“Inclusive education: The way of the future”—A rebuttal

At the general presentation of the 48th session of the International Conference on Education, “Inclusive Education: The Way of the Future”, a “holistic” approach was advocated to improve educational opportunities for children who are excluded from an equal education and adults who are illiterate. The first part of this paper argues that a more effective approach would be “piecemeal social engineering”. The second section presents examples of the piecemeal or targeted approach and offers suggestions for applying it to improve educational opportunities for this group.     

Little room for capacitation: rethinking Bourdieu on pedagogy as symbolic violence

In Bourdieu’s early work on education, he declares that ‘All pedagogic action (PA) is objectively symbolic violence insofar as it is the imposition of a cultural arbitrary by an arbitrary power’. This article rethinks Bourdieu’s proposition. It questions whether all PA is symbolic violence and the very notion of a cultural arbitrary upon which this view is based. For Bourdieu, culture is framed narrowly in terms of class, and pedagogy a mechanism by which it is reproduced. As such, it functions as a form of violence having much in common with Foucault’s notion of discipline. Unlike Foucault, however, who also acknowledges the enabling potential of power as a technology of the self, Bourdieu has no such equivalent. His concept of PA leaves little room for capacitation wherein, rather than a cultural arbitrary, certain skills can be seen to have an inherent use value equipping individuals with capacities that are a means for social transformation.     

On using wearable tri-axial accelerometers to examine the striking phase kinematics of expert specialist drag flickers on-field

Analysing player kinematics during a match using “gold-standard” 3D video-based motion analysis techniques is a difficult prospect indeed. The development of small, wireless, wearable sensors offers the potential to reduce the challenges of measuring kinematics during match-play without hindering performance. The present study examined the viability of using wireless tri-axial accelerometers to examine whether key performance measures of drag flicks executed by expert specialist drag-flickers are predicted by the kinematics of the striking phase. Linear mixed models were used to examine whether the speed and accuracy of players’ drag flicks were predicted by the duration of stick-ball contact, and the kinematics of the lead lower limb at stick-ball contact and ball release. Results revealed that stick and lead lower limb kinematics significantly predicted shot accuracy but not shot speed. Shorter drag-time predicted more accurate flicks (p = 0.03) as did a more vertical leg at stick-ball contact (p = 0.016) and a more horizontal thigh at ball release (p = 0.001). This may indicate that there are more ways to produce fast drag flicks than accurate ones. This study illustrates that wireless tri-axial accelerometers can be used on-field to measure the effects of kinematics on key performance measures.     

On a Calculus-based Statistics Course for Life Science Students

The choice of pedagogy in statistics should take advantage of the quantitative capabilities and scientific background of the students. In this article, we propose a model for a statistics course that assumes student competency in calculus and a broadening knowledge in biology. We illustrate our methods and practices through examples from the curriculum.     

Mexican American Mothers’ Conceptualization of Autonomy Support and Psychological Control in the Context of Cultural Values

This qualitative study explored the intertwining relationships among the concepts of parental autonomy support, parental control, and cultural values for Mexican American families. The study was guided by the following questions: (1) What elements of parental autonomy support are identified in Mexican American parents’ involvement in their children’s academic performance? (2) How do Mexican American parents conceptualize “autonomy support” and “parental control”? Sixteen Mexican American mothers expressed their own goals and strategies for home-based parental involvement to support their adolescents’ academic performance, and responded to the prototypes of autonomy support parenting and use of psychological control. Four themes emerged from the data to explain the participants’ practice: (1) Explain the expectations for behavioral and academic pursuit through persistent “telling” and “reminding”; (2) Respond to children’s feelings from parents’ perspectives; (3) Encourage with provisions, praises, and criticisms; and (4) Allow choices upon trust in child’s sense of responsibility. Discussion is focused on how Mexican-American mothers’ conceptualization of “autonomy support” and “parental control” is influenced by the cultural values of educación and respeto. Culturally appropriate autonomy support training is suggested for effective intervention programs for Mexican-American parents.     

