Some Misconceptions about Attribute Sampling Plans

This article explores some common potential misconceptions about attribute sampling plans. Use of the operating characteristic curve easily enables the misconceptions to be overcome.     

Examining student-designed games through Suits' theory of games

This paper documents how a unit of student-designed games can create a more meaningful version of physical education (PE) for disengaged students, a version that enhances the educational legitimacy of the subject matter by affording it worth in and of itself rather than being justified for other, extrinsic or instrumental reasons. Furthermore, it seeks to develop new knowledge relating to the conduct of game instruction within PE, by using Suits' theory of games. Drawing on Suits' theory, we develop a conceptual model that is intended to represent the hierarchical processes that occur in gameplay through student-designed games. This model is then tested via examination of the experiences of a cohort of teachers and their year 10 students from a mixed secondary school in the greater London area. From our discussions with the students, it is argued that the key focus of the games that these students were used to playing was the need to ‘play the game well’. By contrast, we suggest that it is possible to provide more meaningful experiences to students if a more philosophically driven and less efficiency-driven approach to games is taken, following Suits' lead more closely. By exploring the loop between and around lusory means, lusory goals and constitutive rules (the aspects of Suits' theory that have been shown to represent student-designed games), students engage with a more meaningful games experience than simply playing the game well. This ‘new’ approach to games may offer counterbalance to the ideological tendencies now emphasized in countries and contexts that celebrate instrumental outcomes of performative PE and sport rather than affording worth in and of itself to the curriculum’s subject matter.     

From old soccer to new football? Expert accounts of transformations on the world game in Australia post-Crawford Report

This article investigated and evaluated the changes which have occurred in Australian football since the publication of the Crawford Report in 2003. Prior to this report, it was widely perceived that football was the ‘sleeping giant’ of Australian professional sport despite its popularity at youth participant level. The Crawford Report made a range of recommendations and a new era was heralded when Football Federation Australia was established which set upon the task of adopting a number of Crawford’s recommendations. To investigate the impact of the Crawford Report on the current status of Australian football, a qualitative methodology was adopted. Purposive sampling was adopted to give voice to senior football figures who were involved in the sport in both the pre- and post-Crawford Report periods and a total of 15 semi-structured interviews were conducted. A number of significant themes emerged from the research. All participants agreed that Australian football’s appeal has been broadened. However, the interviews also reported that the perception of football as a minor code and always relegated to the ethnic margins was a ‘myth’. Also, the participants raised the issue of whether the Crawford Report was implemented to its fullest degree. They were passionate about the idea that if all recommendations were implemented, the sport might currently be in a much stronger position.     

The influence of ICT on the interactivity of teaching

There has been much concern with the ideas of interactive and dialogic teaching during recent years in the UK, ideas which have emerged from international comparisons. This paper concerns a research project in Wales which sought to explore how the interactive features of information and communication technology (ICT) support interactivity in teaching. The project found that much use of ICT by good teachers was at a relatively superficial level of interaction, yet when teachers used a deeper, more dialogic, level of interactivity in teaching, they achieved improvements in learning whether they used ICT or not. The potential of ICT to support more dialogic teaching was not being fully exploited. The paper reports the findings of the classroom observation dimension of the project, and examines the implications for pedagogical practices and the development/dissemination of ICT resources which can support more dialogic interactivity.     

社会认识论:知识政策的理论与实践(上)

作为一种自然主义的进路,社会认识论处理的是围绕着知识过程及其产品的组织而展开的诸多规范性问题.换句话说,它是要在我们如何认识以及认识什么的基础上.致力于应该如何认识以及应该认识什么方面提供指导.这个题材相当于实用主义哲学家通常所说的"探究引导",以及今天的读者可能看起来是科学政策的抽象形式的东西.社会认识论取得了超出其它知识理论的进展,因为它重视这种情况,即生产知识的行为人不仅体现为个体,而且还以集体性的方式嵌于某些在相当大的时空范围上扩展的、可以具体指明的关系之中.并且,对于社会认识论者来说.知识的目标是需要确立的,而不是想当然的.诸如"有效性"、"可靠性"之类的语词.甚至"真理"一词本身都没有涉及探究行为的目标.它们只是涉及探究的诸多约束,以至于仍然留下很多有关知识的目的的问题悬而未决:应该生产什么种类的知识?由谁生产?为谁生产?知识政策要抓住的是那种对付这些问题的活动,而这些问题往往被常规的科学政策所忽视.     

REFLECTIONS UPON METHODOLOGY: RESEARCH ON THEMES OF SELF CONSTRUCTION AND SELF INTEGRATION IN THE NARRATIVE OF SECOND GENERATION KOREAN AMERICAN YOUNG ADULTS

This article describes the rationale, methodology, and relevancy of research on themes of self-construction and self-integration in the narratives of second generation Korean American young adults. It also outlines the philosophical perspective on research as a constructive paradigm that understands reality as consisting of the meanings people imbue into their experiences according to their particular sociocultural contexts. Lastly, as a co-constructor of reality, the researcher conducted ethnographic interviews and participant observation among these young adults, attempting to describe their internalized voices, authorities, and values, to explore their construction of self, and to examine the role of the Korean American church in this process.     

Prompting teachers’ constructive reflection: pupils’ questions as critical incidents

Constructive reflection is seen as an important ingredient in the professional development of teachers, in order to stimulate significant change in approaches to classroom practice and the general provision of science education in schools. This paper explores the use of pupils’ questions in provoking ‘critical incidents’ in the professional lives of teachers. It is suggested that pupils’ questions can be both indicative of their own conceptual change as well as being sophisticated prompts for teachers to examine their own thinking. Case studies of two teachers ‐‐ one primary and one secondary ‐‐ are used to illuminate how such critical incidents can lead to changes in teacher thinking, resulting then in changes in classroom practice in science. Suggestions are made for the use of pupils’ questions as critical incidents in the professional development of teachers.