An (in)visible universe of grief: Performative disidentifications with white motherhood in the We are not Trayvon Martin blog

This essay offers a critical rhetorical analysis of social media discourse of white mothers protesting the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s killer. I argue that through affectively charged performative disidentifications, white mothers contributing to the We are not Trayvon Martin blog worked within and against norms of ideal motherhood to challenge dominant formations of whiteness in ways that exposed the privileged status of U.S. American white motherhood and reconceptualized motherhood as an affective orientation toward antiracism. Unpacking affectively charged performative disidentifications with privileged racial identities is important for enhancing understandings of white antiracist rhetoric and fostering formations of white antiracist consciousness.     

Three-Year Study of Students’ Attitudes Toward Physical Education: Grades 4–8

Purpose: A relationship exists between attitudes toward physical education and future physical activity. The purpose of this study was to examine changes in attitude toward physical education as students progressed from upper elementary school (Grade 4) through middle school (Grade 8). Method: Three cohorts of students (Cohort 1, Grades 4–6, n = 96; Cohort 2, Grades 5–7, n = 71; and Cohort 3, Grades 6–8, n = 73) were each followed for 3 years to examine changes in attitudes toward physical education. Results: After an initial increase from Grade 4 to Grade 5, a significant decrease was observed from Grades 5 to 8 in students’ positive attitudes toward physical education, with a faster rate of change for girls than boys. Conclusion: This longitudinal study provides further insights regarding the attitudes of students as they progress from Grade 4 to Grade 8 and expands on previous findings identifying decreasing positive attitudes toward physical education as students age, particularly for girls. The results provide evidence to support targeted interventions.     

Targeting Mr average: participation,gender equity and school sport partnerships

The School Sport Partnership Programme (SSPP) is one strand of the national strategy for physical education and school sport in England, the physical education and school sport Club Links Strategy (PESSCL). The SSPP aims to make links between school physical education (PE) and out of school sports participation, and has a particular remit to raise the participation levels of several identified under-represented groups, of which girls and young women are one. National evaluations of the SSPP show that it is beginning to have positive impacts on young people's activity levels by increasing the range and provision of extra curricular activities (Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED), 2003, 2004, 2005; Loughborough Partnership, 2005, 2006). This paper contributes to the developing picture of the phased implementation of the programme by providing qualitative insights into the work of one school sport partnership with a particular focus on gender equity. The paper explores the ways in which gender equity issues have been explicitly addressed within the ‘official texts’ of the SSPP; how these have shifted over time and how teachers are responding to and making sense of these in their daily practice. Using participation observation, interview and questionnaire data, the paper explores how the coordinators are addressing the challenge of increasing the participation of girls and young women. The paper draws on Walby's (2000) conceptualisation of different kinds of feminist praxis to highlight the limitations of the coordinators’ work. Two key themes from the data and their implications are addressed: the dominance of competitive sport practices and the PE professionals’ views of targeting as a strategy for increasing the participation of under-represented groups. The paper concludes that coordinators work within an equality or difference discourse with little evidence of the transformative praxis needed for the programme to be truly inclusive.     

Giving up technology and social media: why university lecturers stop using technology in teaching

University lecturers use a wide range of technologies when teaching and there has been much research into how particular technologies are adopted. However, there are also many technologies that, despite early promise, are no longer being used in university teaching and have been abandoned by institutions or individuals. This article presents the results of a qualitative investigation into why university lecturers stop using technology. It used detailed episodic narrative interviews to explore the experiences of lecturers using technology in their teaching at three UK universities. While the data provides examples of technologies that were discarded as they became outdated and were replaced by new devices, this was not the only reason that technologies are rejected. The data also demonstrated that even relatively up-to-date or innovative technologies or practices (e.g. the use of Facebook) may be abandoned. The article discusses the participants’ experiences of ceasing to use technology and demonstrates the importance of context in decisions about using technology and social media in teaching. The article argues that studies of technology adoption should be accompanied by research that revisits the sites of these studies to consider how the implementation of technology continues over time and how it comes to an end.     

Imagining a future,living in the present and remembering the past

The remit for this short piece was to identify themes emerging from the articles in this edition by Julie McLeod, Duncan Waite and Eugenie Samier, to consider how these themes reflect on the current field, and to identify their ongoing relevance. Additionally, I was asked to consider the current challenges that the field is facing and what this means for research and journals such as this one. My short response is that our research has to matter. It has to matter to us as individuals so that what we do is worthwhile; it has to matter that we can provide rigorous research that is reliable so that it can inform policy makers and administrators; and it has to provide teachers and students with a greater understanding of why they are doing what they are being asked to do.     

The power of refutational text: changing intuitions about the interpretation of box plots

European Journal of Psychology of Education - Graphicacy is an important skill in today’s society; however, the interpretation of graphs proofs to be more difficult than it might seem. In...