Zwischen Seniorität und Alterität

Demographic changes are leading to an altered population structure and subsequently to changes in the age structure of potential participants in educational training. Adult education has reacted to this by developing special provisions for older participants and a concept of intergenerational learning provision for different generations. Arranging such intentional intergenerational processes is indeed no small task for adult education. This contribution will look at this challenge more closely. To this aim, the orientations of professional and non-professional adult educators and participants in intergenerational learning processes will be reconstructed in a qualitative investigation. It can be shown that the andragogic skill of adult educators is a pre-requisite for the facilitation of learning processes, which are explicitly intergenerational.     

Accelerometer responsiveness to change between structured and unstructured physical activity in children and adolescents

This study examined if accelerometer-based assessments of physical activity were responsive to changes in physical activity level commensurate with performing structured versus unstructured activity in youth. Youth (6–16 years; N = 206) participated in a simulated after-school program that included structured and unstructured games on four occasions over a 3-year period. Recruitment occurred in 2007/2008 and data collection ended in 2011. Participants wore an Actigraph GT1M accelerometer on the hip. The Evenson cut-points were used to determine the time spent in each physical activity intensity, and standardized response means (SRM) were calculated and converted to standard effect sizes to be interpreted according to Cohen’s guidelines. SRMs ranged from trivial (0.16) to high (2.07), with the majority (75%) being classified as moderate or high. Our findings suggest that accelerometry was sensitive to differences in physical activity associated with structured compared to unstructured play, supporting the utility of accelerometry in evaluating activity-promoting interventions.     

Utility of the Youth Compendium of Physical Activities

Purpose: The purposes of this article are to: (a) describe the rationale and development of the Youth Compendium of Physical Activities (Youth Compendium); and (b) discuss the utility of the Youth Compendium for audiences in research, education, community, health care, public health, and the private sector. Methods: The Youth Compendium provides a list of 196 physical activities (PA) categorized by activity types, specific activities, and metabolic costs (youth metabolic equivalents of task [MET_y]) as measured by indirect calorimetry. The utility of the Youth Compendium was assessed by describing ways in which it can be used by a variety of audiences. Results: Researchers can use MET_y values to estimate PA levels and determine changes in PA in intervention studies. Educators can ask students to complete PA records to determine time spent in physical activities and to identify health-enhancing activities for classroom PA breaks. Community leaders, parents, and health care professionals can identify activity types that promote healthful behaviors. Public health agencies can use the MET_y values for surveillance and as a resource to inform progress toward meeting national physical activity guidelines. Applications for the private sector include the use of MET_y in PA trackers and other applications. Conclusion: The National Collaborative on Childhood Obesity Research Web site presents the Youth Compendium and related materials to facilitate measurement of the energy cost of nearly 200 physical activities in children and youth. The Youth Compendium provides a way to standardize energy costs in children and youth and has application for a wide variety of audiences.     

Evaluating the effectiveness of university widening participation activities in rural Australia

This article explores the effect university widening participation activities have had in improving access to university of students from rural government-run schools in New South Wales, Australia. An effective effort to evaluate the success of widening participation programs in rural Australia, specifically New South Wales, has not been achieved to date. This article addresses this issue in three distinct ways. First, previous efforts to evaluate widening participation effectiveness are explored and their successes and failings are described. Second, a method to rigorously evaluate university-run outreach programs in Australia’s unique socio-cultural context is constructed and explained. Third, this method is employed using a sample of Australian rural schools to evaluate outreach effectiveness. A mixed-method design combining multilevel growth models and in-depth interviews of careers advisors revealed teacher support of university outreach presence in schools did not necessarily translate to an opinion of outreach effectivity in raising university access levels. This was supported by quantitative analyses showing widening participation efforts in rural New South Wales have had little to no effect on the progression of rural students to university between 2010 and 2016.     

On Defining “Wisdom”: Baltes,Ardelt, Ryan,and Whitehead

Wisdom has been a topic of religion and philosophy since the dawning of human civilization. But only during the last two or three decades wisdom has become a topic of empirical research in developmental psychology, adult and old age education, as well as in management and leadership studies. The aim of this paper is to elaborate a new definition of “wisdom,” in order to provide a more adequate foundation for empirical wisdom research. To reach this goal, two empirical wisdom theories (Baltes and Ardelt) and two philosophical wisdom approaches (Ryan and Whitehead) are presented, discussed, compared, and synthesized. The results show that despite the fact that Baltes’ definition of “wisdom” is somewhat wider than Ardelt’s, their approaches have many aspects in common. Additionally, also Whitehead’s ideas on wisdom are quite similar to Baltes’ core criteria concerning wisdom-related knowledge, but Whitehead mentions two additional aspects which go beyond Baltes’ approach. Further, according to Ryan, wise persons must have very few unjustified beliefs; this necessary condition for a wise person is neither mentioned by Baltes, nor by Ardelt or Whitehead. Based on the ideas of these four approaches, a new definition of “wisdom” is presented, in which wisdom is relativised to time indices and moral systems. This definition consists of a cognitive, an ethical, and a reflective component. Further it is shown that Fischer’s and Dawson’s Lectical Assessment System is a major candidate for measuring wisdom on the basis of our new definition.     

