Validity and Reliability of the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire (GPAQ)

There is limited published validity and reliability evidence to support using the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire. Two studies were conducted to evaluate validity and reliability evidence for the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire. In Study 1: 69 adults completed the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire (three months apart; n?=?54), International Physical Activity Questionnaire, fitness and anthropometric measures. All participants wore a pedometer and 53 participants wore an accelerometer for seven days at baseline. In Study 2, 16 adults completed the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire 10 days apart. Global Physical Activity Questionnaire moderate and vigorous minutes were correlated with the accelerometer moderate (r?=?0.28) and vigorous (r?=?0.48) physical activity. The Global Physical Activity Questionnaire and International Physical Activity Questionnaire were related for sedentary behaviors (r?=?0.51), moderate-to-vigorous (r?=?0.48) and vigorous (r?=?0.63) PA. Global Physical Activity Questionnaire moderate-to-vigorous physical activity was associated with percent fat (r =??0.32), estimated VO₂ max (r?=?0.26), and step count (r?=?0.39). The Global Physical Activity Questionnaire demonstrated graded differences across categories for step count, body mass index, waist circumference, percent fat, fitness, and accelerometer measured activity. Short-term test–retest reliability (10 days) ranged from 0.83 to 0.96 while long-term reliability (three months) was 0.53 to 0.83. These data provide low-to-moderate validity and generally acceptable reliability evidence for the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire.     

Diagnosis and Monitoring of Basic Motor Competencies among Third-Graders in Luxembourg. An Assessment Tool for Teachers

ABSTRACT

Basic motor competencies (in German: Motorische Basiskompetenzen; MOBAK) are performance dispositions empowering children to participate in the movement culture. For the diagnosis of basic motor competencies, a test instrument consisting of 15 test items for assessing third graders’ basic motor competencies was developed (MOBAK-LUX-3) and validated empirically. Basic motor competencies were operationalized as test items in the form of basic motor qualifications, which are cultural tools formulated as a minimum standard. Data (MOBAK-LUX-3, age, gender, migration background, weight, height, sport club membership, weekly physical activity) were collected in 2015 amongst third-graders in elementary school in Luxembourg (N = 488; 50.4% female; M age = 8.8 years, SD = .51). A confirmatory factor analysis confirmed a four-factor structure (locomotion, object control, moving in water, object locomotion; CFI = .94; TLI = .92; RMSEA = .036; WRMR = 0.89). Five classes with different competence profiles were determined through latent class analysis. The MOBAK-LUX-3 test instrument satisfies test theory requirements and can be used to determinate motor competence profiles.     

Investigating the relationships between approaches to learning,learner identities and academic achievement in higher education

This paper considers relationships between approaches to learning, learner identities, self-efficacy beliefs and academic achievement in higher education. In addition to already established survey instruments, a new scale, subject area affinity, was developed. The scale explores the extent to which students identify with their area of study and imagine being part of it in future. The new scale showed strong psychometric properties when it was tested on a sample of 4377 students at a research-intensive university. The new scale correlated positively with both the deep approach and self-efficacy scales. The new scale also correlated negatively with the surface approach scale. K-means cluster analysis identified seven distinct groups of students who espoused interpretable combinations of approaches, self-efficacy and subject area affinity. Cluster membership was associated with differences in academic achievement. Implications are discussed.     

Sensitivity of SEM Fit Indexes With Respect to Violations of Uncorrelated Errors

This simulation study investigated the sensitivity of commonly used cutoff values for global-model-fit indexes, with regard to different degrees of violations of the assumption of uncorrelated errors in confirmatory factor analysis. It is shown that the global-model-fit indexes fell short in identifying weak to strong model misspecifications under both different degrees of correlated error terms, and various simulation conditions. On the basis of an example misspecification search, it is argued that global model testing must be supplemented by this procedure. Implications for the use of structural equation modeling are discussed.     

Learning in a game-based virtual environment: a comparative evaluation in higher education

The authors define the requirements and a conceptual model for comparative evaluation research of simulation games and serious games (SGs) in a learning context. A first operationalisation of the model was used to comparatively evaluate a suite of 14 SGs on varying topics played between 2004 and 2009 in 13 institutes of higher education in the Netherlands. The questions in this research were: what is the perceived learning effectiveness of the games and what factors explain it? How can we comparatively evaluate games for learning? Data were gathered through pre- and post-game questionnaires among 1000 students, leading to 500 useful datasets and 230 complete datasets for analysis (factor analysis, scaling, t-test and correlation analysis) to give an explorative, structural model. The findings are discussed and a number of propositions for further research are formulated. The conclusion of the analysis is that the students’ motivation and attitudes towards game-based learning before the game, their actual enjoyment, their efforts during the game and the quality of the facilitator/teacher are most strongly correlated with their learning satisfaction. The degree to which the experiences during the game were translated back into the underlying theories significantly determines the students’ learning satisfaction. The quality of the virtual game environment did not matter so much. The authors reflect upon the general methodology used and offer suggestions for further research and development.     

The filament forming reactions of vimentin tetramers studied in a serial-inlet microflow device by small angle x-ray scattering

The structural organization of metazoan cells and their shape are established through the coordinated interaction of a composite network consisting of three individual filament systems, collectively termed the cytoskeleton. Specifically, microtubules and actin filaments, which assemble from monomeric globular proteins, provide polar structures that serve motor proteins as tracks. In contrast, intermediate filaments (IFs) assemble from highly charged, extended coiled coils in a hierarchical assembly mechanism of lateral and longitudinal interaction steps into non-polar structures. IF proteins are expressed in a distinctly tissue-specific way and thereby serve to generate the precise plasticity of the respective cells and tissues. Accordingly, in the cell, numerous parameters such as pH and salt concentration are adjusted such that the generation of functional networks is ensured. Here, we transfer the problem for the mesenchymal IF protein vimentin to an in vitro setting and combine small angle x-ray scattering with microfluidics and finite element method simulations. Our approach is adapted to resolve the early assembly steps, which take place in the sub-second to second range. In particular, we reveal the influence of ion species and concentrations on the assembly. By tuning the flow rates and thus concentration profiles, we find a minimal critical salt concentration for the initiation of the assembly. Furthermore, our analysis of the surface sensitive Porod regime in the x-ray data reveals that the formation of first assembly intermediates, so-called unit length filaments, is not a one-step reaction but consists of distinct consecutive lateral association steps followed by radial compaction as well as smoothening of the surface of the full-width filament.     

Observing justice in the primary school classroom

Justice-related situations are a part of students? everyday life. In order to test the antecedents, correlates, and consequences of (in)justice in school, valid measures of justice are needed. To our knowledge, this is the first study to develop an observer low inference rating instrument that can be applied to measure justice in the primary classroom. In two pre-studies, justice-relevant situations in the classroom were extracted and observable indicators for these situations were developed. In the main study, this instrument was used to observe 208 primary school students with regard to their experiences of justice or injustice. In addition to this, other measures of justice were developed to examine the convergence between observer low inference ratings of classroom justice and high inference rating instruments for teachers, students, and external observers.Factor analyses and correlations between the different indices of the observer low inference rating and the high inference rating items suggested that incidents of justice and injustice in the classroom do not tend to co-occur frequently. Teachers do not appear to have a general tendency to treat a child more or less justly across a large number of situations.The findings suggest that a comprehensive assessment of classroom justice requires a multi-method approach where the justice ratings of students, teachers and external observers are all taken into consideration.