Attentional capture by spoken language: effects on netballers’ visual task performance

Abstract

In two experiments, participants performed visual detection, visual discrimination and decision-making tasks, in which a binary (left/right) response was required. In all experimental conditions, a spoken word (“left”/“right”) was presented monaurally (left or right ear) at the onset of the visual stimulus. In Experiment 1, 26 non-athletes located a target amongst an array of distractors as quickly as possible, in both the presence and absence of spoken cues. Participants performed superiorly in the presence of valid cues, relative to invalid-cue and control conditions. In Experiment 2, 42 skilled netballers completed three tasks, in randomised order: a visual detection task, a visual discrimination task and a netball decision-making task – all in the presence of spoken cues. Our data showed that spoken auditory cues affected not only target detection, but also performance on more complex decision-making tasks: cues that were either spatially or semantically invalid slowed target detection time; spatially invalid cues impaired discrimination task accuracy; and cues that were either spatially or semantically valid improved accuracy and speeded decision-making time in the netball task. When studying visual perception and attention in sport, the impact of concomitant auditory information should be taken into account in order to achieve a more representative task design.     

Early Football and the Emergence of Modern Soccer,c. 1840–1880

The origins of the modern football codes have attracted considerable attention from historians of sport over the past two decades, resulting in a vigorous debate between the self-described ‘revisionists’, led by Adrian Harvey, and the followers of Eric Dunning, dubbed by their opponents as the ‘orthodox’ view. However, this article argues that both sides commit the same methodological errors: an overestimation of the importance of written rules, an ahistoric view of culture and continuity, and a tendency to view the past through the lens of the present. By re-examining the historical record of early forms of football and presenting a broader contextual perspective for the emergence of the football codes in the 1840 to 1880 period, the article aims to address some of the key historiographical issues that confront historians of sport today.     

Energy substrate metabolism during dual work rate exercise: Effects of order

Changes in workload are evident during many physical activities. The aim of this study was to assess total substrate metabolism when the temporal placement of a period of higher-intensity work (75% VO 2max ) was varied within a low-intensity exercise session (50% VO 2max ). One experimental trial (higher intensity first) comprised 5 min low-intensity work, followed by 15 min high-intensity work, followed by 40 min low-intensity work. The other trial (low intensity first) comprised 40 min low-intensity work, followed by 15 min high-intensity work, followed by 5 min low-intensity work. The trials were designed to achieve an identical total energy expenditure. Energy expenditure, fat and carbohydrate utilization were estimated by expired gas analysis and compared between conditions. Mean total energy expenditure during the higher-intensity phase was 1076 kJ and 1128 kJ in the high-intensity first and low-intensity first trials respectively (t 6 = -3.76, P = 0.0047). Mean total energy expenditure for the whole trial was 3356 kJ and 3452 kJ in the high-intensity first and low-intensity first trials respectively (t 6 = -3.48, P = 0.0065). Mean whole-trial fat utilization was 1753 kJ and 1857 kJ in the high-intensity first and low-intensity first trials respectively (t 6 = -0.76, P = 0.24). Our findings suggest that changing the temporal placement of higher-intensity work within a low-intensity exercise session has a significant effect on total energy expenditure but not on the rate of fat oxidation.     

Effects of Two Instructional Approaches on Skill Development,Knowledge, and Game Performance

Two instructional approaches that have been of interest in promoting sport have been the Sport Education Model (SEM) and the Traditional Style (TS) of teaching physical education. The purpose of this study was to investigate how SEM and TS would affect skill development, knowledge, and game performance for volleyball at the secondary level. A 2 × 3 (group × time) research design was utilized on 47 secondary students testing volleyball skills, knowledge, and game performance. Participants were placed in either the SEM or the TS via stratified randomization, and then were tested pre, mid, and post intervention through the 20-lesson volleyball unit. The 2 × 3 repeated measures Analysis of Variances (ANOVAs) with Bonferroni correction revealed no significant difference between models for skills and knowledge, but there was for game performance for group [F(1, 45) = 10.27, p < .008, η² = .19], time [F(2, 90) = 8.62, p < .008, η² = .16], and group × time interaction [F(2, 90) = 8.43, p < .008, η² = .16]. If the goal of the physical education program is to promote quality game play, the SEM may be more effective than the TS.     

The Pass Survey: school‐based preferences of 500 + adolescent consumers

Survey sheets requiring three responses, written in order of preference, to each of 10 items regarding various aspects of school, were administered to 595 secondary school students attending three rural and four urban comprehensive schools. Data were assembled from the highest preference responses only, and compiled into three levels of rank‐order for incentive preferences regarding good behaviour, incentive preferences regarding good work, preferences for teacher support of good behaviour, preferences for teacher support of good work, observed teacher qualities, projected teacher qualities, preferred changes to the school environment, and reasons for attending school.

Results revealed that an almost universal level of support existed for the use of incentives linked directly to good social behaviour and or academic performance. Overall, social outcomes were preferred for good behaviour, and tangible outcomes were preferred for good schoolwork. However, age, sex, and ability effects provided some qualification of these trends. Academic outcomes were very poorly supported throughout. In terms of feedback preferences, overt feedback received significantly more support than covert feedback overall, and was linked significantly more often to social behaviour than schoolwork. This sample also favoured teachers who show empathy and explain well.

The majority of these adolescents indicated that they would like their schools to be redecorated more than any other physical change they could think of, and almost without exception exhibited positive reasons for attending school.     