Biomechanics of the two-handed dyno technique for sport climbing

The two-handed dyno technique was studied in nine experienced climbers. According to textbooks, the preferred technique is to jump only as high as necessary and to grab the upper hold exactly at the dead point (highest position of the body centre of mass). Piezoelectric force transducers were connected to the right and left footholds and to the lower and upper handholds. From the forces, the vertical take-off velocity and the jump height were calculated. The results showed that in unsuccessful jumps, the vertical take-off velocity is too small. In successful jumps, however, the vertical take-off velocity is higher than required. In order to reach the same required minimal height, the successful jumper produced a higher force than the unsuccessful (including marginal fail) jumper did. The force produced by the feet was approximately 1.8 times higher than that of the hands. Unsuccessful jumps were significantly closer to the dead point than successful ones. The peak force at the fingers after touchdown at the upper hold ranged from 1.1 to 1.63 times body weight. Overshooting, i.e. jumping higher than required resulted in a smaller peak force and a greater chance of performing a successful jump. In successful jumps, the climber jumps higher than required and grabs the upper hold before and below the dead point. Furthermore, the closer to the dead point the climber grasps the upper hold, the higher is the peak reaction force at the fingers. The advice for the climber is to jump higher than necessary (at least 10 cm), and to grab the handhold before the dead point. This results in a high success rate and a minimal finger injury risk.     

Körperbild und Körperzufriedenheit im Leistungssport

The controversy surrounding the role of competitive sports in the development of eating disorders has increased in recent decades. There are inconsistent findings in the literature concerning the relationship between eating disorders and competitive sports, especially aesthetic sports. The aim of this study was therefore to assess eating disorder-related psychopathology in a sample of competitive figure skaters (FS) representative for competitive aesthetic sports. Special attention is paid to the investigation of body image and body satisfaction. Patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) and a healthy control group (CG) served as comparison groups. None of the FS met the complete diagnostic criteria for an eating disorder. Furthermore no significant differences were observed between the FS and the CG regarding body image and body satisfaction. However, a significant difference was detected compared to the AN patients. Our results underline the necessity for a differentiated analysis and careful diagnostics of sport-specific aspects when considering eating disorder-related psychopathology in competitive sports.     

Activity identification and classification in wheelchair rugby using fractal dimensions

The purpose of the study was to develop an evidence-based method for identification and classification of wheelchair sports (rugby) activities and performance during a match using fractal dimensions. The approach involves five wheelchair rugby athletes of different classifications who were monitored during six different matches using mobile devices with in-built accelerometers. The linear acceleration signals were processed using two different approaches based on calculating fractal dimensions. One was based on Rényi’s entropy, which produced the probability dimension (S ₀), and the other was based on Hausdorff’s definition, resulting in the Hausdorff dimension (D _H). When both dimensions were individually plotted as cumulative distribution plots, they offered two approaches to analyze the performance of a wheelchair rugby athlete. Combining the two dimensions produced a two-dimensional (2D) mapping that identified five different activities of each athlete during a wheelchair rugby match—(1) no activities, (2) low activities, (3) high-speed coasting, (4) high-speed pushing, and (5) extreme collisions. In the 2D mapping, four boundary lines separate the five different activities, which produced a template for each athlete. It was found in this research that the classification and skill level of the athlete had an effect on the boundary line values that form the template. The outcome of the activity identification was also verified by comparing with video footage of the athletes. The method developed in this research has possible applications for coaching, match analysis, and talent identification.     

Cardiorespiratory fitness in urban adolescent girls: associations with race and pubertal status

Cardiorespiratory fitness affords health benefits to youth. Among females, weight-relative fitness declines during puberty and is lower among African American (AA) than Caucasian girls. Data indicate racial differences in pubertal timing and tempo, yet the interactive influence of puberty and race on fitness, and the role of physical activity (PA) in these associations have not been examined. Thus, independent and interactive associations of race and pubertal development with fitness in adolescent girls, controlling for PA were examined. Girls in grades 5–8 (n = 1011; Caucasian = 25.2%, AA = 52.3%, Other Race group = 22.5%) completed the Pubertal Development Scale (pubertal stage assessment) and Fitnessgram® Progressive Aerobic Cardiovascular Endurance Run (PACER) test (cardiorespiratory fitness assessment). PA was assessed by accelerometry. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were used to examine associations among race, pubertal stage and fitness, controlling for vigorous PA, AA, and pubertally advanced girls demonstrated lower fitness than Caucasian and less mature counterparts. Puberty and race remained significantly associated with fitness after controlling for vigorous PA. The interaction effect of race and puberty on fitness was non-significant. The pubertal influence on fitness is observed among AA adolescents. Associations between fitness and race/puberty appear to be independent of each other and vigorous PA. Pubertally advanced AA girls represent a priority group for fitness interventions.