The respiratory time and flow profile at volitional exercise termination

In this study, we examine the effect of exercise on the time and flow characteristics of the respiratory cycle profile at the point of volitional exercise termination. Eight males (mean age 29 years, s = 10; body mass 74 kg, s = 7; height 1.75 m, s = 0.04) undertook a cycle test to volitional exhaustion on a cycle ergometer, which allowed peak oxygen uptake (VO(2peak)) to be measured (mean 51 ml x kg(-1) x min(-1), s = 7). At a later date, two sub-maximal tests to volitional exhaustion were completed in a random order at 76% (s = 6) and 86% VO(2peak) (s = 7). As expected, the magnitude of the respiratory flow and time characteristics varied with the three exercise intensities, as did the point of exercise termination and terminal ventilation rates, which varied from 7 to 27 min and 112 to 132 litres x min(-1) respectively. More importantly, however, at exercise termination some of the characteristics were similar, particularly the breathing frequency (at termination 49 breaths x min(-1)), the ratio between inspiration and total breath time (0.5), and the later occurrence of peak inspiratory flow (0.24-0.48 s). The coincident unity of these time and flow profile characteristics at exercise termination illustrates how the integration of timing and flow during breathing influence exercise capacity in non-elite athletes.     

Starting small: Building preschool teacher knowledge that supports early literacy development

A growing body of research is emerging that investigates the teacher knowledge base essential for supporting reading and writing development at the elementary school level. However, even though increasing recognition is given to the pivotal role that preschool teachers play in cultivating children’s early literacy development, considerably fewer studies have examined the knowledge base of these early childhood educators. This paper will discuss the existing research literature and then examine a recent study that investigated the knowledge constructs of 20 preschool teachers. Findings indicate that preschool teachers lack the disciplinary knowledge required to promote early literacy and, in fact, tend to overestimate what they know, creating a potential obstacle for seeking additional knowledge. Recommendations for strengthening professional development programs and developing more robust measures of preschool teacher knowledge are proposed.     

Potential of one-to-one technologies in the classroom: teachers and students weigh in

Increased efforts to promote 21st century learning emphasize the central role of technology in instructional delivery in order to advance the multifaceted abilities and skills required for student success in an increasingly technology-rich learning and work environment. A qualitative study was conducted in a large, economically diverse, mid-Atlantic school district to examine the implementation of six technology devices in 18 elementary, middle, and high school classrooms. The purpose was to understand teachers’ and students’ experiences related to the instructional implications of each device to inform long term, one-to-one implementation of an appropriate technology device to meet the district’s strategic goals for a 21st century learning environment. Teacher interviews and student focus groups revealed several themes related to technology integration, factors influencing implementation, impact on instruction, and impact on student motivation and engagement. Findings are discussed in relation to the district infrastructure and other considerations to support a one-to-one teaching and learning environment and how each of the six devices support the establishment of 21st century learning environments.     

Rearing Difficult Children: Parents' Personality and Children's Proneness to Anger as Predictors of Future Parenting

OBJECTIVE: This multi-method study of 102 mothers, fathers, and children examined children's difficult temperament as a moderator of the links between parental personality and future parenting. METHODS: Parents described themselves on the Big Five traits and Optimism. Children's difficult temperament was observed at 25 and 38 months in paradigms that assessed proneness to anger. Each parent's responsive, affectively positive parenting was observed in lengthy naturalistic interactions at 67 months. RESULTS: Regardless of child temperament, for mothers, low Neuroticism, and for fathers, high Extraversion predicted more positive parenting. For difficult, anger-prone children, mothers' low and high Optimism and fathers' low and high Openness were associated, respectively, with less or more positive parenting. CONCLUSIONS: Challenges due to children's difficult temperaments appear to amplify links between parental personality traits and parenting.     

Examining the World Around Us: Critical Media Literacy in Teacher Education

This article presents findings from action research conducted in a graduate level course with practicing K–12 educators. In this article, I consider the usefulness of critical media literacy in the graduate classroom as I engaged students in discussions about multicultural issues including race, class, gender, sexuality, and ability. Through an examination of student presentations and field notes collected over the course of the semester, I found the graduate student participants were typically quite savvy at evaluating the messages they receive from media. Further, I found the incorporation of popular media into the classroom helped students grapple with typically foreign and often theoretically dense concepts like unconscious racism and heteronormativity, as well as theories like critical race theory, intersectionality, and queer theory. The graduate student participants were able to see deep connections between text/theory and media and often used various media to illustrate theory in quite complex ways. Lastly, engaging with texts of everyday life and using visual representations helped students interrogate the concepts explored in the course and provided students access to theory otherwise regarded as inaccessible.     

Why do bad balls get wickets? The role of congruent and incongruent information in anticipation

Skilled anticipation is underpinned by the use of kinematic and contextual information. However, few researchers have examined what happens when contextual information suggests an outcome that is different from the event that follows. We aimed to bridge this gap by manipulating the relationship between contextual information and final ball location in a cricket-batting task. We predicted that when contextual information is congruent with the eventual outcome then anticipation would be facilitated. In contrast, when contextual information is incongruent, this would lead to a confirmation bias on kinematic information and result in decreased anticipation accuracy. We expected this effect to be larger in skilled performers who are more able to utilise context. Skilled and less-skilled cricket batters anticipated deliveries presented using a temporally occluded video-based task. We created conditions whereby contextual information and event outcome were either congruent or incongruent. There was a significant skill by condition interaction (p < 0.05). The skilled group anticipated significantly more accurately than the less-skilled group on the congruent trials. Both groups anticipated less accurately on incongruent trials, with the skilled participants being more negatively affected. Skilled performers prioritise contextual information and confirmation bias affects the use of kinematic information available later in the action.     

Correction to: Assessing the direct and indirect effects of metalinguistic awareness to the reading comprehension skills of struggling adult readers

Reading and Writing - In the original publication of the article.