Traditional balance and slackline training are associated with task-specific adaptations as assessed with sensorimotor tests

The purpose of this study was to measure alterations in sensorimotor skills and balance resulting from slackline training and conventional balance training. Forty-three physically fit subjects were randomized into three groups. Two groups practiced three times a week for 15?minutes, including at least once supervised session, on the slackline or perform conventional balance training for 6 weeks. The control group was not allowed to perform any balance training. Before and after the intervention, the subjects underwent sensorimotor and strength tests. The results of our intra-class correlation analysis showed that the stability parameters from the multifunctional training device (MFT, 0.7), the height during the countermovement jump (CMJ, 0.95) and the maximum force (0.88) during leg press showed excellent reliability. A post hoc comparison indicated a larger effect of conventional training (almost 11% reduction in MFT stability) compared with slackline training in group-wide comparisons of the pre- to the post-training measurements. The factor analysis showed that stability and sensorimotor assessment using MFT were correlated, as were height during CMJ and maximal force during leg press, which represented dynamic strength. Because CMJ had the highest intra-class correlation value, it was chosen over maximum force from leg press. For these reasons, only two out of nine measured parameters, namely MFT stability and CMJ, were analysed across groups. The only observed difference between the two groups was MFT stability (slackline???1.5%, conventional???13%), whereas the improvement of CMJ was the same (slackline?+?3%, conventional?+?3%). It can be concluded that slacklining is partly complementary to conventional sensorimotor training.     

Uneducating South Africa: The failure to address the 1910–1993 legacy

This paper analyses various data on the South African schooling system since 1910. The data collected for the study cover a wide range of education indicators, from pupil enrolments, pupil teacher ratios, real expenditure (aggregate and per capita), matriculation pass rates, to some indicators of the quality of matriculation passes. The authors provide an indication of both inputs into and outputs of the educational system. In broad terms, the data indicate that from an educational perspective South Africa followed a modernisation trajectory that, although it drew ever larger numbers of pupils into the schooling system, was partial, distorted and fundamentally dysfunctional. The educational process was strongly affected by racial factors. To the extent that education is an important determinant of long run growth performance of economies, this implies that South Africa's educational policies were inimical to its long run growth.     

Induced beliefs about a fictive energy drink influences 200-m sprint performance†

Placebo and nocebo effects occur in response to subjective expectations and their subsequent neural actions. Research shows that information shapes expectations that, consequently, influence people’s behaviour. In this study, we examined the effects of a fictive and inert green colour energy drink provided for three groups (n?=?20/group) with different information. The first group was led to expect that the drink augments running performance (positive information), the second group was led to expect that the drink may or may not improve performance (partial-positive information), while the third group was told that earlier research could not demonstrate that the drink improves performance (neutral/control). At baseline, the three groups did not differ in their 200-m sprint performance (p?>?.05). One week later, 20-min immediately after ingesting the drink, all participants again ran 200?m. The positive information group increased its performance by 2.41?s, which was statistically significant (p?<?.001) and also perceived its sprint-time shorter (p?<?.05) than the other two groups. A better performance (0.97?s) that approached but did not reach statistical significance was also noted in the partial-positive information group, and a lesser change (0.72?s) that was statistically not significant was noted in the neutral information control group. These results reveal that drinking an inert liquid, primed with positive information, changes both the actual and the self-perceived time on a 200-m sprint. The current findings also suggest that the level of certainty of the information might be linked to the magnitude of change in performance.     

The relationship between students’ approaches to learning and the assessment of learning outcomes

The purpose of the present study is to gain more insight into the relationship between students’ approaches to learning and students’ quantitative learning outcomes, as a function of the different components of problem-solving that are measured within the assessment. Data were obtained from two sources: the revised two factor study process questionnaire (R-SPQ-2F) and students’ scores in their final multiple-choice exam. Using a model of cognitive components of problem-solving translated into specifications for assessment, the multiple-choice questions were divided into three categories. Three aspects of the knowledge structure that can be targeted by assessment of problem-solving were used as the distinguishing categories. These were: understanding of concepts; understanding of the principles that link concepts; and linking of concepts and principles to application conditions and procedures. The 133 second year law school students in our sample had slightly higher scores for the deep approach than for the surface approach to learning. Plotting students’ approaches to learning indicated that many students had low scores for both deep and surface approaches to learning. Correlational analysis showed no relationship between students’ approaches to learning and the components of problem-solving being measured within the multiple choice assessment. Several explanations are discussed.     

Action‐research and Food and Nutrition Security: A school experience mediated by conceptual graphic representation tool

This study deals with the development of a graphic representation tool as a way to support educational planning in an elementary school in the rural area of Brasilia (Brazil’s capital), aiming at the implementation of an integrated action‐research project focusing on hunger and nutrition. The graphic tool made it possible to promote dialogical–reflexive interactions among school teachers as to the identification of competencies and skills in elementary education curriculum and generating apprenticeship themes, scientific concepts, and educational activities. It also constitutes a useful tool for the teaching staff to realize the interdependences among the many school subjects, and to understand their practices, thus leading to self‐evaluation with greater awareness for potential for transformation.     

How Well Does the Sum Score Summarize the Test? Summability as a Measure of Internal Consistency

Many researchers use Cronbach's alpha to demonstrate internal consistency, even though it has been shown numerous times that Cronbach's alpha is not suitable for this. Because the intention of questionnaire and test constructers is to summarize the test by its overall sum score, we advocate summability, which we define as the proportion of total test variation that is explained by the sum score. This measure is closely related to Loevinger's H. The mathematical derivation of summability as a measure of explained variation is given for both scale and dichotomously scored items. Using computer simulations, we show that summability performs adequately and we apply it to an existing productive vocabulary test. An open‐source tool to easily calculate summability is provided online ( https://sites.google.com/view/summability ).     

Analyzing the use of history in mathematics education: issues and challenges around Balacheff’s cKȼ model

Part of the international reflection on the use of history in mathematics teaching consists in a quest of frameworks and models suitable for empirical studies. Following this demand, this paper explores the way Balacheff’s cK? model, a model taken from the didactics of mathematics, can be used in the analysis of learning at student level. In the first part of this paper, Balacheff’s cK? model (conceptions, knowledge, ?oncepts) is shortly presented, and in the second part, the relationship between the epistemological background of the model and the use of the history of mathematics is explored in order to show a possible suitableness. The third part addresses an example of a school activity (about ancient Indian geometry) in which the model is applied and the historical issues clarified. Questioning the role of problems both in the cK? model and in the use of history, the last part shows how a study at the students’ conception level enlightens the way in which historical elements can interact with contemporary mathematical learning.