Determinants of organisational climate for academia

Being aware of the factors that develop a positive organisational climate is especially important in universities, where the academic members of staff are, in large measure, self-motivated. To identify the determinants of organisational climate for university academia, the validity and reliability of the first-order constructs of autonomy, cohesion and pressure were examined. These three constructs were found to have inadequate validity in this environment. The remaining five valid constructs indicated a second-order organisational climate construct organisational climate was influenced by support, followed by trust and fairness, and then by recognition and innovation. The findings of our study will assist university managers to identify areas to focus upon when developing their academic staff in the pursuit of improving the organisational climate.     

Using Appleworks in the Geography Class:

This study investigated whether using multimedia-based instructional material in a problem-based social studies simulation enhances student learning about world issues, increases interest in social studies, and generates positive attitudes toward the instruction. The GlobalEd Project, a Web-based international negotiation simulation embedded in the middle school social studies curriculum, was used in this investigation. The study employed a quasi-experimental design with a multimedia group (MG) and a text group (TG). A total of 190 students participated in the study. Results indicated that students in the MG had marginally larger gains in knowledge and interest than their counterparts in the TG. In addition, students in the MG used the Web site more extensively than students in the TG. Directions for future research and multimedia developers are discussed.     

Weighing the difference: the validity of multiplicative and subtractive approaches to item weights in an instrument assessing college choice decisions

The Admitted Student Questionnaire Plus (ASQ⁺) is a standardised measure that provides an analysis of the student's college selection process. Among other things, the instrument inquires about the importance of 16 college characteristics, followed by quality ratings of specific colleges that the student considered on these same characteristics. This study investigated the utility of importance weights in the assessment of college choice, examining how much the importance rating would improve one's ability to predict the student's actual college choice over and above what is possible with just the quality ratings. Another purpose of the study was to determine if importance ratings and quality ratings were independent of each other or associated in some way. Two types of weights were studied: (1) standardised weights created by averaging the importance ratings of the entire sample; and (2) subjective weights unique to each respondent. The weights were combined with quality ratings by either: (1) multiplying the quality rating by the importance rating; or by (2) subtracting the quality rating from the importance rating (gap score). Standardised weights did not improve prediction at all, and subjective weights only improved the predictability of college choice by a very miniscule amount (about 1%). Importance and quality ratings were found to be associated, especially in the ratings of the college that the student decided to attend. Some correlations were linear in nature, but many were non-linear, such that characteristics rated high or low were perceived as more important than characteristics assigned mid-range quality ratings. It was concluded that importance weights do not enhance prediction of college choice, but they may be useful for administrators in prioritising interventions.     

Contextualizing Nature of Science Instruction in Socioscientific Issues

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of two learning contexts for explicit-reflective nature of science (NOS) instruction, socioscientific issues (SSI) driven and content driven, on student NOS conceptions. Four classes of 11th and 12th grade anatomy and physiology students participated. Two classes experienced a curricular sequence organized around SSI (the SSI group), and two classes experienced a content-based sequence (the Content group). An open-ended NOS questionnaire was administered to both groups at the beginning and end of the school year and analyzed to generate student profiles. Quantitative analyses were performed to compare pre-instruction NOS conceptions between groups as well as pre to post changes within groups and between groups. Both SSI and Content groups showed significant gains in most NOS themes, but between-group gains were not significantly different. Qualitative analysis of post-instruction responses, however, revealed that students in the SSI group tended to use examples to describe their views of the social/cultural NOS. The findings support SSI contexts as effective for promoting gains in students’ NOS understanding and suggest that these contexts facilitate nuanced conceptions that should be further explored.     

Children's ideas about ecology 1: theoretical background,design and methodology

Abstract

This paper provides an introduction to a study of the ecological understandings of children aged 5‐16 years in schools in the north of England. Children's ideas about selected ecological concepts were elicited through a series of written tasks and individual interviews set in a range of contexts, referred to here as probes. Responses of about 200 pupils, across the age range, were obtained on each probe. In this paper, issues relating to theoretical background, design and methodology are outlined. Two further papers present the major findings of the study: the first reports children's ideas about the cycling of matter between organisms and between organisms and the abiotic environment (Leach et al. in press a); the second reports children's ideas about the interdependency of organisms in ecosystems (Leach et al. in press b).     

