynamically networked, reciprocal and human‐material dimensions of literacy practices. With cases drawn from across settings and research foci, including middle school students in a classroom setting, high school‐aged youth across contexts and a participant‐researcher's interactions with a college student, the authors argue that attending to sponsorscapes can contribute critical insight into the emergent, diverse and valued literacies and sponsorship thriving across lifewide learning pathways, while recognising learners' agentive roles in investing, resisting and sponsoring literacies.     

Balance in Positive Emotional Expressivity Across School Contexts Relates to Kindergartners’ Adjustment

Positive emotional expressivity has been associated with increased social competence and decreased maladjustment in childhood. However, a few researchers have found null or even positive associations between positive emotional expressivity and maladjustment, which suggests that there may be nuanced associations of positive expressivity, perhaps as a function of the social context in which it is expressed. We examined whether observed positive emotional expressivity balance across peer-oriented/recreational and learning contexts predicted kindergarten children’s adjustment (N = 301). Research Findings: Higher positive expressivity during lunch/recess compared to positive expressivity in the classroom was associated with lower teacher–student conflict, externalizing behaviors, and depressive symptoms. In addition, overall positive emotional expressivity predicted lower externalizing behaviors as well as lower depressive and anxiety symptoms. Practice or Policy: The results suggest the importance of assessing observed positive emotional expressivity in context as a potential indicator of children’s maladjustment risk and the need for children to adapt their emotions to different contexts. Implications for assessing and supporting positive emotional expression balance and training emotional regulation in school are discussed.