Classroom environment and approaches to learning: An investigation of the actual and preferred perceptions of Hong Kong secondary school students

This study is based on the responses of 180 Form 3 Hong Kong secondary students to preferred and actual forms of Chinese versions of the Classroom Environment Scale (Moos & Trickett 1974) and Learning Process Questionnaire (Biggs 1987) with reference to their Science classes. The data tended to support qualitative research indicating that Hong Kong secondary school students perceive their classroom to be relatively competitive and teacher controlled and as encouraging rote learning. The students tended to prefer a friendlier atmosphere where students and teachers collaborated to provide a greater variety of interesting but challenging activities. Such a learning environment, the students indicated, would tend to promote the deeper, more achievement-oriented approach to learning that they would prefer. The relationship was strongest between preferred deep approach and preferred learning environment. Some implications for improvement of student learning are discussed.     

Scaling of attitudes toward population problems

An attitudinal scale on population problems is constructed. Although the determination of attitudes of Americans toward population problems is meaningful in itself, an additional effort is made to demonstrate the empirical validity of acknowledged variables. Data were collected in the Tulsa Oklahoma Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area using a stratified proportionate sample. The 372 respondents representing a 1% sample do not differ significantly from the population of the total Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area. The interview schedule consisted of items designed to elicit standard socioeconomic information on the respondents along with their attitudes toward population problems. Using the Guttman technique of scalogram analysis, a population problems scale containing 6 items was developed. After validation of the original set of attitudinal items by factor analysis, the scale scores of the respondents were compared with selected socioeconomic variables in an attempt to empirically validate the scale. Using the Student's "t" associated with the Apearman rank correlation coefficient value and the Kruskal-Wallis 1-way analysis of variance, only the variables of education, number of children, and occupation proved to be associated with the population problems scale scores. It was learned that these variables were significant in other studies and do help to establish the empirical validity of the scale. The lack of association of variables of marital status, income, religion, race, and age suggest that the empirical validity of such relationships requires additional examination.     

ASSESSING TEACHING EFFECTIVENESS: AN INDIAN PERSPECTIVE

>An investigation is reported which tests the applicability of two American instruments designed to assess tertiary students’ evaluations of teaching effectiveness with 111 Indian graduate students. The scales were found to have generally high internal consistency reliability coefficients, most of the items were seen to be appropriate, and every item was considered of importance by at least some of the students. In addition, all but the Workload/Difficulty items clearly differentiated between ‘good’ and ‘poor’ lecturers. Further analysis generally supported the convergent and discriminant validity of those scales hypothesised to measure similar or dissimilar components of effective teaching. However, this analysis did indicate more overlap between aspects of teaching skill and enthusiasm than evident in Western studies. Factor analysis confirmed this finding as a strong main factor of teaching effectiveness plus minor factors referring to specific aspects of teaching were obtained.     

Conditioned inhibition of analgesia

Stimuli that predict the occurrence of aversive events come to elicit conditioned analgesia. Experiments 1A and 1B examined the possibility that conditioning can inhibit analgesia when stimuli are paired in a backward fashion with a shock US (Pavlovian CS- s). Analgesia conditioned in response to shock context exposure was reversed during the CS- (light) presentation after four sessions. The ability of the CS- to function as a conditioned inhibitor of analgesia was then evaluated in both summation (Experiment 1A) and retardation-of-acquisition testing (Experiments 1A and 1B). The results support the conclusion that a stimulus presented after shock in a backward fashion comes to be a conditioned inhibitor of analgesia. Experiments 2A and 2B examined the assumption that the results obtained with our pain sensitivity measure (tailflicking in response to radiant heat) reflect changes in responsiveness to painful input, rather than a general motor inhibition or general insensitivity to sensory input. In Experiment 2A, tailflick responding to painful and nonpainful input was compared in animals receiving either morphine or saline. In Experiment 2B, tailflick responding to painful and nonpainful input to the tail was compared in both the shock and a neutral context. In both experiments, only the painful input yielded changes in responsivity. The results support the conclusion that the alterations in pain sensitivity produced by the CS- for shock represents a conditioned inhibition specific to pain.