Professional and personal values and virtues in education and teaching

This article seeks to shed light on the dilemma facing history education in regions beset by a protracted, and as yet unresolved ethno-political conflict. The article will examine this issue by means of a unique test case that observes a dramatic war event in Israeli textbooks. The event in question is the Six-Day War of 1967 and the study of its outcomes. This war stands in the twilight between memory and history and there is an extreme gap between the public history and the formal representation of that war in school textbooks. The question that begs an answer is why such a seminal event in Israeli history is not presented in history textbooks like the country’s other wars. The research methodology, which was conducted on two generations of textbooks, is based upon a comparative discourse analysis. A discussion of the findings contends that a critical pedagogy approach to history education might equip adolescent students with more powerful lenses through which to view several plausible scenarios for healing the wounds of the present by means of a rational and grounded perception of the past.     

Face[book] Management: Self-Presentation of Political Views on Social Media

This study explores Facebook users’ management behaviors related to their—and their friends'—political communication via social media, utilizing the concepts of context collapse and self-presentation. A new two-factor measure of Facebook management was developed, pilot tested (N = 139) and implemented in a survey utilizing a national sample (N = 352) of individuals aged 18–29. Results indicated Facebook users are not generally engaging in the strategic management of political disclosures or the political content to which they are exposed. However, as network sizes increase, participants engage in more disclosure behaviors and make greater efforts to manage content exposure. Additionally, participants with strong political beliefs engage in more Facebook management behaviors, possibly indicating an effort to limit cognitive dissonance.     

An examination of the Clegg impact hammer test with regard to the playing performance of synthetic sports surfaces

One of the tests used to evaluate the performance of sports surfaces measures the peak deceleration of a rigid mass during contact with the surface, after being dropped from a set height. It is widely used and is included in a number of international standards. The test was carried out using two drop heights on four different designs of artificial cricket pitch, with a full set of acceleration data being collected over the duration of impact. These data were then integrated twice with respect to time to produce velocity and displacement information. Oblique impacts of cricket balls were also carried out and analysed using a high-speed video system to evaluate the playing performance of each pitch design. It was found that, although the pitches gave quite different readings of peak deceleration, they produced similar values for coefficient of restitution and were therefore considered to ‘play’ in a very similar way. This was due to a high peak deceleration reading being accompanied by a short contact time and low peak deceleration being accompanied by a long contact time, meaning that the change in momentum was similar in both cases. It was concluded that for accelerometer tests to be useful, all the acceleration-time data should be analysed, rather than the peak value alone.     

Values, virtues and professional development in education and teaching

This paper addresses conceptual issues concerning values in teaching and the professional education of teachers. Proceeding from rejection of a common (empiricist) account of values as subjective tastes, the paper distinguishes three common (more and less restrictive) concepts or senses of value, here referred to under the labels ‘principled preference’, ‘principled commitment’ and ‘principled disposition’. The paper proceeds to argue that, in light of certain distinctive features of teaching as a profession, the key values of teaching should be regarded as ‘principled dispositions’ (or, in another term, virtues). It is further argued that such professional teacher values are best appreciated under the three aspects of ‘intellectual virtues’, ‘procedural virtues’ and ‘moral virtues’ and the paper concludes with a brief exploration of the implications of this analysis for professional teacher education.     

Athlete and coach perceptions of technology needs for evaluating running performance

Athletes and their support team utilise technology to measure and evaluate technique and athletic performance. Existing techniques for motion and propulsion measurement and analysis include a combination of indirect methods (high-speed video) and direct methods (force plates and pressure systems). These methods are predominantly limited to controlled laboratory environments (in a small area relative to the competition environment), require expert advice and support, and can take significant time to evaluate the data. Consequently, the more advanced measurement techniques are considered to be restricted to specific coaching sessions, or periods in the year leading up to competition, when the time and expertise of further support staff are available. The more widely used, and simple, devices for monitoring ‘performance’ during running include stopwatches, GPS tracking and accelerometer-based systems to count strides. These provide useful information on running duration, distance and velocity but lack detailed information on many key aspects of running technique. In order to begin the process of development of more innovative technologies for routine use by athletes and coaches, a study was required to improve the understanding of athletes’ and coaches’ perception of their requirements from measurement technology. This study outlines a systematic approach to elicit and evaluate their perceptions, and presents the findings from interviews and a questionnaire. The qualitative data are presented as a hierarchical graphical plot (structured relationship model) showing six general dimensions (technique, footwear and surface, environment, performance, injury and cardiovascular) and shows the development of these general dimensions from the interviewee quotations. The questionnaire quantitative data enhances the study by further ranking characteristics that arise from the interviews. A contrast is shown between short and longer distance runner groups, as might be expected. The current technology available to elite runners is briefly reviewed in relation to the 22 characteristics identified as important to measure. The conclusions highlight the need for newer technologies to measure aspects of running style and performance in a portable and integrated manner, with suggestions as to size and weight likely to be acceptable to users for emerging devices.