Preparing Pre‐Service Primary Teachers to Teach Primary Science: A partnership‐based approach

This paper reports on the effectiveness of a professional partnership approach to preparing pre‐service primary teachers to teach science. The study involved final year BEd pre‐service primary teachers at the University of Tasmania, each working in the class of a volunteer colleague teacher. The programme provided an authentic science teaching experience in which pre‐service teachers were supported to plan and teach a sequence of work in a chosen science topic and reflect upon the experience. Many reported an initial lack of confidence in science and no experience with teaching it during their normal practice teaching. During 2007 and 2008, teachers from 17 schools in Northern Tasmania volunteered to work with the pre‐service teachers in their classrooms for one lesson a week over a six‐week period. The findings indicated that this approach was an effective way to build the confidence of pre‐service teachers and may also have benefits for practising teachers.     

Software for calculating blood lactate endurance markers

Abstract

Blood lactate markers are used as summary measures of the underlying model of an athlete's blood lactate response to increasing work rate. Exercise physiologists use these endurance markers, typically corresponding to a work rate in the region of high curvature in the lactate curve, to predict and compare endurance ability. A short theoretical background of the commonly used markers is given and algorithms provided for their calculation. To date, no free software exists that allows the sports scientist to calculate these markers. In this paper, software is introduced for precisely this purpose that will calculate a variety of lactate markers for an individual athlete, an athlete at different instants (e.g. across a season), and simultaneously for a squad.     

Influence of shaft length on golf driving performance

The aim of this study was to determine how shaft length affects golf driving performance. A range of drivers with lengths between 1.168 m and 1.270 m, representing lengths close to the 1.219 m limit imposed by R&;A Rules Limited (2008 R&;A Rules Limited. 2008. Rules of golf, St. Andrews: R&;A Rules Limited, The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews.  [Google Scholar]), were assembled and evaluated. Clubhead and ball launch conditions and drive distance and accuracy were determined for seven category 1 golfers (handicaps 0.21 ± 2.41) who performed shots on a purpose-built practice hole. As shaft length increased from 1.168 m to 1.270 m, initial ball velocity increased (+1.8 m/s, P < 0.01). Ball carry (+4.3 m, P = 0.152) also increased, although not significantly so. Furthermore, as shaft length increased, for all club comparisons there was no decrease in accuracy. Ball launch conditions of spin components and launch angle remained unaffected by shaft length. Launch angle increased (0.8°, F = 1.074, P = 0.362) as driver shaft length increased. Our results show that clubhead and ball velocity together with ball carry tended to increase with no loss of accuracy.     

Effect of endurance training on blood lactate clearance after maximal exercise.

The aim of this study was to measure serial changes in the rate of blood lactate clearance (gamma2) in response to sequential periods of training and detraining in four male triathletes aged 22-44 years. There were two major phases of training and taper, each lasting 4-5 weeks (training 1 = 5 weeks, taper 1 = 2 weeks, training 2 = 4 weeks and taper 2 = 2 weeks), in preparation for a triathlon competition. The training stimulus absorbed by each subject was carefully quantified from the duration and intensity of the training exercise. A serial weekly measure of each trainee's physical response to training was evaluated as the peak power, termed a 'criterion performance', developed by a subject during a 30 W x min(-1) ramp cycle ergometer test to exhaustion each week. During 30 min of recovery after this test, 13 samples of venous blood were drawn sequentially from a subject to measure the blood lactate recovery curve. The rate constant of blood lactate clearance was estimated by a non-linear least-squares regression technique. In addition, the concurrent time to peak lactate concentration and the peak lactate concentration were also estimated to help define changing lactate kinetics. The criterion performance generally declined throughout each period of incremental training and improved during each taper period, rising iteratively in this way to be clearly above baseline by the end of the second taper. The blood lactate clearance rate increased transiently in early training before declining from the middle of the first training period to the middle of the first taper; thereafter, gamma2 increased above baseline in each trainee throughout the remaining first taper and the major portion of the second training period, decreasing only in the final criterion performance test. The time to peak lactate declined from baseline throughout all phases of training and taper. Peak blood lactate increased in all subjects to the end of the first taper before declining by the end of the second training period, rising again to baseline levels during the second taper. The change in gamma2 was examined relative to the work rate achieved in cycle ergometry above an initial baseline score (deltaCP) and against concurrent peak blood lactate. There was a clear upward shift in gamma2 above baseline throughout the first and second training and taper in two subjects; this was less clear in the remaining two subjects, each of whom had a lower deltaCP. We conclude that this indicates improved lactate clearance, manifest by the change in gamma2 induced by endurance training.     

Managing a modern university: is it time for a rethink?

The corporate approaches introduced in the late 1980s and now prevalent in universities in Australia have led to irrevocable changes in the way universities are managed and academics work. The management approaches widely applied in Australian universities are largely based on a top‐down corporate management model, with central control over policy and budget driven by the need to meet stringent external accountability requirements. This form of management rewards compliance and predictability. The economic environment over this period has changed drastically, becoming more global and uncertain. The prevailing management processes are not suited to the modern economic environment. A modern university is expected to operate more as an enterprise, but to do so effectively it needs flexible and responsive forms of management that are more inclusive of academics in the decision making process. This paper explores the organisational management literature and links it to the context in which universities operate. It considers the implications for managers and academics, as key stakeholders in a modern university, in this changeable environment.