Socioeconomic status impacts genetic influences on the longitudinal dynamic relationship between temperament and general cognitive ability in childhood: The Louisville Twin Study

The current analysis investigates genetic and environmental influences on the bidirectional relationships between temperament and general cognitive ability (GCA). Measures of GCA and three temperament factors (persistence, approach, and reactivity) were collected from 486 children ages 4–9 years (80% white, 50% female) from the Louisville Twin Study from 1976 to 1998. The results indicated a bidirectional dynamic model of temperament influencing subsequent GCA and GCA influencing subsequent temperament. The dynamic relationship between temperament and GCA arose primarily from shared genetic variance, particularly in families with higher socioeconomic status, where input from temperament contributed on average 20% to genetic variance in GCA versus 0% in lower SES families.     

Bandung Lautan Hardcore: territorialisation and deterritorialisation in an Indonesian hardcore punk scene

Abstract

This article explores the entangled and contradictory processes of territorialisation and deterritorialisation that have shaped the hardcore punk scene in Bandung, Indonesia, while questioning the binary model of globalisation and localisation. The formation of the Bandung scene has certainly involved processes of local adaptation, translation, and territorialisation, but these cannot be disentangled from the global styles, orientations, and networks associated with hardcore punk. Through their active participation in global hardcore, Bandung's punks adopt a standpoint of underground cosmopolitanism that goes beyond a merely mimetic relationship to Western scenes. Their valorisation of local “Do It Yourself” production and performance reflects the value practices of global hardcore punk, and the social relationships that constitute the local scene extend beyond any straightforwardly spatial definition of the “local.” At the same time, this global orientation takes on particular locally-inflected meanings in the specific cultural and political environment of Bandung, Indonesia.     

Relative age effect: Characteristics of youth soccer players by birth quarter and subsequent playing status

Purpose: To compare characteristics of club level male soccer players 11 and 13 years of age, and to evaluate playing status in soccer two and 10 years after baseline by birth quarter (BQ).

Methods: Youth players 11 (n = 62, born 1992, observed December 2003) and 13 (n = 50, born 1990, observed April 2004) years were grouped by BQ. Baseline data included stature, weight, maturity status, functional capacities, soccer skills, goal orientation, and coach evaluation of potential. Playing status in soccer in 2006 and 2014 was also available. Baseline characteristics and subsequent playing status were compared by BQ.

Results: Baseline characteristics did not differ by BQ except for age and percentage of predicted adult height. Though not significant, coaches tended to rate players in BQ1as higher in potential. For those competing in soccer as adults, BQ2 (4), BQ3 (5) and BQ4 (2) were represented among players11 years, and BQ1 (3), BQ2 (2), BQ3 (1) and BQ4 (4) among players 13 years.

Conclusion: Although limited to small numbers, differences among players by BQ were inconsistent. The results indicate a need to extend potential explanations of the RAE to include behavioral variables, coaches, training environment, and perhaps the culture of the sport.     

Teaching for enjoyment: David Manson and his ‘play school’ of Belfast

The school operated by David Manson in 18th century Belfast was a centre of learning which represented a critical approach to traditional forms of education. Choice instead of coercion; encouragement rather than ridicule; achievement and recognition for all learners were the hallmarks of his method. Enjoyment in teaching and in learning was not just an aspiration but a reality. Play was not seen as mere diversion or leisure but as purposeful, enjoyable work imbued with creativity and success. An exploration of the role of play and enjoyment as a pedagogical philosophy presents interesting parallels with David Manson's experiments. This paper argues that teachers who provide engaging opportunities for collaborative learning and who place priority in developing a classroom culture where success and self-esteem take precedence over curriculum delivery discover that the delineation between ‘work’ and ‘play’ becomes less sharply defined. Manson's vision of a pedagogy of enjoyment has a timely relevance for the challenges and concerns of the teacher of the 21st century.     

Evidence-based teaching: a simple view of “science”

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the insistent claims by advocates of evidence-based teaching that it is a rigorous scientific approach. The paper questions the view that randomised controlled trials and meta-analyses are the only truly scientific methods in educational research. It suggests these claims are often based on a rhetorical appeal which relies on too simple a notion of “science”. Exploring the tacit assumptions behind “evidence-based teaching”, the paper identifies an empiricist and reductionist philosophy of science, and a failure to recognise the complexity of education and pedagogy. Following a discussion of large-scale syntheses of evidence (Hattie’s Visible Learning; the Education Endowment Foundation’s Teaching and Learning Toolkit), it examines in detail one strand of the latter concerning sports participation, which is used to illustrate flaws in procedures and the failure to take seriously the need for causal explanations.     

A battery of strength tests for evidence-based classification in Para swimming

This study examined the validity of isometric strength tests for evidence-based classification in Para swimming. Thirty non-disabled participants and forty-two Para swimmers with physical impairment completed an isometric strength test battery designed to explain activity limitation in the freestyle discipline. Measures pertaining to dominant and non-dominant limb strength and symmetry were derived from four strength tests that were found to be reliable in a cohort of non-disabled participants (ICC = 0.85–0.97; CV = 6.4–9.1%). Para swimmers had lower scores in strength tests compared with non-disabled participants (d = 0.14–1.00) and the strength test battery successfully classified 95% of Para swimmers with physical impairment using random forest algorithm. Most of the strength measures had low to moderate correlations (r = 0.32 to 0.53; p ≤ 0.05) with maximal freestyle swim speed in Para swimmers. Although, fewer correlations were found when Para swimmers with hypertonia or impaired muscle power were analysed independently, highlighting the impairment-specific nature of activity limitation in Para swimming. Collectively, the strength test battery has utility in Para swimming classification to infer loss of strength in Para swimmers, guide minimum eligibility criteria, and to define the impact that strength impairment has on Para swimming performance.     

Do stiffness and asymmetries predict change of direction performance?

Change of direction speed (CODS) underpins performance in a wide range of sports but little is known about how stiffness and asymmetries affect CODS. Eighteen healthy males performed unilateral drop jumps to determine vertical, ankle, knee and hip stiffness, and a CODS test to evaluate left and right leg cutting performance during which ground reaction force data were sampled. A step-wise regression analysis was performed to ascertain the determinants of CODS time. A two-variable regression model explained 63% (R² = 0.63; P = 0.001) of CODS performance. The model included the mean vertical stiffness and jump height asymmetry determined during the drop jump. Faster athletes (n = 9) exhibited greater vertical stiffness (F = 12.40; P = 0.001) and less asymmetry in drop jump height (F = 6.02; P = 0.026) than slower athletes (n = 9); effect sizes were both “large” in magnitude. Results suggest that overall vertical stiffness and drop jump height asymmetry are the strongest predictors of CODS in a healthy, non-athletic population.