The disciplinary dimensions of nineteenth-century gymnastics for US women

This study examines the conditions and terms under which US discourses promoting gymnastics for women institutionalized those exercise regimens as vehicles of disciplinarity between 1830–1870. Specifically, it finds that those texts encouraged practices of medical examination and measurement along with a variety of additional, interconnected and significant disciplinary operations: economies of space, of distribution, and of order; logics of temporality, of individual development, and of social salvation; procedures of monitoring and of rendering normalizing judgments; mechanisms of review and of punishment through exercise; as well as the dynamics of panopticism and of self-monitoring. That array of disciplinary techniques, in turn, was meant to materially effect not only a healthy, orderly, and morally transcendent social body but also enlightened, disciplined, and idealized feminine subjectivities. As a consequence, this paper also asserts that the resistant potentialities of gymnastics for US women between 1830–1870 cannot be evaluated thoroughly without some consideration of modern power's nature, attributes, and applications.     

Effect of Guided Practice on Overhand-Throw Ball Velocities of Kindergarten Children

Abstract

Forty-five children from two intact kindergartens in one school were randomly assigned by sex to (a) an experimental group which received a movement program that included 120 min of guided practice in the overhand throw; or (b) a control group which received the same movement program but no exposure to the throw. A third group (N = 24), randomly selected by sex from a comparable school, received no movement program. Before and after the eight-week instructional period, ten trials of each child's overhand throw for force were filmed. Horizontal ball velocities were simultaneously recorded. ANOVAs on pre- and posttest ball velocities for each sex within each treatment group revealed no significant practice effect over ten trials (p > .05); thus, the trial mean was used as each subject's score. Two-way ANOVAs (treatment X sex) on the pre- and posttest data indicated no significant velocity differences (p > .05) between groups either before or after instruction. Boys had significantly greater velocities than girls (p < .05). Eight weeks of instruction that included 120 min of guided practice in the overarm throw did not significantly change the ball velocities of kindergarten children when compared to two groups with no formal throwing experience.     

Index for Volume 52 (1981)

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare fitness levels of children participating in a movement education (ME) program to Illinois fitness norms (control group). The AAHPERD Health-Related Fitness test was administered to children ages 7 through 12 during May in each of the three years, 1980–83. The skinfold measures showed that the ME children had more skinfold thickness regardless of age and gender. Scores for sit-ups and sit and reach over the three years for ME children showed that the 9- and 11-year-old ME males had more abdominal strength and 11- and 12-year-old ME females, less flexibility. Times in the mile run indicated that ME children were slower than the control group. Reference scores at the 50th and 25th percentile on the Illinois norm tables were located for each fitness measurement. These references were then used to determine the percentage of ME children who fell at or above the 50th percentile and at or below the 25th percentile. Data indicated that ME children need remediation in cardiovascular activity and reduction in subcutaneous fat.     

The Multiple Subfunctions of Attention: Differential Developmental Gateways to Literacy and Numeracy

Attention is construed as multicomponential, but the roles of its distinct subfunctions in shaping the broader developing cognitive landscape are poorly understood. The current study assessed 3‐ to 6‐year‐olds (N = 83) to: (a) trace developmental trajectories of attentional processes and their structure in early childhood and (b) measure the impact of distinct attention subfunctions on concurrent and longitudinal abilities related to literacy and numeracy. Distinct trajectories across attention measures revealed the emergence of 2 attentional factors, encompassing “executive” and “sustained–selective” processes. Executive attention predicted concurrent abilities across domains at Time 1, whereas sustained–selective attention predicted basic numeracy 1 year later. These concurrent and longitudinal constraints cast a broader light on the unfolding relations between domain‐general and domain‐specific processes over early childhood.     

Development and validation of a questionnaire measuring teachers’ motivations for teaching in higher education

A lot of research has been done into the motivations in teachers in primary/secondary education and into student motivation. However, teachers’ motivations for teaching in higher education are rarely studied. A growing interest exists though in the professional development of teachers in higher education, of which motivation is an important aspect. This article, therefore, focuses on the development and validation of a Dutch questionnaire for teachers’ motivations for teaching in higher education. The questionnaire is based on three earlier developed questionnaires, including the following motivational aspects: efficacy, interest, and effort. Confirmatory factor analyses were conducted with the data of 231 higher education teachers. The results of our explorative study showed that after modifications, including the removal of two out of three efficacy-aspects (‘outcome efficacy’ and ‘teaching efficacy’), this instrument is sufficiently reliable and valid to use in educational practice and research. Future research into the use of the questionnaire in different contexts is desirable.     

Self-Esteem, Locus of Control, College Adjustment, and GPA Among First- and Continuing-Generation Students: A Moderator Model of Generational Status

The role of generational status (first-generation vs. continuing-generation college students) as a moderator of the relationship between psychological factors and college outcomes was tested to determine whether generational status acts as a risk factor or as a sensitizing factor. The sample consisted of 322 undergraduate students who completed online measures of self-esteem, locus of control, and academic adjustment and provided self-reports of GPA. Generational status significantly moderated the relationship between psychological factors and academic outcomes. Generally, it was found that the relationship between psychological factors and academic outcomes were strongest among first-generation students. Further, it was found that for the majority of the interactions with locus of control, first-generation status acted as a sensitizing factor that amplified both the positive and negative effects of locus of control. In contrast, for self-esteem, first generation status acted as a risk factor that only exacerbated the negative effects of low self-esteem. These results are interpreted as reflecting motivational differences between first- and continuing-generation students and are discussed with respect to the social/cultural capital hypothesis that is most frequently presented in the existing literature.     

Conversation and Conflict: Supporting Authentic Dialogue in the Classroom

This paper presents an exploratory study of MSW students who self‐identified as having political/religious world views differing from what they perceived to be dominant at their school. A goal was to learn about conditions that fostered or inhibited authentic speech for those students. A secondary goal was to learn how students dealt with their political views differing from political positions taken by the profession. Eleven student volunteers participated in structured interviews. Qualitative analysis of these allowed the construction of themes concerning both how faculty may discourage and how faculty support expression of minority views.