Clickers in college classrooms: Fostering learning with questioning methods in large lecture classes

What can be done to promote student–instructor interaction in a large lecture class? One approach is to use a personal response system (or “clickers”) in which students press a button on a hand-held remote control device corresponding to their answer to a multiple choice question projected on a screen, then see the class distribution of answers on a screen, and discuss the thinking that leads to the correct answer. Students scored significantly higher on the course exams in a college-level educational psychology class when they used clickers to answer 2 to 4 questions per lecture (clicker group), as compared to an identical class with in-class questions presented without clickers (no-clicker group, d = 0.38) or with no in-class questions (control group, d = 0.40). The clicker treatment produced a gain of approximately 1/3 of a grade point over the no-clicker and control groups, which did not differ significantly from each other. Results are consistent with the generative theory of learning, which predicts students in the clicker group are more cognitively engaged during learning.     

Neuromotor issues in the learning and control of golf skill

Theoretical and practical issues related to the neuromotor control of a golf swing are presented in this paper. The typical strategy for golf training consists of high volume repetition with an emphasis on a large variety of isolated swing characteristics. The student is frequently instructed to maintain consistent performance in each swing with absolute invariance. Based on dynamical systems and motor control schema perspectives, it is argued that golfers can learn a more reliable swing by exploring swing parameters and focusing on higher order control principles that reduce the vast number of degrees of freedom. Some candidate training practices are proposed for applying these theoretical issues into practice.     

Neuromuscular variables affecting the magnitude of force loss after eccentric exercise

The aim of this study was to examine neuromuscular variables contributing to differences in force loss after participants were exposed to the same relative bout of eccentric exercise. Thirty-six males performed 50 maximal eccentric contractions of the elbow flexors and were stratified into high responders (n = 10) and low responders (n = 10) based on force loss 36 h after exercise. Maximal voluntary isometric contractions (MVCs) and electromyography (EMG) were measured at baseline and 36 h after exercise. During eccentric exercise, mean peak torque, mean end-range torque from the final 25% of each trial and total angular impulse were computed over 25 contractions in each of two bouts. The slope of the change in these values for each 25 eccentric contractions was calculated for each participant using linear regression. At baseline, MVC was not different between groups (low responders: 97.0 +/- 9.6 N x m; high responders: 82.7 +/- 6.4 N x m; P = 0.08). High responders demonstrated a 68% (range 62-78%) reduction in MVC and low responders a 39% (29-48%) reduction after exercise. Peak torque, end-range torque and total angular impulse were 13%, 40% and 33% higher, respectively, in the low than in the high responders (peak torque: P = 0.0002; end-range torque: P < 0.0001; total angular impulse: P < 0.001). The rate of decline in peak torque slope was greater in high than in low responders (P = 0.044). In conclusion, lower peak torque, end-range torque and total angular impulse during eccentric contractions and a greater peak torque slope may identify high responders to eccentric exercise.     

Colour-based rigid body tracking using three-dimensional graphics models

This paper introduces the first stage of a new model-based approach to three-dimensional (3D) human movement tracking. A ‘generate-and-test’ matching procedure was adopted by matching rendered images of a 3D computer graphics model of the human body to target images of rigid body motion. The set of pixels to be compared were just those corresponding to the model of the body in the rendered images. The matching criterion to optimize model position and orientation was based on the minimisation of the RGB (red-green-blue) colour difference between generated model images and associated target images. The method was able to track synthetic image sequences of a half twisting somersault accurately with root-mean-square (rms) errors of less than 5 mm and 0.3∘ for position and orientation estimates respectively. The suitability of the proposed approach for rigid body motion tracking was supported by additional tracking experiments on video image sequences of ‘wooden cross’ trajectories. Comparisons of tracked estimates against manual digitizing estimates returned relatively small rms difference values on both side somersault and twisting somersault movements. The proposed approach has the potential to track video images of a human torso using a rigid body model and hence to track articulated movements by successively adding segments to the model in a hierarchical manner.     

Active Vibration Control of a Single Mass Rotor on Flexible Supports

This paper considers vibration control of a single mass flexible rotor on damped flexible supports with active feedback control. Both proportional and derivative feedback control are utilized. Free vibrations and unbalance response of the rotor-control system are determined. The effect of proportional control is to increase the critical speed of rotating machinery while the effect of derivative control is to reduce the amplitude of vibration. Generally larger ratios of support stiffness to shaft stiffness require larger values of control parameters to produce given amplitudes of vibration.     

Tennessee meets the challenge of dyslexia

In 1993, the Tennessee General Assembly voted funds to establish a model unit of integrated services and research to address the full scope of issues associated with dyslexia. Dyslexia is characterized as significant difficulty in reading and spelling individual words. In the Tennessee Center for the Study and Treatment of Dyslexia, these problems are presumed to be the consequence of a phonological core deficit. When compared to typical readers, matched for age or reading level, dyslexic readers evidence average listening comprehension, a relative strength in reading comprehension, deficits in word recognition and spelling, and severe deficits in word analysis as well as in awareness and manipulation of phonemes. Integration of this information yields a diagnostic profile that may be applied in the differential diagnosis of dyslexia both in clinical and school settings. This paper presents an overview of the Tennessee Center for Dyslexia and the services it provides as well as its guidelines for interpreting the results of norm-referenced tests and criterion-referenced measures to diagnose dyslexia and plan appropriate intervention. Frith’s (1985, 1986) developmental framework for reading acquisition is integrated with the assessment data to outline an instructional plan that addresses mastery of skills within and across the hierarchical phases—logographic, alphabetic, and orthographic—of reading development.