Landing techniques in volleyball

Knee injuries such as anterior cruciate ligament lesions and patellar tendonitis are very frequent in volleyball, and are often attributed to micro traumas that occur during the landing phase of airborne actions. The aim of the present study was to compare different jumping activities during official men's and women's volleyball games. Twelve top-level matches from the Italian men's and women's professional leagues were analysed. The jumps performed during the games were classified according to the landing technique used by the player (left or right foot or both feet together), court position, and ball trajectory. Chi-square analyses were performed to detect differences in landing techniques between the sexes, court positions, and trajectories when serving, attacking, blocking, and setting. Significant differences (P?相似文献   

Engaging undergraduate students in a co-curricular digital badging platform

Digital badging continues to garner attention in the educational community. What remains to be seen is how badging will interact with traditional curricular elements. While concerns have been raised about using badges as extrinsic motivators in coursework, there are alternate areas of application for digital badging. Badges may actually serve to motivate and empower student learning and engagement outside of the formal curriculum. This action research was conducted to guide the implementation of a badging system at Maranatha Baptist University. It explores the concept of using digital badges as a platform for recognizing learning experiences in co-curricular education. More specifically, it seeks to determine how to best optimize a co-curricular digital badging system for maximum student engagement through a combination of extrinsic and intrinsic motivators. Student focus groups were used with a mixed-methods methodology of collecting data on potential student interest and involvement in a digital badging environment. The quantitative portion compares intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivations for participating, while the qualitative section consists of a coded analysis of student discussion of co-curricular digital badging.     

A three-dimensional examination of the planar nature of the golf swing

Previous planar models of the downswing in golf have suggested that upper limb segments (left shoulder girdle and left arm) move in a consistent fixed plane and that the clubhead also moves only in this plane. This study sought to examine these assumptions. Three-dimensional kinematic analysis of seven right-handed golfers of various abilities (handicap 0?–?15) was used to define a plane (named the left-arm plane) containing the 7th cervical vertebra, left shoulder and left wrist. We found that the angles of this plane to the reference horizontal z axis and target line axis (parallel to the reference x axis) were not consistent. The angle to the horizontal z axis varied from a mean of 133° (s = 1°) at the start of the downswing to 102° (s = 4°) at impact, suggesting a “steepening” of the left-arm plane. The angle of the plane to the target line changed from ??9° (s = 16°) to 5° (s = 15°) during the same period, showing anticlockwise (from above) rotation, although there was large inter-individual variation. The distance of the clubhead from the left-arm plane was 0.019?m (s = 0.280?m) at the start at the downswing and 0.291?m (s = 0.077?m) at impact, showing that the clubhead did not lie in the same plane as the body segments. We conclude that the left arm and shoulder girdle do not move in a consistent plane throughout the downswing, and that the clubhead does not move in this plane. Previous models of the downswing in golf may therefore be incorrect, and more complex (but realistic) simulations should be performed.     

Professional role and identity of Icelandic preschool teachers: effects of stakeholders’ views

In this article, we explore the reality of Icelandic preschool teachers who are, as in most other countries, predominantly female. The gendered nature of the role and the current identity adopted by preschool teachers appear to impact on their perceived status and professionalism. In this process, stakeholders in early childhood education (ECE), as well as the preschool teachers themselves, play important parts. The question that underlies the paper is: ‘How do the views of preschool teachers and stakeholders in ECE affect the preschool teachers’ professional identity?’ The data used to answer the question are from focus group research carried out with preschool teachers and stakeholders in ECE in one community in Iceland. These stakeholders, besides preschool teachers and staff within the preschools, were parents, professionals at the municipal preschool office and politicians. The theoretical perspective informing the methodology of the research was ‘symbolic interactionism’ and the concept of ‘democratic professionalism’ was used as an aspirational framework to analyse the data. The findings reveal connections between the ideology relating to the preschool teachers’ educational role, their limited leadership and the gendered views of stakeholders. At the end of the paper, implications and recommendations for preschool teachers are suggested.     

THE RACIAL STRESS OF MEMBERSHIP: DEVELOPMENT OF THE FACULTY INVENTORY OF RACIALIZED EXPERIENCES IN SCHOOLS

Research on the experience of faculty of color in predominately White independent schools (PWIS) is limited. This study explored faculty of varying racial backgrounds and their initiation of, interactions with, and stress reactions to racial conflicts within the school settings using an online survey. Several measures were developed according to the Racial/Ethnic Coping Appraisal and Socialization Theory (recast) model and administered to 339 faculty participants. Using factor analytic and correlational analyses, results from the highly reliable measures found that Black faculty show significantly less trust in schools to manage racial conflict, lower sense of school membership, greater racial stress, and more racial socialization than their White counterparts do. With reliable and valid measures on the racialized experiences of faculty in PWIS, future research can ask better questions on how much racial politics influence diversity initiatives, including faculty and student recruitment and retention, supportive racial and intellectual climate, and organizational mission and professional development. Implications for the development of racially relevant measures in schools are discussed.     

Barriers to career progress for women in education: the perceptions of female headteachers

The number of women who achieve senior posts in educational management is disproportionate to the number of women employed. This is particularly true for women in secondary education, where only about 20 per cent of headships are held by women. All the female headteachers of one English shire county were interviewed about their own experiences and views on barriers to women's progress. The interview schedule was based on the author's classification of the theories of Shakeshaft and Schmuck. The data are analysed under the headings of: overt and covert discrimination; constraints experienced within the work situation; and constraints experienced through roles outside the work situation and early career influences. The headteachers had experienced both overt discrimination and more subtle sexism and tended to meet both with pragmatism, rather than confrontation. They had avoided gender‐stereotyped roles within the work situation, and were generally free of the major responsibility for domestic affairs. As children, they had been aware of high educational expectations held of them by their parents. Supportive partnerships and minimal career breaks had been important in their progress.