Identifying and Addressing Students' Alternative Conceptions of the Causes of Global Warming: The Need for Cognitive Conflict

School-age children are frequently exposed to issues related to global warming/global climatic change. Yet, their conceptions regarding the scope and nature of this phenomenon are often incomplete or even inconstant with predominant scientific understandings. The complex conceptual knowledge required to understand issues related to global warming create learning situations that harbor the development of incomplete or inaccurate ideas related to global warming. This study presents some of those misconceptions and discusses strategies for mitigation.     

Identifying the optimal resistive load for complex training in male rugby players

Alternating a resistance exercise with a plyometric exercise is referred to as "complex training". In this study, we examined the effect of various resistive loads on the biomechanics of performance of a fast stretch-shortening cycle activity to determine if an optimal resistive load exists for complex training. Twelve elite rugby players performed three drop jumps before and after three back squat resistive loads of 65%, 80%, and 93% of a single repetition maximum (1-RM) load. All drop jumps were performed on a specially constructed sledge and force platform apparatus. Flight time, ground contact time, peak ground reaction force, reactive strength index, and leg stiffness were the dependent variables. Repeated-measures analysis of variance found that all resistive loads reduced (P < 0.01) flight time, and that lifting at the 93% load resulted in an improvement (P < 0.05) in ground contact time and leg stiffness. From a training perspective, the results indicate that the heavy lifting will encourage the fast stretch-shortening cycle activity to be performed with a stiffer leg spring action, which in turn may benefit performance. However, it is unknown if these acute changes will produce any long-term adaptations to muscle function.     

Transformative Valuing

In this essay, Randall Curren addresses four basic questions about transformative experiences in education: Is education necessarily transformative? What must education provide for it to be personally transformative? What standard should educators use in determining whether engaging students in potentially transformative experiences is beneficial or justified? How should schools and educators orchestrate opportunities for beneficial transformative experiences? The focus is on transformative valuing, but also on the importance of a fully transformative nexus of personal attributes and social pathways to living a transformed life. Curren argues that educational decisions on behalf of students can be justified on the basis of necessary goods that persist through transformative changes in what is contingently good for them, and that schools' efforts to orchestrate opportunities for transformative experiences should engage students in activities that can be eudaimonic for them.     

A Comparison of the Logistic Regression and Contingency Table Methods for Simultaneous Detection of Uniform and Nonuniform DIF

In this study, we investigate the logistic regression (LR), Mantel-Haenszel (MH), and Breslow-Day (BD) procedures for the simultaneous detection of both uniform and nonuniform differential item functioning (DIF). A simulation study was used to assess and compare the Type I error rate and power of a combined decision rule (CDR), which assesses DIF using a combination of the decisions made with BD and MH to those of LR. The results revealed that while the Type I error rate of CDR was consistently below the nominal alpha level, the Type I error rate of LR was high for the conditions having unequal ability distributions. In addition, the power of CDR was consistently higher than that of LR across all forms of DIF.     

Examining Teacher Grades Using Rasch Measurement Theory

In this study, we present an approach to questionnaire design within educational research based on Guttman's mapping sentences and Many-Facet Rasch Measurement Theory. We designed a 54-item questionnaire using Guttman's mapping sentences to examine the grading practices of teachers. Each item in the questionnaire represented a unique student scenario that was graded by teachers. Three focus groups of elementary (N = 5), middle (N = 4), and high school (N = 2) teachers examined the scenarios for clarity, comprehensiveness, and ease of understanding. Based on the suggestions of the focus groups, the revised questionnaires were completed by 516 public school teachers located in a major metropolitan county in the Southeast. The grades assigned by the teachers to the scenarios were analyzed using the FACETS computer program. The results of the analyses suggest that teachers primarily assign grades on the basis of student achievement as expected, although for some teachers other facets (ability, behavior, and effort) may play a role in final grade assignment.     

