Transforming for inclusive practice: professional development to support the inclusion of students labelled as emotionally disturbed

Few models of professional development (PD) are designed to bring about the fundamental shifts in thinking about student behaviour that can support the inclusion of students labelled as having emotional/behavioural disabilities within general education classrooms. In this paper, we seek to accomplish two goals: (1) we briefly delineate the features of a model of PD to build the capacity of teachers to create hospitable classrooms for students with labels of emotional disabilities, and (2) we use the context of this PD model to describe the transformative process that occurred within the specialists who implemented it within an urban school district. In narrating their process of change, we illuminate the conditions for learning supported by this model and its potential for promoting inclusive practices within urban schools.     

A task force to reduce prison overcrowding: Implications for criminal justice policy,planning and research methods courses

This article describes an undergraduate criminal justice research methods course that uses interactive teaching methods to explore the dynamics of policy analysis and program evaluation. The issue of prison overcrowding is introduced after a solid base of research methods concepts has been mastered. Prison overcrowding is presented in a detailed scenario that includes changes in state and local policy. Student workgroups explore issues involved in prison overcrowding using multiple sources of information, including the World Wide Web.     

Short skirts and breast juts: cheerleading,eroticism and schools

Cheerleading, an American invention, has 3.8 million participants in the United States, 97% of whom are female. It is an adult‐sanctioned and typically school‐affiliated activity that remains popular in spite of the increase in sports' opportunities for girls in schools. Drawing from popular culture and a middle school ethnography, the authors document the enduring popularity of cheerleading and how it is a vehicle through which adolescent girls may try out various facets of what it means to be a contemporary American woman. The cheerleader represents both the ‘good’ girl as well as the sexy tease. Understanding the sexual tensions embedded in cheerleading in its nation of origin may provide educators in different national contexts ideas of how to use cheerleading as an educational tool.     

Transitioning from Print to Electronic Information Delivery: An Update from the National Research Council Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information

Canada's national science library, the National Research Council Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information, is in the process of transforming its traditional document delivery services to meet the emerging needs of users. As such, the Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information has developed a suite of Web-based services, partnerships, and collaborations to better serve its users. These components have been brought together to create new service offerings such as Discover, and the National Research Council Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information Standards Store. Quicker, more flexible and convenient access to the world's scientific, technical, and medical information from the Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information and from sites where users congregate across the Web is the goal of Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information's new breed of information delivery services.     

New media and new politics with old cemeteries and disused railways: advocacy goes digital in Singapore

This article seeks to demonstrate the significance of new media in reconfiguring and expanding the politics of conservation in the rapidly urbanizing postcolonial city state of Singapore. The critical role of new media is examined, in providing new access and connectivity to the efforts of non-governmental organizations, particularly heritage groups in the republic in advocating for the conservation of lands around the former Malayan Railway line and Bukit Brown Cemetery in Singapore. In two case studies, activists and enthusiasts of all ages are seen to quickly build up and share an organic knowledge and memory base in cyberspace, through postings on Facebook and sharing of digital photographs and videos, recorded with digital cameras and smartphones. These actions are significant as collectively staking cultural ownerships of heritage sites about to be lost. As new media are promptly adopted as tools for social mobilization with the ability to circulate events, news and debates through Google+ to Twitter, new publics, new community leaders and new alliances begin to emerge in a scene once dominated by traditional and formal organizations. Like any other medium, new media possess affordances of its own and impact the meanings that are conserved and interpreted through heritage. With Singaporeans ranked in the world as the most frequent users of new media portals like Facebook, the authors explore the cultivation of a new form of citizenry via new media in pushing for the politics of memory, nature and heritage in the highly modernized cityscape.     

For the record: document and record sensibilities of art conservators in the Philippines

In this article the authors present a study of the use of documents by a small group of art conservators in the Philippines. Documents are important for these conservators, but not just, or even primarily, for their role as memory devices. Also important are the functions they play in creating a sense of professional identity, for mediating the tensions created by a bureaucratically structured workplace and an occupation traditionally organised around notions of craftsmanship, and as creators of persuasive evidence for clients.     

