Shona culture of Zimbabwe’s views of giftedness

In an exploratory study designed to investigate Shona culture of Zimbabwe’s views of giftedness, data were collected from sixteen Zimbabwean academics of Shona cultural background. Using questionnaire narratives, the study established that Shona culture views giftedness as an unusual ability blessed in an individual through ancestry which enables him/her to perform with unparalleled expertise even in challenging domains. The hallmarks of Shona culture’s views of giftedness are ability to succeed, solve problems, creativity, interpersonal relationships and spirituality. When values are held constant, Shona culture’s views of giftedness do not differ from views in contemporary psychology. The study recommends fusing together cultural and modern views of giftedness in the school curriculum in order to develop a diversity of talents in students.     

Writing for professional recognition in higher education: understanding genre and expertise

ABSTRACT

This study draws on the theoretical frameworks of genre theory and writing expertise to explore how educators manage and excel in writing for professional recognition. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with four educators from different disciplines in which participants discussed their experiences of preparing and writing for Senior Fellow. Despite the fact that writing for professional recognition can be a contentious genre to manage with its reflective features favouring those from certain disciplinary backgrounds, the participants described positive and affirming experiences. The findings also suggest that educators are strategic in their approach, and that the writing process can have unexpected affordances including a developed knowledge of writing, professional confidence and a sense of empowerment. The findings have implications for developing systems and resources to support educators preparing for fellowship.     

A survey on the light-fastness properties of organic-based Alaska Native artifacts

A series of light-fastness tests were conducted on a group of ethnographic objects that will be on exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution Arctic Studies Center, a recent addition to the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center in Alaska. The objects surveyed belong to the collections of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. This work was designed as a feasibility study on the use of a micro-fading tester as a non-contact and non-destructive technique to evaluate the light-stability of materials present in ethnographic collections. A broad range of objects containing a wide variety of materials were selected for the study. The materials investigated included a variety of dyes applied on silk, cotton, and wool substrates along with some unusual materials such as tanned skin and seal gut skin. The results from this investigation have allowed establishing exhibition recommendations taking into consideration the sensitivity of each object, light levels in the museum building, and estimated light exposures based on the duration of the exhibit. The micro-fading tester has proven to be a very useful tool for determining the light-stability of ethnographic materials without causing any harm to the objects. Objects containing equivalent materials are usually classified under a general category based on their probable sensitivity to light. However, micro-fading test results have permitted the detection of dissimilarities among some of these objects, which could be associated to variations in prior fading histories, the quality of raw materials, and different preparation methods.     

PICTORIAL REPRESENTATION OF ADULTS AS OBSERVED IN CHILDREN'S LITERATURE

The 37 Caldecott Medal award‐winning children's books and 129 runner‐up books were subjected to a content analysis in order to evaluate the portrayal of adults in children's literature, both fictional and nonfictional. Of the total 166 books analyzed, 43 were excluded from the data because they contained no adult portrayals. For the 123 books subjected to final content analysis, and the 751 characters contained in these books, the data revealed statistically significant differences on four variables: (1) more male than female adults were represented; (2) more healthy than physically handicapped adults were portrayed; (3) more positive than negative or neutral illustrations of adults occurred; (4) adults were represented more in fictional than in nonfictional children's books. Results were interpreted as demonstrating that children's literature portrays neither adult figures nor adult life in a realistic manner.     

Skipping class in college and exam performance: Evidence from a regression discontinuity classroom experiment

In this paper we estimate the effect of class attendance on exam performance by implementing a policy in three large economics classes that required students scoring below the median on the midterm exam to attend class. This policy generated a large discontinuity in the rate of post-midterm attendance at the median of the midterm score. We estimate that near the policy threshold, the post-midterm attendance rate was 36 percentage points higher for those students facing compulsory attendance. The discontinuous attendance policy is also associated with a significant difference in performance on the final exam. We estimate that a 10 percentage point increase in a student's overall attendance rate results in a 0.17 standard deviation increase in the final exam score without adversely affecting performance on other classes taken concurrently.     

Bilateral arm power imbalance in swim bench exercise to exhaustion

We examined the supposition that swimmers may exhibit an imbalance in bilateral arm power output during simulated swimming exercise. Ten competitive front crawl swimmers (5 males, 5 females; age 20.5+/-2.3 years; height 1.74+/-0.09 m; body mass 72.0+/-16.7 kg; 400 m freestyle swim time 278+/-20.5 s; mean +/- s) performed four incremental (10 W x min(-1)) swim ramp tests on a computer-interfaced biokinetic swim bench ergometer. External power output from each arm was measured continuously to exhaustion. The results showed that, throughout the course of the simulated swim, external power output clearly favoured the left arm (F1,9 = 12.5, P= 0.006). This was especially evident in the final 30 s to exhaustion, when 54.0+/-3.87% of external power output was derived from the left arm versus 46.0+/-3.87% from the right arm. The disparity in external power output was further highlighted when the participants were grouped into unilateral and bilateral breathers. Unilateral breathers (n = 5) produced 57.1+/-2.62% of external power output from the left armversus 42.9+/-2.62% from the right arm (P= 0.001). Bilateral breathers (n = 5) exhibited a more balanced external power output of 51.0+/-1.82% from the left arm and 49.0+/-1.82% from the right arm (P = 0.177). Evidence of power imbalance in the simulated swimming stroke may have important implications for optimizing swim performance. The observed power imbalance may be reduced when a bilateral breathing technique is adopted.