The effect of video-modelling and video-feedback on the learning of the tennis service by novices

This project is addressed to the effectiveness of video mediated instruction on the learning of the tennis service by novices. The research was carried out in an indoor tennis hall under normal training conditions. Three experimental groups were used: a video-model (VMT), a video-feedback (VFT) and a group with a combination of video modelling and video feedback (VMFT). Two control groups - based on different training periods-were also used: a traditional training group (TT1) which practised for a period of 45 min per training session and a second traditional training group (TT2) which practised for a period of only 30 min per training session. All subjects took part in five successive training sessions. No clear advantages of using video mediated instruction methods in teaching novices the tennis service could be demonstrated. Five sessions of 30 min practical training were shown to be as effective as five sessions of 45 min practical training in producing improvements in both form and achievement scores of novice tennis players. While, in the early stages, form and achievement scores were not shown to be significantly related, after five sessions a significant correlation (P less than 0.05) was shown.     

Senior citizens and the ethics of e-inclusion

The ageing society poses significant challenges to Europe’s economy and society. In coming to grips with these issues, we must be aware of their ethical dimensions. Values are the heart of the European Union, as Article 1a of the Lisbon Treaty makes clear: “The Union is founded on the values of respect for human dignity…”. The notion of Europe as a community of values has various important implications, including the development of inclusion policies. A special case of exclusion concerns the gap between those people with effective access to digital and information technology and those without access to it, the “digital divide”, which in Europe is chiefly age-related. Policies to overcome the digital divide and, more generally speaking, e-inclusion policies addressing the ageing population raise some ethical problems. Among younger senior citizens, say those between 65 and 80 years old, the main issues are likely to be universal access to ICT and e-participation. Among the older senior citizens, say those more than 80 years old, the main issues are mental and physical deterioration and assistive technology. An approach geared towards the protection of human rights could match the different needs of senior citizens and provide concrete guidance to evaluate information technologies for them.     

Effectiveness of the Additional Early Mathematics program for teaching children early mathematics

This paper presents the results of a study of the development of early mathematical competence among young poor arithmetic achievers in the 4–7 year age group. Research has shown that arithmetic difficulties later in life can be explained by an insufficient development of early mathematical competence: i.e. different aspects of early mathematical competence. The different aspects of early mathematical competence are derived from cognitive psychology and from a didactical point of view with an emphasis on (the various phases of) counting. The Piagetian operations (seriation, correspondence and classification) are used, however, as much as possible embedded in a counting context.After selection by way of an early mathematical competence test, children with a score below a criterium are presented with an additional program. This program consists of activities, embedded in real (daily) life themes, in which attention is paid to the different aspects of early mathematical competence. The program is given to the children with a guiding or a structuring instruction form. The results of the study show that it is possible to stimulate the development of early mathematical competence among young poor arithmetic achievers. The way in which instruction is offered has no influence on achievement.     

From context to contextualizing

Although context is rapidly becoming one of the core concepts in modern educational thinking, this notion still remains ill-defined in literature. This article aims at contributing to the definition of the notion of context and examining its value for research and development of educational praxes. The article starts out from a general conception of context, identifying its basic intentions as particularization of meaning and providing for coherence. In this article the activity approach to context is explored more particularly. It is argued here that one consequence from this approach is, that context should be conceived of dynamically, i.e. in terms of context-making (contextualizing). Reasoning from this activity approach, several new research questions arise.     

Text comprehension strategy instruction with poor readers

The goal of this study was to investigate the effects of teachingtext comprehension strategies to children with decoding andreading comprehension problems and with a poor or normallistening ability. Two experiments are reported. Four textcomprehension strategies, viz., question generation, summarizing,clarification, and predicting were taught through directinstruction and reciprocal teaching. In both experiments, effectswere measured according to a pretest – posttest – retentiontest – control group design. Dependent variables wereexperimenter-developed strategic reading and listening tests, andstandardized reading and listening comprehension tests. In thefirst experiment the subjects were 9 to 11-year-old poor readersfrom special schools for children with learning disabilities. Inthis experiment, the intervention program's texts and strategyinstructions were presented in listening settings only. Thesubjects in the second experiment were 10-year-old children fromregular elementary schools and 9 to 11-year-old children fromspecial schools. They were also poor readers but their decodingperformance was not as poor as in the subjects in experiment 1.In experiment 2, the intervention program involved textpresentations in alternating reading and listening lessons.Although in general, normal listeners performed better on allcomprehension tests than poor listeners, there were nodifferential program effects for the two listening levels. Cleareffects of both programs were found on strategic reading andlistening tests administered directly after the interventions. Inthe first experiment, maintenance test performance showedprolonged program benefits, whereas in the second experimentthese maintenance effects were blurred by unexpected gains of thecontrol groups of students, especially from regular schools.Finally, apart from some local successes, neither of the twoexperiments offered stable evidence of transfer of comprehensionstrategy training to standardized general listening and readingcomprehension tests.     

Teachers in Class

In this article, I argue for a closer read of the daily “class work” of teachers, as posited by Reay, 1998. In developing exploratory class portraits of four teachers who occupy distinctive social positions (two from working-class homes now teaching upper-middle-class children and two from upper-middle-class homes now teaching poor children), I explore the class constraints within which teachers work.