Extra-curricular participation in sports and socio-demographic factors in Spanish adolescents: the AVENA study

The aims of this study were to identify differences between the sexes in extra-curricular participation in sports and to determine its association with body fat and socio-demographic factors in Spanish adolescents. A total of 2165 adolescents (1124 males and 1041 females) aged 13.0-18.5 years from the AVENA Study participated. Participants filled in an ad hoc questionnaire for extra-curricular participation in sports, which was the dependent variable. Independent variables were: age, percent body fat, and father's and mother's educational level and occupation. Chi-square tests and logistic regression were applied. Bivariate analysis showed for male adolescents that age and father's occupation were related to extra-curricular participation in sports. In addition, body fat and mother's education and occupation (all P?相似文献   

Intelligence and personality as predictors of divergent thinking: The role of general, fluid and crystallised intelligence

Two studies examined the relationships between measures of intelligence, personality and divergent thinking (DT) in student samples. Study one investigated the incremental validity of measures of IQ and fluid intelligence with the Big Five Personality Inventory with regards to DT. Significant relationships of DT to fluid intelligence, Extraversion and Disagreeableness were observed. Study two investigated the incremental validity of measures of fluid and crystallised intelligence (as assessed by a test of general knowledge) with the Big Five Personality Inventory with regards to DT. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed a significant relationship between crystallised intelligence and DT. The nature of the relationships of IQ, fluid and crystallised intelligence, in addition to personality traits to tests of DT were considered.     

Empathy among students in engineering programmes

Engineers face challenges when they are to manage project groups and be leaders for organisations because such positions demand skills in social competence and empathy. Previous studies have shown that engineers have low degrees of social competence skills. In this study, the level of empathy as measured by the four subscales of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index, perspective taking, fantasy, empathic distress and empathic concern, among engineering students was compared to students in health care profession programmes. Participants were undergraduate students at Linköping University, 365 students from four different health care profession programmes and 115 students from two different engineering programmes. When the empathy measures were corrected for effects of sex, engineering students from one of the programmes had lower empathy than psychology and social worker students on the fantasy and perspective-taking subscales. These results raise questions regarding opportunities for engineering students to develop their empathic abilities. It is important that engineering students acquire both theoretical and practical knowledge and skills regarding empathy.     

A changed language of education with new actors and solutions: the authorization of promotion and prevention programmes in Swedish schools

This article demonstrates how changes in the language of Swedish education policy have opened up a new social perception of education, in which space has been created for new actors, models and solutions in terms of managing activities in schools. Specifically, it seeks to illustrate how various promotion and prevention programmes have been authorized and disseminated without critical inquiry or resistance in the education sector. To this end, we analyse how the specific, essentially contested concepts of health, value base and communication have been employed in authoritative national documents over the two last decades. For our analysis, we draw on speech act theory, with a focus on linguistic performativity, as we have been interested in analysing how concrete authoritative actors have ‘performed’ various arguments. The analysis helps us to understand how the linguistic force originating from authoritative agencies can be used by different actors as a way to legitimize their arguments and actions. The results demonstrate how different national authorities, as a consequence of their use of the three concepts analysed, have contributed to the establishment of promotion and prevention programmes in education.     

Curriculum History Reconsidered

Nordic curriculum history research basically forms part of an international universe historically related to the new sociology of education and critical curriculum theory. In many ways this tradition can be seen as a critical corrective of the optimistic scientific‐rational conception of curriculum and the study of curriculum history on that base. However, the critical tradition can be further developed by being related to ways of analysing on‐going contestation over curriculum questions, using and elaborating a societal theory of curriculum history and the critical pragmatic perspective.     

Between a rock and a hard place: Academic institutional change and the problem of collective action

This paper argues that some of the currenttrends affecting academe impede on keyinstitutional structures, or sets ofinterrelated norms for academic conduct, whichare necessary for sustaining collective actionamong academics. In this sense academics andacademic units may find themselves `between arock and a hard place', that is with newpressures for relevance, stakeholderintegration and commercialisation on one side,and on the other a number of withering socialconditions for actually doing good on these newrequirements from the point of view ofknowledge creation. The paper identifies andreviews four specific changes in this regard:secrecy and withholding behaviour, new notionsof `users', managerialism, and external PhDsponsorship. These changes are then related tothree forms of problematic institutionalchanges: (1) a fragmentation of the academicconstituency, (2) a bi-lateralization ofinformation sharing, and (3)deprofessionalization. Finally, a number ofpossible meta-institutional norms are suggestedfor academic conduct, which may ameliorateinstitutional fragmentation and stimulate acoherent professionalization of academiclife.     

Development of the social network b-learning in the University of Alicante

This work describes the genesis, articulation and consolidation from 2007 of a social network of b-learning （blended learning） in the UA （University of Alicante） （Spain）, with the institutional backing of the Office of the Vice President for Education Technology and Innovation, and the momentum and advice of professor Angel Fidalgo （UNESCO （United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization） chair for University of Management and Policy）. The social network currently has more than 25 teachers, working on different work linkages with the university, implementing or intending to apply the teaching methodologyb-learning during the course 2007-2008 in a variety of courses and degrees. To do so, several resource centers （blogs, wikis, Wimba Create （before CourseGenie）, etc.）, and digital platforms （Virtual Campus of the UA, Moodle, etc.） are used.     

Revisiting ‘Weinberg’s Choice’: Classic Tensions in the Concept of Scientific Merit

Alvin Weinberg’s classic and much debated two articles in Minerva, “Criteria for Scientific Choice” (1963) and “Criteria for Scientific Choice II – The Two Cultures” (1964), represent two of the first and most important attempts to create a meta-discourse about priority setting in science policy, and many of the points advanced remain relevant. The goal of this paper is to elaborate on the relevance of some of Weinberg’s original arguments to priority setting today. We have singled out four issues for attention: The tension between scientific and institutional choice, the assumptions behind the triad of scientific, technological and social merit, the elusive ‘externality from size’ argument for funding promoted by Weinberg, and finally the problems involved in the idea of basic science as an ‘overhead cost’ for applied science, and applied science as an ‘overhead’ on a sectoral mission. These four issues will be elaborated from a policy perspective and connected to present day challenges for science and technology policy.     

Confirmative Evaluation of Training Outcomes

This article explores the use of an evaluation model of learning and development utilizing formative, summative, and confirmative steps, along with a framework for developing evaluation tools aligned with organizational change goals. A case study is presented in which formative, summative, and confirmative evaluations were used to assess materials and learners following implementation of a new performance management process, tools, and supporting training. A specific model for developing evaluation tools and techniques is introduced as a way to integrate the evaluation process with the specific content of a learning and development intervention, as well as link to higher‐order cultural change goals. Results of the case study suggest that evaluation tools can provide evidence of improvement and target areas for further work. Recommendations are provided for the researcher or practitioner interested in applying the same or similar models to evaluation.