Overcoming challenges in learning probability vocabulary

Students can struggle to understand and use terms that describe probabilities. Such struggles lead to difficulties comprehending classroom conversations. In this article, we describe some specific misunderstandings a group of students (ages 11–12) held in regard to vocabulary such as certain, likely and unlikely. We discuss our efforts to help the students use such terms appropriately. In particular, we show how engaging students in a game requiring the use of the terms helped them begin to develop their vocabulary more fully. We also explain how a probability ladder visual organizer helped students begin to organize their thinking about the meanings of terms relative to one another.     

Isolationism,exceptionalism, and acculturation: the internationalisation of Mormon education in Mexico

Faiths have long used education as a means to preserve and transmit cultural values from one generation to the next. However, they have also employed education to unite people of different cultures and proselytise others to their worldview. Over the last two centuries, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Latter-day Saint, LDS, or Mormon) has exercised these same patterns in its educational programmes, especially internationally, as it has sought to expand around the world. Using Mormonism's Juárez Academy in northern Mexico as a historical case study, our paper demonstrates how transnationally governed religion-led school systems can confront the challenge of exceptionalism by embracing local culture and customs while maintaining the heritage of their faith tradition. The study advances the field of international education, highlighting the issues of globalisation, cultural transfer, and transnational educational governance.     

Neglected Elements of a High-Quality Early Childhood Workforce: Whole Teacher Well-Being and Working Conditions

Early Childhood Education Journal - The majority of teachers in the early care and education (ECE) workforce face disparities in physical and psychological well-being as well as working conditions....     

Musculoskeletal ultrasound training encourages self-directed learning and increases confidence for clinical and anatomical appreciation of first-year medical students

Best-practice guidelines have incorporated ultrasound in diagnostic and procedural medicine. Due to this demand, the Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine initiated a comprehensive integration of ultrasound into its first-year anatomy course attended by more than 280 students. Ultrasound workshops were developed to enhance student conceptualization of musculoskeletal (MSK) anatomy through visualizing clinically important anatomical relationships, a simulated lumbar puncture during the back unit, carpal tunnel and shoulder evaluations during the upper limb unit, and plantar fascia, calcaneal tendon, and tarsal tunnel evaluations during the lower limb unit. A 5-point Likert scale survey evaluated if ultrasound improved students' self-perceived anatomical and clinical comprehension of relevant anatomy, improved students' ability to orient to ultrasound imagery, and prompted further independent investigation of the anatomical area. Ultrasound examination questions were added to the anatomy examinations. Two-tailed one-sample t-tests for the back, upper limb, and lower limb units were found to be significant across all Likert survey categories (P < 0.001). Positive student responses to the Likert survey in conjunction with examination question average of 84.3% (±10.3) demonstrated that the ultrasound workshops are beneficial to student education. Ultrasound enhances medical students' clinical and anatomical comprehension and ability to orient to ultrasound imagery for MSK anatomy. This study supports early ultrasound education as a mechanism to encourage students' independent learning as evidenced by many undertaking voluntary investigation of clinical concerns associated with MSK anatomy. This study establishes the successful integration of MSK ultrasound into a large medical school program and its benefit to student clinical education.     

Triathlon transition study: quantifying differences in running movement pattern and precision after bike-run transition

Various publications discuss the discrepancies of running in triathlons and stand-alone runs. However, those methods, such as analysing step-characteristics or ground-contact time, lack the ability to quantitatively discriminate between subtle running differences. The attractor method can be applied to overcome those shortcomings. The purpose was to detect differences in athletes’ running patterns (δM) and movement precision (δD) by comparing a 5,000 m run after a prior cycling session (TRun) with an isolated run over the same distance (IRun). Participants completed the conditions on a track and a stationary trainer, allowing the use of their personal bike to simulate an Olympic triathlon. During each run, three-dimensional acceleration data, using sensors attached to the ankles, were collected. Results showed that both conditions lead to elevated attractor parameters (δM and δD) over the initial five minutes before the athletes found their rhythm. This generates a new perspective because independent of running after a bike session or without preload, an athlete needs certain time to adjust to the running movement. Coaches must consider this factor as another tool to fine-tune pacing and performance. Moreover, the attractor method is a novel approach to gain deeper insight into human cyclic motions in athletic contexts.