Unraveling Uses and Effects of an Interactive Health Communication System

By developing a number of measures distinguishing amount, type of content, and when and how that content is used, the current study revealed effective patterns of use that are associated with quality of life benefits during an eHealth intervention. Results generally suggest that the benefits depend on how a patient uses the system, far more than on sheer amount of exposure or even what type of content is chosen. The next generation of eHealth system should focus on providing new and varying content over time, but even more on encouraging intensity of use and long-term commitment to the system.     

Improving marking reliability of scientific writing with the Developing Understanding of Assessment for Learning programme

The Developing Understanding of Assessment for Learning (DUAL) programme was developed with the dual aims of improving both the quality and consistency of feedback students receive and the students’ ability to use that feedback to improve. DUAL comprises a range of processes (including marking rubrics, sample reports, moderation discussions and peer-review activities) which support explicit knowledge exchange between staff, and between staff and students and the development of tacit knowledge of standards in all participants. This paper describes the study which quantified the extent to which the DUAL programme improved reliability and efficiency of marking of first year biology reports by a large team of laboratory demonstrators. Marker reliability increased after participation in DUAL, with demonstrators marking laboratory reports significantly closer to the marks awarded by an expert marker of the discipline. Efficiency was also improved since time taken to mark the reports did not increase significantly, despite the fact that demonstrators were adapting to a new system of marking. Demonstrators valued the programme and nominated the marking rubric, feedback code and moderation discussion as the most useful elements. The community of practice built through joint participation in the DUAL programme created a supportive working environment for demonstrators and strengthened the collaboration between the discipline and academic language and learning lecturers.     

Playing with light

The authors conducted action research by developing workshops that involved teacher-participants in their own exploratory learning. The authors facilitated participants in researching of what they noticed, and wanted to understand about light and shadows by structuring the environment, and the questions that wereasked of them, in ways that integrated practices of teaching into those of researching. During the workshops, transitions evolved in how participants used materials to make light and dark effects and interacted with each other. Transactions also occurred in how the authors intervened to teach and research what participants did, and to encourage their reflective observations. It is proposed that such explorations offer new beginnings for extending understandings of physical phenomena and of the world, as made through our actions and thoughts.     

How children talk together to make meaning from texts: a dialogic perspective on reading comprehension strategies

This study considers reading comprehension as a dialogic transaction of making meaning from text. The concept of text and reading is taken to include the visual and multimodal as well as written forms. Case studies of children discussing texts are analysed to explore how children engage in inter‐mental and intra‐mental processes of reading, between themselves as readers and between themselves and the text. The findings show that children's use of language, which is open, hypothetical and questioning, enables different interpretations and priorities for discussion. The use of imagination and empathy, to enter the world of the text to understand it, trigger creative responses as the children make meaning together. More than merely promoting the teaching of comprehension skills to children, the paper demonstrates how meaningful and exciting responses can be promoted through children reading together and teachers encouraging creative dialogue.     

The effect of rowing to exhaustion on frontal plane angular changes in the lumbar spine of elite rowers

Abstract

Lumbar spine injury is common in rowers and examination of spinal kinematics may improve the understanding of this injury's prevalence. This study aimed to examine the range of frontal plane angular displacement (AD) in the lumbar spine at L3 during ergometer rowing and to investigate the effect of exhaustion on lumbar kinematics. Twelve elite male rowers completed an incremental test on a Concept 2 ergometer. Lumbar AD at L3 was measured continually throughout the rowing trial using a Spectrotilt Inclinometer and blood lactate was sampled at 3-minute intervals. AD of between 4.7° and 8.8° was recorded at L3. There was a significant increase in AD between the first and last stage of the test (mean increase = 4.1 ± 1.94°, 95% Confidence Interval [CI], 2.9 to 5.3°, t = 7.36, P = 0.000014). Incremental rise in AD was associated with an incremental rise in blood lactate but regression confirmed that only stroke rate was a significant predictor for increasing angle. Thus there is a statistically significant increase in frontal plane AD at L3 over the course of an incremental exercise test although it cannot be confirmed if this is as a result of exhaustion. The values of AD confirm that there is motion in the frontal plane in ergometer rowing.     

Poetic Representations in Sport and Physical Education: Insider Perspectives 1

As part of the emergence of new writing practices in the social sciences, qualitative researchers have begun to harness the potential of poetic representations as a means of analysing social worlds and communicating their findings to others. To date, this genre has been little used within the domains of sport and physical education. Accordingly, in this article, we provide examples of poetic representations and seek to generate insights into the process of their construction by exploring the perspectives of their authors. A rationale for choosing this genre is outlined and the potential benefits and risks of making this choice for both the researcher and the audience are considered. It is concluded that poetic representations are a worthy addition to the analytical repertoire in qualitative research.     

The time to talk: the influence of the timing of adult-child talk on children's event memory

To investigate the influence of the nature and timing of adult-child talk on event recall, this study engaged 63 three-year-olds and 65 five-year-olds in a staged event and interviewed them 2 weeks later. Children were assigned to 1 of 4 conditions: elaborative pre-, during-, and post-talk, and empty talk (during the event). Children in the elaborative, relative to the empty, talk conditions made fewer errors. Furthermore, post-talk had the greatest influence on correct recall, although for the 5-year-olds, during-talk was also facilitative. Recall was enhanced to a greater extent by the child's contribution to the talk, relative to that of the adult. The findings contribute to an understanding of the mechanisms by which adult-child conversations influence recall.