Hybridising Sport Education and Teaching for Personal and Social Responsibility to include students with disabilities

The present study aimed to explore the impact of the combination of two pedagogical models, Sport Education and Teaching for Personal and Social Responsibility, for learners with disabilities experiencing a contactless kickboxing learning unit. Twelve secondary education students agreed to participate. Five had disabilities (intellectual and motor). Additionally, three physical education teachers and the mother of one of the students contributed. Five different research instruments were used to obtain information from all participants: drawings, open-ended questions, discussion groups, diaries and semi-structured interviews. Thematic content analysis and constant comparison guided data analysis resulted in three major categories: part of the team, learning and enjoyment. Several ideas were also identified: inclusion, friendship, cooperation, students’ important role and transference. In conclusion, the hybridisation of Sport Education and Teaching for Personal and Social Responsibility seems to be a powerful tool for including students with disabilities in physical education, helping them and their classmates connect in and out of class.     

Students’ Understanding of the Special Theory of Relativity and Design for a Guided Visit to a Science Museum

The present paper describes the design of teaching materials that are used as learning tools in school visits to a science museum. An exhibition on ‘A century of the Special Theory of Relativity’, in the Kutxaespacio Science Museum, in San Sebastian, Spain, was used to design a visit for first‐year engineering students at the university and assess the learning that was achieved. The first part of the paper presents the teaching sequence that was designed to build a bridge between formal teaching and the exhibition visit. The second part analyses the potential of the exhibition and the aforementioned teaching sequence to influence the students’ knowledge of three aspects of the Special Theory of Relativity. The results obtained show that the design of the visit, with both pre‐visit and follow‐up activities, was effective as a means of increasing students’ understanding and stimulating their ability to argue scientifically.     

Prediction of Post-High School Destination Choice from Curriculum,Financial Need,and Students’ Rating of Parents’ Wishes for Post-High School Occupation

Data from a survey of 2,431 students attending high schools in Hawaii indicated that students agreed with their parents’ wishes for post-high school occupation. Females tended to choose more academic post-high school destinations than males. An inverse relationship between academic high school curricula and post-high school academic goals was found, probably due to the fact that females were academically upwardly mobile. The need for financial assistance tended to decrease academic aspirations. It was concluded that knowledge of parental values, differences in academic aspirations between males and females, financial need, and a student’s high school curriculum would be valuable in helping students select post-high school destinations.     

Utilizing Conjoint Analysis to Explicate Nurse–Patient Interaction Among Geriatric Incarcerated Individuals

There has been no attempt to explicate elderly patients’ preferences during nurse-patient interaction in the context of a prison setting. A purposive sample of 347 was chosen from a national Philippine prison based on the following inclusion criteria: (a) 55 years old and above, (b) incarcerated, (c) no psychological impairment, and (d) can amply read and write. Via conjoint analysis (CA), 36 from 81 nurse–patient interaction cards were produced according to orthogonal plans, as specified by SPSS. The conjoint analysis model proved to be fit: Pearson R = .993, (p < .05) Kendall's tau = .944 (p < .05), Kendall's tau for holdouts = .799 (p < .05). The use of CA showed the top 3 attributes: language (21.26%), smile (18.49%), and eye contact (14.19%). Overall, the following levels are highly preferred by respondents: “vernacular” language (utility = 1.377, SE = .21.26), “with” smile (utility = 1.198, SE = .082), and “constant” eye-contact/gaze (utility = .919, SE = .082). Significant differences in nurse–patient interaction were noted in age brackets, current health condition, and years of incarceration, except in educational attainment. Overall, geriatric incarcerated individuals preferred nurses who verbally utilize close-ended, nonfrequent, and without follow-up questions, speak vernacular in a low and constant intonation, give encouragement, and praise. When touch is needed, the respondents preferred same gender nurses. Respondents find it more comfortable when nurses utilize ‘friendly’ space during the interaction, smile, and maintain constant eye contact. To achieve more consistent care, nursing actions must be in accordance with these preferences.     

¿Por qué prospera un país? Un análisis cognitivo de las explicaciones en historia

Resumen

En el presente trabajo se analizan los requisitos cognitivos necesarios para alcanzar los dos tipos de explicación que suelen admitirse en la historia y en las ciencias sociales: la causal y la intencional. Se estudian también las diferencias entre ambas y los sesgos propios de cada una de ellas. Se presenta, además, una investigación realizada con sujetos adolescentes en la que se muestran las dificultades para acceder a una explicación causal que integre los distintos aspectos de la realidad histórica. Estas dificultades no se superan hasta los diecisiete-dieciocho años y no en todos los casos.     

La historia se repite: Las concepciones espontáneas sobre el movimiento y la gravedad

Resumen

Una de las áreas en las que se han estudiado más abundantemente las concepciones científicas espontáneas de los alumnos es la mecánica newtoniana. El presente artículo revisa detenidamente las concepciones espontáneas de adolescentes y adultos universitarios con respecto a algunas de las nociones más relevantes en ese dominio: fuerza y movimiento, y gravedad. Se analiza especialmente el paralelismo sorprendente existente entre dichas concepciones espontáneas y la propia evolución histórica de las ideas científicas prenewtonianas. Por último, se estudia brevemente la consistencia interna de las concepciones espontáneas identificadas y la forma en que pueden ser modificadas.     

Associative learning phenomena in the snail (Helix aspersa): conditioned inhibition

Two experiments using garden snails (Helix aspersa) showed conditioned inhibition using both retardation and summation tests. Conditioned inhibition is a procedure by which a stimulus becomes a predictor of the absence of a relevant event—the unconditioned stimulus (US). Typically, conditioned inhibition consists of pairings between an initially neutral conditioned stimulus, CS₂, and an effective excitatory conditioned stimulus, CS₁, in the absence of the US. Retardation and summation tests are required in order to confirm that CS₂ has acquired inhibitory properties. Conditioned inhibition has previously been found in invertebrates; however, these demonstrations did not use the retardation and summation tests required for an unambiguous demonstration of inhibition, allowing for alternative explanations. The implications of our results for the fields of comparative cognition and invertebrate physiological models of learning are discussed.     

Developing student voice and participatory pedagogy: a case study in a Spanish primary school

This article describes a case study that is part of a broader research project in which schools set up processes of school improvement inspired by the proposals put forward by students. The project furthers the initiatives of the student voice movement and seeks to implement more participative pedagogical models. This as a whole represents a novel opportunity in the context of Spanish schools. Specifically, in the text we describe an experience in which students work as researchers (SAR) and in which we describe and discuss this process carried out in a primary school through ethnographic tools. The findings allow us to discover in this experience a learning opportunity for the members of the school community and for the school itself. Likewise, the research permits us to verify the existence of certain changes in the preexisting practice architectures that affect the cultural–discursive dimension, the material–economic dimension and the social–political dimension of schools.     

Relationships between everyday knowledge and scientific knowledge: understanding how matter changes

This paper analyses the representations held by adolescents and university students in relation to the mechanism for explaining changes in matter (changes of state, dissolutions, expansions and chemical reactions) in terms of the kinetic theory. The answers to a questionnaire were analysed by considering the proportion of correct answers and the use of alternative conceptions. The results show that understanding of explanatory mechanisms of changes in matter is affected by age and instruction level and content of the problem. The main conception that competes with the kinetic model is the attribution to the particles of the changes observed, at a macroscopic level. This is more evident in changes of state and expansions than in other changes. This confusion results from a failure to differentiate properly between the represented reality and the model that represents it. In conclusion, analysis has shown once more students' difficulties in going beyond apparent reality or integrating the data obtained from it into the scientific models they learn at school.