Teacher Implementation and the Impact of Game-Based Science Curriculum Materials

Research-based digital games hold great potential to be effective tools in supporting next-generation science learning. However, as with all instructional materials, teachers significantly influence their implementation and contribute to their effectiveness. To more fully understand the contributions and challenges of teacher implementation of digital games, we studied the replacement of existing high school biology genetics lessons over a 3- to 6-week period with Geniverse, an immersive, game-like learning environment designed to be used in classrooms. The Geniverse materials infuse virtual experimentation in genetics with a narrative of a quest to heal a genetic disease; incorporate the topics of meiosis and protein synthesis with inheritance; and include the science practices of explanation and argumentation. The research design involved a quasi-experiment with 48 high school teachers and about 2000 students, student science content knowledge and argumentation outcome measures, and analysis using hierarchical linear modeling. Results indicate that when Geniverse was implemented as the designers intended, student learning of genetics content was significantly greater than in the comparison, business-as-usual group. However, a wide range of levels of Geniverse implementation resulted in no significant difference between the groups as a whole. Students’ abilities to engage in scientific explanation and argumentation were greater in the Geniverse group, but these differences were not statistically significant. Observation, survey, and interview data indicate a range of barriers to implementation and teacher instructional decisions that may have influenced student outcomes. Implications for the role of the teacher in the implementation of game-based instructional materials are discussed.     

College Students' Experiences of Childhood Developmental Traumatic Stress: Resilience,First‐Year Academic Performance,and Substance Use

Developmental trauma—distressing childhood experiences that include mistreatment, interpersonal violence, abuse, assault, and neglect—is associated with substance use and poor academic performance. The authors investigated the links between developmental trauma, grade point average, substance use, and resilience among first‐year college students (N = 169). The results indicate there is a significant relationship between cumulative trauma and self‐reported substance use.     

The program risks of work-integrated learning: a study of Australian university lawyers

Work-integrated learning (WIL) is a risky business in higher education. The strategic opportunities that WIL presents for universities cannot be achieved without taking on unavoidable legal risks. University lawyers are involved with managing the legal risks as part of their internal delivery of legal services to universities. It is important to identify the risks that potentially arise, so these can then be managed. A case study involving Australian university lawyers reveals the ‘program risks’ of WIL. Program risk is a type of legal risk that relates to the conduct of universities, host organisations and students before, during and after a WIL placement, as well as the personal characteristics of students that can expose the university to legal risk. The research findings may be applied by university lawyers, academic disciplines and university management to evaluate and improve risk management in WIL programs.     

‘Trying to get our message across’: successes and challenges in an evidence-based professional development programme for sport coaches

This paper reports data from the evaluation of a coach education programme provided by a major national governing body of sport (NGB) in the UK. The programme was designed for youth sport coaches based on research evidence that suggests that CPD is most effective in supporting practitioner learning when it is interactive, collaborative and located in practice. At the same time, the NGB was keen to ensure that in order to meet the objectives of the organisation, there was some consistency in delivery across the various practice sites. The research aimed to investigate how the original CPD programme was enacted across eight professional sports clubs, and to understand how professional knowledge was interpreted and negotiated between participants at the NGB and sports club levels. Over a 2-year period, data were collected from a series of focus groups and extended individual semi-structured interviews. Participants were 7 senior managers, 8 coach educators, 8 Academy club directors and 12 sports club coaches. Data were initially analysed inductively and, drawing on the theoretical work of Bernstein [(1999). Vertical and horizontal discourse: An essay. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 20(2), 157–173, (2000). Pedagogy, symbolic control and identity: Theory, research, critique (Rev. ed.). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield], illustrate the numerous ways in which programme knowledge was interpreted, facilitated and blocked at different levels of the organisation. The paper adds new insights into the complexities of coach education settings and the inherent challenges faced when attempting to ‘roll out’ a coach education intervention – even when it is ‘evidence-based’.     

