A Frequency-Product Method of Obtaining the Standard Deviation

The authors examined the robustness of multilevel linear growth curve modeling to misspecification of an autoregressive moving average process. As previous research has shown (J. Ferron, R. Dailey, &; Q. Yi, 2002; O. Kwok, S. G. West, &; S. B. Green, 2007; S. Sivo, X. Fan, &; L. Witta, 2005), estimates of the fixed effects were unbiased, and Type I error rates for the tests of the fixed effects were generally accurate when the present authors correctly specified or underspecified the model. However, random effects were poorly estimated under many conditions, even under correct model specification. Further, fit criteria performed inconsistently and were especially inaccurate when small sample sizes and short series lengths were combined. With the exception of elevated Type I error rates that occurred under some conditions, the best performance was obtained by use of an unstructured covariance matrix at the first level of the growth curve model.     

Orthographic Depth and Spelling Acquisition in Estonian and English: A Comparison of Two Diverse Alphabetic Languages

In this study, we investigated the link between the orthographic transparency of a language and the ease or difficulty of acquiring spelling proficiency in that language. The two languages compared are English, with a highly irregular sound-to-print correspondence, and Estonian, a Finno-Ugric language that has one of the most highly regular sound-to-print matches among alphabetic languages. Our study finds Estonian students able to use their early knowledge of stable letter-sound correspondence to attain a high level of spelling proficiency as early as first grade. English students progress more slowly along a predictable pattern of acquiring proficiency based on increasingly more difficult word features. The final indication is that progress in spelling is highly dependent on the orthographic depth of the language being studied.     

Toward a dialectical notion and praxis of scientific literacy

Received conceptualizations of scientific literacy are grounded in (1) the notions of ‘knowledge’, ‘concepts’, and ‘skills’ that science students have to ‘acquire’, ‘appropriate’, or ‘construct’ or (2) the notion of ‘practices’ to which they have to be ‘enculturated’ so that they become part of a ‘community of practice’. All such notions articulate scientific literacy in a static form, which does not correspond to the dynamic nature of the literacies that can be observed in society. This study proposes a dialectical notion of scientific literacy, which makes thematic its nature as a situated, distributed, collective, emergent, indeterminate, and contingent process. It articulates the idea that knowing a (scientific) language is indistinguishable from knowing one's way around the world. As a consequence, the goal of science education can no longer be to make individual students exhibit particular forms of knowledge but to provide them with contexts in which it is more important to deal with, select, and negotiate different forms of expertise and knowledgeability. This leads one to think of science education as but a part of a democratic liberal education that allows students to become competent to participate in any conversation that includes others with different forms and levels of expertise than their own.     

Educational experience and cognitive development 1 , 2

This paper examines the relationship between general educational experiences and cognitive development during the school years, kindergarten through high school, and also the effects of focused instruction on learning across short time intervals. Children appear to acquire concepts and other outcomes of learning in the cognitive domain gradually, rather than abruptly, although qualitatively different cognitive operations are presumed to emerge which make possible successively higher levels of concept attainment. The quality of “general education” of the kind experienced by American children under compulsory, universal education appears to influence both the rate of cognitive development and also the maximum level of development that is achieved. Focused instruction clearly aids students to attain concepts to successively higher levels during short time intervals and also to use their concepts in understanding principles and in solving problems. From these conclusions and the results of other studies and analyses, the inference is drawn that the quality of educational experience exerts a strong influence on both the rate and the final level of cognitive development.     

Fatigue Effects on the Timing Performance of Well-Practiced Subjects

Abstract

In an attempt to extend the laws of fatigue to the performance of highly practiced subjects, 24 college males were trained for four days (50 trials/day) on a coincident timing task prior to manipulation of the fatigue variable. On day 5, motor performance was immediately preceded by either local fatigue (static exercise), general fatigue (treadmill running), or no fatigue. Increased variable error was found for both local and general fatigue subjects as compared with controls on the first block of five trials following fatigue. However, by block 2 this difference had diminished. A constant error analysis on the first and second postfatigue trials revealed transitory overshooting of the criterion timing response for local fatigue subjects and undershooting for general fatigue subjects. The results suggested that local and general fatigue may alter the timing mechanism in different ways and that both are sources of at least transient decrements in the performance of well-practiced subjects.     

The effects of differential and variable training on the quality parameters of a handball throw

The aim of this study was to undertake a comprehensive temporal, effective, and practical training study (variable and differential learning) that would offer athletes the opportunity to increase their performance, and to analyse the effects by measuring kinematics and quality parameters. Two participants of differing standards – a player of the first Austrian League and an Olympic and World Champion – but of similar anthropometric characteristics were recruited. One of the participants (Austrian League) was tested on five different occasions (pre-test and four retests) to measure the effects of four different training phases using kinematic analysis. The results of the study indicate an increase in ball velocity within the differential training phases (first, second, and fourth phases), different proximal-to-distal sequences of the participants, and a change of movement pattern during training measured by the segment velocities and the angle–time courses.     

Process integration,information sharing,and system interoperation in government: A comparative case analysis

In recent years, government agencies on all levels and in all branches have increasingly engaged in harmonizing business processes, standardizing information sharing, and interoperating their information systems, which indicates a rising need for intra- and inter-government collaboration. Simultaneously, the technical capacity for process integration, information sharing, and system interoperation/interoperability (INT-IS-IOP) has also greatly increased. While a number of INT-IS-IOP projects have faced serious challenges leading to problematic project outcomes, other projects have produced the desired results. Using the amended Scholl/Klischewski (2007) framework this study systematically analyzes documents of nineteen cases of mostly successful projects, which were carried out across Europe. Based on the results of this analysis, we identify and document key foci and characteristics of successful projects. The comparative case analysis also helps assess the explanatory power of the Scholl/Klischewski framework, its applicability to practice, and its utility for evaluative purposes.