Students' Perception of Biology Fieldwork: The example of students undertaking a preliminary year at a UK university

It is widely held among biology teachers that fieldwork is valuable, but little is heard about students' perception of fieldwork or about the reasons for their liking or disliking fieldwork. This paper uses data from students to explore the hypotheses (1) that biology students with a positive perception of fieldwork have a less positive perception of laboratory work and vice versa and (2) that perception of fieldwork is related to demographic/personal factors and/or to pre-university perceptions and experience of fieldwork. Numeric indices of appreciation of biology field and laboratory work (I _field and I _lab) were determined using questionnaire information from 54 students. I _field and I _lab were positively correlated and there was no evidence of polarization of views; the problem that some students have a poor perception of both needs to be addressed. Mature students had a more positive view of fieldwork than 18–20-year-olds. However, regression analysis of I _field against principal components suggested that demographic/personal factors had relatively little overall influence (< 20%) on appreciation of fieldwork. Perception of fieldwork at university was related to the rank given to fieldwork when choosing a university course. However, students who had participated in pre-university fieldwork did not have a more positive perception of university fieldwork; although students who recalled a worst memory of pre-university fieldwork had a less positive perception of fieldwork at university. The seeming mixed relevance of pre-university fieldwork suggests that the relationship between perception of fieldwork undertaken at university and quality of pre-university fieldwork is an area for future research.     

Apprenticeships,Collaboration and Scientific Discovery in Academic Field Studies

Teachers may use apprenticeships and collaboration as instructional strategies that help students to make authentic scientific discoveries as they work as amateur researchers in academic field studies. This concept was examined with 643 students, ages 14–72, who became proficient at field research through cognitive apprenticeships with the Smithsonian Institute, School for Field Studies and Earthwatch. Control student teams worked from single research goals and sets of methods, while experimental teams varied goals, methods, and collaborative activities in Kenya, Costa Rica, Panama, and Ecuador. Results from studies indicate that students who conducted local pilot studies, collaborative symposia, and ongoing, long-term fieldwork generated significantly more data than did control groups. Research reports of the experimental groups were ranked highest by experts, and contributed the most data to international science journals. Data and anecdotal information in this report indicate that structured collaboration in local long-term studies using apprenticeships may increase the potential for students' academic field studies contribution of new information to science.     

The Australian situation: not so touchy?

Fear of unmediated touch between adults and children has become a feature of life in Anglophone countries, including Australia. Previous research has shown that this fear has had an impact on interactions between adults and children, particularly in education and early years care contexts. To assess the extent to which these fears have influenced Australians' willing to participate or allow their children to participate in junior sport 20 semi-structured interviews were conducted with sports administrators, parents, junior sports officials and young sportspeople. Results suggest that Australians are aware of the prevailing discourses of risk but see these as irrelevant to their own contexts. As a result, junior sport in Australia continues to thrive.     

Sport as a (mere) hobby: in defense of ‘the gentle pursuit of a modest competence’

In this essay, I defend sport as a (mere) hobby in contrast to sport as a ‘mutual quest for excellence through challenge’. With the assistance of ideas found in the novel Don Quixote, I raise questions about the clarity, merit, and sufficiency of the quest-for-excellence apologetic. I employ arguments made by James and Dewey to support my alternate defense of sporting activity as a hobby, that is, as ‘the gentle pursuit of a modest competence’. Based on the work of Wu, my defense stands as both a philosophic argument and a cultural critique.     

In vivo lumbo-sacral forces and moments during constant speed running at different stride lengths

Abstract

The aim of this study was to introduce a Newton–Euler inverse dynamics model that included reaction force and moment estimation at the lumbo-sacral (L5-S1) and thoraco-lumbar (T12-L1) joints. Data were collected while participants ran over ground at 3.8 m · s^?1 at three different stride lengths: preferred stride length, 20% greater than preferred, and 20% less than preferred. Inputs to the model were ground reaction forces, bilateral lower extremity and pelvis kinematics and inertial parameters, kinematics of the lumbar spine and thorax and inertial parameters of the lumbar segment. Repeated measures ANOVA were performed on the lower extremity sagittal kinematics and kinetics, including L5-S1 and T12-L1 three-dimensional joint angles, reaction forces and moments at touchdown and peak values during impact phase across the three stride conditions. Results indicated that L5-S1 and T12-L1 vertical reaction forces at touchdown and during the impact portion of the support phase increased significantly as stride length increased (P < 0.001), as did peak sagittal L5-S1 moments during impact (P = 0.018). Additionally, the transverse T12-L1 joint moment increased as running speed increased (P = 0.006). We concluded from our findings that our model was sensitive to our perturbations in healthy runners, and may prove useful in future mechanistic studies of L5-S1 mechanics.