Low volume–high intensity interval exercise elicits antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects in humans

The purpose of the present study was to compare acute changes in oxidative stress and inflammation in response to steady state and low volume, high intensity interval exercise (LV-HIIE). Untrained healthy males (n = 10, mean ± s: age 22 ± 3 years; VO_2MAX 42.7 ± 5.0 ml · kg^?1 · min^?1) undertook three exercise bouts: a bout of LV-HIIE (10 × 1 min 90% VO_2MAX intervals) and two energy-matched steady-state cycling bouts at a moderate (60% VO_2MAX; 27 min, MOD) and high (80% VO_2MAX; 20 min, HIGH) intensity on separate days. Markers of oxidative stress, inflammation and physiological stress were assessed before, at the end of exercise and 30 min post-exercise (post+30). At the end of all exercise bouts, significant changes in lipid hydroperoxides (LOOH) and protein carbonyls (PCs) (LOOH (nM): MOD +0.36; HIGH +3.09; LV-HIIE +5.51 and PC (nmol · mg^?1 protein): MOD ?0.24; HIGH ?0.11; LV-HIIE ?0.37) were observed. Total antioxidant capacity (TAC) increased post+30, relative to the end of all exercise bouts (TAC (µM): MOD +189; HIGH +135; LV-HIIE +102). Interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-10 increased post+30 in HIGH and LV-HIIE only (P < 0.05). HIGH caused the greatest lymphocytosis, adrenaline and cardiovascular response (P < 0.05). At a reduced energy cost and physiological stress, LV-HIIE elicited similar cytokine and oxidative stress responses to HIGH.     

The challenges and possibilities of aligning large‐scale testing with mathematical reform: the case of Ontario

In 1997, the Ontario government, like many other jurisdictions, undertook systemic reform of their elementary school mathematics programme, developing a new mathematics curriculum, report card, and province‐wide assessment. The curricular reform embodied a new vision of mathematics learning and instruction that emphasized instruction using challenging problems, the student construction of multiple solution methods, and mathematical communication and defence of ideas. While the design of the original large‐scale assessment incorporated much of the latest research and theory on effective practices at that time, these traditional item development and scoring practices no longer adequately assess mathematics achievement in reform‐inspired classrooms. The difficulties of marrying traditional assessment practices with a reform‐inspired curriculum could be addressed by creating a construct definition from the recent research findings on students’ mathematical development in reform‐inspired classrooms. The importance, challenges and implications of redefining the construct on the basis of existing research on students’ mathematical development, as well as collapsing the traditional content‐by‐process matrix for item development, are explored.     

Evaluation of information technology in educational management for proactive development

Evaluation will be the key to effective and efficient implementation and use of information technology in education management. As hardware, software and the needs of users develop and change, such evaluation will need to be both proactive and dynamic in that it must continually provide information concerning how the systems need to be modified to allow the potential to be realized fully. Dynamic evaluation can then be used to inform the system design, training, support and documentation to ensure end-user acceptance of the systems and provide administration support and information relevant to enhanced decision-making processes. Findings from a preliminary study of the Hong Kong school administration and management system (SAMS) will be used to illustrate the problems that can occur without carefully planned and contextualized evaluation.     

Martin Buber,Hasidism, and Jewish spirituality: the implications for education and for pastoral care

Abstract

There is a legal requirement that schools engage with the spiritual aspects of education, which encompasses pastoral care. This reflects the ethical sensibility that is present in individuals and underlies interactions with Others; and which should be part of the ethos of all educational institutions and especially schools. This is because spirituality is important to leading a moral life and to understanding the Other. The article considers specifically the potential of Jewish spirituality, and uses Martin Buber’s thought, to gain a better understanding of its contribution to education and to pastoral care. In the first part, we comment on the ‘basic words’, I-Thou and I-It, which are connected with Hasidism, the Jewish spiritual movement which had a great influence on Martin Buber. Hasidism understands that it is our duty to find and connect with the ‘divine sparks’, as genuine relations merge with the Divine, and when humans relate genuinely to one another, they relate to God. This is crucial for understanding the superiority of I-Thou relations over I-It relations. In the second and third parts of the article, we consider the implications of this understanding of Jewish spirituality for education and for pastoral care. This is done through highlighting the importance of I-Thou relations if the spiritual aspects of education and of pastoral care are to be encouraged and fulfilled.     

