Development and Validation of the Healthy Aging Incentives Scale

The purpose of this study is to develop and validate a new instrument to measure the multidimensional nature of motivations to engage in healthy behavior practices among older adults. The Healthy Aging Incentives Scale (HAIS) was developed empirically from data collected from 158 older adults participating in a health and wellness clinic located within a multipurpose senior center in the United States. A factor analysis of the HAIS revealed five themes prompting older adults to participate in health aging practices: health and fitness, psychological well-being, locus of control, social functions, and socialization attributes. Additional data are provided that support reliability and validity of the HAIS including convergent validity of the 20-item scale by its correlation with healthy behavior habits. Conclusions are drawn showing literature support for the multidimensional scale and the important determinants for promoting healthy outcomes for this population.     

Improvements in fundamental movement skill competency mediate the effect of the SCORES intervention on physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness in children

Numerous studies have identified a positive association between fundamental movement skill (FMS) competency and physical activity in children; however, the causal pathways have not been established. The aim of this study is to determine if changes in FMS competency mediated the effect of the Supporting Children’s Outcomes using Rewards, Exercise and Skills (SCORES) intervention on physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness in children. Eight primary schools (25 classes) and 460 children (aged 8.5 ± 0.6, 54% girls) were randomised to the SCORES intervention or control group for the 12-month study. The outcomes were accelerometer-determined moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and cardiorespiratory fitness. The hypothesised mediators were actual FMS competency and perceived sport competence. Mediation analyses were conducted using multilevel linear analysis in MPlus. From the original sample, 138 (30.0%) and 370 (80.4%) children provided useable physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness data at post-test assessments. There were significant treatment effects for locomotor skills and overall FMSs. Changes in MVPA were associated with changes in object-control skills, overall FMSs and perceived competence. The overall FMSs had a significant mediating effect on MVPA (AB = 2.09, CI = 0.01–4.55). Overall FMSs (AB = 1.19, CI = 0.002–2.79) and locomotor skills (AB = 0.74, CI = 0.01–1.69) had a significant mediating effect on cardiorespiratory fitness. The results of this study conclude that actual but not perceived movement skill competency mediated the effect of the SCORES intervention on physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness.     

Relationships between the personal and academic attributes of and affective differences between current and past teacher candidates

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine if relationships exist between selected personal and academic attributes of and differences between affective characteristics of a 1980s sample and a 1990s sample of teacher candidates. MANOVA and follow‐up univariate ANOVA procedures identified statistically significant differences between current and past candidates' concerns about the task of teaching, anxieties about teaching, and confidence about becoming teachers. Relationships were found between the affective characteristics and the gender, planned level of teaching, father's educational level, locus of control orientation, prior teaching‐like experiences, scholastic aptitude, and personality types of the candidates.     

Telecommunications Technology

Ithiel de Sola Pool, The Social Impact of the Telephone (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1977—$15.95)

Gerald F.J. Tyne Saga of the Vacuum Tube (Indianapolis: Howard W. Sams, 1977—$9.95, paper with a hardback available as well)

Ronald W. Clark Edison: The Man Who Made the Future (New York: Putnam, 1977— $12.95)     

Empathy: Some implications of social cognition research for interpretation study

The purpose of this essay is to demonstrate how we might borrow from the work on social cognition to enrich our understanding of the empathic process as it relates to the performance of literature. Specifically, it surveys several conceptions of empathy in social cognition research and relates these to the various processes that interpreters have identified as empathic.     

Gifted and talented students: Implications for school counselors

Educators will have a better understanding of the dysynchrony of young gifted children's cognitive, socio‐emotional, and motor development by carefully observing the various traits of these children.     

Maintaining Suitable Standards of Scholarship

If instruction is to command equal respect with research within academe, it must manifest the same high standards of scholarship expected of research. Journals devoted to pedagogy support this by maintaining high standards of scholarship in the articles they publish. This commentary identifies two examples of articles in Volume 1 of Computer Science Education which fail to meet even the most elementary standards of scholarship.