A validity study of the Kinetic school drawing technique

Kinetic School Drawings were obtained from 100 fifth-grade students. The drawings were analyzed along a number of dimensions thought to measure “negative” affect. Significant correlations with academic achievement were found for a number of measures, and the results of a stepwise multiple regression were significant. In general, the study supported the validity of the technique.     

Evaluation of a university course to promote physical activity: project GRAD

Project GRAD (Graduate Ready for Activity Daily) evaluates a university course to promote physical activity. In a randomized study, 338 university seniors participated in either an intervention or control course for academic credit, and posttest data were collected on 321. The control course was knowledge-oriented. The intervention course taught behavior change skills in weekly lectures and peer-led labs. Physical activity was assessed with 7-Day Physical Activity Recall interviews. The intervention had no significant effects on men. Among women, the intervention increased total physical activity during leisure, strengthening exercises, and flexibility exercise. This university course had the intended effects of promoting healthful patterns of physical activity among women, but no effects were observed on men, who were more active than women at baseline.     

An analysis of selected kinematic variables in national and elite male and female 100-m and 200-m breaststroke swimmers

The kinematic analysis of competition breaststroke swimming has tended to focus on the mean values of swimming speed, stroke rate and stroke length; values in individual lengths, as well as the start, turns and finish, have largely been ignored. This study includes all such variables and aims to improve the coach's holistic understanding of breaststroke racing by determining the relationships and differences between and within these selected kinematic variables. We also compare 100-m events with 200-m events to determine if there are characteristic differences between them. Competitive breaststroke swimming performances in 100-m events (males: n = 159, finishing time = 65.05 +/- 2.62 s; females: n = 158, finishing time = 74.04 +/- 3.66 s) and 200-m events (males: n = 159, finishing time = 141.47 +/- 6.15 s; females: n = 158, finishing time = 158.66 +/- 7.87 s) were collected and analysed from 12 world, international and national championships. The better 100-m and 200-m breaststroke swimmers were found to demonstrate greater competency in the kinematic variables measured, except stroke kinematics, which were unique to each individual. These findings suggest that coaches should place emphasis on all of the kinematic components in training and that they should attempt to identify the stroke rate to stroke length ratio most appropriate for the individual. Finally, characteristic differences do exist between the 100-m and 200-m events, which has implications for how swimmers might train for each event.     

Analysis of non-urban end users' MEDLINE training.

The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center (OUHSC) Library mailed a MEDLINE End User Practice Survey Form to 310 health professionals who had attended MEDLINE seminars supported by a two-year NLM grant. The survey sought to determine how many respondents had obtained NLM codes, reasons for not obtaining a code, searching time done since the seminar, differences in the use of information since taking the seminar, factors helpful in successful searching, and factors contributing to frustrations. The most prevalent reasons for not obtaining a code were lack of a microcomputer and modem, infrequent use of MEDLINE, cost, lack of time, complications, and ability to obtain free searches.     

Schools, ‘ferals’, stigma and boundary work: parents managing education and uncertainty in regional Australia

This paper examines forms of boundary work undertaken by parents in a regional Australian city to negotiate social processes around the school market amidst rising economic insecurity. It outlines structural changes, which have increased economic inequality in Australia and impacted on educational reform, and the specific challenges faced by public schools in regional settings. Drawing on 18 months’ qualitative research in one regional location, it identifies and analyses forms of boundary work undertaken by middle-class families to manage these uncertainties in a field of scarce economic and cultural resources. Theories of class culture, stigma and whiteness are used to show how local social labels such as ‘ferals’ and ‘shiny people’ acted as classed and racialised ways of negotiating this social and economic landscape through the school field. Such practices engendered feelings of security and control and shed light on feelings of class-based resentment and anxiety in regional Australia, specifically a middle-class ‘fear of falling’.