Prospective Teachers' Conceptions of the Knowledge Base for Teaching Chemistry at the German Gymnasium

Journal of Science Teacher Education -     

National Devolution in Swedish Higher Education -- A Quest for New Local Leadership. The Case of Leadership Development at Göteborg University

In 1993 a new national form for governance was introduced in Swedish higher education. The new regime, best described in terms of deregulation and decentralisation, among other things, required a new individually based leadership at universities.The paper describes the development of one particular 10-day interfaculty leadership training course for heads of departments, directors of study and other local managers, its content and methods and some implications for strategic management in higher education institutions.Four such implications are covered: constructing a new social identity as leaders, getting leadership acceptance in an individualistic academic-freedom culture, training academic leaders in accordance with professional values, and dealing with accountability in a collegial decision-making environment.     

Injuries in Australian school-level rugby union

There is a high incidence of injuries in rugby union due to the physical nature of the game. In youth rugby union, there are large variations in injury rates reported. Our study investigated the rates of injuries in school-level rugby union players in Australia using the consensus statement for rugby union injuries. Injury surveillance was conducted on 480 rugby players from 1 school in Queensland, Australia. Injury data were collected using paper-based injury recording forms during the 8-week rugby season using a “medical-attention” injury definition. In total, 76 players sustained one or more injuries, with a total of 80 injuries recorded. The overall injury rate was 31.8 injuries/1000 match player hours (95% CI, 25.4–39.4). Concussion had an incidence rate of 6.0/1000 match player hours (95% CI, 3.5–9.6). The incidence of upper limb and lower limb injuries were 9.1 and 9.9/1000 match player hours, respectively (95% CI, 5.9–13.5 and 6.6–14.5). The older age divisions had higher injury rates and most injuries occurred while tackling or being tackled. The injury rates observed in this sample of Australian school rugby union players provides direction for future studies to enable informed decisions relating to development of injury prevention programmes at this level of rugby.     

Improvement of darts performance following lucid dream practice depends on the number of distractions while rehearsing within the dream – a sleep laboratory pilot study

In a lucid dream, the dreamer is aware of the dream state and can deliberately practice motor skills. Two field studies indicated that lucid dream practice can improve waking performance in simple motor tasks. The present pilot study investigated the effect of lucid dream practice in a controlled sleep laboratory setting, using a pre-post design with dart throwing in the evening and morning. The experimental group practiced darts in lucid dreams. Because some participants were distracted during lucid dream practice, the group was divided into lucid dreamers with few (n = 4) and many distractions (n = 5). Change of performance was compared to a physical practice group (n = 9) and a control group (n = 9), showing a significant interaction (P = .013, η² = .368). Only the lucid dreamers with few distractions improved (18%) significantly over time (P = .005, d = 3.84). Even though these results have to be considered preliminary, the present study indicates that lucid dream practice can be an effective tool in sports practice if lucid dreamers find ways to minimise distractions during lucid dream practice. Moreover, the study emphasises the necessity to investigate lucid dream practice experiences on a qualitative level.     

The Right to Write in German Colonies of the Early Twentieth Century: Pugnacious Settler Newspapers,Anxious Governors and African Journalism in Exile

ABSTRACT

The entangled history of the German Colonial Press Law (written 1906–1912) begins with the wish of the German East African Governor to keep the pugnacious settler press under control. Under the influence of a racist discourse that sought to restrict education for Africans and feared anti-colonial actions and networks, the law developed into a legal basis that could impede publishing activities of the colonised in all German colonies. In Togoland, African writers bypassed such restrictions by publishing critical articles in the adjacent British Gold Coast Colony and thereby succeeded in entering transnational supportive networks.     

Exploring doctorate holders’ perceptions of the non-academic labour market and reputational problems they relate to their employment

Doctoral employment outside universities has been increasing, as universities cannot employ all doctorate holders. Nevertheless, it has been argued that the shift from doctoral programs to the non-academic labour market has been limited. In this qualitative study, more than 800 verbal answers given by doctorate holders to a pair of open-ended questions were content-analysed to explore doctorate holders’ perceptions of the non-academic labour market and the reputational problems they relate to their employment. The study identifies four reputational problems which doctorate holders relate to their employment: the oversupply problem, the overeducation problem, the consistency problem and the communication problem. By identifying potential reputational problems on the doctorate holders level, this research contributes novel information in terms of both theory development and practitioner insights.

     

Night Awakening and Its Association With Executive Functioning Across the First Two Years of Life

Longitudinal associations between signaled night awakening and executive functioning (EF) at 8 and 24 months in children with (≥ 3 awakenings, n = 77) and without parent-rated fragmented sleep (≤ 1 awakening, n = 69) were studied. EF was assessed with the Switch task at 8 and 24 months. At 24 months, behavioral tasks and parental ratings of EF (Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function–Preschool version) were also used. In the Switch task, children with fragmented sleep were less able to learn stimulus sequences and inhibit previously learned responses than children without fragmented sleep. The groups differed only marginally in parental ratings of EF, and no differences were found in behavioral EF tasks. These results suggest that eye movement-based measures may reveal associations between sleep and EF already in infancy and toddlerhood.     

Teachers’ information processing and judgement accuracy: effects of information consistency and accountability

European Journal of Psychology of Education - Research has shown that teachers are able to adapt their processing strategy of student information to situational demands, whereby they flexibly use...     

In vivo determination of the effect of shoulder pads on tackling forces in rugby

Tackling in rugby is now a major cause of injury. The use of rugby shoulder pads is intended to reduce injury from front-on tackles, although the pad's ability to reduce injury has not been examined. This paper strives to present a novel method, using Tekscan sensors, for measuring in vivo impact intensities during a front-on tackle to assess the effectiveness of rugby shoulder padding in reducing peak force during impact. It was hypothesized that padding would not significantly reduce peak impact force. Rugby pads were instrumented with thin film force sensors to measure impact intensities during tackles with and without pads. Sensors were first statically then dynamically calibrated using force plate data. Results showed that the pad significantly reduced peak impact force by up to 35% when impacted with an object and by 40% overall for all tackles. The hypothesis that the shoulder pad could not significantly reduce peak force at impact was rejected, since the pad reduced peak force by 41% in tackles with a run-up and 40% overall for all tackles. However, this reduction in force was localized directly above the acromioclavicular joint, while forces in the surrounding areas were not reduced.