A critical reflection on using food as learning materials

Abstract

As early childhood teacher educators, we are thoroughly immersed in conversations about developmentally appropriate practice. Whether teachers should incorporate the use of food as learning materials is a case in point. As with many other concerns we ponder in our field, our task must be to define, clarify, and consider multiple perspectives in the pursuit of a rational justification of our position. In this paper we report the results of our careful review of theory and research that leads us to propose that using food as art material violates principles of best practice for three main reasons, because it: (1) teaches young children that it is acceptable to eat play materials and to play with food, (2) teaches young children that it is acceptable practice to waste limited resources, (3) violates many premises of multicultural education, or teaching children about diverse ethnic groups.     

Identification of a fungal community on gilded wood carved heritage

During restoration activities, a fungal reddish area was noted on a gilded wood carved ceiling decoration from a sacristy of a church in Aveiro, Portugal. The protocols used to identify the fungal community present in this wooden material included the classical culturing methods and a molecular biology protocol based on the ability of denaturing high performance liquid chromatography (DHPLC) to separate fungal DNA from several species. This last method complemented the results obtained with the traditional culturing method approach and the overall study revealed three fungal species: Serpula lacrymans (Wulfen) P. Karsten, Paecilomyces lilacinus (Thom) Samson and Penicillium chrysogenum Thom. This is, to the author's knowledge, the first documented case of S. lacrymans in Portuguese built cultural heritage. Despite the antifungal solution applied and the dryer environment recommended, the water activity (Aw) levels recorded on location are still dangerously high and may allow fungal regrowth. Periodic inspections were advised.     

Agency problem, institutions, and technology policy: Explaining Taiwan's semiconductor industry development

Taiwan has made significant progress in the semiconductor industry with government agencies and bureaucrats as the driving forces over the past 30 years. Taiwan's impressive achievement in the semiconductor industry clearly indicates that the government failures and agency problem usually associated with deep government involvement did not occur in Taiwan. Why is that the case? This paper proposes a principal-agent framework for technology policy and applies the framework to discuss the institutional arrangements through which bureaucrats were controlled effectively in executing the semiconductor industry policies in Taiwan. By analyzing the institutional and organizational arrangements Taiwanese leaders made to mitigate the agency problem, this paper brings bureaucrats into the popular developmental state theory and emphasizes that the success of state intervention should not be taken for granted, and it also brings politics into technology policy analysis and stresses the importance and complexity of agency problem in technology policy.     

Spatial Thinking in Practice: A Snapshot of teacher's Spatial Activity Use in the Early Years' Classroom

Spatial thinking predicts Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics achievement, yet is often absent from educational policy. We provide benchmarks of teachers' usage and perceptions of spatial activities in practice in the reception classroom (first year of primary school). In this questionnaire study of educational professionals working in the reception classroom in England (N = 104), we found that spatial and numeracy activities were perceived as significantly less important, and were reportedly completed significantly less often, than literacy or life skills. Despite the lower perceived importance of spatial skills in curriculum guidance in England, rates of reported spatial activity use were encouragingly high and were broadly comparable to those of numeracy. Teachers had moderate anxiety levels for both spatial and mathematics domains. The findings highlight a need to elevate teachers' understanding of the importance of developing children's early spatial and numeracy skills, which may begin with efforts to reduce spatial and mathematics anxiety.     

Mental Health Help-Seeking Experience and Attitudes in Asian American,Multiracial American,and White American Emerging Adults

In this cross-sectional survey, we examined the direct and indirect mental health help-seeking experiences and relevant psychological factors in Asian American, multiracial American, and White American emerging adults aged 18–25 years old. The study sample consisted of 384 Asian American (249 women, 135 men), 244 multiracial American (172 women, 72 men), and 245 White American (190 women, 55 men) emerging adults, who were recruited from a four-year public university in the state of Hawai?i of the United States (U.S.). Results revealed that Asian American and multiracial American emerging adults were less likely to: (a) have previous experience of seeking professional psychological services: (b) have been prescribed, or are currently taking, a psychotropic medication; (c) know someone close to them who had sought psychological services; or (d) know someone close to them who was diagnosed with a psychological disorder, compared to their White American peers. We also discuss implications of the present findings, limitations of the study, and future directions in this line of research.

     

Children’s epistemic reasoning about social inclusion of aggressive peers in a culturally diverse school

Moral reasoning in values education can promote a democratic way of life. It involves addressing behaviour expectations in responses to violence or bullying. There is increasing interest in how children make moral judgments about social inclusion within diverse cultural settings. Critical research highlights the relationship between epistemic cognition (views about the nature of knowledge and knowing) and reasoning. In this paper, we argue that this relationship is likely to be important in reasoning about moral values for inclusion in culturally diverse schools. However, we know little about how children in diverse educational settings reason about and enact school values for inclusion. Our study addresses this gap by examining primary school children’s epistemic reasoning about the social inclusion of peers with a focus on justifications for inclusion/exclusion of aggressive peers. Twenty-six children (10–11 years old) from one culturally diverse school community in Australia were asked to illustrate (drawings) and reflect on (15–20 minute interviews) a conflict situation involving exclusion from play. The findings showed that most children reasoned about including/excluding others based on a ‘one right answer’ pattern which reflected an explicit focus on following the school rules. Fewer children moved ‘beyond right answers’ to show transition towards perceiving multiple perspectives in their reasoning about inclusion/exclusion. Implications for values education are discussed.     