Agreement between bioelectrical impedance and dual energy X-ray absorptiometry in assessing fat,lean and bone mass changes in adults after a lifestyle intervention

We aimed to assess the agreement of a commercially available bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) device in measuring changes in fat, lean and bone mass over a 10-week lifestyle intervention, with dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) as reference. A sample of 136 volunteers (18–66 years) underwent a physical activity intervention to enhance lean mass and reduce fat mass. BIA (Tanita BC545) and DXA (Hologic Explorer) measures of whole-body composition were taken at baseline and at the end of the intervention. After an average of 74 ± 18 days intervention, DXA showed significant changes in 2 of 3 outcome variables: reduced fat mass of 0.802 ± 1.092 kg (P < 0.001), increased lean mass of 0.477 ± 0.966 kg (P < 0.001); minor non-significant increase of 0.007 ± 0.041 kg of bone mass (P = 0.052). The respective changes in BIA measures were a significant reduction of 0.486 ± 1.539 kg fat (P < 0.001), but non-significant increases of 0.084 ± 1.201 kg lean mass (P = 0.425), and 0.014 ± 0.091 kg bone (P = 0.074). Significant, but moderately weak, correlations were seen in absolute mass changes between DXA and BIA: 0.511 (fat), 0.362 (lean) and 0.172 (bone). Compared to DXA, BIA demonstrated mediocre agreement to changes in fat mass, but poor agreement to lean mass changes. BIA significantly underestimated the magnitude of changes in fat and lean mass compared to DXA.     

Teachers’ Perceptions of a Fundamental Movement Skill (FMS) Assessment Battery in a School Setting

Fundamental movement skills (FMS) competence is low in adolescent girls. An assessment tool for teachers is needed to monitor FMS in this demographic. The present study explored whether the Canadian Agility and Movement Skill Assessment (CAMSA) is feasible for use by physical education (PE) teachers of Australian Year 7 girls in a school setting. Surveys, focus group interviews, and direct observation of 18 specialist PE teachers investigated teachers’ perceptions of this tool. Results indicated that the CAMSA was usable in a real-world school setting and was considered a promising means to assess FMS in Year 7 girls. However, future iterations may require minor logistical alterations and further training for teachers on how to utilize the assessment data to enhance teaching practice. These considerations could be used to improve future design, application, and training of the CAMSA in school-based PE.     

Moving into and out of high-performance sport: the cultural learning of an artistic gymnast

Background: High-performance sport has been described as a formative environment through which athletes learn sporting skills but also develop athletic selves. Within this process, career movements related to selection for and de-selection from representative teams constitute critical moments. Further, retirement from sport can be problematic as the athletic self becomes ‘obsolete’. This dilemma is acute in sports that demand an early entry, extreme time investments and a high risk of retirement before adulthood. Women's artistic gymnastics (WAG) is such a sport.

Purpose and scope: This article considers an artistic gymnast's (Marie) experiences of movement into and out of this sport. Marie's construction and reconstruction of her athletic self when she entered gymnastics at the age of six, relocated to a different city in order to train with the national team at the age of 15, and retired from the sport one year later receives particular attention.

Method and theoretical perspective: An in-depth biographical interview was conducted with Marie. Further, the first author's personal knowledge of this gymnast's career experiences was used for contextualisation. The analysis of data involved the identification of learning outcomes during her time in high-performance WAG and post-retirement. Storied accounts surrounding the key learning experiences were compiled. In order to understand Marie's learning, cultural perspective of learning developed by education scholars and the respective metaphors of ‘learning as becoming’ and ‘horizons for action’ and ‘horizons of learning’ are employed.

Findings: Marie's choice of relocating to train with the national team involved her assuming a temporary orientation towards the requirements of the high-performance WAG context she entered. To achieve this, Marie suppressed the dispositions she had brought to this setting and adjusted her training philosophy, relationship with her coach, diet and socialising. Further, despite Marie intending to only momentarily adjust to the practices of the high-performance context, her learning was deep. Upon retiring from gymnastics, she could not leave the high-performance gymnastics self behind. The subsequent process to adjust to life without gymnastics was difficult and testing, and could only be realised with professional treatment.

Conclusion: Learning in sport is not limited to athletic skills. Athletes’ selves are formed in interaction with sporting contexts and actors. This embodiment can become durable and cause significant conflict when moving out of sport. To handle life without sport, adjustment may be challenging and lengthy.

Recommendations: Sporting cultures should allow for more interactive learning and athlete diversity. Coaching practices that allow athletes to voice difficulties should be provided. Athletes should be encouraged to reflect upon their sporting experiences and upon leaving high-performance sport, should be (professionally) supported.