Kinematic changes during learning the longswing on high bar

The purpose of this study is to provide evidence of technique changes during learning a sports-specific skill, the looped bar longswing (LLS). Thirteen male participants with no previous high bar experience took part in a training study. Kinematic data were collected using a CODA motion analysis system (200 Hz) during eight weekly testing sessions. Analyses focused on the amplitude of swing and the functional phase (FP) actions, defined by the rapid flexion to extension of the shoulders and extension to flexion of the hips as the performer passed through the lower vertical. Three groups were identified based on the number of sessions it took each participant to perform the LLS (G1: most successful, G2: intermediate, and G3: least successful). All participants were able to significantly increase swing amplitude over the training period (p < 0.05). For each participant the hip FP started significantly: later for G1, earlier for G2, and did not change for G3. Extension actions at the shoulders were dissimilar to those reported for elite gymnasts performing the longswing. The FP of the hips provides a mechanism to distinguish between the learners of different skill levels. The study has provided support for a single-subject design when investigating technique changes during learning.     

How do public libraries function as meeting places?

How are libraries used as meeting places, and by whom? Through survey data, six categories of places are identified: the library as a “square,” as a place for meeting diverse people, as a public sphere, as a place for joint activities with friends and colleagues, as a metameeting place, and as a place for virtual meetings. Representative samples of the population in three townships in Oslo, each with a markedly different demographic profile, are surveyed. Multivariate regression analyses are performed to analyze why some people use the library for a range of meetings and others do not, as well as to examine variations in the use of the library for different kinds of meetings. Public libraries are shown to be used for a variety of meetings. Community involvement is more important than township and demographic variables in explaining variations in use of the library as a meeting place. Correlations between low income and low education and high use of the library as a meeting place were found, indicating that the library as a meeting place plays a substantial role in equalizing the possibilities of being an active citizen across social and economic differences. The study contributes to understanding the role of the public library in a multicultural context. The public library as a unique and complex meeting place has important implications for future librarianship.     

Challenges to Institutionalizing Participatory Extension: The Case of Farmer Livestock Schools in Vietnam

Abstract

Purpose: The objective of this article is to analyze the introduction of participatory extension approaches (PEA) in the predominantly supply-driven, hierarchical Vietnamese extension system. Drawing on the case of the so-called Farmer Livestock School (FLS) concept, the authors investigate the potential and challenges of scaling up and out the FLS/PEA principles of participatory training methods, encompassing intensive and interactive training sessions, group-based sharing of experience, practical learning, and learning-by-doing processes.

Design/Methodology/Approach: The article is based on data collected and synthesized from 36 pilot communes from 2000 to 2007 and draws on the extensive insider experience of two of its authors during their work for a DANIDA-funded livestock project.

Findings: At the micro-scale and with external support, FLS has been a successful experiment of using participatory extension approaches in farmer training and extension in the livestock sector. Yet, possibilities of scaling up and institutionalizing FLS remain a challenge given the capacity and resource limitations and the resistance at various levels within the Vietnamese extension system.

Practical Implications: The starting point for successfully institutionalizing participatory extension approaches should be to assess the existing system's root problems and capacities and then gradually and systematically introduce institutional innovations rather than aiming at a complete overhaul of a system that may result in the creation of a parallel universe.

Originality/Value: The FLS project provided a unique opportunity to study the enabling and constraining factors of institutionalizing participatory extension approaches in a traditionally top-down oriented extension system beyond the immediate duration of an externally orchestrated project.     

Probing the amalgam: the relationship between science teachers’ content,pedagogical and pedagogical content knowledge

ABSTRACT

This Special Issue aims to present evidence about the relationships between content knowledge (CK), pedagogical knowledge (PK) and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK); the development of these types of knowledge in novice and experienced secondary science teachers; and how CK, PK and/or PCK impact students’ learning. Since Shulman’s introduction of PCK as the feature that distinguishes the teacher from the content expert, researchers have attempted to understand, delineate, assess and/or develop the construct in pre- and in-service teachers. Accordingly, empirical findings are presented that permit further discussion. Outcomes permit post-hoc examination of a recent, collectively described, ‘consensus’ model of PCK, identifying strengths and potential issues. As we will illustrate, the relationship between CK, PK and PCK is central to this; that is, probing the hypothesis of pedagogical content knowledge as an ‘amalgam’ of content and pedagogical knowledge.     

Structure and development of pre-service physics teachers’ professional knowledge

ABSTRACT

Teachers’ professional knowledge is considered one of the most important predictors of instructional quality. According to Shulman, such professional knowledge includes content, pedagogical content and pedagogical knowledge. Although recent research shed some light on the structure of the dimensions of professional knowledge, little is known how teacher education impacts pre-service physics teachers’ professional knowledge. In an effort to address this issue, we examined the content, pedagogical content and pedagogical knowledge of N?=?200 pre-service physics teachers enrolled in different years of teacher education at 12 major teacher education universities in Germany. We used structural equation modelling (1) to examine the relations amongst pre-service physics teachers’ content, pedagogical content and pedagogical knowledge, (2) to explore how the three kinds of knowledge and their relations differ across different stages of teacher education and (3) to identify factors affecting the level of each component of professional knowledge. Our findings suggest that content, pedagogical content and pedagogical knowledge represent distinct types of knowledge. Furthermore, our findings show that in the first years of professional education, pedagogical content knowledge is more closely related with general pedagogical knowledge while in later years, it is more closely related with content knowledge, suggesting that it develops from a general knowledge about teaching and learning into knowledge about the teaching and learning of specific content. Finally, beyond school achievement and years of enrolment as predictors, we find in particular the amount of classroom observations to have a positive impact on the professional knowledge of pre-service physics teachers.     

Comparison of Alternative Channels in Cross Media Publishing

This paper attempts a direct comparison of the available alternative channels that can be employed in a cross media publishing scheme. More precisely it examines the content, the publishing speed, and the rhythm of the publishing channels. Interesting conclusions are drawn concerning the characteristics of each channel. A new publishing channel is proposed in order to allow newspapers to directly compete with radio and TV channels.     

Stichwort: Kompetenzentwicklung im Grundschulalter

Keyword: Development of Competencies During Elementary School. The development of scholastic competencies is a topic discussed in the cross-section between the fields of developmental psychology, education, and educational psychology. This article will attempt an overview of the development of competencies during elementary school. After a conceptual clarification of the term competency, the focus will turn to the development of scholastic competencies at elementary school level from a development psychology perspective. Following this, the developmental changes within four basic competence domains, which are central topics of current research, are described: reading, writing, mathematics, and science. Factors affecting the development of scholastic competencies are then discussed, including individual (intelligence, prior knowledge, language) as well as environmental determinants (family, quality of instruction, classroom composition). General as well as differential changes in the four domains are described and illustrated by empirical research results.