An examination of the jump-and-lift factors influencing the time to reach peak catch height during a Rugby Union lineout

The goal of an offensive Rugby Union lineout is to throw the ball in a manner that allows your team to maintain possession. Typically, the player catching the ball jumps and is lifted upwards by two teammates, reaching above the opposing player who is competing for the ball also. Despite various beliefs regarding the importance of the jumper’s mass and attempted jump height, and lifters’ magnitude and point of force application, there is negligible published data on the topic. The squeeze technique is one lifting method commonly employed by New Zealand teams during lineout plays, whereby the jumper initiates the jump quickly and the lifters provide assistance only once the jumper reaches 20–30 cm. While this strategy may reduce cues to the opposition, it might also constrain the jumper and lifters. We developed a model to explore how changes in the jumper’s body mass and attempted jump height, and lifters’ magnitude and point of force application influence the time to reach peak catch height. The magnitude of the lift force impacted the time-to-reach peak catch height the most; followed by the jumper’s (attempted) jump height and body mass; and lastly, the point of lift force application.     

基于虚拟现实技术的牛顿环实验设计

以大学物理中的牛顿环实验为例,开发了以3DS max、Cult3D、JavaScript和Flash为核心设计技术的大学物理虚拟实验,弥补了传统实验中的缺陷.介绍了虚拟牛顿环实验的开发流程、实现内容及操作方法等,对大学物理实验内容和虚拟技术之间的有效交融进行了研究.通过与传统实验结果的对比,彰显了虚拟技术在现实中应用的优越性.     

Blending Effective Behavior Management and Literacy Strategies for Preschoolers Exhibiting Negative Behavior

Sometimes students will exhibit various aggressive behaviors in the preschool classroom. Early childhood educators need to have behavior management strategies to manage the students’ negative behaviors within the classroom setting. This article will provide a rationale for embedding literacy instruction within behavior management strategies to assist preschool age students with negative behaviors. Three widely used classroom management strategies will be explained: group contingencies, anger management, and individualized behavior plans with differential reinforcement of other behaviors. Each strategy will have developmentally appropriate literacy skills infused into it. In conclusion, a suggestion will be given to early childhood educators on how to implement these blended management techniques.     

University and College Counselors as Athletic Team Consultants: Using a Structural Family Therapy Model

Increasingly, university and college counselors are sought out by their institution's sports coaches for assistance in achieving team goals. Traditional sport psychology models that have the individual athlete as their primary focus are insufficient frameworks for team‐level consultations. The authors believe that systemic approaches may provide an effective alternative. In this article, the authors offer and illustrate S. Minuchin's (1974) Structural Family Therapy as a heuristic model for conceptualizing and intervening with athletic teams.     

Cultural diversity in online learning: A study of the perceived effects of dissonance in levels of individualism/collectivism and tolerance of ambiguity

Online learning courses are hypothesized to be influenced by the instructors' and students' cultural values. This study collected survey data from online instructors and students to analyze the effects that Hofstede's individualism/collectivism and ambiguity (in)tolerance cultural dimensions exert on online courses offered from an individualist/ambiguity tolerant perspective. Results revealed that the students' cultural dimensions relate significantly to some of their perceptions of culture in the online classroom. Contrary to their individualist peers, collectivist learners felt that their individualist instructors were not usually aware of cultural differences in the online classroom and that their culture was not being considered to make learning relevant to their cultural context. Ambiguity intolerant students, in contrast with their ambiguity tolerant peers, felt that cultural background consideration is important and would appreciate being informed about relevant cultural differences they might experience taking an online course based on a different cultural perspective. Students from ambiguity intolerant cultures also reported less motivation to participate than their counterparts. In addition, language was found to influence the participation patterns when the ambiguity (in)tolerance values of the students were studied. However, language was not found to influence participation patterns for the individualist/collectivist dimension. The results of the study suggest that cultural differences do affect how students perceive the online classroom.     

Benchmarking the environmental values and attitudes of students in New Zealand's post‐compulsory education

How much do teachers in tertiary education know about the sustainability characteristics of their incoming students and, if this knowledge were to be available, how could their educational approaches be influenced by this knowledge? In New Zealand, Otago Polytechnic has committed itself to the goal that every graduate may think and act as a sustainable practitioner, and staff are changing their approach to teaching to achieve this. This research sought to benchmark the environmental worldview attributes of an incoming cohort of Otago Polytechnic students to support academic staff who need to know more about the sustainability interests and characteristics of their students, so that they may provide appropriate educational programmes. The research was also designed as the first stage of longer‐term research to evaluate the impact of these institutional changes on how students transform during the period of their tertiary education experience. The data and analysis presented here suggest that even before students start to study in the institution different groups have substantially different sustainability values‐sets. The authors anticipate that the research instruments and approaches used in the present study will contribute to a substantial national exploration of the sustainability value‐sets of tertiary students.     

Student Learning Groups: Does Group Composition Matter?

There has been a shift in university teaching over the past decades to emphasize student achievement and persistence through high-impact practices and collaborative learning. While research supports the efficacy of these pedagogical strategies, it can be difficult to implement them on large campuses. Yet, many criminal justice professors assign students to work in small groups. This study, conducted at a university with a large underrepresented student population, found that the composition of student groups in one criminal justice class can affect the perceived benefits students receive in that class, in other classes, and in general. We found that students placed in a small group with classmates who shared some criminal justice classes reported more student-initiated collaborative learning, expanded support networks, and improved grades in shared courses compared to students in small groups with classmates who shared no classes. This simple intervention has the potential to mimic learning-communities with similar benefits.     

Embedding external referencing of standards into higher education: collaborative relationships are the key

External referencing of assessment and students’ achievement standards is a growing priority area within higher education, which is being pressured by government requirements to evidence outcome attainment. External referencing benefits stakeholders connected to higher education by helping to assure that assessments and standards within courses are appropriate and comparable among institutions. External referencing takes many forms, which have different resourcing requirements, outcomes, and operational strengths and challenges. This paper describes the External Referencing of Standards (ERoS) approach developed, tested and adopted by a university consortium. ERoS draws on the strengths of existing methodologies to produce an evolved model that is effective, efficient, transparent and open, capability building and sustainable. The model enables participants to communicate directly and construct peer relationships, and findings suggest this is a significant design strength. The process facilitates capability building, such that participants garnered insights valuable to enact quality assurance and enhancement of existing courses, and fosters connections that facilitate collaboration and peer-learning. ERoS successfully used open source collaborative tools to review work samples, which can be used to benchmark costed systems.     

Teachers as researchers in a major research project: Experience of input and output

Teachers have long participated in collaborative research. However, they have generally had direct stakes in the outcomes. Teachers in the Early Professional Learning (EPL) Project used their insider status to gather data not directly related to their own practice. Lessons for integrating a group of teacher–researchers into a major project are discussed. Some of these are practical, but also cover their unexpectedly experienced initial isolation within the project team, that has relevance for both forming and theorising communities of enquiry. An outline for a new concept of teacher–researcher begins to emerge that may influence the direction of educational research.     

Novice in secondary school – the coin has two sides

The aim of this study is to gain an insight into novice teachers’ diverse experiences. The study is conducted among nine beginning teachers in upper secondary school in Norway, and the research instrument was semi structured interviews. The main findings indicate that there are two sides of the coin of being a new teacher, positive as well as less positive aspects. The beginning teachers want to be recognised as who they are, new to the job, and on the other hand, they want to be accepted as fully qualified teachers. The two contradictory perceptions of themselves as professionals represent two sides of the same coin.