Improving Academic Performance of Sport and Exercise Science Undergraduate Students in Gross Anatomy Using a Near-Peer Teaching Program

Peer and near-peer teaching programs are common in medical undergraduate courses. However, there are no studies that have investigated the effectiveness of a near-peer teaching program on the academic performance of undergraduate students pursuing sport and exercise science coursework. This study was conducted to analyze the effectiveness of such a program for students who participated in a course on the functional anatomy of the locomotor apparatus. A total of 39 student participants were divided into two groups: students in one group voluntarily attended at least one session of a near-peer teaching program, and students in the other group attended no sessions. The final grade (range 0–100%) was recorded and used as an indicator of academic performance. The final grade of students who attended the near-peer teaching program (69.5 ± 16.0%) was 38.7% higher (P = 0.002, d = 1.06) than those who did not (50.1 ± 20.4%). When the academic performance of the same students was evaluated in another course (exercise physiology) that did not offer a near-peer teaching program, there were no significant differences between the groups (students who attended or did not attend the near-peer teaching program). A significant positive association was found between near-peer teaching program frequency and the number of students approved and not approved in the course (P = 0.041). A significant difference (P = 0.001) was found in the attendance at regular classes between the group who participated in the near-peer teaching program (median: 62 hours; IQR [interquartile ranges]: 4.0 hours) and those who did not (median: 58 hours; IQR: 4.0 hours). Gender was not a moderating factor on academic performance or near-peer teaching program attendance. These results highlight the effectiveness of a near-peer teaching program on the academic performance of students from a sport and exercise science degree program while enrolled in an anatomy course. Anat Sci Educ. © 2018 American Association of Anatomists.     

The significance of best-friend relationships in adolescence

Research is summarized that documents the nature of the best-friend process in adolescence. Similarities and differences between the sexes are detailed. Female relationships are described as more intense, demonstrative, exciusive, and nurturant than male. Females depend heavily on the friend as a confidante with whom to process their mutual experiences and psychological reactions, apparently in an effort to understand and develop their own personalities. While males also confide at an intimate level, male relationships are more likely to be based on enjoyable companionship and similarity in attitudes, with less emphasis on continual analysis of experience. For both sexes, but especially for females, the relationship is important enough to development that lack of a close friend should be viewed as a deficit that responsible adults should help a student to remedy. Resources are cited that may be utilized by school personnel in helping the unfriended to make more effective contact with potential friends.     

The influence of achievement motivation and chess-specific motivation on deliberate practice

Although the importance of high motivation to engage in deliberate practice has been acknowledged, no research has directly tested this hypothesis. Therefore, the present study examined this relation in adolescent elite chess players by means of a questionnaire. In addition, to provide an explanation for dropout among promising chess players, differences in motivation between persistent and dropout chess players were analyzed. Competitiveness and the will to excel proved to be predictors of investments in deliberate practice. Moreover, achievement motivation and chess-specific motivation differed to a certain extent between persisters and dropouts. Our results suggest that motivation to engage in deliberate practice not only contains elements of the will to improve performance, but also of the will to attain exceptional levels of performance.     

中小学教师师德观的内隐研究

师德对教师的教育教学行为有着重要的作用,而教师师德的好坏又直接取决于教师的师德观.通过对86名中小学特级教师的师德观及其影响因素的实证研究发现,教师的师德观存在很大的不平衡性和个体差异,在"严谨治学"、"有责任心"、"积极性"、"拥有新知识、积极创新"方面存在明显的性别差异,在"热爱学生"、"有责任心、积极性"方面存在明显的职称差异,在"热爱教育、热爱学校、热爱本专业方面"存在明显的地区差异,而年龄、教龄和学历对教师的师德观没有显著影响.在中小学教师师德培养中,应加强对教师"严谨治学"、"公平对待学生"、"提高科研水平"等的培养.     

Does eccentric exercise stimulate sarcomerogenesis?

Eccentric exercise has been associated with an increase in serial sarcomere number in some studies,1 but not in others.2 Similarly,increasing excursion of muscles resulted in sarcomerogenesis in some studies using growing animals,3 but not in others using skeletally mature animals.4 However,chronic elongation and chronic shortening appears to be a strong regulator of sarcomere number increase5,6 and decrease,5,7 respectively,in animal models.Despite an abundance of research on the regulation of sarcomerogenesis under a variety of conditions,the mechanisms underlying in series sarcomere number adaptations in skeletal muscles remain a puzzle,especially in non-invasive human studies where measurements of sarcomerogenesis following interventions have not been possible to date.