Archaeology in the classroom: An intra-university continuing education workshop for K-12 teachers

In this article the authors describe an innovative program in continuing education for teachers at the University of Georgia. The program, developed by the Museum of Natural History, the Georgia Center for Continuing Education, and the Department of Anthropology within the university and an independent research institute, offered teachers an opportunity to do archaeological field work as they learned about new discoveries in archaeology and Native American history and culture. The workshop design incorporated principles of adult and experiential learning. With the help of the workshop leaders, teachers developed their own materials for presenting integrated thematic units in their classrooms. Teachers responded enthusiastically to the workshops in a two-stage evaluation process. The authors conclude that intrauniversity cooperation is necessary if teachers are to benefit from all the resources of the university.Jacqueline J. Saindon obtained her M.A. in Anthropology at Hunter College, CUNY. She is Associate Director of the Multicultural Population and Resources Project at Georgia State University. Her special area of interest is in developing continuing education workshops and curriculum for teachers on anthropology, archaeology and ecology. Carol M. Downs obtained her M.A. and Ed.D. in Adult Education, and a Graduate Certificate in Gerontology, at the University of Georgia. She is Program Director of the Office of Continuing Education and Public Service at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her special area of interest includes continuing education in the arts, humanities, education and historic preservation.     

Professional inspector or inspecting professional? Teachers as inspectors in a new regulatory regime for education in England

The advent of a new inspection system in January 2012 has created new challenges for both the teaching profession and for the inspectors of education given the task of implementing it, as the new framework demands increased involvement by serving teachers and head teachers as part of the inspection process. This paper draws on evidence from a current funded research project to examine the implications of engaging current practitioners in the inspection role. It explores the professional values and skills that are required in order to successfully effect the new framework and considers whether these may conflict with professional teaching identities, thus raising the possibility of further tensions in the inspection – and governance – of education in England.     

The aims of special education schools and units in Kenya: a survey of headteachers

The paper reports a questionnaire survey of headteachers of special schools and special units in Kenya, focusing in particular on their educational aims. The study is located in the broader context of special educational provision and developments in Africa. These include the colonial legacy, the influence of indigenous and traditional concepts of education and disability, and national policies engaging with issues of curriculum and inclusion. The aims the headteachers said were important were wide-ranging and included conventional academic achievement, personal and social development and citizenship, alongside skills of personal care and the control of difficult behaviour. However, the relative emphasis given to different aims suggests that the importance of traditional aims of special education in terms of control, containment and care still outweigh those of a broad and balanced educational provision. Surprisingly, there was relatively little emphasis on the importance of preparation for employment. The analysis suggests that although there have been rapid developments in the provision for special educational needs in Kenya, there remains a gap between the ambitions of national policy and actual provision at school level.     

An Experimental Test of Student Verbal Reports and Teacher Evaluations as a Source of Validity Evidence for Test Development

The Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing indicate that test instructions, and by extension item objectives, presented to examinees should be sufficiently clear and detailed to help ensure that they respond as developers intend them to respond (Standard 3.20; AERA, APA, & NCME, 1999 American Educational Research Association (AERA), American Psychological Association (APA), National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME). 1999. Standards for educational and psychological testing, Washington, DC: Author.  [Google Scholar]). The present study investigates the use of verbal reports, one of many sources of evidence for validity arguments, as a way to evaluate the content clarity of 30 items from a large-scale science assessment. Student reports were used to edit items and create a student-modified test form. Evaluations from expert preservice teachers were used to edit the items and create an expert-modified test form. Both experimental forms, along with the original set of 30 items, were then randomly assigned to a sample of 264 examinees. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that examinee performance on the student-modified and expert-modified forms was similar relative to performance on the original test items. Item statistics indicated that student-modified test items were equally difficult and discriminating as expert-modified test items. The implications of using student and teacher evaluations are discussed for informing test development.     

Towards a pedagogy of listening: teaching and learning from life stories of human rights violations

In response to the task of designing curriculum that helps youth engage thoughtfully with digital stories of human rights violations, the authors articulate the central tenets of a pedagogy of listening that draws upon elements of oral history, concepts of witnessing and testimony, the work on listening of Dewey, Freire and Rinaldi and the philosophy of listening. These tenets are explored in relation to the five curricular units for secondary schools that they produced as part of a large oral history project that documents the life stories of Montrealers displaced by war, genocide and other human rights violation. The pedagogy of listening aims to: promote more democratic relations, build a listening community and foster close and attentive listening, develop an ethics of listening, support critical reflexive practice and movement towards social action, explore the multitude of listenings, explore listening as curation and foster students’ historical imaginations.     

“Acting as Freemen”: Rhetoric,Race, and Reform in the Debate over Colonization in Freedom's Journal, 1827–1828

This essay features a debate in Freedom's Journal, the first African-American newspaper, in 1827 and 1828, concerning the proposals of the American Colonization Society. Arguments favoring colonization illuminate the ways in which whiteness informs and constrains the discourse of white self-professed reformers about race, nation, and public rhetoric. As constitutive rhetoric, the anti-colonization arguments of contributors to Freedom's Journal construct African Americans as agents, citizens, and empowered public rhetors. The exchange reveals key, often hidden aspects of the discourses of whites and of people of color about race and reform in the antebellum period and in the contemporary public sphere.     

A Developmental Perspective on the Role of Motor Skill Competence in Physical Activity: An Emergent Relationship

Although significant attention has been paid to promoting the importance of physical activity in children, adolescents, and adults, we do not currently understand how to promote sustained physical activity levels throughout the lifespan. We contend that previous research has failed to consider the dynamic and synergistic role that motor skill competence plays in the initiation, maintenance, or decline of physical activity and how this role might change across developmental time. In this article, we present a conceptual model hypothesizing the relationships among physical activity, motor skill competence, perceived motor skill competence, health-related physical fitness, and obesity. We contend that the development of motor skill competence is a primary underlying mechanism that promotes engagement in physical activity.     

Indoor Golf Skill Test for Junior High School Boys

Abstract

To evaluate the effect of concurrent augmented feedback on isometric force output during familiar and unfamiliar muscle movements, 18 men and 21 women, 18 to 23 years of age, completed two isometric exercises: flexion of the thumb (a familiar muscle movement) and abduction of the fifth digit (an unfamiliar movement). The exercises consisted of 10 maximum voluntary isometric contractions lasting 10 s each and separated by 10-s intertrial rest intervals. Concurrent visual feedback was provided during alternate contractions. The order of exercises and trials for feedback was randomly assigned and balanced over subjects. Peak force output during abduction of the fifth digit was significantly (p ≤ .01) greater with (4.4 ± 0.29 kg) than without feedback (4.1 ± 0.26 kg). Feedback did not influence (p > .05) peak force output during thumb flexion (232 ±1.09 kg vs 22.5± 1.05 kg). Muscular fatigue was more pronounced during thumb flexion without feedback (18.4 ± 1.17%) than when feedback was provided (11.8 ±136%). These data suggest that fatigue may increase the effect of feedback on force generation during familiar muscular movements. To obtain maximal isometric force measures during strength testing, augmented feedback should be provided.