Responding to Renewed Emphasis on Handwriting

This article proposes a developmental model to socialize teachers at all levels (preservice, novice, and experienced) and in all positions (general education, special education, elementary school, middle school, and high school) in the methodology of action research. A process for advancing professional understanding is theorized to include the phases of acquisition, fluency, and generalization. Within each phase, a confluence of skills, abilities, attitudes, and contexts are addressed to highlight critical considerations that facilitate the systematic acculturation of teachers to this potentially compelling research approach.     

Grounding participatory action research in rural Colombia: a demonstration study on youth financial inclusion

ABSTRACT

Since the new millennium, the issue of financial inclusion of young people has increasingly gained recognition, especially in relation to those living in deprived circumstances. Financial inclusion can be promoted through education that specifically aims for the strengthening of young persons’ financial capabilities. In 2013, a participatory action research project was started in a rural region of Colombia to improve the research capacity of a local university through the development and implementation of a demonstration project on the financial inclusion of young people. University teachers, students and employees of a financial cooperative were trained in conducting qualitative methods with a specific aim of being responsive to the life stories of their interviewees. This paper shares the experiences from an international team of educational scholars who aim for the democratisation of research capacity and the dissemination of localised knowledge. This is done by working closely together with stakeholders and ultimately giving a voice to youth employed in the informal economy as they are usually the ones being most deprived from access to financial services.     

Influence of longswing technique on the kinematics and key release parameters of the straddle Tkachev on uneven bars

Tkachev on uneven bars is a release and re-grasp skill performed using variations of preparatory longswing techniques; the reasons why different techniques are chosen remains unclear. This study examined kinematic and key release parameters specific to three distinct techniques with the aim of understanding the relative benefits of each. During two international artistic gymnastics competitions six arch, straddle and pike longswings preceding the straddle Tkachev were recorded using twin video cameras. Calibration and movement images were digitised and reconstructed using 3D DLT. Shoulder and hip angular kinematics, angular momentum and key release parameters were compared between techniques. In the arch longswing, the first and second hip functional phases began significantly earlier than the straddle or pike. No significant differences were established for release parameters although large effect sizes for horizontal release velocity and angular momenta about the mass centre and bar were reported between the arch and other two variants. Therefore, the arch variant may provide the opportunity to develop more complex combinations following the Tkachev. Providing insight into mechanical advantages of specific longswing techniques, and highlighting those that elicit desirable characteristics offers the potential to provide coaches with objective data on technique selection and ultimately skill development.     

General Media

David Manning White, ed. The Great Contemporary Issues: Popular Culture (New York: Arno Press, 1975—$35.00)

Stan Lee's Son of Origins of Marvel Comics (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1975—$10.95/6.95)

Les Daniels' Living in Fear: A History of Horror in the Mass Media (New York: Scribners', 1975—$12.95)     

Exploring the Recursive Nature of Food and Family Communication

Objective: Students experience the numerous ways in which a relationship exists between the food families eat and the patterns of communication families enact; this activity illustrates how family metaphors, stories, rules, roles, rituals, and other relevant course concepts are conveyed through food

Courses: Family communication, intercultural communication, interpersonal communication, and gender communication     

The self‐regulated learning aspect of metacognition: A component of gifted education

As interest increases in the connection between metacognition and gifted, a shift in the definition of giftedness from person to performance variables allows an even closer link to skills of self‐regulatory metacognition such as defining, focusing, persisting, guiding, coping, correcting, reinforcing, and solving. Researchers recommend explicit instructional models that teach specific strategies for disciplined, reflective problem solving while stressing accuracy and persistent concentration. This article provides such a detailed account of a classroom‐tested early childhood pedagogy for gifted learners, especially the underachieving gifted. Teacher and peer modeling of think‐aloud, behavioral demonstration, and cueing of five steps to efficient task accomplishment are outlined with examples. Benefits of productive self‐regulated learning strategies during task periormances are reported from teachers, parents, and students.