Do Corequisite Math Courses Improve Academic Outcomes in Technical Colleges?: Evidence from Chile

Research in Higher Education - For countries concerned about equity and access to higher education, providing support services for academically underprepared students is critical to increasing...     

Language,Experience and Professional Learning (What Walter Benjamin Can Teach Us)

This essay raises questions about how language educators might construct and further develop their epistemology of practice in and through the situations in which they work from day to day. The occasion for this paper is our work as guest editors of a special issue of L-1: Educational Studies in Language and Literature, when we invited L1 teachers to reflect on the role that language plays in their professional learning, whether it be in the form of conversations with peers, reflective writing, or by other means. We begin this essay by locating our reflections within our current policy context, namely the standards-based reforms that have come to dominate educational thinking around the world, offering a brief critique of the values and attitudes embedded within them. We then outline a philosophical framework as an alternative to the world-view reflected by such reforms, focusing specifically on the work of Walter Benjamin. In the final sections, we review our work as guest editors of the special issue of L-1, reflecting on what we have learned from the papers we have assembled for this issue, and locating our learning within the philosophical framework that we have drawn from Benjamin. We argue that it is timely for language educators to articulate the assumptions that inhere within their work, in contradistinction to the common sense embedded in standards. Thus we might begin to reconceptualise the relation between language, experience and professional learning in opposition to the hegemony of standards.     

Impact of a physical education-based behavioural skill training program on cognitive antecedents and exercise and sport behaviour among adolescents: a cluster-randomized controlled trial

ABSTRACT

Background: School-based physical education has been associated with a multitude of potential learning outcomes. Representatives of a public health perspective suggest that promoting physical activity in and outside the context of school is an important endeavour. While the importance of behavioural skill training to improve (motor) learning is well documented in both general and physical education, the promotion of behavioural skills to foster physically active lifestyles constitutes a rather neglected area in physical education research.

Purpose: To examine whether a standardized physical education-based behavioural skill training program has the potential to positively impact on adolescents’ self-reported exercise and sport participation, as well as cognitive antecedents involved in the regulation of exercise and sport behaviour.

Research design: Cluster-randomized controlled trial.

Methods: A sample of 143 secondary school students (50% girls, aged 14–18 years) attending academic high schools in German-speaking Switzerland were assigned class-wise to the intervention (behavioural skill training) and control condition (conventional physical education lessons). Data were assessed prior and after completion of the 7-week intervention program, which was composed of four 20-min lessons and two reflection phases. Exercise and sport behaviour and cognitive antecedents (exercise/sport intention, motivation, implementation intentions, coping planning, self-efficacy) were assessed via self-reports. A multilevel mixed effects linear regression procedure was used to test the main hypotheses. The regression analyses were adjusted for clustering of school classes, and controlled for baseline levels of the outcome measure and potential confounders.

Results: Compared to a control condition, the intervention program resulted in significant improvements with regard to introjected motivation (p?<?.05), coping planning (p?<?.001) and self-efficacy (p?<?.01). The intervention also had a positive impact on adolescents’ self-reported sport/exercise behaviour (p?<?.001). Improvements in exercise/sport intention (p?<?.05), coping planning (p?<?.01), and self-efficacy (p?<?.01) were associated with increased levels of self-reported exercise/sport participation.

Conclusion: Behavioural skill training as part of compulsory physical education has the potential to improve cognitive antecedents of exercise and sport behaviour and to foster adolescents’ exercise and sport participation. Enhancing behavioural skills might be one way in which school physical education can contribute to the creation of more physically active lifestyles among adolescents.     

Predicting LD on the basis of motivation, metacognition, and psychopathology: an ROC analysis

We examined how strongly motivation, metacognition, and psychopathology acted as predictors of learning disabilities (LD). The results from five studies suggested that level of motivation (as shown through self-efficacy, motivational force, task avoidance, goal commitment, or self-concept) was highly accurate in classifying students with or at risk for LD. Metacognition and psychopathology were also strong predictors. Classification accuracy using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves ranged between 77% and 96%. These rates were much higher than the chance-level (i.e., 50%-55%) rates sometimes yielded by cognitive indices. Linear discriminant function (LDF) analysis substantiated classification accuracy. These results suggest that motivation, metacognition, and psychopathology are strong predictors of LD. Understanding the influence of these characteristics may help researchers and practitioners more accurately screen and treat students with LD.     

