Conceptualizations of nature: An interpretive study of 16 ninth graders' everyday thinking

The research reported in this article sought to provide a broader understanding of high school science students as persons by describing the personal thoughts, or everyday thinking, about a question relevant to science: What is Nature? The purpose was to gain an understanding of students' fundamental beliefs about the world on the basis that developing scientific literacy can be successful only to the extent that science finds a niche in the cognitive and cultural milieu of students. The theoretical background for this research came from cultural anthropology and the methodology was interpretive, involving student interviews. The assertions of the study in summary form were: (a) The ninth‐grade students in the study tended to discuss Nature using several different perspectives (e.g., religious, aesthetic, scientific, conservationist). A rich breadth of perspectives typically characterized any one student's discussion of Nature. (b) After 9 years of schooling, however, the level of science integration within everyday thinking remained low for many of these ninth graders. In their discussions of Nature, most volunteered little school knowledge of science. They were aware of school science topics such as the ozone layer, rain forests, and the Big Bang theory. Such topics were voluntarily mentioned but usually without elaboration even when asked. (c) Science grade success was not correlated with the concepts these ninth graders typically chose to use in a discussion about the natural world. The students with the most grade success in science had not necessarily grasped fundamental concepts about Nature and science. (d) Regardless of school grade success, including school science grade success, most of the ninth graders attached considerable importance to personal experiences with Nature. Their environmental inclinations were strong. The article ends with a discussion of the implications. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 36: 541–564, 1999     

Continuing Dental Education via an Interactive Video Network: course development,implementation and evaluation

The University of Iowa College of Dentistry has expanded its continuing dental education (CDE) offerings to include distance learning on the Iowa Communications Network (ICN). The ICN is a statewide fiber optic network linking 550 sites that provides two‐way interactive audio and video communication. The first course was broadcast on January 30, 1998 to 10 receiving sites across Iowa and was attended by 68 people. The instructor controls what is seen and heard at the remote sites, but participants can enter the discussion by activating their microphones. Recognising that the first distance learning course needed to be successful, the College of Dentistry collaborated with the College of Education to create a highly interactive instructional program. In an evaluation, the participants were almost unanimous in their approval. Ninety‐eight percent said they would attend another course if offered on the ICN. A strong majority of the participants felt the quality of the program was very good and attendance at a site close to their home reduced the cost of their continuing education. Based on the lessons learned from this initial offering, the College of Dentistry plans to expand its distance learning activities to include interactive programs on the ICN and the World Wide Web     

Measuring the Results of Performance Improvement Interventions

In this study, a web‐based questionnaire was used to measure attitudes of members of a professional performance improvement organization relative to adoption and implementation of Level 4 or results‐oriented evaluation. Participants were 274 members of the International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI). It was expected that frequency of Level 4 evaluation use could be explained by innovation diffusion or change variables. Findings suggest that the adoption of effective performance improvement measurement systems and processes at the organizational level is relatively low compared to other types of evaluation. This level of adoption is impacted by a complex array of factors. Stakeholder participation in the adaptation of evaluation systems to increase their compatibility with current practices, and experimentation with this type of evaluation on a limited or trial basis may increase the rate of adoption. Management support of the development and adaptation of a results‐oriented evaluation system is seen as providing the opportunity for the change process to move forward. Implications for diffusion of this type of evaluation within organizations will be discussed within the context of a HPT Change framework.     

How Does Racial Context Matter?: Family Preparation-for-Bias Messages and Racial Coping Reported by Black Youth

Black families and youth likely consider specific racial discriminatory situations in preparation-for-bias messages and racial coping responses. Our study investigated coping responses embedded in youth-reported Black families’ preparation-for-bias messages and youths’ proactive coping responses to specific racially discriminatory situations—teachers’ negative expectations, store employees’ hyper-monitoring and police harassment. Gender and racial discrimination experience differences were considered along with relations between messages and coping. Our investigation was guided by the integrated-developmental, transactional/ecological, intersectionality, and Phenomenological Variant of Ecological Systems Theory theoretical frameworks. We conducted cluster analyses using data from 117 Black youth aged 13–14 to identify situation-specific family messages and youth coping responses. Families’ messages and youths’ responses varied in content and frequency based on the specific discriminatory situation, which suggests consideration of context.     

