Anarchist education and the paradox of pedagogical authority

This article interrogates a key feature of anarchist education; focusing on a problem with implications not only for anarchist conceptions of education, but for anarchist philosophy and practice more broadly. The problem is this: if anarchism consists in the principled opposition to all forms of coercive authority, then how is this to be reconciled with situations where justice demands the use of coercion in order to protect some particular good? It seems that anarchist educators are forced to deny coercive authority in principle, whilst at the same time affirming it in practice. This is the paradox of pedagogical authority in anarchist education. Coercive authority is simultaneously impossible and indispensable. Exploring this paradox through a reading of Jacques Derrida’s later work, and, in particular, his conception of justice as requiring openness to the singular situation, I argue that in exercising their authority anarchist educators encounter the aporetic moment in anarchism, experiencing what Derrida calls ‘the ordeal of the undecidable’. Understood this way, the paradox becomes less an indication of anarchism’s limitations than it does its value. For it is here that the problem of pedagogical authority is treated with the gravity that all questions of justice deserve.     

Factor Structure and Measurement Invariance of the Intragroup Conflict Scale: Validation in Athletic Trainer and Coach Populations

ABSTRACT

The purposes of this study were to examine the factorial validity of the six-item Intragroup Conflict Scale (ICS) in athletic trainer (AT) and coach populations and to examine measurement invariance by gender and profession. A total of 195 ATs and 615 head or assistant coaches working at secondary schools or National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) institutions completed the ICS. Data were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis procedures in LISREL 10 (Student Edition). Results supported the reliability and validity of the two-factor ICS model among ATs and coaches. Strict measurement invariance was observed when comparing male to female AT responses. Strong measurement invariance was observed when comparing male to female coach responses, as well as AT to coach responses. These data not only support the reliability and validity of the ICS for use in AT and coach populations but also support direct comparisons of mean scores across gender or profession.     

Students' emotions during homework: Structures,self-concept antecedents,and achievement outcomes

In the present study (N = 553; 8th and 11th grade students; 52% female) we investigated students' enjoyment, pride, anxiety, anger, and boredom while completing homework (homework emotions), and contrasted these emotions with those experienced during class (classroom emotions). Both homework emotions and classroom emotions were assessed separately for the domains of mathematics, physics, German, and English. Our hypotheses were based on propositions of the control-value theory of achievement emotions (Pekrun, 2006), Marsh and Ayotte's (2003) differential distinctiveness hypothesis, and previous empirical findings. In line with our assumptions, observed correlations between homework emotions and classroom emotions suggested that the emotions experienced in the two settings should be assessed separately. Within domains, both homework emotions and classroom emotions showed clear linkages with students' academic self-concept and achievement outcomes, with self-concept being slightly more strongly related to classroom emotions. Between-domain relations of emotions were significantly stronger for homework emotions as compared to classroom emotions, likely due to the relative situational homogeneity of homework settings across domains. Further, between-domain relations for emotions in both settings were weaker in 11th grade students, whereas within-domain relations did not differ as a function of age. Implications for research and educational practice are discussed.     

Is chess the drosophila artificial intelligence? A social history of an algorithm

Since the mid 1960s, researchers in computer science have famously referred to chess as the 'drosophila' of artificial intelligence (AI). What they seem to mean by this is that chess, like the common fruit fly, is an accessible, familiar, and relatively simple experimental technology that nonetheless can be used productively to produce valid knowledge about other, more complex systems. But for historians of science and technology, the analogy between chess and drosophila assumes a larger significance. As Robert Kohler has ably described, the decision to adopt drosophila as the organism of choice for genetics research had far-reaching implications for the development of 20th century biology. In a similar manner, the decision to focus on chess as the measure of both human and computer intelligence had important and unintended consequences for AL research. This paper explores the emergence of chess as an experimental technology, its significance in the developing research practices of the AI community, and the unique ways in which the decision to focus on chess shaped the program of AI research in the decade of the 1970s. More broadly, it attempts to open up the virtual black box of computer software--and of computer games in particular--to the scrutiny of historical and sociological analysis.     

The direct and indirect effects of word reading and vocabulary on adolescents’ reading comprehension: Comparing struggling and adequate comprehenders

The current study examined statistically significant differences between struggling and adequate readers using a multicomponent model of reading comprehension in 796 sixth through eighth graders, with a primary focus on word reading and vocabulary. Path analyses and Wald tests were used to investigate the direct and indirect relations of word identification, vocabulary, silent reading efficiency, and inference-making on reading comprehension. Comparing struggling versus adequate comprehenders revealed statistically significant differences in path coefficients. In both groups, vocabulary had the largest total effect when considering its direct and indirect effects. Word identification was the strongest direct predictor for struggling comprehenders (β = .18 for struggling vs. β = ? .03 for adequate), while vocabulary was the strongest predictor for adequate comprehenders (β = .40 for adequate vs. β = .14 for struggling). Findings reinforce (a) vocabulary knowledge plays a primary role in explaining individual differences in adolescent reading comprehension, (b) the need to differentiate intervention to address underlying difficulties of struggling readers, and (c) the relations of reading component skills (e.g., word reading and silent reading efficiency) to reading comprehension may be different based on reader proficiency.     

