Sex Education in the New Zealand Primary School: A tangled skein of morality,religion, politics and the law

This article examines the political struggle from 1945 to 1999 over the place of sex education in the New Zealand primary school. It begins with the 1945 prohibition on sex education and goes on to chart the various political, legal and community manoeuvres leading up to the introduction of the 1999 health curriculum, which includes sex education for primary schools. Along the way there have been various conflicts but for the time being an uneasy truce prevails between liberals, who achieved the introduction of sex education into the primary school curriculum, and conservatives, who managed to make pupil participation voluntary.     

Developing Expertise With Classroom Assessment in K–12 Science: Learning to Interpret Student Work. Interim Findings From a 2-Year Study

This article reports findings on growth in 3 science teachers' expertise with interpretation of student work over 1 year of participation in a program. The program was designed to strengthen classroom assessment. Using a framework for classroom assessment expertise, we analyze patterns of teacher learning, and the roles of the professional program and the quality of the assessments provided with teachers' instructional materials.     

STAFF DEVELOPMENT GOALS AND PRACTICES IN U.S. COMMUNITY COLLEGES

The staff development goals and activities of United States community colleges were studied. A total of 1,315 questionnaires were mailed to community college academic deans in the spring of 1979. Of the 687 colleges responding, 413 indicated that their college had an organized staff development program or set of activities, and another 241 colleges indicated no such program at this time.

The results showed that the most frequently mentioned staff development goals of the 31 goals studied related to the improvement of the full‐time teaching faculty as opposed to part‐time faculty and other academic and non‐academic support personnel. Second, the most highly rated and used practices were travel and grants programs for faculty. Some of the least effective of 48 practices investigated were programs for the “faculty evaluation of college administrators” and “lighter than normal teaching loads for first‐year faculty.”

It is recommended that colleges offer a variety of staff development programs for each of their staff development groups and that research be conducted to determine participant perceptions of the usefulness of various staff development practices.     

Iowa Lakes Community College: Partnerships for Academic and Economic Success in a Rapidly Evolving Wind-Energy Industry

Iowa Lakes Community College responded to a national need for wind-energy technicians. The Wind-Energy and Turbine Program aligned industry and academic competencies with experiential learning components to foster exploration of additional renewable energy applications. Completers understand both the physical and academic rigor a career in wind energy demands.     

Models and Strategies for Factor Mixture Analysis: An Example Concerning the Structure Underlying Psychological Disorders

The factor mixture model (FMM) uses a hybrid of both categorical and continuous latent variables. The FMM is a good model for the underlying structure of psychopathology because the use of both categorical and continuous latent variables allows the structure to be simultaneously categorical and dimensional. This is useful because both diagnostic class membership and the range of severity within and across diagnostic classes can be modeled concurrently. Although the conceptualization of the FMM has been explained in the literature, the use of the FMM is still not prevalent. One reason is that there is little research about how such models should be applied in practice and, once a well-fitting model is obtained, how it should be interpreted. In this article, the FMM is explored by studying a real data example on conduct disorder. By exploring this example, this article aims to explain the different formulations of the FMM, the various steps in building a FMM, and how to decide between an FMM and alternative models.     

OBSTACLES AND OPPORTUNITIES: CREATING EARLY CHILDHOOD PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SCHOOLS

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to highlight key findings from a study of 24 early childhood preservice teachers as they moved away from a reliance on traditional interpretations of child‐centered curricula toward one of collaborative inquiry. Participants enrolled in a 15 week undergraduate teaching methods course were assigned to teaching teams to implement collaborative projects with the same group of 3–5‐year‐old children. The study utilized both quantitative and qualitative measures to assess conceptual level, changes in reflectivity, and inquiry‐oriented teaching. Results suggest that the emergence of collaborative inquiry among preservice teachers is a dynamic and diverse process not readily assessed by static measures or discreet skills. Collaborative projects did provide a context for creating communities of learners within which time, space and opportunity to practice, reflect and use language and other tools contributed to young teachers’ development of inquiry.     

Let’s Stay Together

全球许多传媒实况报道了奥巴马第二任就职大典的过程,包括祷告会、宣誓就职、检阅仪仗队、午餐、就职庆祝游行、晚餐以及舞会。在整个就职大典中,舞会扮演了十分重要的角色。在今年的舞会上,奥巴马夫妇跳了第一支舞,由著名演员、歌唱家詹妮弗·哈德森(Jennifer Hudson)伴唱,歌曲是"让我们在一起"(Let’s Stay Together),这是一首七十年代的当红流行曲,被列入美国五百首最了不起歌曲排行榜的第六十名。春节、情人节,一中一西两个节日,总是让整个虽然还春寒料峭的2月天都洋溢着温暖甜蜜的气氛,这首歌很是应景呢。     

Twenty-four-hour movement behaviours and fundamental movement skills in preschool children: A compositional and isotemporal substitution analysis

ABSTRACT

Studies that have analysed the association between the different movement behaviours and fundamental movement skills (FMS) have considered it in an independent manner, disregarding the compositional nature of 24-h movement behaviours (24-h MB). The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the 24-h MB and FMS in preschoolers using a compositional data analysis . Two hundred and four preschoolers (4.5 ± 0.8 years old; 101 boys) provided objectively assessed physical activity (PA) and sedentary behaviour (SB) data (Actigraph wGT3X), and FMS (TGMD-2). Sleep duration (SD) was reported by parents. Association of daily composition of movement behaviours with FMS was explored using compositional analysis and isotemporal substitution (R Core Team, 3.6.1). When considered as a 24-h MB composition (PA, SB and SD), adjusted for age, BMI and sex, the composition predicted locomotor (r² = 0.31), object control (r² = 0.19), and total motor score (r² = 0.35), respectively (all P < 0.001). Reallocation of time from light to moderate-to-vigorous PA was associated with greatest positive changes in total motor score. Achieving adequate balance between movement behaviours over the 24-h period, and its relationship with locomotor and object control skills should be considered and further investigated in early childhood.