Multi-age-grouping paradigm for young swimmers

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the adequacy of “multi-age” classification systems in youth sports with a specific focus on the unisex multi-age-groupings used by USA Swimming. In addition, we offer an analytical rationale for the multi-age-groupings and potential alternatives. We examined the top 100 US swim performances for three years (2005, 2006, and 2007) for girls and boys in 15 age-groups (7 to 20 years and a singular group of 21 years and older). Data for each age and sex were pooled over the three years and means were calculated for each of seven competitive swim events. Swim times differed among each age up to the 14-year age-group in girls (F _14,30885 = 183.9, P < 0.01, Cohen's d = 1.19–3.72, large effect) and 16-year age-group in boys (F _14,30885 = 308.7, P < 0.01, Cohen's d = 0.81–3.64, large effect) for all events. Age-related differences in swim times continued later in boys than girls likely due to differences between the sexes in timing of growth and maturation. Because of the differences in swim performance in contemporary multi-age-groups, stratifying swimmers by a single age is the best means to ensure competitive fairness and equality, although there is no rationale for swimmers under the age of 8 years to compete in separate unisex competitive groups.     

The extent and causes of home advantage: Some recent insights

The effect of strategy instruction on response time in a sequential keypressing task was compared during acquisition and retention. Specifically, this study determined the influence of: (1) an awareness strategy, (2) a non‐awareness strategy, (3) a Five‐Step Approach strategy and (4) a control condition. Sixty‐four subjects completed 250 trials of nine sequential keypresses, and 50 trials of a dual task (keypresses and verbal report). Faster response times were found for the Five‐Step Approach and non‐awareness strategies during both acquisition and retention. Introducing beginners to strategies that are used by highly skilled performers facilitated response times.     

Testing a student generated hypothesis using student data

We describe an activity that allows students to experience the full process of a statistical investigation, from generating the research question, to collecting data and testing a hypothesis. Implementation of the activity is described both with and without use of clickers, handheld remotes that allow instant data collection.     

Excluding students from classroom: Teacher techniques that promote student responsibility

Students who continuously misbehave are frequently excluded from class, allowing them time to reflect on their inappropriate behavior. This paper examines students’ perceptions of the teacher’s behavior toward them prior to, during, and after the exclusion, focusing on teachers’ explanations, punishments, and follow-up conversations. The results indicate that students who do not accept responsibility for being excluded think that their teachers’ are to blame. To convince students to accept responsibility for their acts, teachers must explain why the exclusion is necessary, warn and punish before excluding a student, and hold a follow-up conversation, highlighting the impact of the misbehavior on classmates.     

Examination of Middle-School Students' Independent Use of a Complex Mnemonic System

The purpose of the present 2-experiment study was to determine whether a recently developed mnemonic numeric strategy could be used more independently by middle school students. In the context of associating various 18th-, 19th-, and 20th-century inventions with their dates, the authors found that students could successfully implement the strategy in a group-instructional context (as opposed to the one-on-one individual administrations of earlier investigations). The students were not, however, able to take the basic components of the strategy and effectively apply them without complete mnemonic pictorial support. That is, students did not create their own memory-enhancing visual images in the absence of instructor-provided interactive line drawings. The results are consistent with those of previous research documenting that less sophisticated learners (including middle school students) are unable to apply complex mnemonic strategies independently unless they are provided with sufficient auxiliary support to reduce information-processing demands.     

The effects of faking on non-cognitive predictors of academic performance in University students

This study examined the extent to which students could fake responses on personality and approaches to studying questionnaires, and the effects of such responding on the validity of non-cognitive measures for predicting academic performance (AP). University students produced a profile of an ‘ideal’ student using the Big-Five personality taxonomy, which yielded a stereotype with low scores for Neuroticism, and high scores for the other four traits. A sub-set of participants were allocated to a condition in which they were instructed to fake their responses as University applicants, portraying themselves as positively as possible. Scores for these participants revealed higher scores than those in a control condition on measures of deep and strategic approaches to studying, but lower scores on the surface approach variable. Conscientiousness was a significant predictor of AP in both groups, but the predictive effect of approaches to studying variables and Openness to Experience identified in the control group was lower in the group who faked their responses. Non-cognitive psychometric measures can be valid predictors of AP, but scores on these measures can be affected by instructional set. Further implications for psychometric measurement in educational settings are discussed.     

Secondary school initiative in creating advanced placement opportunities

The most important opportunity available to secondary school students to earn college credit for college-level work done in high school is the series of advanced placement tests provided by such organizations as the College Entrance Examination Board. This paper presents three models of initiatives that can be taken by secondary school educators to create exams in those areas for which advanced placement tests do not currently exist and better serve the needs of their students who could prepare for current exams: adapt existing exams as credit-earning proficiency exams; work with interested universities in creating new advanced placement programs; and reorganizing the existing advanced placement program offered in the high school.     

Beyond the global city: a comparative analysis of cosmopolitanism in middle-class educational strategies in Australia and Brazil

ABSTRACT

The global middle class (GMC) is a theoretical construct that seeks to globalise a set of attributes identified in studies of school choice in the global north, and to a lesser extent in developing nations in Asia. As theorised by Ball a mobile middle class with cosmopolitan sensibilities drives international education options in global cities. This proposition is challenged through analysis of the histories of curriculum and class relations in two national settings (Australia and Brazil) and examination of contemporary class profiles (i.e. economic and cultural properties) in expanding forms of international education in these countries. The paper argues that the forms of cosmopolitanism associated with the educational practices of the GMC must be examined within broader historical relationships of cultural domination. We conclude by arguing that broadening the historical horizon is an important exercise to challenge the claim of the GMC to be a novel category involving exceptional forms of cultural contact generated by the dynamics of the ‘global city’.