A test of Rescorla and Wagner’s (1972) prediction of nonlinear effects in contingency learning

According to most theories, in a simple contingency learning situation, excitatory learning occurs when the probability of the unconditioned stimulus in the presence of the conditioned stimulus (p₁) is higher than the probability of the unconditioned stimulus in the absence of the conditioned stimulus (p₂). In Rescorla and Wagner??s (1972) model, this prediction varies, depending on the parameters used. In the following experiments, we evaluated whether the difference between p₁ and p₂ that is required to produce excitatory conditioning is the same, independent of the specific value of p₁, or whether this difference varies proportionally to p₁??s value. To do so, an appetitive procedure of Pavlovian conditioning with rats was used. In four experiments, we compared different levels of contingency (low, medium and high) and found that the difference between p₁ and p₂ that is required to produce excitatory conditioning increases when the value of p₁ is higher. The possibility of analyzing contingency learning as a discrimination between p₁ and p₂ is also discussed.     

Subgroups of Attributional Profiles in Students with Learning Difficulties and Their Relation to Self‐Concept and Academic Goals

The aim of this article was fourfold: first, to determine whether there are significant differences between students with (N= 173) and without learning disabilities (LD; N= 172) in the dimensions of self‐concept, causal attributions, and academic goals. Second, to determine whether students with LD present a uniform attributional profile or whether there are subgroups of attributional profiles among students with LD. Third, to explore differences between these profiles on the dimensions of self‐concept, academic goals, perception of competence‐incompetence, persistence when faced with failure, peer relationships, and academic achievement. Fourth, to determine whether there are significant differences in the dimensions of self‐concept and academic goals between NLD students and the different LD subgroups. The results indicate the existence of two very distinct attributional profiles in students with LD (Helplessness Profile and Adaptive Profile). The implications of these data with regard to theory and research, as well as educational practice, are discussed.     

Talent identification and selection process of outfield players and goalkeepers in a professional soccer club

Abstract

The aim of this study was to analyse the talent identification process of a professional soccer club. A preselection of players (n = 64) aged 9–10 years and a final selection (n = 21) were performed by the technical staff through the observation during training sessions and matches. Also, 34 age-matched players of an open soccer camp (CampP) acted as controls. All participants underwent anthropometric, maturity and performance measurements.

Preselected outfield players (OFs) were older and leaner than CampP (P < 0.05). Besides, they performed better in velocity, agility, endurance and jump tests (P < 0.05). A discriminant analysis showed that velocity and agility were the most important parameters. Finally, selected OFs were older and displayed better agility and endurance compared to the nonselected OFs (P < 0.05). Goalkeepers (GKs) were taller and heavier and had more body fat than OFs; also, they performed worse in the physical tests (P < 0.05). Finally, selected GKs were older and taller, had a higher predicted height and advanced maturity and performed better in the handgrip (dynamometry) and jump tests (P < 0.05).

Thus, the technical staff selected OFs with a particular anthropometry and best performance, particularly agility and endurance, while GKs had a different profile. Moreover, chronological age had an important role in the whole selection process.     

From Hand to Eye: a Meta-Analysis of the Benefit from Handwriting Training in Visual Graph Recognition

Educational Psychology Review - Handwriting (HW) training seems to boost recognition of visual graphs and learning to read more than other learning experiences. However, effects across studies...     

Beyond ‘dusty archives’: The economic benefits of preserving recorded heritage

Libraries and archives are increasingly under pressure to justify the cost of preserving the recorded heritage. This paper addresses the real need to identify and measure the benefits of preservation of the recorded heritage in the UK.

Stated preference techniques are well established in the field of environmental economics, and they are also appropriate for the valuation of cultural heritage. The authors develop and test a methodology to estimate people's preferences for the preservation of the recorded heritage through two stated preference case (pilot) studies.

All library and archive materials supporting the written and documentary heritage of the chosen case studies have been considered. The benefits of preservation are identified as those associated with the use of the recorded heritage (for example, by schools, commercial organisations, academics and other interested parties), the option of using it in the future, and the value placed on its existence by the general public, even if they have no intention of using it.

The main advantage of estimating the benefits of preservation in monetary terms is that these can be compared with the costs of preservation to determine whether any given project or policy is worthwhile, or indeed to choose among competing projects for the allocation of funds.