A review of primary and secondary influences on sport expertise

Sport scientists have examined numerous factors influencing the acquisition and manifestation of high levels of performance. These factors can be divided into variables having a primary influence on expertise and variables that have a secondary influence through their interaction with other variables. Primary influences on expertise include genetic, training, and psychological factors while secondary influences include socio‐cultural and contextual elements. This paper reviews the factors affecting the development of expert performance in sport and suggests directions for future research.     

‘Sport was the centre of my memories’: the performance of sport in Australia’s Asian garrisons

ABSTRACT

For better or worse, sport mirrors and mediates much of everyday life. Within both the military and colonial spheres, the physical attributes of sport are especially prized as tangible representations of social and cultural hierarchies. In turn, this further enhances the prestige and influence of sport within these two particular environments. Sport becomes particularly potent in instances where military forces undertake garrison duties in overseas colonial and post-colonial environs. This paper highlights the centrality of sport to the lives of the Australian service personnel and their families who were posted to Australia’s garrisons in the decades after World War II. The myriad roles of sport within these overseas garrison environments – as comforter, connector, healer and reinforcer on the one hand, and as isolator, oppressor and subverter on the other – are explored. This paper suggests that, for a variety of reasons, participation in sports served as the central organising force for most Australian service personnel and their families in these Australian military communities.     

Framing responsibility for depression: how U.S. news media attribute causal and problem-solving responsibilities when covering a major public health problem

This paper analyzes how major U.S. print and broadcast news media framed depression causal and problem-solving responsibilities at individual and societal levels over the past three decades. Results from the content analysis showed that the media placed more causal and problem-solving responsibilities on individuals than the society. However, references to societal solutions increased moderately over time. Organizational differences emerged in news attribution of responsibilities, as print media presented more individual-level causes while broadcast media focused more on solutions at both individual and societal levels. Additionally, local newspapers put more problem-solving responsibilities on individuals than national newspapers, while a cable news channel allocated more time to the discussion of overall depression responsibilities than network TV. Findings are discussed in the context of cultural orientations, organizational constraints, changing practice and trends in health news reporting, and the broader political/social environment in which the news media operate. Practical implications for health journalism, mental health communication and advocacy, and public health policy-making are discussed.     

Examining the effects of a highly rated science curriculum unit on diverse students: Results from a planning grant

This article reports on the results of a planning grant studying the effects of a highly rated curriculum unit on a diverse student population. The treatment was introduced to 1500 eighth grade students in five middle schools selected for their ethnic, linguistic, and socioeconomic diversity. Students were given pre‐, post‐, and delayed posttests on a Conservation of Matter Assessment and measures of motivation and engagement. This quasi‐experiment found statistically significant posttest results for achievement, basic learning engagement, and goal orientation. Analyses of disaggregated data showed that subgroups of students in the treatment condition outscored their comparison group peers (n = 1500) in achievement in all cases, except for students currently enrolled in ESOL. Analysis of video data of a diverse group of four students as the unit was enacted suggests that students entered a learning environment that permitted them to function in different, but consistent ways over time; that is, the frequency of students' manipulation of objects showed a different pattern of engagement for each of the four students compared with patterns of verbal responses such as the use of scientific terms. The results of this planning grant paved the way for a large study of the scale‐up of highly rated curriculum units. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 42: 912–946, 2005