Gender comparison in consistency in the basketball free throw by an event-driven approach

This paper compares the free-throw performance of men and women in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), taking into account differences in ball size, ball stiffness, and release height. Although some claim that men are more athletic, based on the assumption that athleticism correlates with physical traits, the average free-throw percentages in NCAA Division 1 basketball have been close for decades and across gender. The larger men’s basketball could create a disadvantage for men. On the other hand, the stiffer women’s basketball could create a disadvantage for women. In addition, women typically launch the ball from a lower height above the floor than men do. Therefore, the question of which gender is more consistent was unanswered. To answer this question, we turned to simulations of basketball trajectories. We patched together closed-form trajectory events that terminate at the front rim, back rim, backboard, and a fictitious plane below the ring. This produced what we call speed lines. Using the speed lines and NCAA average free-throw percentages, the consistencies of men- and women-free throws were determined. Examination of the speed lines reveals that they exhibit fractal-like behavior. We analyzed sensitivities with respect to ball size, ball bounce, and release height. We found that the most influential factor in determining free-throw success is the average release height of a gender. Under the stipulated assumptions, this paper found that women are about 3% more consistent than men are.     

Tear osmolarity is sensitive to exercise-induced fluid loss but is not associated with common hydration measures in a field setting

This investigation (i) examined changes in tear osmolarity in response to fluid loss that occurs with exercise in a field setting, and (ii) compared tear osmolarity with common field and laboratory hydration measures. Sixty-three participants [age 27.8 ± 8.4 years, body mass 72.15 ± 10.61 kg] completed a self-paced 10 km run outside on a predetermined course. Body mass, tear fluid, venous blood and urine samples were collected immediately before and after exercise. Significant (p < 0.001) reductions in body mass (1.71 ± 0.44%) and increases in tear osmolarity (8 ± 15 mOsm.L^?1), plasma osmolality (7 ± 8 mOsm.kg^?1), and urine specific gravity (0.0014 ± 0.0042 g.mL^?1; p = 0.008) were observed following exercise. Pre- to post-exercise change in tear osmolarity was not significantly correlated (all p > 0.05) with plasma osmolality (r_s = 0.24), urine osmolality (r_s = 0.14), urine specific gravity (r_s = 0.13) or relative body mass loss (r = 0.20). Tear osmolarity is responsive to exercise-induced fluid loss but does not correlate with the changes observed using other common measures of hydration status in the field setting. Practitioners shouldn’t directly compare or replace other common hydration measures with tear osmolarity in the field.

Abbreviations: BML: Body Mass Loss; CV: Coefficient of Variation; P_osm: Plasma osmolality; SD: Standard Deviation; T_osm: Tear Osmolarity; U_osm: Urine Osmolality; USG: Urine Specific Gravity; WBGT: Wet bulb globe thermometer     

Short- and long-term reliability of leg extensor power measurement in middle-aged and older adults

Muscular power is important for maintaining physical functioning with aging. Proper quantification of the reliability of muscular power tests is crucial to inform monitoring of individuals and sample size planning for interventional studies. This study evaluated short- and long-term reliability of leg extensor power measurement in 72 adults (age 62.7 ± 8.6 years). Participants completed four repeat trials on the Nottingham leg extensor power rig, with a further trial twelve weeks later. Mean change, typical error, and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) were calculated. For short-term reliability, mean change in power output was trivial after two trials (1.2–4.8%). Typical errors were small following four trials in the dominant leg of males (10.9–5.8%), three in the non-dominant leg of males (9.9–6.2%) and the dominant leg of females (10.0–9.6%) and two in the non-dominant leg in females (8.3%). Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) were very high (0.88–0.96). For long-term reliability, mean change remained trivial (1.0–2.5%), typical errors remained small (5.8–8.6%), and ICCs very high (0.94–0.96). The leg extensor power rig is a reliable method for assessing lower body muscular power, both short- and long-term, with only minimal habituation effects.     

