Still popular: Museums and their visitors 1994–2004

The starting point for this article is the author's 1994 study of the museums and galleries' market, By Popular Demand. The article sets out to look at some of the key findings and track any developments in the 10 years since its publication. The article examines both quantitative and qualitative evidence from national (rather than local or regional) data. The subject matter covered includes the old questions of how many visits are made to UK museums and galleries each year, who visits and why do they visit. This is a period only partly impacted upon by the policy initiatives of New Labour, notably free admission to the national museums and galleries and the Renaissance in the Regions programme. The author demonstrates that, at best, the total number of visits grew only a little and those who visit became more middle class and more middle aged rather more than the population did itself in these years. Museums and galleries might maintain their audiences but they were not expanding them or broadening their social appeal. This alone was sufficient justification for New Labour's policies, the early stages of which seem to have been successful.     

What educational reform means: lessons from teachers, research and policy working together for student success

This paper describes education reform projects designed to bring about major improvements in school and tertiary student outcomes. Individually the projects illustrate characteristics of educational reform in local contexts for primary, secondary and tertiary education. In combination they signal key components essential to getting large scale high-quality school and tertiary education cultures geared to student success.     

The effect of schooling upon understanding of selected science terms

Eight science terms were studied as to their meanings for 9-, 13-, and 17-year-old students randomly selected from a single school district in the midwest. The results indicate that the school is ineffective in increasing numbers of students who master the select terms between seventh and eleventh grade. On three of the eight terms 9-year-olds perform as well as 17-year-old students. Although there is growth between ages 9 and 13 on degree of mastery for five terms, some of these differences can be attributed to increasing student abilities to read, increases in student experiences with school science and testing procedures, maturation and development of reasoning for students across grades, and the relative emphasis of science content/terminology for the various age levels.     

Pre-training perceived wellness impacts training output in Australian football players

The impact of perceived wellness on a range of external load parameters, rating of perceived exertion (RPE) and external load:RPE ratios, was explored during skill-based training in Australian footballers. Fifteen training sessions involving 36 participants were analysed. Each morning before any physical training, players completed a customised perceived wellness questionnaire (sleep quality, fatigue, stress, mood and muscle soreness). Microtechnology devices provided external load (average speed, high-speed running distance, player load and player load slow). Players provided RPE using the modified Borg category-ratio 10 RPE scale. Mixed-effect linear models revealed significant effects of wellness Z-score on player load and player load slow. Effects are reported with 95% confidence limits. A wellness Z-score of ?1 corresponded to a ?4.9 ± 3.1 and ?8.6 ± 3.9% reduction in player load and player load slow, respectively, compared to those without reduced wellness. Small significant effects were also seen in the average speed:RPE and player load slow:RPE models. A wellness Z-score of ?1 corresponded to a 0.43 ± 0.38 m·min^?1 and ?0.02 ± 0.01 au·min^?1 change in the average speed:RPE and player load slow:RPE ratios, respectively. Magnitude-based analysis revealed that the practical size of the effect of a pre-training perceived wellness Z-score of ?1 would have on player load slow was likely negative. The results of this study suggests that monitoring pre-training perceived wellness may provide coaches with information about the intensity of output that can be expected from individual players during a training session.     

The influence of tennis court surfaces on player perceptions and biomechanical response

This study aimed to examine player perceptions and biomechanical responses to tennis surfaces and to evaluate the influence of prior clay court experience. Two groups with different clay experiences (experience group, n = 5 and low-experience group, n = 5) performed a 180° turning movement. Three-dimensional ankle and knee movements (50 Hz), plantar pressure of the turning step (100 Hz) and perception data (visual analogue scale questionnaire) were collected for two tennis courts (acrylic and clay). Greater initial knee flexion (acrylic 20. 8 ± 11.2° and clay 32.5 ± 9.4°) and a more upright position were reported on the clay compared to the acrylic court (P < 0.05). This suggests adaptations to increase player stability on clay. Greater hallux pressures and lower midfoot pressures were observed on the clay court, allowing for sliding whilst providing grip at the forefoot. Players with prior clay court experience exhibited later peak knee flexion compared to those with low experience. All participants perceived the differences in surface properties between courts and thus responded appropriately to these differences. The level of previous clay court experience did not influence players’ perceptions of the surfaces; however, those with greater clay court experience may reduce injury risk as a result of reduced loading through later peak knee flexion.