Communicating about science and engineering practices and the nature of science: An exploration of American Sign Language resources

Science classrooms have been demonstrated to be educational contexts with unique and challenging language demands. Enhanced cognitive and linguistic demands arising from an emphasis on the science and engineering practices (SEPs) and the nature of science (NOS) in the Next Generation Science Standards warrant consideration of how to support students with different language abilities. Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) students must negotiate multiple languages in the science classroom, including academic science vocabulary, written English, and spoken American Sign Language (ASL). However, science-specific ASL vocabulary is rather limited, and current development efforts mostly focus on developing signs for more traditional content vocabulary. Yet, effective science instruction for DHH students must also provide them opportunities to engage in and communicate about the NOS and the functions of the SEPs. The current study explores the availability of such ASL resources across a body of science-specific resources available for teachers of DHH students. Reviewing a body of publicly available resources, researchers identified a small list of 21 ASL signs that are common across multiple resources. These signs, and the larger data set, were reviewed to identify trends and patterns across them and how well they communicate scientific meanings for NOS and the SEPs. Issues that emerged and classroom implications are discussed.     

The effects of an unanticipated side-cut on lower extremity kinematics and ground reaction forces during a drop landing

Unanticipated direction to cut after landing may alter the lower extremity landing biomechanics when performing landing motions. These alterations may potentially increase the risk of ACL injury. The purpose of this study was to determine if an unanticipated side-cut affects lower extremity landing biomechanics in females. Eighteen recreational female athletes participated in two blocks of testing: the first block of testing consisted of three acceptable trials of anticipated dominant limb and non-dominant limb 45-degree diagonal cutting after landing, which were performed in a counterbalanced order. The second block of testing consisted of three acceptable trials of unanticipated dominant limb and non-dominant limb diagonal cutting after landing. Data analysis mainly focused on the dominant limb landing biomechanics. Unanticipated side-cut landing, compared (paired t-test, p < 0.05) to the anticipated landings, resulted in less hip abduction and tibial internal rotation angle at initial contact (IC) and a lower maximum ankle inversion angle and a greater maximum knee abduction angle, and knee and hip displacement. Also, greater posterior GRF and a longer time to peak medial GRF were exhibited. These outcomes indicate that athletes may adapt their landing mechanics to land unsafely when encountering an unanticipated event.     

Para-adventure: a hyper-dynamic problem for the inclusive coach

Recent research has recognized sports coaching as complex, chaotic and cognitively taxing for coaches. Against this backdrop, the present paper explores challenges faced by high-level coaches working with disabled performers. Specifically, it seeks to understand how coaches create mental models of performance in adventure sports and para-canoe. Five coaches were purposively sampled and underwent a semi-structured interview. A thematic analysis revealed conceptualizing the mental model as being mechanically related for all and as including a social construction within the para-canoe coaches. Reflection on the coaching process and on personal characteristics were perceived as important to individualized inclusive coaching. Coach training should particularly emphasize the need for critical judgement and decision-making skills within a similarly oriented social structure of coaches and support staff where applicable.     

The Use of Structure Coefficients to Address Multicollinearity in Sport and Exercise Science

A common practice in general linear model (GLM) analyses is to interpret regression coefficients (e.g., standardized β weights) as indicators of variable importance. However, focusing solely on standardized beta weights may provide limited or erroneous information. For example, β weights become increasingly unreliable when predictor variables are correlated, which is often the case in the social sciences. To address this issue, structure coefficients, which are simply the bivariate correlation between a predictor and the synthetic ? variable, should also be interpreted. By examining β weights and structure coefficients in conjunction, the predictive worth of each independent variable can be more accurately judged. Despite this benefit, researchers in the field of sport and exercise science have rarely reported structure coefficients when conducting multiple regression analysis. Thus, the purpose of the present article is to discuss problems associated with the sole interpretation of β weights and to demonstrate how structure coefficients can be incorporated to improve accuracy of interpretation. Additionally, a content analysis was conducted to examine current trends in reporting multiple regression results within sport and exercise science research.