Associations Between Perceived Material Deprivation,Parents’ Discipline Practices,and Children's Behavior Problems: An International Perspective

This study investigated the association between perceived material deprivation, children's behavior problems, and parents’ disciplinary practices. The sample included 1,418 8- to 12-year-old children and their parents in China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, the Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and the United States. Multilevel mixed- and fixed-effects regression models found that, even when income remained stable, perceived material deprivation was associated with children's externalizing behavior problems and parents’ psychological aggression. Parents’ disciplinary practices mediated a small share of the association between perceived material deprivation and children's behavior problems. There were no differences in these associations between mothers and fathers or between high- and low- and middle-income countries. These results suggest that material deprivation likely influences children's outcomes at any income level.     

The Boehm Test of Basic Concepts as a predictor of academic achievement in grades 2 and 3

Ninety-four second- and third-graders from a suburban New Jersey school who had taken the Boehm Test of Basic Concepts as kindergarteners were given the Stanford Achievement Test, Form W. The obtained grade scores in each subject area as tested by the Stanford were then correlated with the Boehm Test scores. The resulting coefficients indicated a strong association between deficiencies in early concept mastery as measured by the Boehm Test of Basic Concepts and academic achievement in the second and third grades. These results therefore support the use of the Boehm Test of Basic Concepts as an early predictor of school achievement.     

Using History to Teach Invention and Design: The Case of the Telephone

This paper shows how a historical case, the invention of the telephone, can be used to teach invention and design in a way that combines engineering, social sciences, and humanities. The historical problem of transmitting speech was turned into an active learning module, in which students sought to improve patents obtained by early telephone inventors like Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray, using equipment similar to what was available at the time. The result was a collaborative learning environment in which students from a wide range of majors worked in teams, eventually producing a patent application. As part of the project, they were allowed to search historical materials like the Bell notebooks, which were made available on line. This experience gave them a better understanding of the invention and design process.     

Correlation network analysis shows divergent effects of a long-term,high-fat diet and exercise on early stage osteoarthritis phenotypes in mice

Background:Obesity increases knee osteoarthritis(OA) risk through metabolic,inflammatory,and biomechanical factors,but how these systemic and local mediators interact to drive OA pathology is not well understood.We tested the effect of voluntary running exercise after chronic diet-induced obesity on knee OA-related cartilage and bone pathology in mice.We then used a correlation-based network analysis to identify systemic and local factors associated with early-stage knee OA phenotypes among the different diet and exercise groups.Methods:Male C57 BL/6 J mice were fed a defined control(10% kcal fat) or high fat(HF)(60% kcal fat) diet from 6 to 37 weeks of age.At 25 weeks,one-half of the mice from each diet group were housed in cages with running wheels for the remainder of the study.Histology,micro computed tomography,and magnetic resonance imaging were used to evaluate changes in joint tissue structure and OA pathology.These local variables were then compared to systemic metabolic(body mass,body fat,and glucose tolerance),inflammatory(serum adipokines and inflammatory mediators),and functional(mechanical tactile sensitivity and grip strength) outcomes using a correlation-based network analysis.Diet and exercise effects were evaluated by two-way analysis of variance.Results:An HF diet increased the infrapatellar fat pad size and posterior joint osteophytes,and wheel running primarily altered the subchondral cortical and trabecular bone.Neither HF diet nor exercise altered average knee cartilage OA scores compared to control groups.However,the coefficient of variation was≥25% for many outcomes,and some mice in both diet groups developed moderate OA(>33% maximum score).This supported using correlation-based network analyses to identify systemic and local factors associated with early-stage knee OA phenotypes.In wheel-running cohorts,an HF diet reduced the network size compared to the control diet group despite similar running distances,suggesting that diet-induced obesity dampens the effects of exercise on systemic and local OA-related factors.Each of the 4 diet and activity groups showed mostly unique networks of local and systemic factors correlated with early-stage knee OA.Conclusion:Despite minimal group-level effects of chronic diet-induced obesity and voluntary wheel running on knee OA pathology under the current test durations,diet and exercise substantially altered the relationships among systemic and local variables associated with early-stage knee OA.These results suggest that distinct pre-OA phenotypes may exist prior to the development of disease.     

Teacher perceptions of a physical education statewide assessment program

A statewide program assessment was established to make positive change in physical education school programs in South Carolina. Reform efforts depend both on balancing accountability for change and teacher support for change (Odden &Anderson, 1986). The purpose of the study was to determine teacher perceptions of the South Carolina Physical Education Assessment Program and its effects across six related themes including: changes in teaching and learning, changes in curriculum and instruction, teacher awareness of the assessment program, teacher support for the program, work place conditions, and the advocacy role of the program. It was also the purpose of this study to determine if the survey responses were in any way related to teacher and school variables. The overall results of the study indicated positive change and support for the assessment program, supporting the viability of the standards, assessment, and accountability reform effort to positively impact physical education programs.     

‘It’s never okay to say no to teachers’: Children’s research consent and dissent in conforming schools contexts

This article examines the limits to children giving research consent in everyday school contexts that emphasises their conformity to comply with adult expectations, and highlights children’s competence and agency in navigating this conformity through different practices of dissent. It draws on research into children’s agency, using a multimodal ethnography of Year 1 classrooms in two English primary schools. The article includes a reflexive methodological focus, exploring the extent to which I counter the schools’ emphasis on conformity. This includes creating visuals for children to practice consent; positioning myself as the researcher in a non-teacher role, as ‘least adult’ and the one who ‘least knows’; and designing interview spaces markedly different from classrooms. The article examines how children navigate conforming discourses by finding different ways to dissent in the research. Firstly, children demonstrate a sophisticated awareness of the cultural norms of indicating refusals beyond saying the word ‘No’. Secondly, children achieve unnoticeability, by which they absent themselves from the ‘on-task’ classroom culture, and by extension the research process. Thirdly, they engage in playful dissent, demonstrating their political knowingness of the classroom social order. The article discusses the implications for educational research when the values of consent are in conflict with a schooling focused on conformity. This includes emphasising the limits of consent procedures, paying closer attention to how researchers recognise and respond ethically to children’s multiple practices of dissent, and using research to disrupt problematic power structures in education settings that limit possibilities for children’s consent.     

Effect of loading on peak power of the bar, body, and system during power cleans, squats, and jump squats

Nine males (age 24.7 ± 2.1 years, height 175.3 ± 5.5 cm, body mass 80.8 ± 7.2 kg, power clean 1-RM 97.1 ± 6.36 kg, squat 1-RM = 138.3 ± 20.9 kg) participated in this study. On day 1, the participants performed a one-repetition maximum (1-RM) in the power clean and the squat. On days 2, 3, and 4, participants performed the power clean, squat or jump squat. Loading for the power clean ranged from 30% to 90% of the participant's power clean 1-RM and loading for the squat and jump squat ranged from 0% to 90% of the participant's squat 1-RM, all at 10% increments. Peak force, velocity, and power were calculated for the bar, body, and system (bar + body) for all power clean, squat, and jump squat trials. Results indicate that peak power for the bar, body, and system is differentially affected by load and movement pattern. When using the power clean, squat or jump squat for training, the optimal load in each exercise may vary. Throwing athletes or weightlifters may be most concerned with bar power, but jumpers or sprinters may be more concerned with body or system power. Thus, the exercise type and load vary according to the desired stimulus.