NEW TECHNOLOGY FOR HOME‐BASED LEARNING: THE CHALLENGE TO CAMPUS‐BASED INSTITUTIONS

Although there may be little expansion for conventional higher education on campus in the next decade, there is an unmet and growing need to provide home‐based continuing education. This will require an effective means of delivering learning materials to homes on a greater scale than can be handled by broadcasting alone, as well as the production of high quality software appropriate both to the means of delivery and the needs of students. There are several developments in technology which hold out promise for home use; these need to be developed as part of a wider learning system. Campus‐based institutions are well placed both to develop the hardware and to produce suitable learning materials, but this means that higher education institutions must show a much more flexible attitude to continuing education and to co‐operation with other organisations.     

Integrated policies for the preparation of educational personnel

Drawing on the literature and developments in Lifelong Education in the 1960s and 1970s, this paper seeks to offera contribution to the updating of the concept to address the pressing new needs of the 1980s for integrated policies for the preparation of educational personnel. Such policies are seen as necessitating the ability to forge new curricula across sectoral boundaries, linking education and economic activity, school and community, and achieving delivery in different modes and locations. The article offers a conceptualization of policy options for such preparation, comprising four major dimensions, each comprehending tendencies to conservation and change. The author proceeds to illustrate the conceptualization by reference to programmes provided, often on an inter-agency basis, in the United Kingdom by the Manpower Services Commission. The paper concludes by highlighting the continuing disjuncture between education and training and between education and national needs in many developing countries, partly as a legacy of colonial concepts of schooling, and points to the requirement for comprehensive and coherent policies which can link education and the economy and schooling and training, harnessing them to the response to pressing national needs.

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Zusammenfassung Gestützt auf die Literatur und Entwicklungen im Bereich des Lebenslangen Lernen in den 60er und 70er Jahren versucht der Verfasser dieses Artikels eine Aktualisierung des Konzepts, um auf die dringenden neuen Bedürfnisse der 80er Jahre für integrierte Richtlinien zur Vorbereitung des Erziehungspersonals einzugehen. Schwerpunkte dieser Richtlinien sind: neue Curricula über Sektorengrenzen hinweg zu entwickeln, Bildung und wirtschaftliche Aktivität sowie Schule und Gemeinschaft miteinander zu verbinden und auf verschiedene Art und Weise und an verschiedenen Standorten zu vermitteln. Im nachfolgenden Artikel wird eine Konzeptualisierung der Optionen bei Richtlinien für eine derartige Vorbereitung angeboten, die aus vier Hauptdimensionen besteht. Jede diese Hauptdimensionen enthält Tendenzen zu Erhaltung und Veränderung einschließen. Der Verfasser veranschaulicht die Konzeptualisierung mit einem Verweis auf die im Vereinigten Königreich von Manpower Services Commission angebotenen Programme, die häufig auf einer Vermittlungsbasis zwischen den verschiedenen Regierungsstellen beruhen. Abschließend betont der Verfasser die fortdauernde Trennung zwischen Bildung und Ausbildung sowie zwischen Bildung und nationalen Bedürfnissen in vielen Entwicklungsländern, die teilweise als ein Erbe kolonialer Entwicklungskonzepte weiterbestehen. Es besteht ein Bedarf nach umfassenden und kohärenten Methoden, die Bildung und Wirtschaft sowie Erziehung und Ausbildung verknüpfen und sie an eine Antwort auf dringende nationale Bedürfnisse koppeln.

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Résumé S'inspirant de la littérature et des développements de l'Education Permanente enregistrés au cours des années soixante et soixante-dix, cet article s'efforce d'apporter une contribution à la mise à jour de ce concept afin de présenter les nouveaux besoins pressants apparus dans les années quatre-vingts aux politiques intégrées pour la formation du personnel enseignant. On considère que de telles politiques nécessitent la capacité de forger de nouveaux curricula à travers les limites sectorielles, établissent des liens entre l'éducation et l'activité économique, l'école et la communauté, et opèrent de diverses manières et en différents endroits. L'article présent offre une conceptualisation des options politiques pour une telle préparation, qui englobe quatre grandes dimensions, chacune d'elles renfermant des propensions à l'invariabilité et à l'évolution. L'auteur illustre ensuite cette conceptualisation en se référant aux programmes offerts, sur une base interopérationnelle souvent, au Royaume-Uni par la Commission des Services de la Main-d'Oeuvre. Il conclut en soulignant l'incohérence constante entre l'éducation et la formation, l'éducation et les besoins nationaux que de nombreux pays en développement ont hérités en partie de concepts coloniaux d'éducation et il met en relief la nécessité de politiques générales et cohérentes capables de nouer des liens entre l'éducation et l'économie, l'instruction et la formation, les exhortant à répondre aux besoins nationaux urgents.

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I am indebted to a Unesco Seminar for a number of the ideas contained in this paper. See Unesco,Interregional Symposium on Integrated Policies and Plans for the Training of Educational Personnel. Paris: Unesco, 1985.     

The future of the humanities in primary schools – reflections in troubled times

ABSTRACT

This article reflects on the implications for practitioners, researchers and policy-makers of the future of the humanities in primary schools in the light of the challenges facing future generations. There is wide divergence in the four jurisdictions of the UK. The humanities are perceived as important, in principle, though curriculum frameworks differ. However, the status of the humanities is often uncertain, in practice, given the current emphasis on outcomes in literacy and numeracy. There is a lack of robust research on how, and by whom, the humanities are taught. The more theoretical articles suggest that the humanities, broadly conceived, are an essential aspect of young children’s education – to enable a deeper understanding of human culture and identity, and to develop the qualities and values needed in a diverse world. Additionally, curricular breadth is required alongside a realisation that narrowly focusing on propositional knowledge is limiting. While this has implications for the whole curriculum, History, Geography and Religious Education have key roles in meeting these aims and in engaging and motivating young children. A stronger policy steer is called for, to ensure that schools give more priority to humanities education, with greater investment in professional development in Initial Teacher Education and beyond.