Reconstructing educational psychology reports: an historic opportunity to change educational psychologists’ advice?

The dynamic between theoretical underpinnings and practical demands of the educational psychologists’ (EPs’) profession is explored with regard to the contrasting explanation of problems along the ‘within child’ to ‘context of child’ dimension. Reference is made to earlier work which provided a paradigm shift away from individual diagnostic and therapeutic work towards EPs’ involvement in research, projects and working with schools as systems. This change has not been closely reflected in the content of educational psychology reports submitted for Statutory Assessments. The opportunity has arisen for a profound review of the content of statutory educational psychology reports via the relevant sections of the Children and Families Act 2014 (Part 3) and the associated Education, Care and Health Plans which replaced Statements of Special Educational Needs. A case is made for the use of references within statutory educational psychology reports to psychological theory including the basis of more holistic conceptualisations.     

Effects of sodium phosphate and caffeine loading on repeated-sprint ability

The effects of sodium phosphate and caffeine supplementation were assessed on repeated-sprint ability. Using a randomised, double-blind, Latin-square design, 12 female, team-sport players participated in four trials: (1) sodium phosphate and caffeine, (2) sodium phosphate and placebo (for caffeine), (3) caffeine and placebo (for sodium phosphate) and (4) placebo (for sodium phosphate and caffeine), with ~21 days separating each trial. After each trial, participants performed a simulated team-game circuit (4 × 15 min quarters) with 6 × 20-m repeated-sprints performed once before (Set 1), at half-time (Set 2), and after end (Set 3). Total sprint times were faster after sodium phosphate and caffeine supplementation compared with placebo (Set 1: P = 0.003; Set 2: d = ?0.51; Set 3: P < 0.001; overall: P = 0.020), caffeine (Set 3: P = 0.004; overall: P = 0.033) and sodium phosphate (Set 3: d = ?0.67). Furthermore, total sprint times were faster after sodium phosphate supplementation compared with placebo (Set 1: d = ?0.52; Set 3: d = ?0.58). Best sprint results were faster after sodium phosphate and caffeine supplementation compared with placebo (Set 3: P = 0.007, d = ?0.90) and caffeine (Set 3: P = 0.024, d = ?0.73). Best sprint times were also faster after sodium phosphate supplementation compared with placebo (d = ?0.54 to ?0.61 for all sets). Sodium phosphate and combined sodium phosphate and caffeine loading improved repeated-sprint ability.     

论小说创作

如果可能，请别写小说。小说创作是一种非社会行为，一旦动笔，小说家会时刻为小说中的人物所困扰；而且，真正写起来，小说指南一类书籍并不管用。假如非写不可，那么，小说家需考虑是以情节为主还是以人物为主。如果以情节为主，小说家即在虚构的事情中间而非在所谓的真实生活中寻找人物的时候，抓住情节不放；如果以人物为主，那么，小说家则需对适于情节的某些特征加以强调，使人物在新环境中显得真实可信，从而赋予他们生命。小说家无论重情节抑或是重人物，都还要考虑以何种形式、何种风格呈现情节和人物的问题；当然，在优秀的小说家笔下，故事和人物本身会以最适合的形式出现。小说家应对形式、人物和语言保持一种敏锐的感觉。此外，小说家可能会对道德教诲产生迷恋。尽管应当通过作品给读者以教益，但是，真诚的艺术家并不能专注于说教。     

Comparisons of adopted and nonadopted adolescents in a large, nationally representative sample

There are conflicting findings about whether adopted children have more psychological and behavioral problems than nonadoptees. Research results are discrepant partly because many previous studies were based on small clinical samples or on samples biased by self-selection. A nationally representative school survey (Add Health) was used to compare adopted (n = 1,587) and nonadopted adolescents (total N = 87,165) across a wide variety of measures. Standardized mean differences show that adopted adolescents are at higher risk in all of the domains examined, including school achievement and problems, substance use, psychological well-being, physical health, fighting, and lying to parents. Demographic and background variable breakdowns show that the effect sizes for differences between adopted and nonadopted adolescents were larger for males, younger or older adolescents, Hispanics or Asians, and adolescents living in group homes or with parents of low education. Distributional analyses revealed approximately a 1:1 ratio of adopted to nonadopted adolescents in the middle ranges of the outcome variables but a ratio of 3:1 or greater near the tails of the distributions. These data clearly show that more adopted adolescents have problems of various kinds than their nonadopted peers; effect sizes were small to moderate based on mean differences, but comparisons of distributions suggest much larger proportions of adopted than nonadopted adolescents at the extremes of salient outcome variables.     

Quality criteria for conceptual technology integration models in education: bridging research and practice

Educational technology research and development - In order to effectively use technology in education, appropriate conceptual understandings are needed to guide the integration process. Today,...     

Incongruities as a source of organizational renewal in corporate management of R&D

The heydays of the central R&D laboratory as the ‘dominant design’ of corporate R&D in large technology-intensive companies is over. The last decades have witnessed not only downsizing of central R&D, but also ongoing experimentation and restructuring of the modes of managing corporate R&D. What is the logic behind these ongoing restructurings? The paper argues that different kinds of organizational incongruities constitute critical sources of change in the organization of R&D. The paper seeks to align a contingency and an evolutionary perspective in analyzing two Danish technology-intensive companies characterized by highly different organizational trajectories.     

Casual Games and Casual Learning About Human Biological Systems

Casual games are everywhere. People play them throughout life to pass the time, to engage in social interactions, and to learn. However, their simplicity and use in distraction-heavy environments can attenuate their potential for learning. This experimental study explored the effects playing an online, casual game has on awareness of human biological systems. Two hundred and forty-two children were given pretests at a Museum and posttests at home after playing either a treatment or control game. Also, 41 children were interviewed to explore deeper meanings behind the test results. Results show modest improvement in scientific attitudes, ability to identify human biological systems and in the children’s ability to describe how those systems work together in real-world scenarios. Interviews reveal that children drew upon their prior school learning as they played the game. Also, on the surface they perceived the game as mainly entertainment but were easily able to discern learning outcomes when prompted. Implications for the design of casual games and how they can be used to enhance transfer of knowledge from the classroom to everyday life are discussed.     

The benefits and challenges of enterprise education: results from an action research project in the third grade in Finnish basic education

This article is the result of an action research project conducted in 2014 in a primary school in the city of Vaasa in Finland. The project focused on developing the practice of integrating enterprise education as a part of everyday teaching in Grade Three. The project involved three class teachers, the headmaster and a university researcher. This article focuses on the teachers’ perceptions of the benefits and the challenges of the project. The teachers viewed the project as beneficial to their own professional development as well as to the students’ learning. The process, however, also revealed several challenges associated with applying enterprise education in Grade Three, such as time or different personalities. Based on the experiences from this particular project, the article broadens the understanding of how enterprise education can be realised in Grade Three, as well as its benefits and challenges.