Asian medical students: quality of life and motivation to learn

Issues linked with the notions of quality of life (QOL) and motivation to learn among Asian medical students have not been well documented. This is true in both the international and the New Zealand contexts. Our paper addresses this lack of research by focusing on the QOL of international and domestic Asian students studying in New Zealand, where Asian students form a significant proportion of tertiary students. Although there is evidence to suggest that Asian students do well academically, it was felt that an investigation into their QOL would be instructive as QOL will likely have an impact on cognition, behavior, general well-being, and motivation. The present study surveyed fourth- and fifth-year medical students to examine the relationship between QOL and motivation to learn and to consider how Asian medical students compare against European medical and non-medical student peers. The study utilized the World Health Organization—Quality of Life questionnaire (BREF version) and a shortened version of the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire. The results show that the Asian medical students in this study generated significantly lower scores in terms of their satisfaction with social relationships compared with their non-Asian peers. In addition, international Asian medical students appear to be more at risk than domestic Asian students with respect to test anxiety. The paper considers the findings and the implications for quality of life, motivation to learn, medical education, and the Asian student community.     

An investigation of the artifacts and process of constructing computers games about environmental science in a fifth grade classroom

This study employed a case study design (Yin, Case study research, design and methods, 2009) to investigate the processes used by 5th graders to design and develop computer games within the context of their environmental science unit, using the theoretical framework of constructionism. Ten fifth graders designed computer games using Scratch software. The results showed students were able to design functional games, following a learning-by-design process of planning, designing, testing, and sharing. Observations revealed that game design led to opportunities for informal knowledge building and sharing among students. This, in turn, encouraged students to test and improve their designs. The findings support the conclusion that elementary students can develop programming concepts and create computer games when using graphical programming software developed for their level of experience. Insights into the iterative process of learning-by-game design are presented.     

The Integration of English Language Development and Science Instruction in Elementary Classrooms

This paper explores one district’s attempt to implement a blended science and English Language Development (ELD) elementary program, designed to provide English language learners opportunities to develop proficiency in English through participation in inquiry-based science. This process resulted in blended program that utilized a combined science/ELD lesson plan format to structure and guide teachers’ efforts to use science as the context for language development. Data, collected throughout the first 2 years of the program, include teacher-generated lesson plans, observation notes, and interviews with teachers and principals. The process by which the blended program was developed, the initial implementation of the program, the resulting science/ELD lesson plan format, and teachers’ perceptions about the program and its impact on their students are described.     

Reliability of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire in Research Settings: Last 7-Day Self-Administered Long Form

This study examined the validity and reliability of decisional balance scales for exercise (i.e., pros and cons) in a large longitudinal population-based randomized sample of Canadian adults ages 18 to 65 years (N = 703). Assessments were taken over 3 time points with 6-month intervals between testing. Content, factorial, concurrent, and construct validity along with internal consistency and test-retest reliability were established for the decisional balance scales. The developed measures have utility for researchers and practitioners who test and apply the exercise decisional balance constructs of the Transtheoretical Model.     

Primary physical education,coaches and continuing professional development

Physical education (PE) in primary schools has traditionally been taught by qualified primary teachers. More recently, some teaching of PE in primary schools has been undertaken by coaches (mostly football coaches). These coaches hold national governing body awards but do not hold teaching qualifications. Thus, coaches may not be adequately prepared to teach PE in curriculum time. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the perceptions of a group of community-based football coaches working in primary schools for the impact of a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programme on their ability to undertake ‘specified work’ to cover PE in primary schools. The programme focused on four areas identified as important to enable coaches to cover specified work: short- and medium-term planning, pedagogy, knowledge of the curriculum and reflection. Results showed that for the majority of coaches the CPD programme had made them more aware of the importance of these four areas and had helped to develop their knowledge and ability to put this into practice in covering planning, preparation and assessment time. However, further input is still required to develop coaches’ knowledge and understanding in all four areas, but especially their curriculum knowledge, as well as their ability to put these into practice consistently. These findings are discussed in relation to the implications of employing coaches to cover the teaching of PE in primary schools and, if employed, what CPD coaches need to develop the necessary knowledge, skill and understanding for covering specified work in schools.     

Recent Influences on the Training of Physical Education Teachers in England and Wales

abstract

There are many factors which impinge on the training of physical education teachers. These include factors in the internal environment, such as changes of philosophy impacting on the curriculum, and factors in the external environment most notably those relating to the political, social and economic context. Recent changes in the political environment in England and Wales have had an obvious and major impact on physical education. This paper considers the effects of some of these changes on physical education teacher training, for example, the increase in the amount of time students must spend in schools as part of initial teacher training, the introduction of the National Curriculum and the introduction of the Teacher Training Agency. The paper examines some of the implications of these changes, particularly with regard to the extent to which the political environment may be limiting the effectiveness of initial teacher training programmes to adequately prepare teachers to achieve the aim of developing a physically educated population.     

USING A STATE TEACHER CERTIFICATION TEST TO ASSESS AN INQUIRY-BASED SCIENCE EDUCATION PROGRAM

In this study, we looked at the impact of our specially designed inquiry-based science courses for pre-service elementary teachers on their science content knowledge as measured by a high-stakes state certification test for elementary education. We conducted a pre/post-analysis of the certification test scores of 1,003 pre-service teachers. Cohort 1 consisted of 424 students who took the test prior to implementation of our reformed science courses. Cohort 2 consisted of 579 students taking the test after complete implementation. We examined overall test scores, science subscores, total science credits, age, and science transfer credits. We found that the overall test score dropped significantly from cohort 1 to cohort 2, but the science subscores remained unchanged. Our results showed that students who took all 3 of the science content courses vs. none scored significantly higher on the science portion, non-traditional students (older than 25) scored similarly to traditional-aged students, and there was a negative correlation with the number of science courses transferred. Of importance is the fact that students who took the minimal number of science courses and are less interested in science passed the science portion at the same rate (over 90%) as science majors and minors. We conclude that our pre-service elementary teachers can and do learn science content using inquiry as recommended by the National Science Education Standards (NRC, 1996).