A model for using a concept inventory as a tool for students' assessment and faculty professional development

This essay describes how the use of a concept inventory has enhanced professional development and curriculum reform efforts of a faculty teaching community. The Host Pathogen Interactions (HPI) teaching team is composed of research and teaching faculty with expertise in HPI who share the goal of improving the learning experience of students in nine linked undergraduate microbiology courses. To support evidence-based curriculum reform, we administered our HPI Concept Inventory as a pre- and postsurvey to approximately 400 students each year since 2006. The resulting data include student scores as well as their open-ended explanations for distractor choices. The data have enabled us to address curriculum reform goals of 1) reconciling student learning with our expectations, 2) correlating student learning with background variables, 3) understanding student learning across institutions, 4) measuring the effect of teaching techniques on student learning, and 5) demonstrating how our courses collectively form a learning progression. The analysis of the concept inventory data has anchored and deepened the team's discussions of student learning. Reading and discussing students' responses revealed the gap between our understanding and the students' understanding. We provide evidence to support the concept inventory as a tool for assessing student understanding of HPI concepts and faculty development.     

Revisiting the 1990 special issue on minority children: an editorial perspective 15 years later

The 2006 Special Issue on Race, Ethnicity, and Culture in Child Development occurs 15 years after the 1990 Special Issue on Minority Children and marks roughly 50 years since the historic 1954 Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision. This issue provides an assessment of how researchers have represented development of America's diverse youth. This commentary provides a perspective of the progress and needs inferred from the 1990 special issue. A consistent theme is the necessity to link research and developmental theorizing with the intentions of the Brown v. Board of Education decision, as the relevant integration is often left to legal scholars, Whiteness studies theorists, and a few child-development-focused researchers (e.g., Cross, 1991; Spencer, 2005).     

Primary Teachers’ Recommendations for the Development of a Teacher-Oriented Movement Assessment Tool for 4–7 Years Children

To inform the development of a teacher-oriented movement assessment tool, this study aimed to explore primary school teachers’ perceptions of assessing fundamental movement skills (FMS) within Physical Education (PE) lessons. Thirty-nine primary school teachers of PE, located in the United Kingdom, participated in an individual or group in-depth interview. Findings signify that teachers perceive a need for a movement assessment tool that is simple for them to use, quick to administer and provides valuable feedback to guide future teaching and learning. This is vital as teachers indicated a lack of appropriate resources and a shortage of curriculum time restricts their use of assessment within PE. A movement assessment tool that was integrated on a digital technology platform could increase teachers’ understanding of assessing FMS and enhance children’s learning of FMS.     

The effect of mountain bike wheel size on cross-country performance

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of different wheel size diameters on indicators of cross-country mountain bike time trial performance. Nine competitive male mountain bikers (age 34.7 ± 10.7 years; stature 177.7 ± 5.6 cm; body mass 73.2 ± 8.6 kg) performed 1 lap of a 3.48 km mountain bike (MTB) course as fast as possible on 26″, 27.5″ and 29″ wheeled MTB. Time (s), mean power (W), cadence (revs · min^?1) and velocity (km · h^?1) were recorded for the whole lap and during ascent and descent sections. One-way repeated measure ANOVA was used to determine significant differences. Results revealed no significant main effects for any variables by wheel size during all trials, with the exception of cadence during the descent (F_{(2, 16)} = 8.96; P = .002; P² = .53). Post hoc comparisons revealed differences lay between the 26″ and 29″ wheels (P = .02). The findings indicate that wheel size does not significantly influence performance during cross-country when ridden by trained mountain bikers, and that wheel choice is likely due to personal choice or sponsorship commitments.     

What is modelled during observational learning?

In this article, we examine the question of what information is processed during observational learning by evaluating a variety of methods, theories, and empirical data. Initially, we review work involving neuroimaging techniques and infant imitation. We then evaluate data from behavioural experiments involving adults, wherein a variety of attempts have been made to isolate the critical or minimal information constraining the acquisition of coordination. This body of research has included comparisons between video and point-light displays, manipulations to the amount and type of information presented in the display, the collection of point-of-gaze data, and manipulations to the task context in terms of outcome goals. We conclude that observational learning is governed by specific features of the model's action (i.e. motions of the end effector) and the task (i.e. outcome constraints) and, in contrast with traditional theoretical modelling, more global aspects of a model (i.e. the relative motions within and between joints) do not appear to be the primary method for constraining action execution.