Disruptions and bridges in rural Australia: higher education aspiration to expectation of participation

ABSTRACT

Widening higher education participation can deliver benefits to individuals, societies and economies but rural populations experience factors which inhibit their aspiration for and participation in higher education. When designing outreach programs, universities need to consider this landscape of factors, many of which are socio-cultural. This article reports evaluation results from a project that trialled three university outreach programs designed to align with rural contexts with the aim of identifying aspects which were effective in addressing factors of rurality, revealing obscured future options and showing higher education pathways as attainable. Universities can work effectively with rural communities to inform people’s higher education aspirations through ‘disruptions’, interventions that inform educational aspiration, and ‘bridges’ which support higher education participation through facilitating access to information, physical, financial, academic and social resources. A model including both ‘disruptions’ and ‘bridges’, jointly resourced and drawing on social capital resources of communities and higher education institutions is presented.     

Racial Group Membership and Multicultural Training: Examining the Experiences of Counseling and Counseling Psychology Students

This study documents various process elements of multicultural training from the perspective of counseling and counseling psychology students within the United States (US). Using a mixed-methods approach, findings indicate that racial group membership is an important variable that differentially impacts White students and students of Color while undertaking a multicultural counseling course. Results of a principal components analysis revealed four components associated with racial group membership, including negative racial experiences and salience of racial diversity. Findings from a grounded theory analysis identified five overarching themes including intense emotional experiences, representing one’s racial group, and issues of safety impacting course experience. Implications for training and future research are offered.     

Australian universities in the post-Williams period: The impact of public policy on the small universities

This paper examines the impact of the Williams Committee Report on Education and Training on the Australian universities since its publication in February, 1979. In it we discuss the influence of public policy on tertiary education as it has been implemented by the Federal and State Governments of the Commonwealth following the release of the Report.The Federal Government's stated policy in response to the Report was to continue the process of monitoring and adjusting the education system in accord with the Williams Committee proposals for evolutionary change to improve the quality of education. How-ever, because Australian education is experiencing a period of tight economic restraint, it is not surprising that the first tangible reactions to the sections of the Report about universities were to those recommendations about cost, efficiency and availability of tertiary education as well as to those about integration and rationalisation of resources.These outcomes are examined in the context of three Universities, namely, Murdoch University (the Western Australian State Government established a Committee of Inquiry to make recommendations about the future of Murdoch as a result of proposals made by the Williams Committee about it integrating with the University of Western Australia), The University of Tasmania (the Tasmanian State Government took action to follow-up the submission made by the Tasmanian Treasury to the Williams Committee about the rationalisation of resources in tertiary education) and The University of Wollongong (chief executive officers of institutions from the three sectors of higher education in the Illawarra region have reformed an informal advisory group which had operated before the Williams Committee Report was released, into an Advisory Council with a more formal status to explore areas of possible collaboration and cooperation).These reactions have had the aim of broadening the scope of university activities in three of the smallest universities in Australia. In each case, a number of fundamentally important educational and resource issues have been raised and the reactions of the universities have been shaped by public policies. We believe that universities as social institutions should take into account the needs of societies in making decisions about their interests and welfare. It is therefore of paramount importance for universities to be fully aware of relevant public policies and be able and willing to respond constructively.     

Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) Area Under the Curve (AUC): A Diagnostic Measure for Evaluating the Accuracy of Predictors of Education Outcomes

Early Warning Systems (EWS) and Early Warning Indictors (EWI) have recently emerged as an attractive domain for states and school districts interested in predicting student outcomes using data that schools already collect with the intention to better time and tailor interventions. However, current diagnostic measures used across the domain do not consider the dual issues of sensitivity and specificity of predictors, key components for considering accuracy. We apply signal detection theory using Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) Area Under the Curve (AUC) analysis adapted from the engineering and medical domains, and using the pROC package in R. Using nationally generalizable data from the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS:2002) we provide examples of applying ROC accuracy analysis to a variety of predictors of student outcomes, such as dropping out of high school, college enrollment, and postsecondary STEM degrees and careers.     

Correction to: Better beware: comparing metacognition for phishing and legitimate emails

Metacognition and Learning - The article “Better beware: comparing metacognition for phishing and legitimate emails”, written by Casey Inez Canfield, Baruch Fischhoff and Alex Davis,...