Understanding the causes and management of problem behaviour in Zimbabwean schools: teacher perceptions

Problem behaviour continues to present a challenge for school-teachers worldwide. Since school-teachers around the globe have different conceptualisations of what constitutes problem behaviour, the purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of Zimbabwean school-teachers about their perceived causes of problem behaviour among students in school, and how they usually deal with the problem behaviours. A Problem Behaviour Survey developed specifically for this study was administered to a convenience sample of 62 teachers enrolled in a part-time postgraduate diploma at a local university in Zimbabwe. Participants identified bullying, fighting, violence, fighting, truancy, drug/alcohol abuse and sexual immorality as the most prevalent problem behaviours in their schools. Results of this study also demonstrated that few teachers thought that physical punishment was an effective way to manage problem behaviour and that school-teachers should be allowed to use it. These findings were important in helping school-teachers and administrators to develop a better understanding of problem behaviour in their schools as a pre-requisite to the development of more effective behaviour management practices.     

Influence of body position when considering the ecological validity of laboratory time-trial cycling performance

The aims of this study were to compare the physiological demands of laboratory- and road-based time-trial cycling and to examine the importance of body position during laboratory cycling. Nine male competitive but non-elite cyclists completed two 40.23-km time-trials on an air-braked ergometer (Kingcycle) in the laboratory and one 40.23-km time-trial (RD) on a local road course. One laboratory time-trial was conducted in an aerodynamic position (AP), while the second was conducted in an upright position (UP). Mean performance speed was significantly higher during laboratory trials (UP and AP) compared with the RD trial (P < 0.001). Although there was no difference in power output between the RD and UP trials (P > 0.05), power output was significantly lower during the AP trial than during both the RD (P = 0.013) and UP trials (P = 0.003). Similar correlations were found between AP power output and RD power output (r = 0.85, P = 0.003) and between UP power output and RD power output (r = 0.87, P = 0.003). Despite a significantly lower power output in the laboratory AP condition, these results suggest that body position does not affect the ecological validity of laboratory-based time-trial cycling.     

Finding Fruit on the Vines: Using Higher Education Research and Institutional Research to Guide Institutional Policies and Strategies

This is the first of two articles that examine the utility of higher education research to help guide campus-based interventions to enhance institutional effectiveness. This first article describes the organizational context and sequence of events, which set the stage for the interventions that were implemented at this public research university. It next delineates the interventions implemented in areas related to enrollment management. Finally, the first article describes the effects of these interventions. The second article, which follows immediately in this issue, outlines programmatic efforts undertaken to enhance the quality of the first-year experience for new students.