Social and Environmental Factors Associated With Preschoolers' Nonsedentary Physical Activity

The twofold purposes of the investigation were (a) to describe with direct observation data the physical activity behaviors and the accompanying social and environmental events of those behaviors for children in preschools and (b) to determine which contextual conditions were predictors of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and nonsedentary physical activity (i.e., light activity + MVPA) for 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old children during their outdoor play. The results indicate that preschoolers' physical activity is characterized as sedentary in nature throughout their preschool day (i.e., 89% sedentary, 8% light activity, and 3% MVPA). During outdoor play periods, when children are most likely to be physically active, some contextual and social circumstances better predict their physical activity. Implications for policy makers, practitioners, and researchers are discussed.     

Sorting Out the Roles of Research in the Improvement of Practice

This paper discusses the effectiveness of research‐based educational approaches on classroom practice. In order to help educators maximize benefits from research in improving practice, it is important to inform them of the nature and roles of research. This essay begins by discussing current cynicism regarding the usefulness of research‐based strategies in the field of education. Because of the large body of conflicting “research‐based” information, many educators are finding themselves confused and alienated by the phrase “research shows.” Using examples of high‐quality research that utilizes diverse methodologies, a framework is presented for thinking about various types of research and their implications.     

The Role of the Technical Institute in the Next Decade

During the next ten years, technical institute education in the United States should be expanded ten times while other forms of higher education are doubled. Only in this way will we be able to get efficient utilization of our scientists and engineers. The many developments in science and technology that will take place in the next decade will call for a greatly expanded technical manpower team, and the largest potential source of 1957. supply is the manpower pool composed of individuals with aptitudes that qualify them to become engineering technicians. We can produce twice as many engineering technicians as engineers for the invested educational dollar, for the engineering technician is graduated in two years while the engineer needs four years. Through better acceptance of the engineering technician by industry and the engineering profession, this much needed expansion is bound to be realized.     

Exploiting the rights in the agreement

The exploitation of a full range of rights is necessary to make many piblishing projects economically viable. The publishing contract sets out the rights the publisher may exploit and the division of the proceeds between publisher and author. The categories of exploitable rights are reviewed, along with the methods of exploiting them. The impact of consolidation in the publishing industry on rights exploitation is discussed, along with rights issues in the provision of textbooks to developing countries. She is the author ofSelling Rights: A Publisher’s Guide to Success (Chapman & Hall, 1991). Parts of this article were adapted from a presentation at the seminar “East Meets West: Copyright and the Publisher in a Market Economy”, Hamburg, March 1991.