A Field-Based Testing Protocol for Assessing Gross Motor Skills in Preschool Children: The CHAMPS Motor Skills Protocol (CMSP)

The purpose of the study was to develop a valid and reliable tool for use in assessing motor skills in preschool children in field based settings. The development of the CHAMPS (Children's Activity and Movement in Preschool Study) Motor Skills Protocol (CMSP) included evidence of its reliability and validity for use in field-based environments as part of large epidemiological studies. Following pilot work, 297 children (3-5 years old) from 22 preschools were tested using the final version of the CMSP and the TGMD-2. Reliability of the CMSP and interobserver reliability were determined using intraclass correlation procedures (ICC; ANOVA). Concurrent validity was assessed using Pearson correlation coefficients to compare the CMSP to the original Test of Gross Motor Development (2(nd) Edition) (TGMD-2). Results indicated that test reliability, interobserver reliability and validity coefficients were all high, generally above R/r = 0.90. Significant age differences were found. Outcomes indicate that the CMSP is an appropriate tool for assessing motor development of 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old children in field-based settings that are consistent with large-scale trials.     

Anorexia athletica in pre-professional ballet dancers

Competitive sport has been under increasing discussion as a possible favourable factor in the development of eating disorders among children and adolescents. The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of sport-specific eating disorders, in line with the concept of anorexia athletica. This prospective field study included one experimental group and two control groups (disease and healthy). Fifty-two pre-professional ballet dancers aged 13-20 years were tested for clinical eating disorders, anorexia athletica criteria, eating disorder related psychopathology and self-concept, and were compared with 52 patients with anorexia nervosa and 44 non-athletic controls of the same age. The study was conducted using semi-structured interviews as well as self-report questionnaires. A clinical eating disorder diagnosis was made in 1.9% of the ballet dancers versus 0% of the high school students; anorexia athletica was diagnosed in 5.8% of the dancers versus 2.3% of the students. Ballet dancers scored lower than patients with anorexia nervosa with regard to eating disorder related psychopathology and higher than the patients with regard to self-concept. We conclude that more sensitive tools to differentiate between sport-specific (eating) patterns, anorexia athletica and clinically relevant eating disorders are needed, especially for aesthetic sports such as ballet. It remains an important goal to identify athletes with symptoms of anorexia athletica irrespective of their physique and/or sport.     

The influence of a residential outdoor education programme to pupil’s environmental perception

This empirical study finds support for the hypothesis that participation in a special residential education programme enhances facets of pupils’ environmental perception. A 4-day extra-curricular educational unit with a cognitive outdoors focus (established in a nature centre in France) was surveyed by using a two stage sampling design in a pre-post-treatment evaluation; the post-test was delayed for a one-month period after participation. All selected participating pupils (n=151) responded twice to the same perception questionnaire. The factorial structure of this questionnaire had been previously developed using a large European sample (n=4500) and separately validated in a smaller French pupil sample (n=900). The matched-pair pre-post-test survey showed significant differences in two of the five primary factors; both of them covered utilitarian preferences and scored in a way which indicated an increase in sensitivity to the environment. A pre-post-tested control group (n=78) revealed no significant difference. Possible reasons for the partial shift in primary factors are discussed, including a consideration of two related studies (in Germany and Switzerland) which were both monitored by the same measurement instrument.     

Pädagogische Zeitschriften Österreichs

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Environmental perception of French and some Western European secondary school students

This paper describes, by focusing on factor analytic structures, pupils’ reactions towards the utilisation and preservation of nature. A previously hypothesised model based on these two domains (comprised of 5 primary factors) was shown to be valid for four different Western European pupil samples: CH, D, DK, IRL. The empirical basis of this present paper comprises a survey of about 900 French pupils of both genders aged between 11 and 16 years from rural areas who responded to a paper-and-pencil questionnaire. Data from the remaining European samples added some 4000 respondents based on the same objective test each. The purpose of the present study was five-fold: Firstly, to test and confirm the hypothesised primary and secondary factor structure for the combined data set. Secondly, to apply the methods of linear structural relationship analysis to test the existence of two higher-order factors (the domains: “Preservation” and “Utilisation”). Thirdly, to investigate any age or gender effect in the primary factors. Fourthly, to provide an age-adjusted empirical instrument for evaluation purposes of educational programmes featuring conservation and environmental protection. Finally, to compare the means within-region factor scores in anticipation of substantial between-region differences. These differences followed a rather consistent pattern supporting the interpretation that “utilising” nature is negatively correlated with positive environmental reactions.     

Dynamic multimedia stream adaptation and rate control for heterogeneous networks

Dynamic adaptation of multimedia content is seen as an important feature of next generation networks and pervasive systems enabling terminals and applications to adapt to changes in e.g. context, access network, and available Quality-of-Service (QoS) due to mobility of users, devices or sessions. We present the architecture of a multimedia stream adaptation service which enables communication between terminals having heterogeneous hardware and software capabilities and served by heterogeneous networks. The service runs on special content adaptation nodes which can be placed at any location within the network. The flexible structure of our architecture allows using a variety of different adaptation engines. A generic transcoding engine is used to change the codec of streams. An MPEG-21 Digital Item Adaptation (DIA) based transformation engine allows adjusting the data rate of scalable media streams. An intelligent decision-taking engine implements adaptive flow control which takes into account current network QoS parameters and congestion information. Measurements demonstrate the quality gains achieved through adaptive congestion control mechanisms under conditions typical for a heterogeneous network.     

Classroom Location,Activity Type,and Physical Activity During Preschool Children's Indoor Free-Play

Early Childhood Education Journal - Preschool children spend most of their day in the indoor classroom, but it is unknown which learning centers or activity types are associated with physical...