Translating Current Science into Materials for High School via a Scientist–Teacher Partnership

Scientist-teacher partnerships are a unique form of professional development that can assist teachers in translating current science into classroom instruction by involving them in meaningful collaborations with university researchers. However, few reported models aim to directly alter science teachers’ practices by supporting them in the development of curriculum materials. This article reports on a multiple case study of seven high school science teachers who attended an ongoing scientist–teacher partnership professional development program at a major Southeastern research university. Our interest was to understand the capacity of this professional development program for supporting teachers in the transfer of personal learning experiences with advanced science content and skills into curriculum materials for high school students. Findings indicate that, regardless of their ultimate success constructing curriculum materials, all cases considered the research grounded professional development supports beneficial to their professional growth with the exception of collective participation. Additionally, the cases also described how supports such as professional recognition and transferability served as affordances to the process of constructing these materials. However, teachers identified multiple constraints, including personal learning barriers, their classroom context, and the cost associated with implementing some of their curriculum ideas. Results have direct implications for future research and the purposeful design of professional development experiences through scientist-teacher partnerships.     

Physical Therapists’ Perceptions of Knowledge and Clinical Behavior Regarding Cardiovascular Disease Prevention

Purpose

The study purpose was to assess perceptions of physical therapists (PTs) regarding the role of physical therapy in cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention.

Methods

A 25-item survey, validated by expert cardiovascular/pulmonary (CVP) PTs, was sent electronically to 2,673 PTs. Each item represented an element of clinical practice behavior: education of CVD/risk factors (EDCVD), administration of primary CVD prevention (PRECVD), identifying underlying CVD/risk factors (IDCVD), monitoring CV status in patients with CVD (MONCVD). Responses were assigned numeric values (strongly agree = 5 to strongly disagree = 1), and mean element scores were analyzed.

Results

Most of the 516 respondents were APTA Section members (34% CVP Section, 42% other Section membership) and worked in academia (53%). Items showing a high (> 95%) level of agreement included patient education of smoking (97%) and monitoring exercise intensity (99%), assessing exercise benefits (99%), clinically identifying obesity (97%) and hypertension (97%), and monitoring CV response to exercise (99%). Items failing to reach 80% overall agreement were patient education of CVD medications (79%) and blood chemistry (72%), and assessing CVD family history (75%), patient BMI (60%), and body composition (33%). Identifying underlying CVD (77.2%) was the only practice behavior failing to reach 80% agreement. Outpatient PTs agreed significantly less to all elements vs. academics, and to IDCVD vs. all PTs except home health.

Conclusions

Physical therapists support most CVD prevention behaviors, but not given elements of patient education and identifying underlying CVD/risk factors.Key Words: cardiovascular disease, primary disease prevention, secondary disease prevention     

Normalization effect of sports training on blood pressure in hypertensives

Abstract

In this study, we assessed the extent to which 2000-m rowing ergometer performance predicted final rankings at the World Junior Rowing Championship in a sample of 398 junior rowers competing in 13 events. The rowers' ergometer performance times were examined using a questionnaire, and in all 13 events they correlated (P ≤ 0.039) with the final rankings at the Championship. The strongest correlations were observed for ergometer performance times in junior women's single sculls (r = 0.92; P < 0.001), followed by junior men's single sculls (r = 0.80; P < 0.001) and junior women's double sculls (r = 0.79; P < 0.001). The observed correlations were higher for smaller boats – singles, doubles, and pairs (r = 0.64–0.92; P ≤ 0.025) – than for larger boats – quads, fours, and eights (r = 0.31–0.70; P ≤ 0.039). Linear regression analyses were used to construct regression equations to predict final rankings based on 2000-m rowing ergometer performance times for each event. Although correlations in 10 of the 13 events were above r = 0.5, the large standard errors of the estimate impaired the prediction of rankings in all of the studied events. Using these equations, the most probable rowing ergometer performance times required for a particular ranking in a given rowing event might easily be calculated.     

Execution time,kinetics, and kinematics of the mae-geri kick: Comparison of national and international standard karate athletes

Abstract

Little is known of the performance characteristics of the shotokan karate mae-geri kick. The aim of this study was to compare the execution time, the lower limb kinetics and kinematics, and their respective repeatability in the mae-geri kick of karate athletes of two different standards. Seventeen adult black belt karate competitors (9 national and 8 international athletes) performed six kicks with their dominant lower limb on a striking surface, combining maximum force impact and velocity. Execution time of movement and lower limb kinematics were recorded with a high-speed camera. Maximum force at impact and the forces exerted on the ground were measured using three force plates. The duration of the kick was significantly shorter for international than for national standard athletes. However, no significant difference in the maximum impact force of the kick was observed between the two groups. In addition, significant kinematic differences were observed between the groups, with two angles of motion and one velocity peak occurring sooner in the kick movement for the international athletes, specifically for the knee joint. International athletes also performed the kick with a significantly higher repeatability for duration and kinematics, specifically during the pre-loading phase that precedes the attack phase. We conclude that theduration of the kick and repeatability of lower limb kinematics could be useful in selecting top-level karate athletes and monitoring their training status.