Reproducibility of upper leg EMG frequency content during cycling

Reproducibility of frequency content from surface electromyography (sEMG) signals has not been assessed and it is unknown if incremental load testing design could affect sEMG in cycling. The goals of this study were to assess the reproducibility of measures from sEMG frequency content between sessions and to compare these frequency components between a ramp and a step incremental cycling test. Eighteen cyclists performed four incremental load cycling tests to exhaustion. Two tests were performed using a step increment (load started at 100 W for 3 min followed by increments of 30 W every 3 min) and two were performed using a ramp increment (load started at 100 W for 1 min followed by increments of 30 W·min^?1). sEMG was monitored bilaterally for the rectus femoris and vastus lateralis throughout the tests and converted into overall activation (whole signal bandwidth), high- and low-frequency contents. The reproducibility of the frequency content ranged from none to strong (ICC = 0.07–0.90). Vastus lateralis activation was larger at the step compared to the ramp test (P < 0.01), without differences for rectus femoris (P = 0.22–0.91) and for the high-frequency (P = 0.28–0.95) and low-frequency contents (P = 0.13–0.94). sEMG from vastus lateralis and rectus femoris presented none to strong reproducibility. Vastus lateralis is more activated in step test design.     

A model for the effective engagement of all stakeholders in engineering education and its pilot implementation

Methodologies for engineering learning and teaching (MELT) approach aims to enhance the attractiveness of education through science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) among young people, while promoting awareness of future careers in these areas. To this end, students’ expectations are considered within university programmes, aiming to an increased engagement in STEM careers. To accomplish these goals, a new and integrated approach (MELT) is presented, involving the main stakeholders in both scientific education and society. An education framework is presented, providing guidelines for an improved collaborative approach to STEM education in the future. Results from the pilot implementation of MELT are presented, from a small-scale education parliament prototype. From these initial stage and results, it is seen that there is a need for a proper alignment of expectations from all involved stakeholders, concerning the engineering education towards society’s demands.     

Orthographic learning in dyslexic Spanish children

Reading fluency is one of the basic processes of learning to read. Children begin to develop fluency when they are able to form orthographic representations of words, which provide direct, smooth, and fast reading. Dyslexic children of transparent orthographic systems are mainly characterized by poor reading fluency (Cuetos & Suárez-Coalla 2009; Spinelli, De Luca, Di Filippo, Mancini, Martelli, & Zoccolotti, 2005; Wimmer, 1993). Therefore, the main problem for these children could be the difficulty in developing orthographic representations of the words they read. The aim of this study was to test the ability of dyslexic Spanish-speaking children (whose native language is Spanish) to develop orthographic representations and determine if the context helps them. For this, two experiments were conducted with a group of 100 children, 7–12 years of age. The groups were comprised of 20 dyslexics, 40 chronological age-matched controls and 40 reading level-matched controls. In the first experiment, eight unfamiliar words (four short and four long) were presented six times within the context of a story. In the second experiment, eight pseudowords were presented on a computer and the children had to read them aloud. In both experiments, the reading and articulation times of experimental and control stimuli were compared, before and after the training. Children without dyslexia showed a decrease of the influence of length of word on reading speed, indicating a lexical reading, while for dyslexic children, the influence of length remained unchanged. These results appeared when the stimuli were presented in the context of a story as well as when presented in isolation. In short, our results describe that dyslexic children of transparent orthographic systems have problems in developing orthographic representations of words.     

Evaluating student allocation in the Portuguese public higher education system

This paper characterizes and evaluates the student allocation in the Portuguese public higher education system. It describes the supply and demand sides of the system by looking at the numerus clausus across areas of study and institutions, institutions’ degree of diversity, and performance and adjustment indicators based on students’ revealed preferences. Performance indicators quantify the adequacy between demand and supply, across institutions and fields of study, and gauge the performance of public higher education institutions in the competition for candidates. Adjustment indicators allow us to predict the potential impact of changes in higher education regulations on student allocation and its stability. According to these indicators, such changes could result in an expansion for some institutions and fields of study, whereas other institutions might face a reduction.

The Scheme Game: How DACA Recipients Navigate Barriers to Higher Education

College-bound recipients of DACA—a 2012?US administrative policy officially titled Consideration for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals—face a series of administrative and financial barriers in pursuing postsecondary education. These barriers often include a complicated process for in-state tuition consideration, as well as exclusion from the majority of educational subsidies. This research sheds new light on DACA students’ own understanding of their financial exclusions and the often ingenious methods they use to finance higher education. The research employs critical race theory/LatCrit frameworks to examine the structural systems of exclusion within educational policies and the corresponding measures taken by DACA recipient students in Ohio to overcome them. Participants’ testimonios highlight their own resilience in the face of multiple obstacles, dispel notions of meritocracy in higher education, and educate institutional agents about funding inequities in an effort to rectify them. This work finds, in response to the barriers they face, many DACA recipients in Ohio find a variety of unconventional ways to navigate a complex admissions process and secure a means of paying entirely out of pocket for their tuition. Participants in this longitudinal, qualitative research refer to these navigational strategies as participating in “the scheme game.” The scheme game consists of 3 overlapping practices: “grindin’,” “hustlin’,” and “schemin’.” Rooted in hip-hop, these terms originally refer to the ways Black, Brown, and immigrant communities navigate the barriers of a formal economy and participate in an informal economy to financially sustain themselves. Additionally, the research introduces the scheme game as a new epistemological perspective from which to understand the measures some DACA students take to afford a higher education.     