Influence of body composition on physiological responses to post-exercise hydrotherapy

This study examined the influence of body composition on temperature and blood flow responses to post-exercise cold water immersion (CWI), hot water immersion (HWI) and control (CON). Twenty-seven male participants were stratified into three groups: 1) low mass and low fat (LM-LF); 2) high mass and low fat (HM-LF); or 3) high mass and high fat (HM-HF). Experimental trials involved a standardised bout of cycling, maintained until core temperature reached 38.5°C. Participants subsequently completed one of three 15-min recovery interventions (CWI, HWI, or CON). Core, skin and muscle temperatures, and limb blood flow were recorded at baseline, post-exercise, and every 30 min following recovery for 240 min. During CON and HWI there were no differences in core or muscle temperature between body composition groups. The rate of fall in core temperature following CWI was greater in the LM-LF (0.03 ± 0.01°C/min) group compared to the HM-HF (0.01 ± 0.001°C/min) group (P = 0.002). Muscle temperature decreased to a greater extent during CWI in the LM-LF and HM-LF groups (8.6 ± 3.0°C) compared with HM-HF (5.1 ± 2.0°C, P < 0.05). Blood flow responses did not differ between groups. Differences in body composition alter the thermal response to post-exercise CWI, which may explain some of the variance in the responses to CWI recovery.     

Assessing coaches’ professional knowledge

Professional competency of sport and exercise coaches has been conceptualised differently depending on the theoretical and methodical approach taken. To date, no model of professional coaching competency has been agreed upon. The aim of this study was to develop a competency model for sport coaches drawing on well-known competency models developed in the context of teacher education and to empirically assess parts of the model. We developed an initial pool of 295 multiple choice items and administered them to a sample of 531 youths (mean age: 16.2 years) directly after they had completed the German Football Association’s (Deutscher Fußball-Bund) “Junior Coach in Schule und Verein” (Junior Coach for Schools and Clubs) training programme. Results of analyses of one-, two-, five-, and six-dimensional models by means of Rasch scaling indicate that the data are best represented by either a two- or a five-dimensional model depending on the fit criteria chosen. While content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge are presented in the two-dimensional model, the five-dimensional model allows discrimination among football-specific content knowledge, basic content knowledge of training science, basic content knowledge of first aid and pedagogical content knowledge of planning training sessions and instructional/methodological pedagogical knowledge. Further investigation should be made into the suitability of competency models developed in the context of teacher evaluation for modelling the competency of sport coaches and into the extent to which such models can be extrapolated to various sports.     

The Impact of University of Zululand Structural and Cultural Contexts on Postgraduate Supervision Practice (2011–2016)

There is a constant interplay between the “people” (agency) and the “parts” (structure and culture), not only in teaching and learning, but also in postgraduate supervision practices globally. However, in South Africa, the tendency to use structure (higher education architecture, institutional history, institutional rules, policies and procedures) to address all challenges related to postgraduate (especially doctoral) studies has resulted in university managers ignoring the role that institutional research culture (social norms, expectations and practice) plays, not only in perpetuating some of these challenges, but also in understanding and resolving them. At the University of Zululand (UniZulu), these factors combine to affect not only the postgraduate supervision practices of supervisors, but also the quality of doctoral throughput (doctorateness) with overall implications for society in general. This article is a critical self-reflection on the author’s postgraduate supervision practice at UniZulu between 2011 and 2016 with a view to highlight how structure and culture combine to impact on his supervision work at the institution. The discussion shows how these factors impact on the quality of doctoral output with implications for the author’s practice and society in general. To deal with the challenges arising from the discussion, the article recommends: establishing a dedicated postgraduate studies unit headed by a director or dean as supervisors and supervisees need a support system that functions optimally; improving staff qualifications and training of supervisors to keep up with best practice in postgraduate supervision; and the Department of Higher Education and Training factoring differentiation realities into its funding modules for universities.