Interpreting differences between the United States and New Zealand university students’ engagement scores as measured by the NSSE and AUSSE

Press releases concerning the Australasian Survey of Student Engagement (AUSSE) results warn that university students in Australia and New Zealand are less engaged than their peers at United States institutions. Such warnings about student engagement and interactions then become targets for improvement on Australasian universities’ strategic plans. In considering New Zealand university students’ survey responses, we examined AUSSE and the US National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) data for 2009 and 2010 with respect to all items that load on the five scales these instruments share. We argue that most of the observed differences in responses, response distributions and subsequent scale scores can be attributed to differences in educational pathways and cultures between the USA and New Zealand. Consequently, considerable caution in these trans-Pacific comparisons is warranted, particularly when formulating policy and practices to improve student engagement in New Zealand based on methods that have been employed in different educational contexts.     

Ranking dynamics and volatility

Scientific journals are ordered by their impact factor while countries, institutions or researchers can be ranked by their scientific production, impact or by other simple or composite indicators as in the case of university rankings. In this paper, the theoretical framework proposed in Criado, R., Garcia, E., Pedroche, F. & Romance, M. (2013). A new method for comparing rankings through complex networks: Model and analysis of competitiveness of major European soccer leagues. Chaos, 23, 043114 for football competitions is used as a starting point to define a general index describing the dynamics or its opposite, stability, of rankings. Some characteristics to study rankings, ranking dynamics measures and axioms for such indices are presented. Furthermore, the notion of volatility of elements in rankings is introduced. Our study includes rankings with ties, entrants and leavers. Finally, some worked out examples are shown.     

Interdisciplinary therapy changes superoxide dismutase activity and adiponectin in obese adolescents: a randomised controlled trial

The objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of interdisciplinary therapy in the parameters of the oxidative stress and the anti-inflammatory responses of obese adolescents. We selected 57 participants, who were randomly divided into 2 groups: interdisciplinary therapy group and a control group. After 6 months of intervention, 17 participants of the interdisciplinary therapy group and 8 of the control group returned for re-evaluation. The interdisciplinary therapy group participated in a treatment with 4 weekly sessions of exercise, a weekly group therapy session and a weekly nutritional education session. Blood parameters of oxidative stress and anti-inflammatory response were evaluated. The results demonstrated that there were significant increases in the interdisciplinary therapy group for superoxide dismutase activity (6.56 ± 3.22 to 11.40 ± 7.49) and ferric-reducing antioxidant potential concentration (532.91 ± 106.48 to 573.25 ± 112.57), although adiponectin levels did not reduce (40.9 ± 29.34 to 49.05 ± 41.22). A significant decrease in nitrite levels was also found (14.23 ± 8.48 to 11.45 ± 6.05). In the control group, significant reduction was found in adiponectin (31.56 ± 18.88 to 18.01 ± 11.66). This study suggests that interdisciplinary therapy for 6 months was effective in improving the anti-inflammatory responses and the antioxidant defences in obese adolescents.     

What should a physical education teacher know? An analysis of learning outcomes for future physical education teachers in Sweden

Background: Research indicates that physical education teacher education (PETE) has only limited impact on how physical education (PE) is taught in schools. In this paper, our starting point is that the difficulties of challenging the dominating subject traditions in PE could be due to difficulties of challenging certain epistemological assumptions recurring in significant PETE subject matter and didactics courses.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to scrutinise how knowledge is expressed in learning outcomes formulated in curriculum documents at PETE institutions in Sweden and to discuss the potential educational consequences of the epistemological assumptions underlying the analysed expressions of knowledge.

Setting and participants: This paper offers possible explanations for the difficulties of influencing subject traditions in PE through analysing learning outcomes formulated in PETE curriculum documents. The analysis is based on 224 learning outcomes collected from a total of 18 course syllabi, spread at 6 PETE institutions in Sweden.

Research design, data collection and analysis: The documents have been collected through contact by e-mail with representatives for each institution. Through the analysis different themes in the material have been identified and clustered together. Inspired by Fenstermacher's ideas about teacher knowledge as propositional knowledge and performance knowledge, our ambition is to discuss the potential educational consequences of the epistemological assumptions underpinning the analysed learning outcomes.

Findings: In the collected learning outcomes, the following themes were identified: teaching PE, interpreting curriculum documents, physical movement skills, science, social health, pedagogy, critical inquiry, and research methods. In most of the identified themes, the learning outcomes represent both subject matter knowledge and general teacher knowledge and are also formulated with an integrated perspective on so-called performance knowledge and propositional knowledge. However, particularly in the themes science and physical movement skills, two very influential themes, the learning outcomes are limited to subject matter knowledge and the concept of knowledge in these themes is also limited and unilateral in relation to ideas of different forms of teacher knowledge.

Conclusions: We argue that a decontextualisation of knowledge, in this paper identified through dissolving science from its use in practice and through detaching physical movement skills from other conceptual foundations, contributes to the reproduction of subject traditions that render PE teachers incapable of critically reflecting over their practice, for instance how different groups of students benefit or suffer from the teaching of certain content. Drawing on the work of Tinning, we offer an explanation as to how teacher knowledge in the themes science and physical movement skills, emanating from behaviouristic and craft knowledge orientations, is formulated.     

Availability of Education and Training for Medical Specialists about the Impact of Dementia on Comorbid Disease Management

Individuals with dementia carry an additional health burden of multiple comorbid conditions. Effectively assessing and treating these comorbid conditions requires the medical specialist to be aware of, understand, and manage the effects of dementia on their clinical subspecialty practice. This ecological study describes the dementia-related education available to medical specialists in Australia outside the domains of geriatrics, neurology, and psychiatry. The dementia-related content of specialist medical training curricula and dementia-related information published in high-impact medical journals between 2000–2012 was reviewed. Dementia-related education was found to be absent from the training curricula for 14 of the medical specialties within Australia. And less than 0.10% (1,921 articles) of the more than two million articles published in the 138 journals assessed were dementia related.     

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION OF OLDER ADULTS: HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES

This article presents a number of historical themes that are relevant to emerging efforts in the religious education of older adults. Drawing on themes in Jewish, Christian, Confucian, and other world religions the author indicates that religious bodies have shown respect for the elderly, especially for their abilities as teachers and counselors. Older adults have pursued learning either by living in close connection with religious communities or in separate institutions under the sponsorship of religious bodies. Religious traditions have urged study and contemplation as suitable activities for their older members. The increased numbers of older adults in religious bodies is a problem that can be turned into educational challenge and opportunity.     

La Transición: parent perspectives on transition for Latino youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities

The transition to adulthood can be a challenging time for adolescents with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Its complexity, however, may be magnified for families who have immigrated to the United States. This study examined the transition expectations and experiences of six first-generation, Latino parents and their transition-aged (14–22) children with intellectual disability, autism, and/or multiple disabilities. Through individual interviews held in Spanish or English, parents offered insights into (1) their visions of success for their child, (2) the distinct barriers they face as immigrant families, and (3) their suggestions for schools and adult agencies related to supporting strong transitions. Their portraits of desired outcomes were quite individualized and reflected high expectations. Factors identified as inhibiting successful transitions included persistent language barriers, the views of certain professionals and community members, and exclusion from typical school experiences. Parents encouraged schools to support family advocacy, foster greater student independence, expand adult programming, and reduce segregated educational placements. We present implications for educators on working with Latino families, as well as offer recommendations for future research.