Learning strategies,styles and approaches: An analysis of their interrelationships

Research in the area of learning strategies and styles of university students has led to many studies as well as to the development of many research tools for measuring learning, but without the necessary interrelationships among the tools or within the research. The aim of this study has been to examine the interdependence among the best-known tools coming from different theoretical bases. A sample of 991 university students in their first and last years, from ten different disciplines, completed four tests: ILP, LASSI, ASI and LSQ. The scales of each test, taken as the unit of analysis, were submitted to a factor analysis by the principal-components and the principal-factors methods. The latter method revealed an overarching structure composed of the following four factors: Traditional Study Methods; Deep Processing; Elaborative Processing; and General Learning Styles. These relationships confirmed the existence of three dimensions, or paths involved in learning, with clear motivational and approach elements, and also showed a separation between Deep Processing and the Deep Approach. Finally, we carried out principal-factor analyses of ASI and LASSI, obtaining two factors for each inventory.

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Résumé La recherche dans le domaine de stratégies et des styles d'apprentissage chez les étudiants universitaires à abouti à de nombreuses études et a developpé divers instruments de mesures d'apprentissage, mais san ce rapport indispensable entre études et entre instruments. Le but de cette recherche a été d'examiner l'interdepéndence entre les instruments les plus connus provenants de différentes théories.Un echantillonage de 991 étudiants universitaires de première annèe, de dix disciplines différentes ont repondu à 4 tests: ILP, LASSI, ASI et LSQ. Les échelles de chaque test, prises comme unité d'analyse ont été soumises à une analyse factorielle d'après les méthodes de composantes principales et de facteurs principaux. Celle-ci revèle una structure commune composée des 4 facteurs suivants: Méthodes d'étude traditionelles, Traitement profond, Traitement élaboratif et Styles génériques d'apprentissage. Les rapports entre aux confirment l'existence de trois dimensions, impliquées dans l'apprentissage, avec des élèments de motivations et d'approches; et ils montrent aussi une séparation entre le Traitement profond et l'Approche profonde. Finalement, nous avons réalisé une analyse factorielle d'après le méthode de facteurs principaux pour les tests ASI et LASSI, obtenant deux facteurs pour chacun des ces tests.

     

Representation of the cell and its processes in high school students: An integrated view

This paper presents an integrated view of the ideas and conceptual problems of high school students with respect to the cell, its processes, structure and relation to the functions of multicellular organisms. The theme of cell has divided into eight topics, with a questionnaire for each topic. In these topics, different levels of representation and understanding are distinguished between general considerations about plants and animals, those connected with processes at organ and system levels and, finally, the level of cell processes. Data from 1200 students were analysed. Results show that students have an analogical mechanism that establishes an isomorphism between the representation of the functioning of multicellular organisms of cell processes. A series of problems in understanding was also shown. Results imply that these problems are mainly due to students' lack of differentiation between some processes at organism and organ level, and have important implications for learning this subject. Finally, some suggestions are made for teaching.     

REEARCH REPORT

This paper addresses the concept of geological time as used by students who face tasks that demand three types of skills: to locate events in time, to order them according to time calendar, and to manage time intervals. The empirical study consisted of asking high school students as well as technical school students to carry out tasks that required the use of the three previously mentioned components. It was found, first, that students frequently used erroneous temporal labels, which shows a lack of knowledge that would allow them to locate events within the context of geobiologic data. Second, the students did not store the representation of a succession of events, but were nevertheless able to create it by means of the deductive use of previous knowledge. Finally, the importance of having an appropriate representation of geological time intervals became patent while observing the students' difficulties in understanding geologic changes.     

Approaches to studying in higher education Portuguese students: a Portuguese version of the approaches and study skills inventory for students

This paper examines the validity of the Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students—short version (ASSIST; Tait et al. in Improving student learning: Improving students as learners, 1998), to be used with Portuguese undergraduate students. The ASSIST was administrated to 566 students, in order to analyse a Portuguese version of this inventory. Exploratory factor analysis (principal axis factor analysis followed by direct oblimin rotation) reproduced the three main factors that correspond to the original dimensions of the inventory (deep, surface apathetic and strategic approaches to learning). The results are consistent with the background theory on approaches to learning. Additionally, the reliability analysis revealed acceptable internal consistency indexes for the main scales and subscales. This inventory might represent a valuable research tool for the assessment of approaches to learning among Portuguese higher education students.