Effects on muscle strength,maximal jump height,flexibility and postural sway after soccer and Zumba exercise among female hospital employees: a 9-month randomised controlled trial

This 9-month randomised controlled workplace physical activity trial investigated the effects of soccer and Zumba exercise, respectively, on muscle strength, maximal jump height, sit-and-reach flexibility and postural sway among female workers. A total of 107 female hospital employees aged 25–63 were cluster-randomised to a soccer group, a Zumba group or a control group. Training was conducted outside working hours as two to three 1-h weekly sessions the first 3 months and once a week the last 6 months. Tests were conducted at baseline, after 3 and 9 months. The soccer group improved maximal neck extension strength both after 3 (1.2 kg; P < 0.05) and 9 months (1.7 kg; P < 0.01) compared to the control group. The Zumba group improved maximal trunk extension strength (3.1 kg; P = 0.04) after 3 months, with improvements in postural sway velocity moment (?9.2 mm²/s; P < 0.05) and lower limb lean mass (0.4 kg; P < 0.05) after 9 months. No significant intervention effects were revealed in vertical jump height or sit-and-reach flexibility. The present study indicates that workplace-initiated soccer and Zumba exercise may be beneficial for improvement of the neck and trunk strength, which may have preventive effects with regard to future perceived muscle pain in the respective body regions. Furthermore, the Zumba group revealed positive effects on lower limb lean mass and postural sway compared to the control group.     

Development of feedforward control in a dynamic manual tracking task

To examine the development of feedforward control during manual tracking, 117 participants in 5 age groups (6 to 7, 8 to 9, 10 to 11, 12 to 14, and 15 to 17 years) tracked an accelerating dot presented on a monitor by moving an electronic pen on a digitizer. To remain successful at higher target velocities, they had to create a predictive model of the target's motion. The ability to track the target at higher velocities increased, and the application of a feedback-based step-and-hold strategy decreased with age, as shown by increases in maximum target velocity and decreases in number of stops between ages 6–7 and 8–9 and between ages 8–9 and 10–11. The ability to exploit feedforward control in a dynamic tracking task improves significantly with age.     

Preservice teachers’ knowledge of proof by mathematical induction

There is a growing effort to make proof central to all students’ mathematical experiences across all grades. Success in this goal depends highly on teachers’ knowledge of proof, but limited research has examined this knowledge. This paper contributes to this domain of research by investigating preservice elementary and secondary school mathematics teachers’ knowledge of proof by mathematical induction. This research can inform the knowledge about preservice teachers that mathematics teacher educators need in order to effectively teach proof to preservice teachers. Our analysis is based on written responses of 95 participants to specially developed tasks and on semi-structured interviews with 11 of them. The findings show that preservice teachers from both groups have difficulties that center around: (1) the essence of the base step of the induction method; (2) the meaning associated with the inductive step in proving the implication P(k) ⇒ P(k + 1) for an arbitrary k in the domain of discourse of P(n); and (3) the possibility of the truth set of a sentence in a statement proved by mathematical induction to include values outside its domain of discourse. The difficulties about the base and inductive steps are more salient among preservice elementary than secondary school teachers, but the difficulties about whether proofs by induction should be as encompassing as they could be are equally important for both groups. Implications for mathematics teacher education and future research are discussed in light of these findings.

Who likes to engage in writing? – The role of children’s beliefs and intrinsic value regarding leisure writing

Abstract

While leisure writing may help children to acquire writing skills, it can also be considered as an inherently valuable cultural activity. This study explores how children’s beliefs may explain to what extent children are inclined to leisure writing and if there are any gender differences. Building on preliminary scale development work, we analysed data from 963 third-graders. Variables included (a) the intrinsic value attached to leisure writing (b) preceding behavioural, normative, and control beliefs related to these activities, and (c) the level of leisure writing. In a structural equation model, the preceding beliefs were applied as explanatory variables for the intrinsic value. Intrinsic value, in turn, explained a large proportion of variance in children’s leisure-writing activities. Gender differences in leisure writing were mediated by intrinsic value. Significance of intrinsic value and preceding beliefs regarding leisure-writing activities are discussed.     

A coping-oriented group intervention for students waiting to undergo secondary school transition: Effects on coping strategies,self-esteem,and social anxiety symptoms

To facilitate students’ transition into secondary school, a coping-oriented group program was designed. Pre- and posttest data from three intervention groups conducted over the course of 5 weeks were combined for a total of 56 sixth-grade students waiting to undergo school transition. There was also a test–retest control group (n = 26). Results indicate that completion of the intervention led to a significant decrease on scales measuring self-reported social anxiety symptoms. There was also a significant increase in intervention participants’ self-reported self-esteem, likeability, adherence to social rules, and frequency of active coping strategies, compared with the control group. Furthermore, a regression analysis showed that change in the self-reported use of active coping strategies predicted change in social anxiety symptoms for the intervention group. However, no significant change in self-reported use of passive-avoidant coping was observed. We conclude that facilitating effective coping with stress may provide a highly beneficial perspective toward designing transition groups, that may also lead to a significant reduction in social anxiety symptoms in adolescents waiting to undergo secondary school transition.     

Assessing perceived need support and need satisfaction in physical education: adaptation and validation with English students

This study aimed to validate an English version of Basic Psychological Needs Support Questionnaire (BPNSQ) and the Basic Psychological Needs in Physical Education Scale (BPN-PE) in the physical education context. Participants included 453 students aged between 12 and 17 years. For the BPNSQ, the hypothesized three-factor solution displayed high interfactor correlations (rs > 1), and a follow-up analysis indicated that the items were represented by a single need-support factor. For the BPN-PE, hypothesized three-factor solution was supported. Both scales were found invariant across gender, and the nomological validity was also demonstrated through the associations between factors of both scales. This study provides initial support for the use of the BPN-PE to assess psychological need satisfaction within the physical education context among English-speaking adolescents. The hypothesized three-factor structure of the BPNSQ was not supported and more research is needed to evaluate the English version in the physical education context.     

Does the accuracy matter? Accurate concept map feedback helps students improve the cohesion of their explanations

Students are often challenged by the demand of writing cohesive explanatory texts. Prior research has shown that providing students with concept map feedback that visualizes explanatory cohesion deficits helped students generate more cohesive explanations. We conducted an experiment to investigate whether the accuracy of the provided information within the concept map feedback affected students’ improvements of cohesion. Accordingly, we varied the represented accuracy of information within such concept maps: Students either received accurate concept map feedback that depicted the real relations between concepts, as well as the authentic cohesion gaps in their explanations, or students received inaccurate concept map feedback, which depicted randomly drawn relations and random cohesion gaps. Additionally, in a baseline condition, students did not receive any feedback. We found that the students in the accurate feedback condition generated more cohesive explanations than the students in the no-feedback condition, whereas the students in the inaccurate feedback condition lay in-between. Evidently, providing feedback in general can be regarded as beneficial to enhance students’ writing. However, the accuracy of the provided feedback further impacts the effectiveness of computer-generated concept maps.