Production Methods

Nathan J. Sambul, ed., THE HANDBOOK OF PRIVATE TELEVISION: A COMPLETE GUIDE FOR VIDEO FACILITIES AND NETWORKS WITHIN CORPORATIONS, NON-PROFIT INSTITUTIONS AND GOVERNMENT AGENCIES (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1982---$64.95)

Mark Beach, EDITING YOUR NEWSLETTER: A GUIDE TO WRITING, DESIGN, AND PRODUCTION (Coast-to-Coast Books, 2934 N.E. 16th Avenue, Portland, Oregon, 97212---$9.95 plus $1.50 packing and postage, paper)

Charles J. Sippl and Fred Dahl VIDEO/COMPUTERS: HOW TO SELECT, MIX, AND OPERATE PERSONAL COMPUTERS AND HOME VIDEO SYSTEMS (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1981--- $15.95)

Daniel E. Garvey and William L. Rivers BROADCAST WRITING (New York: Longman, 1982---$13.95, paper)

Garvey and Rivers BROADCAST WRITING HANDBOOK ($10.95, paper)

Courtland L. Bove and William F. Arens CONTEMPORARY ADVERTISING (Homewood, Illinois: Richard D. Irwin, 1982---$26.95)     

Relationships between training load,injury, and fitness in sub-elite collision sport athletes

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to develop statistical models that estimate the influence of training load on training injury and physical fitness in collision sport athletes. The incidence of training injuries was studied in 183 rugby league players over two competitive seasons. Participants were assessed for height, body mass, skinfold thickness, vertical jump, 10-m, 20-m and 40-m sprint time, agility, and estimated maximal aerobic power in the off-season, pre-season, mid-season, and end-season. Training load and injury data were summarised into pre-season, early-competition, and late-competition training phases. Individual training load, fitness, and injury data were modelled using a logistic regression model with a binomial distribution and logit link function, while team training load and injury data were modelled using a linear regression model. While physical fitness improved with training, there was no association (P = 0.16 – 0.99) between training load and changes in physical fitness during any of the training phases. However, increases in training load during the early-competition training phase decreased (P = 0.04) agility performance. A relationship (P = 0.01 – 0.04) was observed between the log of training load and odds of injury during each training phase, resulting in a 1.50 – 2.85 increase in the odds of injury for each arbitrary unit increase in training load. Furthermore, during the pre-season training phase there was a relationship (P = 0.01) between training load and injury incidence within the training load range of 155 and 590 arbitrary units. During the early and late-competition training phases, increases in training load of 175 – 620 arbitrary units and 145 – 410 arbitrary units, respectively, resulted in no further increase in injury incidence. These findings demonstrate that increases in training load, particularly during the pre-season training phase, increase the odds of injury in collision sport athletes. However, while increases in training load from 175 to 620 arbitrary units during the early-competition training phase result in no further increase in injury incidence, marked reductions in agility performances can occur. These findings suggest that reductions in training load during the early-competition training phase can reduce the odds of injury without compromising agility performances in collision sport athletes.     

Exploring the Structure of Teachers’ Emotional Labor in the Classroom: A Multitrait–Multimethod Analysis

This study tests whether teachers’ emotional labor in classroom settings is optimally conceptualized according to the type of emotional labor strategy involved (genuinely expressing, hiding, and faking emotions), the specific type of emotion being performed in class (e.g., enjoyment vs. pride vs. anxiety), or both strategy type and emotion type. Multitrait–multimethod analyses of 1,086 Canadian teachers’ survey responses showed teachers’ responses to emotional labor items to be most reliably differentiated according to both specific types of emotional labor strategies as well as the valence of the emotion being performed. Findings were largely consistent with common “display rules” encouraging expression of positive emotions and hiding of negative emotions by teachers in classroom settings. Results further showed teachers’ emotional labor strategies for negative emotions to be particularly contingent on the specific discrete emotion involved, highlighting the complexity of expressing negative emotions as a behavior management strategy.     

Social Understanding in Young Israeli-Jewish,Israeli-Palestinian,Palestinian, and Jordanian Children: Moral Judgments and Stereotypes

Research Findings: An empirical investigation was conducted to test young Palestinian, Jordanian, Israeli-Palestinian, and Israeli-Jewish children's (N = 433; M = 5.7 years of age) cultural stereotypes and their evaluations of peer intergroup exclusion based upon a number of different factors, including being from a different country and speaking a different language. Children in this study lived in a geographical region that has a history of cultural and religious tension, violence, and extreme intergroup conflict. Our findings reveal that the negative consequences of living with intergroup tension are related to the use of stereotypes. At the same time, the results for moral judgments and evaluations about excluding peers provide positive results about the young children's inclusive views regarding peer interactions. Practice: These findings indicate that practitioners working with young children should focus on inclusion in peer contexts. Curricula, media, and social intervention programs must begin in early childhood before children begin to use stereotypes in peer situations, particularly when children from other cultural and ethnic backgrounds play together.     

Teaching Mathematical Biology in High School Using Adapted Primary Literature

The study compared the effect of two adaptations of a scientific article on students?? comprehension and use of scientific inquiry skills. One adaptation preserved as much as possible the canonical form of the original article (APL, Adapted Primary Literature) and the other was written in a more narrative mode typical of secondary literature (SL). Both adaptations contained the same content. Two hundred and eleven senior high school students in a Western Canadian school district participated. The numbers of males and females were approximately equal, and all students were registered in an introductory calculus course. All students were given a 90?min class by their teachers that introduced them to the basic mathematical concepts needed to read the articles. Students were randomly assigned to read either the APL or the SL and afterwards to complete a questionnaire, which was common to both groups. Major findings showed that the SL students better understood the article, that the APL students thought more critically about the article, that females understood the article better than males, and that students?? attitudes towards reading the articles, regardless of group, were positively associated with their comprehension and use of inquiry skills. The results coincide in important ways with those of similar studies in Israel, and show that asking students to read text that resembles scientific writing increases their use of critical thinking skills when reading.